Harka (military)
Harka ( Arabic الحركى, DMG al-Harka , fromحركة / ḥaraka / 'movement') originally the traveler's kingship of the Sultan .
The defeated Hungarian forces at the Battle of Lechfeld were known as Harkas.
Since the French army in Algeria referred to their mercenaries as Harki , the word was used pejoratively in Algeria as a collaborator .
As a mercenary for Spain
In the Rif War , Harka was the name for Moroccan mercenaries who were under Spanish or French command. They were seen as experienced in the war and difficult to command, as cannon fodder , they showed performance, courage and loyalty in heavy battles always in the front row. When Abd el-Krim's troops were referred to as such, it was assumed that Crimea would be a sultan. The use of troops raised locally in North Africa by the Spanish armed forces dates back to 1500; when the Spanish troops conquered Oran , they used Mogataces as informants and guides, which were put together in 1754 as Compañía de Mogatace . When Charles IV. Oran gave up in front of the advancing Ottoman troops , the Harkans were embarked for Ceuta , where they landed on February 12, 1792.
They were occasionally put together in irregular units on a temporary basis and paid for by the Spanish Ministry of Finance or integrated into Moroccan troops that were formally subordinate to the Sultan. The Spanish were responsible for their administrative management.
structure
The number of Harkas seldom exceeded 1,500, they were organized in hundreds, called Mías , 50 formed a jazmin and 25 an acherin . Alfonso XIII called them the best in the army. Spanish commanders included Osvaldo Capaz Montes, Fernando Monzonís Mozas, and Rafael Gallego Sainz.
Harka de Varela
In 1924, Muñoz Grandes commanded the Harka de Abdelmalek . When Sherif Abdelmalek was killed in action, José Enrique Varela , who had previously observed the use of chemical weapons in the Rif War as a combat observer , took command on October 6, 1924 . He made a group of 900 war experienced men out of them, which were divided into two infantry tabores and a mounted Mía . They became known because of their tireless service in the border regime, ambushes and surprise attacks. When they landed in Al-Hoceima, they were the first to return to their homeland contaminated with mustard gas (Lost). They took the Malmusi Bajo by storm and freed the Caid Solimán, whom the Rif Republic had placed under house arrest in Ajdir .
In 1941, under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco , Harka created a hagiography on the mercenary troops in the form of a movie.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Arnold Hottinger Islamic World: The Near East: Experiences, Encounters, Analyzes Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2004
- ^ Sebastian Balfour: Deadly Embrace: Morocco and the Road to the Spanish Civil War . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2002, p. 195.