Battle of Macta

The Battle of Macta was fought on 28 June 1835 between French forces under General Camille Alphonse Trézel and a coalition of Algerian Berber tribal warriors under Emir Abd al-Qadir during the French conquest of Algeria. The French column, which had fought an inconclusive but somewhat bloody battle with Abdul-Qadir a few days earlier, was retreating toward Arzew to resupply when Abdul-Qadir attacked in the marshes on the banks of the Macta River in what is now western Algeria. The French panicked and fled to Arzew in a disorganized rout. The Algerians piled the heads of their defeated French enemies in a pyramid, allegedly hundreds in total.[2]

Battle of Macta
Part of the French conquest of Algeria
Date28 June 1835
Location
near the Macta River, French Algeria
Result Algerian victory[1]
Belligerents
France Algerian resistance
Commanders and leaders
Camille Alphonse Trézel Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri
Strength
5,000 infantry
one cavalry regiment		 20,000 cavalry
Casualties and losses
500 killed unknown

The disaster led to the recall to France of Trézel and the comte d'Erlon, the first military governor-general of the French possessions in Africa, and helped Abdul-Qadir gain influence over tribes throughout Algeria.

Notes
  1. Emerit 2010, pp. 18–19.
  2. Churchill, Charles Henry (1867). The life of Abdel Kader, ex-sultan of the Arabs of Algeria; written from his own dictation, and comp. from other authentic sources. By Colonel Churchill. London Chapman and Hall. p. 77.

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Further reading


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