Battles of La Güera and Tichla

Battle context

The Battles of La Güera and Tichla, fought between 10 and 22 December 1975, marked Mauritania's military entry into Western Sahara following the Madrid Accords, under which Spain agreed to partition the territory between Morocco and Mauritania. The Mauritanian Army moved into the southern zone allocated to it, but encountered armed resistance from Polisario Front guerrillas that proved sufficient to require intervention by the Royal Moroccan Army on Mauritania's behalf. Despite this early difficulty, by the close of 1975 Mauritania had established control over the southern half of the former Spanish colony of Río de Oro. The battles established the initial front of a conflict that would pit the two annexing states against the Polisario Front, and Mauritania's early dependence on Moroccan military support foreshadowed the strain the war would place on Nouakchott's limited armed forces throughout the subsequent years of the Western Sahara War.