First Battle of Amgala
1976 CE.
Shown on the map at 26.447°, -11.515°.
The First Battle of Amgala was fought between 27 and 29 January 1976 around the oasis of Amgala, Western Sahara, about 260 kilometres (160 mi) west of the border with Algeria. Units from the Algerian Army were attacked by units from the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces on the night of 27 January. The Algerians withdrew after fighting for 36 hours. However, the retaliation came fairly soon, between 13 and 15 February 1976 Polisario units defeated Moroccan troops in the second Battle of Amgala. Spanish Sahara was one of the last colonial possessions in Africa. Morocco had been fighting Spain for the liberation of this territory since 1957 after the Ifni war while Polisario Front, an organization of the local Sahrawi people, had been fighting for independence since its foundation on 1973. The United Nations had long called for a plebiscite on the future status of the colony, but in November 1975 Spain signed an agreement under which it was split between Morocco and Mauritania with no prior referendum. By January 1976 Morocco controlled most towns in their assigned sector. Thousands of Sahrawi nomads were fleeing east to Algeria. Algeria said their troops were providing food and medical sup
Text from the Wikipedia article First Battle of Amgala, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.