Overview

• Spain’s Defense Ministry has no events scheduled for the 8 September centenary, even as coverage and new books revisit the 1925 operation.
• The Army sought to include the anniversary in 2025 efemérides and the Chief of Defence backed the request, but the Executive blocked it, according to La Razón; a PP senator called the decision lamentable.
• Historians Juan José Primo Jurado and Roberto Muñoz Bolaños say the omission reflects sensitivity toward Morocco and the Alaouite dynasty’s role in supporting the landing.
• Alhucemas is widely described as the first modern aeronaval amphibious assault under unified command and is commonly cited as an antecedent referenced by Normandy planners in 1944.
• The 1925 operation, led by Miguel Primo de Rivera with José Sanjurjo directing the beach landings and a young Francisco Franco commanding Legion units, transported roughly 13,000 troops and reported low assault casualties, and it shifted the Rif War’s course and boosted Franco’s rise.