The Battle of Tres Forcas was a battle on 7 August 1856 between boat crews from the

Prussian Navy The Prussian Navy (German: ''Preußische Marine''), officially the Royal Prussian Navy (German: ''Königlich Preußische Marine''), was the naval force of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1701 to 1867. The Prussian Navy was created in 1701 from the f ...

corvette SMS ''Danzig'' (then on a foreign cruise, commanded by Prince Adalbert of Prussia) and the

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

Riffians Riffians or Rifians (; singular: , ) are a Berber ethnic group originally from the Rif region of northeastern Morocco (includes the autonomous city of Spain, Melilla). Communities of Riffian immigrants are also found in southern Spain, Netherla ...

. It occurred at

Cape Tres Forcas Cape Three Forks, Cape des Trois Fourches, or Cape Tres Forcas is a headland on the Mediterranean coast of northeastern Morocco. Geography The cape is a large mountainous promontory of North Africa into the Mediterranean Sea. For centuries, this ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

, and was one of the first examples of Prussian or German

gunboat diplomacy In international politics, the term gunboat diplomacy refers to the pursuit of foreign policy objectives with the aid of conspicuous displays of naval power, implying or constituting a direct threat of warfare should terms not be agreeable to th ...

. The

Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France: Treaties 1200s and 1300s * Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade * Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France * Trea ...

of 1856 had decided that a Prussian warship should be deployed to the

River Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

's outlet into the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

and, on its way there, Prince Adalbert decided to explore the

Rif The Rif or Riff (, ), also called Rif Mountains, is a geographic region in northern Morocco. This mountainous and fertile area is bordered by Cape Spartel and Tangier to the west, by Berkane and the Moulouya River to the east, by the Mediterrane ...

coast of Morocco. There, four years earlier, on 7 December 1852, the Prussian warship ''Flora'' had been shot at by pirates, with one sailor killed and its captain injured. On 7 August 1856, Prince Adalbert manned two boats and deployed them along the coast. After the boats came under fire from the Riffians, ''Danzig'' moved to only 600 metres from the shore to give the boat crews supporting fire. Adalbert then ordered a landing operation by 14 officers and 53 non-commissioned officers, sailors, and marines, led by Adalbert in person. Around noon, he led a surprise attack on a steep rock face nearly 40 metres high under heavy enemy fire. This attack was successful and the Riffians were forced back to a plateau. However, they were also receiving continuous reinforcement, so Adalbert finally decided to withdraw, lest he and his troops become cut off from the shore. Prussian casualties were seven dead and 22 wounded, including Adalbert, shot in the thigh. A subscription from the whole Prussian Navy raised a monument to the dead of the battle in

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

in the form of an eagle, set up in 1863. Despite being a complete tactical failure, the landing and the courage of Adalbert and his sailors were praised for decades to come by the Prussian people and particularly within the

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

and German Imperial navies.

References

External links

Memorial Memorial plaque in Kiel
{{coord, 35, 26, 18, N, 2, 58, 28, W, display=title Tres Forcas 1856 in Morocco 1856 in Africa Prussian Navy Tres Forcas Tres Forcas