In the Riff

As rains fell all along the French front, the forces of le Marechal Petain took up impregnable positions fanning out toward the Mediterranean from Kifane to a distance of some 20 miles. At the extreme northeast tip of the fan, French troops were reported to be in contact near Syan with a Spanish force (see SPAIN) which had advanced thither from Ajdir.

At the French Military headquarters great satisfaction was expressed over the precision with which Petain's forces have recently gained their objectives. The whole campaign which has been evolving recently in the Kifane sector is now declared to be a model for future French tactics in African warfare, and Petain is credited by observers with having employed unwieldly modern military equipment to the best possible advantage on a front where all modern methods of transportation by rail or water are nonexistent.

Having sustained a wound in the left cheek which will require a special surgical operation to save the sight of his left eye, Lieut. Col. Charles Kerwood, second in command of the Sherifian Escadrille, journeyed recently to Paris in search of expert medical attention. He is the first Sherifian to return to Paris, although during the rainy season in the Riff which is now commencing, it is understood that a two months' leave of absence from Morocco will be taken by a number of the American aviators.

Lieut. Col. Kerwood is reported to have hotly denied that the Sherifians make use of U. S. uniforms or insignia. He declared that they wear a special variation of the French Colonial uniform and "wear the American eagle on a special button dissimilar to that on U. S. Army uniforms."