Fernando Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja

Fernando Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja (Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz) 30 July 1879 - Mount Arruit, Morocco, 5 August 1921) was a Spanish soldier, brother of the dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja and uncle of Falange’s founder José Antonio Primo de Rivera.

Early Life and Career
He entered the Cavalry School in Valladolid in 1898, excelling at both riding and fencing. He completed his training in the French Cavalry School in Saumur. In 1909 he married María Cobo de Guzmán.

Moroccan War
After various postings on the peninsula and being promoted to Captain, he was ordered to Melilla, commanding the 2nd Taxdirt hunters squadron. He received a commendation for the Cross of Military Merit for his actions in battle. In the same year, after taking the village of Ulad Garen, he was promoted to Commander and awarded the Cross of María Cristina. Like his brother Miguel, Fernando criticised the Spanish intervention in Morocco.

Desaster of Annual
In 1920, by then lieutenant colonel, he was sent to the Cavalry Hunter Regiment of Alcántara nº14 as second commander. It was then that the so-called Disaster of Annual occurred. On 22 July 1921, Primo de Rivera had deployed the regiment’s four sabre squadrons and its machine gun squadron (461 men: 22 officers and 439 troops) behind Izumar. The Regiment’s commander, colonel Francisco Manella Corrales, had moved to Annual three days earlier to relieve colonel Arguelles. The following day, Primo de Rivera, following orders received and leading his 2º squadron, two sections of the 4º and one of the 1º regiment of Alcántara, with a total of 192 riders, provided cover to the Spanish forces’ retreat from Chaif towards Dar Drius and subsequently towards Batel. During the retreat, his regiment repeatedly charges against the Riffian fighters, sustaining heavy losses. The charges during the crossing of the river Igan resulted in the loss of most of the horses, the soldiers having to continue charging on foot. In the end, the Cavalry Hunter Regiment of Alcántara lost 28 of its 32 officers and 523 of its 685 troops in the battle.

Death
Primo de Rivera was killed during the siege of Monte-Arruit on the 6th of August having been wounded by an enemy grenade shell while observing the cannon fire from the parapet.(Rafael Fernández López, De instituto psiquiátrico "La milagrosa" a base Primo de Rivera, "Vulgo Manicomnio" 1926-2007, Madrid: Cultiva Libros, 2014, 173, 9788416073825) His arm had to be amputated without anaesthesia due to the scarcity of resources available at their position and he succumbed shortly after to gangrene. For his actions in battle, Primo de Rivera was commended for the Laureate Cross of Saint Ferdinand, awarded posthumously in 1923.