Mohammed ben Mizzian (born as Mohammed Ameziane; 1 February 1897 – 1 May 1975) was a Moroccan marshal from Beni Ansar. During the Spanish Civil War he commanded a section of the Regulares Indígenas troops, who formed the shock troops of the Nationalist Army. Their fierceness in combat made them highly feared among Spanish Republican Army ranks. After holding many high military posts in Francoist Spain Mizzian reached the rank of Lieutenant General of the Spanish Army. Summoned by King Mohammed V, in 1957 he moved to Morocco following the independence of the country. In 1970, he was made a Field marshal and is the only person to have ever held that title in the Moroccan Army. Family Born on 1 February 1897 in Beni Ansar, son of Bel Qasem al-Zahrawi al-Mazzuji al-Qale'i, the caïd of the Mazzuja tribe, called by the Spanish Mizián "el Bueno" ("the Good One"). In Spain Trained at the Military Academy in Toledo, Spain, which he joined in 1913, he was patronized by King Alfonso XIII following his father's death. After graduating as a junior officer (alférez) Mizzian served for a long period in the Spanish army of the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco. He took part in 1921 in the Rif Wars against Abdelkrim. In 1923 he became a Captain and in 1925 a commander of the Spanish Colonial Army. During this time he established a deep friendship with Francisco Franco and once he even saved his life. Spanish Civil War At the time of the coup of July 1936 Mizzian was posted as commander of the II Tábor of Regulares 5, based at Segangan, about 20 km from Melilla. He promptly took the side of the rebel faction and in his first battle of the Spanish Civil War, he stormed the seaplane base of Atalayón in Melilla where the commanders had refused to join the rebellion. Even though the loyalist troops defending the post surrendered, the base commanders, Commander Virgilio Leret Rui and Second Lieutenants, Armando Gonzalez Corral and Luis Calvo Calavia, were nevertheless executed the following morning along with all the men of the garrison, their place of burial remaining unknown. Mizzian then moved with his Regulares to the Peninsula, where he zealously implemented General Mola's policy of instilling terror in Republican ranks. After the battle for Navalcarnero American historian John Thompson Whitaker wrote that among the Spanish Republican prisoners were two young