Template:Did you know nominations/Battle of Sidi Bou Othman

Battle of Sidi Bou Othman

 * ... that in the Battle of Sidi Bou Othman, French Army Colonel Mangin (pictured) formed his 5,000 troops into a single large square with the artillery units placed at the center of the infantry formations?
 * Reviewed: Stefan Johansen

Created/expanded by Dr. Blofeld (talk), Nvvchar (talk),Walrasiad (talk). Nominated by Nvvchar (talk) at 16:25, 1 November 2012 (UTC)


 * Symbol confirmed.svg-Length, date, source, hook are fine.Smallman12q (talk) 13:48, 4 November 2012 (UTC)
 * * Contains several questionable statements. I am in the process of rewriting its content and adding more references.  Can promotion be held off until this is completed (prob. later today)? Walrasiad (talk) 16:26, 4 November 2012 (UTC)
 * Symbol question.svg Given the assertion of questionable statements, I think it's best that we put a hold on this, though the promised edits have not yet been made. BlueMoonset (talk) 04:20, 8 November 2012 (UTC)
 * Ouch. Nearly forgot this. The questionable statements relate to the French "occupying" Morocco in 1907 (they had some troops stationed in two cities) or that a war was raging for five years resulting in some "surrender" is quite misleading. Also there was no massacre occuring around this (I suppose the battle itself can be characterized as a massacre, given the lopsided losses, but there was no separate or surrounding massacre, as implied in the lede); also the "pincer movement" statement is rather strange, since the French were stretched along a line, and the column moved straight on Marrakesh, so not sure what that means. Al-Hiba was not a governor, nor did he nor his army make any march on Casablanca; he entrenched himself in Marrakesh; it was the French who came down from Casablanca to dislodge him. Not sure who compared it to Waterloo.  I am in the process of rewriting the whole thing with more details which, when finished, will probably be a 5x expansion.  Unfortunately, other matters have distracted and it's going to take me a few more days  So not sure if you want to promote this now or wait a little longer. Walrasiad (talk) 21:13, 17 November 2012 (UTC)
 * As long as it's a few more days, I think it's worth waiting for as the article will be made more accurate, and that's what we're looking for with DYK hooks appearing on the front page. Thanks. BlueMoonset (talk) 04:11, 18 November 2012 (UTC)
 * Done. Took a little longer than I expected. I ended up writing a huge amount, and had to reduce it to more manageable proportions, reserving much of the more detailed material for another article. As it is completely rewritten, it should probably be re-reviewed by a neutral reviewer. Walrasiad (talk) 23:04, 26 November 2012 (UTC)


 * Symbol redirect vote4.png Complete review needed now that article has been rewritten. BlueMoonset (talk) 01:32, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

Very impressive expansion by User:Walrasiad from 6,454 bytes on 4 November 2012, to 23,637 bytes as of 27 November 2012, with over a dozen brand new refs. I added ext. link to Google books preview confirming the hook. Good to go. Poeticbent talk  19:23, 9 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Cool. Can I get a credit in the nom line? Walrasiad (talk) 19:37, 9 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Done. — Maile (talk) 20:34, 9 December 2012 (UTC)