In late May 1921, Silvestre had his first inking of trouble, as he received reports that his supply columns he was sending up into the Rif were regularly being destroyed. As Silvestre had pushed his men very deep into the Rif, and his forts and "blocaos" held little in the way of food, the ambushes threatened to bring down the entire chain that Silvestre had built. On 29 May 1921, Silvestre wrote to Berenguer for the first time that the campaign against Krim might be more than a "mere kick in the pants" and that he needed more troops fast. However, in the words of Perry, "this stupid man" marched across the Amekran River to occupy the village Abaran on June 1, 1921. Most of the soldiers were "regulares" who promptly mutinied, murdered their Spanish officers and declared that they were now joining the "jihad" that Krim had proclaimed against the Spanish. After the debacle, Berenguer paid an emergency visit to Melilla to meet with Silvestre to "suggest" the latter to suspend his attempts to push over the Amekran River until Berenguer could "pacify" his zone south of Ceuta and start a supporting offensive from the west. Silvestre wanted to hear nothing of Berenguer's "suggestions" and said that unless he received a direct order to stop, he could continue his attempts to push Spanish power beyond the Amekran. Silvestre was so angry with the "suggestions" that he attempted to attack Berenguer and had to be restrained by the other officers. Though Berenguer continued to "suggest" to Silvestre caution in a steady stream of telegrams over the following days and advised no operations beyond the Amekran, he never ordered Silvestre to stop for fear of angering Silvestre's patron, Alfonso XIII, which meant that the stubborn Silvestre continued to press on.