Syria

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• British Blenheims and Tomahawks raid Aleppo airfield in Vichy Syria, where a number of Italian CR-42 fighters and SM-79 transport aircraft had been observed during the attempt to help the pro-Axis Iraqi faction. By this time Australian, Free French, Indian, British, and Arab forces are poised to invade Syria-Lebanon from Palestine and from Iraq.

 

Vichy airfield under attack, June ‘41"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today]

• Operation Exporter

• Four separate Allied columns launch the invasion of Vichy Syria-Lebanon:

- Two understrength brigades of the 1re Division Légère Française Libre (1st Free French Light Division) and 13e Demi-Brigade de Légion Étrangère (Foreign Legion) advance from inland Palestine towards Damascus under Général de division Paul Legentilhomme. Vichy Colonel Philibert Collet had declared for De Gaulle in May and brought his three hundred Circassian cavalry with him. They will guide the Free French and Australian forces, and negotiate (usually unsuccessfully) with defending Vichy units.


Colonel Collet and his Circassian cavalry

- The Australian 7th Infantry Division minus one brigade (stuck at Tobruk) under Major General John Lavarack advances up the coast from Palestine towards Beirut.

- The Indian 10th Division under Major General William Slim advances from Iraq up the Euphrates towards Aleppo.

- The British 4th Cavalry Brigade and the Arab Legion under Major General John Clark advance from Iraq to take Palmyra and secure the oil pipeline from Haditha to Tripoli.

• Lieutenant General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson attempts to command the invasion from the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, but communications issues will force him to delegate command of each column to his field commanders. The Allies have 60 tanks and over a hundred aircraft.

• The Vichy Armée du Levant under Général d'armée Henri Dentz comprises two dozen regiments or partial regiments of French-led Senegalese, Algerian, Tunisian, Lebanese, Syrian, and Moroccan infantry, a half dozen artillery battalions, and 4 regiments of cavalry spread over a huge area, plus four battalions of 6e Régiment Étranger d'Infanterie.


Druze colonial troops under Vichy command in Syria-Lebanon. The Vichy have also have 90 light tanks and fewer than a hundred aircraft; more than half of them obsolete.

- At sea, the Allies have three cruisers, six destroyers, and one landing ship, opposed by two Vichy destroyers and three submarines.

- In initial air strikes, Hurricanes and Tomahawks attempt to destroy Martin 167 bombers (Marylands) of the 39e Escadrille at Rayat. French ace Pierre Le Gloan (who shot down eleven German and Italian aircraft in 1940) shoots down one Hurricane with his De-520. In the next thirty days he will shoot down six more Hurricanes and one Gladiator.


Pierre Le Gloan in his Dewoitine. Three Fairey Fulmars are also shot down by French fighters today and the French lose one MS-406.

- Forces invading from Iraq meet little opposition.

- The Free French forces penetrate deep into Syria. Reception among the Vichy is mixed. Some units take only token shots or don’t engage, while some fight bitterly, considering the Free French to be traitors.

- The stiffest resistance is along the coast. The Australians are halted by determined French troops in well chosen positions short of the bridge over the Litani River. An attempt by HMS Glengyle to land No.11 (Scottish) Commando behind the Vichy defenders fails due to heavy seas.

[BMA_FlyingShark]

Very interesting, thank you for the information.

 

Have a nice day.

 

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• The first P-40 is lost in combat when an RAF Tomahawk is downed by a French De-520.

• Elements of the Australian 7th Division take Merdjayoun, Lebanon. The French will counter-attack tomorrow and drive out the diggers, taking 80 prisoners. The Allies will only retake the town on the 24th after being reinforced by elements of Australian 6th Division.

- The stout resistance among the Vichy French has come as a nasty surprise to the Allies in Syria-Lebanon. When questioned, a wounded and captured French noncom will reply: “You thought we were yellow, didn’t you? You thought we couldn’t fight in France. You thought we were like the Italians. Well, we’ve shown you.”

Australian tankers in Syria 11 June 1941

 

Vichy French artillerymen in Syria"

 

[No105_Swoose]

I think it was in this fighting that famous Israeli general Moshe Dayan lost an eye and had to wear his trademark eyepatch 

[Cybermat47]

Just a pedantic nitpick, the Dewoitine fighter is called a ‘D.520’, not a ‘De-520’.

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Supporting a renewal of the drive by the Australian 7th Division towards Beirut, light cruisers Perth, Naiad, and Ajax bombard Vichy positions on the Lebanese coast.

 

HMAS Perth bombarding French positions

 

• Submarine HMS Torbay sights a caïque and schooner in the Aegean Sea between Andros and Euboea carrying German soldiers and supplies. Both are sunk by deck gun, after which Lieutenant Commander Anthony Miers orders all survivors in the water shot with the Lewis guns."

 

[HMS Torbay. Miers will receive an official reprimand. In 1942 he will be awarded the Victoria Cross for action in Corfu Harbor.]

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Submarine HMS Torbay spots four sailing caïques east of Kithira. They are carrying petrol, ammunition, food supplies, and 75 Bavarian mountain troops en route the German garrison on Crete. Torbay sinks one with the deck gun and the other three surrender. A party of Special Boat Service commandoes boards and sinks them with demolition charges. Lt-Commander Anthony Miers then orders the SBS marines to shoot the men in the water and on rafts. When they refuse, he orders his own crewmen to do so, threatening to have them shot for mutiny when they protest. Some of the men in the water (crew of the caïques) cry out that they are Greek. Torbay circles the survivors accounting for all except for a handful who feign death and are later rescued.

 

- Miers makes no attempt to conceal his actions, and will claim that the Germans tried to throw a grenade and shoot one of his officers with a rifle. He will be congratulated by his flotilla commander. Flag Officer Submarines Admiral Max Horton will write to First Sea Lord Dudley Pound:
 

• “As far as I am aware, the enemy has not made a habit of firing on personnel in the water or on rafts even when such personnel were members of the fighting services; since the incidents referred to in Torbay's report, he may feel justified in doing so.”

- The Admiralty will write a strongly worded letter to Miers instructing him not to repeat the practices of his last patrol.

 

Anthony “Crap” Miers. This patrol of Torbay is the only confirmed instance of war crimes committed by a British submarine. Miers will be awarded the DSO for his patrols in 1941, plus a Victoria Cross and a knighthood in 1942. He will ultimately reach the rank of Rear Admiral, and his medals are on display at the Imperial War Museum."

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• An armistice is signed between Général Henri Dentz on behalf of Vichy Syria-Lebanon, Lt-General Henry Maitland-Wilson for the Commonwealth, and Général Georges Catroux on behalf of Free France. Fewer than 5,700 Vichy troops will enlist with the Free French, with the majority being repatriated to Vichy. Henri Dentz will be found guilty in 1945 of collaboration with the Germans and sentenced to death. De Gaulle will commute this to life imprisonment."