Le Levant (The Middle East)

Native recruits for the French Army of the Levant, which included Syria and Lebanon during WWII.

In the Middle East, Syria and Lebanon were under French protectorate since 1920 and 1926 respectively, while Palestine and Transjordania were under British protectorate. As for what will be called later on the "Syria affair", it had began with a "coup d'état" in Iraq on April 1^st 1941, and It soon became evident that the chief instigator of the plot, Rachid Ali el-Gailani would not hesitate to call on the Axis forces for help. This situation was most dreadful in the eyes of the British because, not only was Mesopotamia a highly strategic area, but a large portion of its petroleum came from the Iraqi wells.  Indeed, Iraq cut the pipeline joining the wells of the Iraq Petroleum Company at Haifa in Palestine and sent the precious oil to Tripoli that was under French control. Taking into consideration the Vichy politic of collaboration with Germany, it was the same as handling the oil to the Axis forces. (It must be noted however that the British had drastically reduced the flow of the pipeline since June 25^th 1940.)

The French fighter arm consisted of only one unit that had arrived in Rayack in March 1940, equipped with Morane-Saulnier MS 406s. This unit could not take part in any combat, nor apply any tactics learned in the defeat of June 1940 and the armistice. What frustration it must have been for those airmen ready to fight but that could only participate in exercises! Many of them had firmly decided to continue the fight on the side of the English despite the disastrous effect of Mers el-Kébir.
The French command experienced many difficulties in keeping the pilots of GC 1/7 under the control of an Air force now belonging to a country open to a politic of collaboration with Germany. The future commandant of the group Normandie-Niemen, Captain Tulasne was a "deserter" from Rayack who took advantage of a training mission to escape. He was reported as lost at sea!
The situation in the Middle East soon became explosive. On order from Admiral Darlan, General Dentz the high Prefect of Syria, not only delivered French arms to Rachid Ali, but he also opened the Libano-Syrians airfields to the Luftwaffe.

On May 15^th 1941, the British opened the hostilities by attacking the French airfields, hoping to destroy the Luftwaffe's airplanes. The French Air Force of the Levant was reinforced with units that came from North Africa (they were even refueled and rearmed on their way at bases held by the Italians or the Germans). Adding to the troops in the Middle East that were in obedience with the legality of the Vichy regime, came those that also held resentment against the British, such as Lieutenant Cuffaut who had flown over the Mers el-Kébir harbor and witnessed the massacre. He had seen the English drop leaflets on the Homs airfield asking the French aviators not to fight, and yet the next day, airplanes with the same markings came back and attacked the GC 1/7 killing two pilots and two mechanics.

The strength of the French Air Force was not very powerful, but neither were the strength of the R.A.F. They were still flying the old Gloster "Gladiator" biplanes and Fairey "Fulmar", easy preys for the D-520s. The invasion of the Levant by the English troops reinforced with elements of the free French began on June 8^th 1941. At the beginning of the operations, the French Air Force was used to support the ground forces, using the bombers to attack the armors and the infantry along the Lebanese coastline, while the fighters strafed the English troops and the Glenn Martins attacked the British Fleet that was pounding the French in the Saïda area.

Blocked on all sides, the Vichy troops capitulated having refused all help from the Germans. The French Air force had engaged 279 airplanes and lost 179, most of them on the ground and not in aerial combat. With more than 3000 sorties, the French Air Force of the Levant had been very active, but with airplanes that could not compete.

The fate of the surviving airplanes was diverse; some went back to France, or North Africa, while others wound up equipping the F.A.F.L (Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres or free French Air Force).

FREE FRENCH IN SYRIA

The fall of Damascus to the Allies, late June 1941. A car carrying the Free French commanders, General Georges Catroux and General Paul Louis Le Gentilhomme, enters the city. They are escorted by French Gardes Tcherkess (Circassian cavalry).

Free French Forces served abroad. Volunteers from Syria were formed into the 1st Marine (Naval) Infantry, which was attached to the British 7th Armoured Division. These troops assisted in the capture of Tobruk, Libya, in January 1941. In December 1940, Colonel Raoul-Charles Magrin- Vernerey (a.k.a. Monclar) formed the Brigade d’Orient of 1,200 men from several units of infantry (including the 13th Demi- Brigade) and a horse cavalry squadron. The brigade fought in Eritrea from January to May 1941, the cavalry unit making the last French cavalry charge in history (against Italian cavalry).

On 25 May 1941, Major General Paul Louis Legentilhomme formed the 5,400-man 1st Free French Light Division from several units of French Legionnaires, Africans, and Arabs. On 8 June, operating with British Commonwealth forces, the division invaded Syria, meeting bitter resistance from Vichy forces there. The campaign ended on 11 July. Of the 38,000 Vichy troops in Syria, 5,331 (including 1,000 Legionnaires) joined the Free French; the remainder were allowed to return to France. On 20 August 1941, the Light Division was disbanded; with additional reinforcements, it became several independent brigade groups, some of which remained in Syria for garrison duties.

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Formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, after World War I Syria became a mandate of France. Following the defeat of France by Germany in June 1940, Syria was controlled by the Vichy government headed by Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain, which appointed General Henri Dentz as high commissioner with a cabinet headed by Khalid al Azm. Pétain ordered Dentz to allow landing rights in Syria for German and Italian aircraft on their way to support Radhid Ali’s regime in Iraq.

On 8 June 1941, Allied forces commanded by British Lieutenant General Maitland Wilson that included the British Ninth Army, Australian, and Major General Paul Legentilhomme’s Free French Forces, along with troops of the Transjordan Arab Legion, crossed from Palestine into Lebanon and Syria. By 15 June, they had reached the Syrian capital of Damascus, which fell on 21 June. On 13 July, Dentz and the Vichy French surrendered and the next day signed the Acre Convention. The fighting had claimed 4,500 Allied and 6,000 Vichy French casualties.

Syria was then turned over to the Free French authorities. The French recognized Syria’s independence but continued to occupy the country, which was used as an Allied base for the rest of the war. Free French Commander General Georges Catroux became Syria’s Delegate-General and Plenipotentiary. French authorities declared martial law, imposed strict press censorship, and arrested political subversives.

In July 1943, following pressure from Great Britain, France announced new elections. A nationalist government came to power that August, electing as president Syrian nationalist Shukri al-Quwwatti, one of the leaders of the 1925–1927 uprising against the French. France granted Syria independence on 1 January 1944, but the country remained under Anglo-French occupation for the remainder of the war. In January 1945, the Syrian government announced the formation of a national army, and in February it declared war on the Axis powers.

Syria became a charter member of United Nations in March 1945. In early May 1945, anti-French demonstrations erupted throughout Syria, whereon French forces bombarded Damascus, killing 400 Syrians. British forces then intervened. A United Nations resolution in February 1946 called on France to evacuate the country, and by 15 April, all French and British forces were off Syrian soil. Evacuation Day, 17 April, is still celebrated as a Syrian national holiday.