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The Allied invasion of Vichy Syria is often just a footnote in wider histories of the Middle East, but it was a significant month long battle that helped secure the northern flank of the wider Allied position in the area.
We start with a look at the cause of the campaign. After the fall of France most of the French Empire had sided with the Vichy government, including Syria, placing potentially hostile forces on the northern flank of the already vulnerable British position in the Middle East. While the Vichy French stayed neutral the British were happy to leave them alone, but after Rashid Ali’s coup in Iraq the Germans used airfields in Syria to support the Iraqis, making an Allied invasion of Syria almost inevitable.
Although the campaign didn’t last very long – just one month – it did include a number of unexpected setbacks for the invading Allies. The main reason for this is that the Allies hadn’t expected the Vichy French to put up serious resistance, so when they did just that it caught the Allies out.
The biggest surprise of the campaign is that the Vichy French were able to launch a genuinely threatening counterattack only a few days into the invasion, taking advantage of the slow progress of the central Allied prong. However the Allied commanders on the ground coped with the crisis well, took advantage of the success of the right prong of their attack and advanced towards Damascus, forcing the Vichy in the centre to retreat.
This is a well written account of a surprisingly complex campaign, which ended up involving far more Allied troops than originally expected, including troops coming from Iraq as well as the original forces from Palestine, a Naval contribution and sizable numbers of aircraft.
Chapters
Origins of the Campaign
Chronology
Opposing Commanders
Opposing Forces
Opposing Plans
The Campaign
Aftermath
Author: David Sutton
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 96
Publisher: Osprey
Year: 2022