The Syrian Show Begins

Faced with a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't choice of action when Nazis began occupying the Aleppo, Palmyra and Damascus airfields in French-mandated Syria, the British made a quick decision. They chose to be damned-for-doing.

To invade Syria with the forces available from the Middle East Command--in face of the Nazis' well-proved winged might--was risk enough. There was the added risk that the invasion would give the Germans an argument to force Vichy to send the remains of the French Fleet against the British. But to let Syria fall into the Nazis' lap without a struggle would have been a strategic and political disaster for which the Churchill Government dared not take responsibility. This time the British effort might again be too little, but at least it would not be too late.

In the middle of a starry desert night, General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson poked a three-pronged drive into Syria. One prong from Palestine aimed up the coast at Beirut, Syria's No. i port; another from Amman in Trans-Jordan through the mountainous Druse district towards Damascus; the third from Iraq up the Euphrates Valley toward Deir-ez-Zor, one of the most important French garrisons in the country. Royal Navy units gathered off the coast and opened fire, R.A.F. bombers punched hard at airfields.

Keystone Contention. Syria, slightly smaller than Nebraska, is the keystone of the whole Middle East. Firmly established there, the Germans could: 1) complete the encirclement of Turkey; 2) march on to Iraq and its oil fields; 3) execute a super-colossal grand slam on Palestine, Trans-Jordan and the Suez Canal, which, coupled with a drive from Libya, would chase the British out of the Mediterranean Theater. As it stood, the Germans had already bypassed Cyprus.

For the past several weeks it has been clear that the Germans have been giving the keystone plenty of attention. This time they varied somewhat the play acting that goes with standard Nazi infiltration. Instead of the usual hocus-pocus about being "tourists," they assumed new roles. A large number were reported to have debarked at Beirut from a hospital ship as fake-wounded, bandaged, limping and laughing. Others, blond, husky, erect, entered via Turkey under bogus passports as refugee Rumanian Jews, their suitcases marked with large Js. At Aleppo, German officers were strutting about in shorts, apparently made up as sportsmen. It seemed there they were also miming French pilots. A group of French fighters which brought down a British bomber were said to have been Nazi-manned.

These spurious itinerants, helped by airborne troops from Rhodes, took over from the French the Syrian airfields. They also enlarged the landing stage at Latakia. Syria's northernmost port.

Curious Coincidence. History never repeats itself verbatim, but it sometimes plagiarizes itself. In 1918 Syria was owned by the Turks. The man who rolled it up for the British that fall was General Sir Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, and he threw a three-pronged spear: one prong aimed at Beirut, two prongs at Damascus. In 38 days the three prongs joined in victory at Aleppo. Serving under Allenby was brilliant, 35-year-old Brigadier Archibald Percival Wavell, who went on to write his military master's life and follow in his footsteps as Commander in Chief of the British Imperial Forces in the Middle East. Now Wavell is General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson's master.

General Wilson is said to be using three to four divisions at present in the Syrian campaign, plus an unknown number of native troops, perhaps 400 planes. Part of his forces are De Gaullist Free French under General Georges Catroux, who opened hostilities by proclaiming independence for Syria and Lebanon and then sent his men into Djebel Druse, home of the rough & tough Druses, who hate the Vichy French and are expected to join the Allies.

Also helping the Allies will be colorful General Philibert Collet, who escaped into Trans-Jordan recently with bloodthirsty detachments of Circassian and Ismaili tribesmen. Vichy authorities had suspected him of De Gaullist leanings and dispatched him away from the border to Damascus. Mme. Collet took a room in a Damascus hotel in her husband's name and a junior officer was stationed there to answer phone calls until she and the General could make their getaway. At the frontier, guarded by quick-firing Senegalese, Mme. Collet stepped on the gas of her husband's car, hooted the horn and sped over. Impressed by the noise, the native corporal called the guard to attention and solemnly presented arms.

Cracked colorful General Collet: "That was surely the first time a man, soon to be condemned to death, received an official salute."

The Vichy French forces who will defend Syria number about 45,000, no more than a third of whom are white. They are said to be short of equipment, oil (since the British took Mosul) and morale. The invading British began to test this alleged morale shortage by first giving towns and garrisons a chance to surrender, turning the heat on if they would not.

While the top French officers in Syria were reported pro-Vichy, the younger officers and lower ranks were believed pro-Free France. Just prior to the British jump-off, General Henri Dentz, the Syrian High Commissioner, was yelping to Vichy for loyal aviators and anti-aircraft crews: "Germans, if necessary." General Dentz has been wrathful about the British ever since he had to turn over Paris to the Germans last June.

Vichy denied there were any German troops in Syria. Marshal Henri Philippe Petain bleated foul blow and declared the hopes of France were with the defending forces.

The German counter to the invasion did not come at once. Last week the Nazis confined their outward Middle Eastern activity to bombing Alexandria twice, killing 500, making 50,000 flee the city on trucks, bicycles, goat carts. The Axis even went so far as to announce that the Syrian campaign was entirely a fight between the former Allies. It was that, but plenty more besides.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.