OPERATION EXPORTER 1941
BRITAIN'S INVASION OF VICHY SYRIA
[FOR OPART 300]

Date: June 8- July 12 1941
Location: Syria
Map Scale: 5km per hex
Time Scale: full-day turns
Unit Scale: Battalion/Regiment
Length: 35 Turns

UNIT COLORS:
AXIS
Vichy French: Dark Blue on Light Blue
Native Arab Battalions: Green on Light Blue
Circassian Allies: Yellow on Light Blue
Druze Allies: White on Light Blue
Germans: Grey on Grey
Turkish: Blue on Olive

COMMONWEALTH
British/Commonwealth: White on Brown
Free French: Dark Blue on Brown
Druze Allies: Yellow on Tan
Jewish Battalions: Black on Brown
Kurdish Allies: Green on Green



SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:
Possible German intervention, both Luftwaffe and Ground troops
Possible Turkish intervention
Druze Tribal revolt fomented by British SOE teams in Lebanon
Possible German Airborne invasion of Cyprus

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Since the fall of France in June 1940, the French Levant colonies (Lebanon and Syria) declared their allegiance to Vichy. The British were well aware of French sympathies in the Levant and maintained an uneasy peace with these territories until mid-1941. Rashid-Ali, an Iraqi Colonel, openly sided with the Axis, receiving some arms from the Vichy French in Syria. Vichy also ordered the High Commissioner in Damascus, Gen. Dentz to allow transshipment of German arms and aircraft through Syria to aid in the pro-axis revolt in Iraq during May 1941. This behavior alarmed British GHQ Cairo and CIGS London. With the current difficulties they were having in North Africa it comes as no surprise that they were not willing to tolerate German Luftwaffe aircraft in Syria. Gen. Dentz, not wishing to goad the British into invading the Levant ordered all German aircraft out of Syria and Lebanon by May 29. However, Gen. Dentz could not provide the British with guarantees that this would not happen again, on the contrary, he advised the US Consul in Damascus to advise the British that if he received orders from the German OKW to station Luftwaffe aircraft in the Levant again he would not countermand them. With no other choice, GHQ Cairo dusted off their plans for Operation Exporter (the invasion of Lebanon and Syria). After the successful suppression of the revolt in Iraq on May 30, GHQ Cairo ordered more troops sent to Palestine and Transjordan. With Gen. Wavell preparing plans for Operation Battleaxe, British resources were spread very thin. In fact, for Operation Exporter most units had to operate with less than 20% of their motor transport capacity. Gen. Wavell managed to scrape together the 7th Australian Division, 1st Free French Division, and several brigades of Indian troops. In addition, SOE teams mobilized the Kurds of northern Iraq and the Druze of Lebanon into fighting units. The invasion began at 4AM, June 8, 1941. By the fifth day, the Australians were stalled north of the Litani River in Lebanon, and the Free French were stalled 55 miles from Damascus. With Vichy Air units in command of the air until the RAF could release units from Operation Battleaxe, and the Vichy troops following Dentz's orders to fight to the death for the honour of France, it should come as no surprise that the invasion ground to a halt by June 14.  Not until late June when HABFORCE was sent from Baghdad into northeastern Syria, and the 21st Indian Brigade was sent from Mosul and also crossed into northeastern Syria was the invasion jumpstarted, this time with plenty of RAF support. After 5 weeks of hard fighting Damascus was occupied after fierce fighting. On July 12, Gen Dentz negotiated an armistice with the British. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

I wish to thank Simon Appleton for his wonderful assistance in providing me with the entire OOB and a detailed map for this scenario. Without his assistance I could not have made this scenario. Thanks Simon.

SOURCES:

IRAQ AND SYRIA 1941 by Geoffrey Warner 1974

Reports and Papers from the Foreign Office Confidential Print: Series B The Near and Middle East 1941

Dans la bataille de Mediterranee: Egypte-Levant-Afrique Du Nord 1940-1944 by Gen. Georges Catroux 1949

Wilson of Libya, Field-Marshal the Lord: Eight Years Overseas, 1939-1947 by Field-Marshal Wilson 1949


Scenario design by: Tim Hayes
