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279-405: [REDACTED]   Vichy France Asia-Pacific Mediterranean and Middle East Other campaigns Coups 1941 1942 1944 1945 The Syria–Lebanon campaign , also known as Operation Exporter , was the invasion of Syria and Lebanon (then controlled by Nazi Germany ) in June and July 1941 by British Empire forces, during the Second World War . On 1 April 1941, after

558-410: A strafing run by Tomahawks of 3 Squadron RAAF, on Homs airfield, destroyed five Dewoitine D.520s of Fighter Squadron II/3 ( Groupe de Chasse II/3 ) and damaged six more. On 10 July, five D.520s attacked Bristol Blenheim bombers of 45 Squadron RAF, which were being escorted by seven Tomahawks from 3 Squadron RAAF. The French pilots claimed three Blenheims but at least four D.520s were destroyed by

837-581: A "unattractive" city that had been badly damaged by Japanese bombing . Wavell called Chiang "not a particularly impressive figure" who was only interested in grand strategy in Asia and had no interest in Burma despite the importance of the Burma Road in keeping China supplied with arms. Chiang did not speak English and his American educated wife Soong Mei-ling served as his translator. Wavell reported to London that he had

1116-559: A "weekly waffle" from August 1939 onward was Sir Miles Lampson , the Ambassador to Egypt, who was regarded as the senior British official in the Middle East. Lampson described Wavell as shy and reserved, but "that when one gets to know him better, he is rather a good fellow". On 18 August 1939 in a conference held abroad the battleship HMS Warspite in Alexandria harbour, Wavell first held

1395-482: A British claim of 8,912 casualties of all natures. The Vichy Air Force lost 179 aircraft, most destroyed on the ground, the navy lost one submarine and 5,668 men defected to the Free French. The armistice agreement led to the repatriation to France of 37,563 military and civilian personnel in eight convoys, consisting of three hospital ships and a "gleaner" ship, from 7 August to 27 September. Prisoners taken by

1674-813: A German offensive in Libya on the basis of Hitler's orders to Erwin Rommel of the Afrika Korps in February 1941 to only defend the Italian colony of Libya lest its loss bring down the Fascist regime in Italy. However, Rommel was determined to launch an unauthorised offensive to win himself glory. Wavell had broken up the British XIII Corps by sending the 4th Indian Division to Ethiopia and

1953-540: A German offensive. The British stopped their advance into Libya at El Agheila while the 7th Armoured Division was returned to Egypt to be replaced by the 2nd Armoured Division. In early 1941, the 6th British Division was training in Egypt for amphibious operations for an invasion of Rhodes as Churchill hoped that seizing the Italian Dodecanese islands might bring Turkey into the war. The Greeks had committed most of

2232-657: A South African division fighting in Egypt would win the Afrikaners over to supporting the war and told Wavell to supply the South African division out of his supplies. Wavell responded on 27 January 1941 that the main limits on his forces were logistical and he needed more transport vehicles. Wavell also complained that stockpiling supplies for the planned invasion of Rhodes was forcing him to hold back on supplies for North Africa. By February 1941, Wavell's Western Desert Force under Lieutenant-General Richard O'Connor had defeated

2511-713: A Vichy Martin 167F bomber over the British Mandate of Palestine on 6 June. While German interest in the French mandates of Syria and Lebanon was limited, Adolf Hitler permitted reinforcement of the French troops by allowing French aircraft en route from Algeria to Syria to fly over Axis-controlled territory and refuel at the German-controlled Eleusina air base in Greece . The activity of German aircraft based in Greece and

2790-415: A battleship and an aircraft carrier had been badly damaged. The British Mediterranean fleet's losses off Crete meant that there was no immediate prospect of Britain regaining command of the central Mediterranean, and Egypt would still have to be supplied via the long route around Africa. The Germans had been outraged that the civilian population of Crete had joined in the defence as the idea of women fighting

3069-499: A ceasefire and France withdrew from Syria the following year. Vichy France Vichy France ( French : Régime de Vichy ; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ( État français ), was the French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II . It was named after its seat of government, the city of Vichy . Officially independent, but with half of its territory occupied under

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3348-592: A clear strategy in London about precisely he should have been doing. On 21 June 1940 upon hearing of the French surrender, Wavell sent out an order of the day to the British and Australian troops under his command reading: "Our gallant French allies have been overwhelmed after a desperate struggle and have been compelled to ask for terms. The British Empire will of course continue the struggle until victory has been won. Dictators fade away. The British Empire never dies". Wavell had

3627-586: A convoy codenamed Tiger to once again send tanks to Egypt via the shorter, but more dangerous Mediterranean route rather the long route around Cape of Good Hope . In early June Wavell sent a force under General Wilson to invade Syria and Lebanon , responding to the help given by the Vichy France authorities there to the Iraq Government during the Anglo-Iraqi War . Initial hopes of a quick victory faded as

3906-598: A counter-insurgency campaign against the Palestinian fedayeen (guerrillas) who had risen up in 1936. Wavell refused to proclaim martial law under the grounds that he did not have enough troops to enforce it. Wavell was opposed to Zionism and thought that the Balfour Declaration had been a mistake as the promise of British support for a "Jewish national home" in Palestine led to militant anti-British feelings throughout

4185-586: A coup in Baghdad and installed the pro-Axis Rashid Ali al-Gaylani as the new prime minister of Iraq. King Farouk of Egypt leaned into a pro-Axis neutrality and because of the uncertain attitude of the Egyptian Army, Wavell was forced to keep one of the Australian divisions intended for Greece in Egypt. Wavell suspected with good reason that Farouk was in contact with German and Italian agents, and that Egypt would join

4464-446: A diplomatic mission to the Middle East in late June 1941. Harriman described Wavell to Roosevelt as "a man of true integrity and a true leader". Rommel rated Wavell highly, despite Wavell's lack of success against him. Of Wavell, Auchinleck wrote: "In no sense do I wish to infer that I found an unsatisfactory situation on my arrival – far from it. Not only was I greatly impressed by the solid foundations laid by my predecessor, but I

4743-559: A division in Iraq to take command of its principal formation, Burma Corps . Nevertheless, the pressure from the Japanese Armies was unstoppable and a withdrawal to India was ordered which was completed by the end of May before the start of the monsoon season which brought Japanese progress to a halt. On 8 March 1942, the Japanese took Rangoon. The Japanese advance into southeast Asia along with

5022-837: A division-sized force across the desert from Palestine to relieve RAF Habbaniya and to assume control of troops in Iraq. Churchill nearly sacked Wavell on 6 May 1941 when he at first refused an order to march into Iraq. During the Iraq campaign, the Vichy premier Admiral François Darlan , gave the Germans transit rights to send their forces to Iraq across Syria. When he learned of this Churchill wanted to allow Free French forces to invade Syria at once, but Wavell advised that Free French forces were too small to invade Syria without British help. On 18 May 1941, General Georges Catroux met with Wavell in Cairo to urge him to invade Syria, claiming that Darlan had signed

5301-576: A formal parade, I put on the kilt I created a veritable sensation. I was impressed from the first with the Russian soldier, with his hardihood, physique, marching powers and discipline. But the lack of education of many of the regimental officers was noticeable. After the Second Moroccan crisis of 1911, Wavell become convinced that a war with Germany was likely and that closer Anglo-Russian ties would be needed. Wavell reported to London that many elements in

5580-436: A frontier that would be recognised by all of the major powers. Since Hitler's overall territorial ambitions were not limited to recovering Alsace-Lorraine, and Britain was never brought to terms, those peace negotiations never took place. The Nazis had some intention of annexing a large swath of northeastern France , replacing that region's inhabitants with German settlers, and initially forbade French refugees from returning to

5859-749: A lack of equipment. In addition, the " Quit India " protests launched in August 1942 overwhelmed the police forces, and Wavell was forced to send out Indian Army troops as an aid to civil power in several provinces to uphold the authority of the Raj. In order to wrest some of the initiative from the Japanese, Wavell ordered the Eastern Army in India to mount an offensive in the Arakan , starting in September 1942. After some initial success

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6138-457: A meeting in Cairo on 19 February 1941 attended by Wavell, Dill, Eden and Donovan during which Donovan strongly stressed that American public opinion would be strongly impressed by an expedition to Greece, which Donovan stated would improve the odds of Congress passing the Lend-Lease bill. On 20 February 1941, another meeting in Cairo attended by Dill, Wavell and Eden ended with the conclusion "there

6417-727: A meeting with Admiral Andrew Cunningham , the GOC of the British Mediterranean fleet and Air Marshal William Mitchell , the GOC of RAF Middle East to discuss the plans to be executed if the Danzig crisis should turn to war. Wavell was a frequent visitor to Alexandria as Cunningham chose to command the Mediterranean fleet from the Warspite . Because of the "limited liability" doctrine which governed British defence spending, Wavell's Middle East command

6696-639: A military observer with the Russian Army to learn Russian, returning to his regiment in December of that year. In September 1911, Wavell attended the annual war games of the Imperial Russian Army. He reported to London: It was my first acquaintance with the Russian Army and practically the first acquaintance of the Russian Army with a British officer for many years...So I was quite a novelty and when for

6975-564: A month of taking charge he launched Iraqforce to invade Persia in co-operation with the Russians in order to secure the oilfields and the lines of communication to the Soviet Union . In the summer and fall of 1941, many British officials expected the Soviet Union to be defeated that year. Wavell's initial concern was that the Soviet Union would be defeated and that Germany would advance though

7254-576: A navy sufficient to occupy France's overseas territories, Hitler's only practical recourse to deny the British the use of those territories was to maintain France's status as a de jure independent and neutral nation and to send a message to Britain that it was alone, with France appearing to switch sides and the United States remaining neutral. However, German espionage against France after its defeat intensified greatly, particularly in southern France. As per

7533-443: A new constitution of the French state. This constitution must guarantee the rights of labour, of family and of the homeland. It will be ratified by the nation and applied by the assemblies which it has created. The Constitutional Acts of 11 and 12 July 1940 granted to Pétain all powers (legislative, judicial, administrative, executive and diplomatic) and the title of "head of the French state" ( chef de l'État français ), as well as

7812-419: A new constitution. Although Laval said on 6 July that "parliamentary democracy has lost the war; it must disappear, ceding its place to an authoritarian, hierarchical, national and social regime", the majority trusted Pétain. Léon Blum, who voted no, wrote three months later that Laval's "obvious objective was to cut all the roots that bound France to its republican and revolutionary past. His 'national revolution'

8091-401: A northern front at a time when all available resources were needed to halt Axis advances from the west. On 1 April 1941, after a coup d'état , Iraq, on the eastern border of Syria, came under the control of nationalists led by Rashid Ali , who was willing to appeal for German support. The Anglo-Iraqi War (2–31 May 1941) led to the installation of a pro-British government. British forces to

8370-587: A number of other responsibilities besides for reopening the Burma Road. The fact that Stilwell feuded endlessly with Chiang, whom he called "the Peanut" caused problems for Wavell as it was never entirely clearly that just how much control Stilwell actually exercised over the Chinese armies under his command. Wavell was strongly critical of Churchill's decision to give priority to the strategic bombing offensive against Germany , which he complained left his command deprived of

8649-553: A one-party state, maintained the Tricolor and other symbols of republican France and, unlike many on the far right, was not an anti-Dreyfusard . Pétain excluded fascists from office in his government, and by and large, his cabinet comprised "February 6 men" (members of the "National Union government" formed after the 6 February 1934 crisis after the Stavisky Affair ) and mainstream politicians whose career prospects had been blocked by

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8928-457: A press conference where he told the assembled British and Australian journalists: Gentleman, I asked you to come here this morning to let you know that we have attacked in the Western Desert. This is not an offensive and I do not think you ought to describe it as an offensive. You might call it an important raid. The attack was made early this morning and I had word a hour ago that the first of

9207-533: A proposal to seek armistice terms from Germany with the understanding that if Germany set forth dishonourable or excessively-harsh terms, France would retain the option to continue to fight. General Charles Huntziger , who headed the French armistice delegation, was told to break off negotiations if the Germans demanded the occupation of all of Metropolitan France, the French fleet, or any of the French overseas territories. The Germans did not, however, make any of those demands. Prime Minister Reynaud favoured continuing

9486-521: A rather pompous, long-winded, old-fashioned" entry in the war as he was surprised that the United Kingdom had not declared war on the Reich the previous day. On 3 September 1939, Britain declared war on Germany and Wavell immediately put the British forces in the Middle East on the highest state of alert. Wavell's first action was to order General Richard O'Connor , the GOC of the 7th British Division (which

9765-509: A request that was granted by Menzies, who insisted for domestic political reasons that the three Australian divisions be kept together. Menzies argued that the Australian people needed to see their forces fighting together for Australia and keeping the Australian divisions apart would make it seem like Australia was only serving British interests. The British had broken the Luftwaffe codes and both Wavell and Churchill believed that there would not be

10044-468: A secret agreement with Hitler for the Reich to occupy Syria and that Vichy forces were withdrawing into Lebanon as the prelude for the hand-over. Besides de Gaulle and Catroux, Major-General Edward Spears , with whom Churchill enjoyed warmer personal relations than de Gaulle, was also lobbying Wavell for an invasion of Syria. In the Battle of Crete German airborne forces attacked on 20 May and as in Greece,

10323-491: A series of German attacks between 11 and 18 April 1941. With the Germans stopped outside Tobruk, Wavell returned to Greece on 19 April 1941, where he found a chaotic situation as Greek Prime Minister Alexandros Koryzis had committed suicide on 18 April. On 20 April 1941, Wavell met with King George II of Greece and gained his approval for the evacuation. Wavell ruled that Piraeus could not be used because of Luftwaffe air superiority and instead Force W would have to leave via

10602-524: A spy in the staff of the Afrika Korps , and that Wavell was amiss in not using the intelligence from the alleged spy better. The British historian David Reynolds wrote that Churchill "seems not to have understood" that the British had the advantage in strategic intelligence as they could read some of the German codes, but that the Germans had better tactical intelligence as the Afrika Korps made better maps and

10881-758: A staff officer (GSO1), as liaison officer with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force headquarters. In January 1918 Wavell received a further staff appointment as an assistant adjutant and quartermaster-general (AA&QMG) working at the Supreme War Council in Versailles . In late March Wavell was made a temporary brigadier general although this only lasted for a few days before reverting to his previous rank, only to be promoted once again to temporary brigadier general in April, making him, at just 34, one of

11160-704: A strong German offensive down the Monastir gap could outflank both the Metaxas line and the Aliakmon line, but he concluded that the 16 divisions of the Yugoslav Royal Army should be able to delay the Germans in Yugoslav Macedonia (modern North Macedonia ) for some time. Wavell's staff officers led by Freddie de Guingand stated that Britain did not have sufficient troops to defend Greece, and favoured an advance to drive

11439-572: A strong belief in the British Empire, and throughout his career he made references to serving the empire as the motivating force for his military career as despite being a career soldier that he maintained that he did not particularly like war. In July 1940, Wavell went to Khartoum where the Emperor Haile Selassie had set up a government-in-exile and Wavell discussed plans with the emperor for British support for Ethiopian guerrillas. During

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11718-466: A vigorous defence of Syria but, on 10 July, as the 21st Australian Brigade was on the verge of entering Beirut , the French sought an armistice. At one minute past midnight on 12 July, a ceasefire came into effect and ended the campaign. The Armistice of Saint Jean d'Acre (Convention of Acre ) was signed on 14 July at the Sidney Smith Barracks on the outskirts of the city. While the surrender

11997-437: A visit to London, Wavell first met the prime minister Winston Churchill on 12 August 1940. After the meeting, Eden wrote in his diary that Churchill called Wavell a "good, average colonel" and the sort of a man who would make for a good chairman of a local Conservative Party constituency association in the suburbs of London (not a compliment on Churchill's part). Wavell did not enjoy the confidence of Churchill who felt he

12276-591: The Armée de l'air had 90 aircraft (increasing to 289 aircraft after reinforcement) and the Marine nationale ( French Navy ) had two destroyers , Guépard and Valmy as well as one sloop, Élan , and three submarines. On 14 May 1941, a Royal Air Force (RAF) Bristol Blenheim bomber crew flying a reconnaissance mission over Palmyra , in central Syria, spotted a Junkers Ju 90 transport taking off, with more German and Italian aircraft seen later that day. An attack on

12555-534: The Banque nationale pour le commerce et l'industrie (National Bank for Trade and Industry). Moscow maintained full diplomatic relations with the Vichy government until 30 June 1941, when they were broken by Vichy expressing support for Operation Barbarossa , the German invasion of the Soviet Union. In response to British requests and sensitivities of the French-Canadian population , Canada, despite being at war with

12834-528: The 3rd Infantry Division , until July 1930 when he was given command of 6th Infantry Brigade with the temporary rank of brigadier. In March 1932, he was appointed aide-de-camp (ADC) to King George V , a position he held until October 1933 when he was promoted to Major-General. However, there was a shortage of jobs for Major-Generals at this time and in January 1934, on relinquishing command of his brigade, he found himself unemployed on half pay once again. By

13113-653: The 4th Cavalry Brigade and the Arab Legion , under John Glubb (Glubb Pasha). Commando and raiding operations were undertaken by No. 11 (Scottish) Commando from Cyprus , as well as Palmach paramilitary and Mista'arvim squads from Mandatory Palestine. Air support was provided by squadrons from the RAF and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Ground forces on the coast were supported by bombardments from Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) units of

13392-452: The 5th Indian Infantry Brigade ( 4th Indian Infantry Division ) with artillery, engineers and other support services attached to form the 5th Indian Brigade Group. In northern and central Syria, Iraq Command (Lieutenant-General Sir Edward Quinan ) was used in the campaign to attack from the east, consisting of the 10th Indian Infantry Division , elements of the 17th Indian Infantry Brigade ( 8th Indian Infantry Division ) and Habforce ,

13671-595: The 6th Australian Division as high-quality divisions, which like the 7th Armoured Division were to greatly distinguish themselves in the fighting in Africa. At a conference in Khartoum with the South African prime minister, Jan Smuts , Wavell came under strong pressure to invade Italian East Africa as soon as possible as Smuts expressed fears of an Italian conquest of Kenya, and then of Northern Rhodesia (modern Zambia) and Southern Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe). Smuts also demanded that

13950-522: The 6th Infantry Division (with the Czechoslovak 11th Infantry Battalion–East attached to the 23rd Infantry Brigade ) and the 17th Australian Brigade . In mid-June, the division with its two infantry brigades came into the line as reinforcements, mainly on the Damascus front, and the southern force was placed under the command of the 1st Australian Corps on 19 June. At the beginning of Operation Exporter,

14229-418: The Afrika Korps would probably be able to take Alexandria and without Tobruk it could not. On 8 April 1941, Wavell personally visited Tobruk to inspect its defence. The first combat with the Wehrmacht in Greece occurred on 9 April 1941 as the unmobilised and thinly spread Royal Yugoslav Army was promptly defeated and the German XXXX Panzer Corps having smashed way into Yugoslav Macedonia turned south though

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14508-444: The Axis launched Operation Anton , occupying southern France and disbanding the strictly limited " Armistice Army " that Vichy had been allowed by the armistice. Vichy's claim to be the legitimate French government was denied by Free France and by all subsequent French governments after the war. They maintain that Vichy was an illegal government run by traitors , having come to power through an unconstitutional coup d'état . Pétain

14787-504: The Axis powers from using the Syrian Republic and French Lebanon as bases for attacks on Egypt , during an invasion scare in the aftermath of the Axis victories in the Battle of Greece (6–30 April 1941) and the Battle of Crete (20 May – 1 June). In the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) in North Africa, the British fought Operation Battleaxe to end the siege of Tobruk and the East African Campaign (10 June 1940 – 27 November 1941) in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The French conducted

15066-466: The Battle of Java Sea , and on 12 March 1942 the Dutch governor of Java signed the instrument of surrender. After the fall of Singapore, Wavell commented to Alan Brooke , the new CIGS, that if only the defenders of Malaya had held out for a month longer, it would have be possible to defend Singapore along with the Dutch East Indies. On 23 February British forces in Burma had suffered a serious setback when Major-General Jackie Smyth 's decision to destroy

15345-449: The Battle of the Litani River , rough seas kept commandos from landing along the coast on the first day of battle. On 9 June 1941, the French destroyers Valmy and Guépard fired on the advancing Australians at the Litani River before being driven off by shore-based artillery-fire. The French destroyers then exchanged fire with the British destroyer HMS  Janus . The Royal New Zealand Navy light cruiser HMNZS  Leander came to

15624-404: The British Expeditionary Force as General Staff Officer Grade 2 (GSO2), but shortly afterwards, in November 1914, was appointed brigade major of 9th Infantry Brigade . He was wounded in the Second Battle of Ypres of 1915, losing his left eye and winning the Military Cross . In October 1915 he became a GSO2 in the 64th Highland Division. In December 1915, after he had recovered, Wavell

15903-464: The Chief of the Imperial General Staff General Sir John Dill was in Cairo, during which time Wavell changed his views on the proposed Greek expedition. Wavell's volte-face on the Greek expedition seems to have been motivated partly out by the belief that with German forces massing in Bulgaria with the clear intention of invading Greece it was a matter of British honour to respect the "guarantee" of Greece made on 13 April 1939 and do something to help

16182-409: The Dodecanese Italian Islands of the Aegean was interpreted by the British as support for Vichy troops, but although Dentz briefly considered accepting German assistance, he rejected the offer on 13 June. By the end of the Anglo-Iraqi War, all 14 of the original German Messerschmitt Bf 110 aircraft sent to Syria and five Heinkel He 111 and a large number of transport aircraft had been destroyed by

16461-543: The First Sea Lord Admiral Dudley Pound and the Chief of the Air Staff Sir Charles Portal , all spoke in favour of the expedition, but protected themselves from any future criticism by citing Wavell's opinion as the primary reason for their approval. Menzies, who attended the War Cabinet, felt that there was a lack of discussion about the merits of the Greek expedition. After visiting Ankara to meet President İsmet İnönü , Eden and Dill returned to Athens on 2 March 1941 to find that Alexandros Papagos had refused to redeploy

16740-441: The Great Depression . Beyond that, to justify both the armistice with Germany and the Révolution nationale , Vichy needed to portray the French declaration of war on Germany as a hideous mistake and the French society under the Third Republic as degenerate and rotten. The Révolution nationale together with Pétain's policy of la France seule ("France alone") were meant to "regenerate" France from la décadence , which

17019-426: The Horn of Africa led to the Emperor Haile Selassie returning to his throne and the surrender of 100,000 Italian soldiers under the command of the Duke of Aosta . Benito Mussolini had claimed the conquest of Ethiopia in 1936 as his greatest accomplishment, and the liberation of Ethiopia in 1941 was a great blow to the prestige of the Fascist regime. On 11 April 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced that

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17298-476: The Iraqi coup d'état , Iraq was controlled by Iraqi nationalists led by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani , who appealed for Italian and German support. The Anglo-Iraqi War (2–31 May 1941) led to the overthrow of the Ali regime and the installation of a pro-British government. During this conflict, Admiral François Darlan allowed German aircraft to use Vichy airfields in Syria for attacks against the British in Iraq. The British invaded Syria and Lebanon in June to prevent

17577-608: The Mediterranean Fleet . At the beginning, Air Commodore L. O. Brown, the Air officer commanding (AOC) HQ RAF Palestine and Transjordan had the understrength 11 Squadron (Blenheim Mk IV), 80 Squadron , re-equipping with Hawker Hurricanes , 3 Squadron RAAF, converting to Curtiss Tomahawks , 208 (Army Co-operation) Squadron with a flight of Hurricanes and X Flight ( Gloster Gladiators ). A detachment of Fleet Air Arm (FAA) 815 Naval Air Squadron ( Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers) in Cyprus and 84 Squadron (Blenheims) in Iraq were to co-operate. British forces in reserve included

17856-426: The Rethymno airfield. General Kurt Student , the commander of the Fallschirmjäger , nearly cancelled Operation Mercury as reports of the German failures come in, but Hitler insisted on continuing the operation. The Allied successes against the elite Fallschirmjäger at Heraklion and Rethymno were especially striking as Freyberg continued to regard these landings as a diversion and kept the majority of his forces on

18135-477: The Second Boer War and Lillie Wavell (née Percival), Wavell attended Eaton House , followed by the leading preparatory boarding school Summer Fields near Oxford , Winchester College , where he was a scholar, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst . His headmaster, Dr. Fearon, had advised his father that there was no need to send him into the Army as he had "sufficient ability to make his way in other walks of life". After graduating from Sandhurst, Wavell

18414-498: The Vichy Minister of War , sent orders to Henri Dentz , the High Commissioner for the Levant , to allow aircraft of the German Luftwaffe and the Italian Regia Aeronautica to refuel in Syria. Marked as Iraqi aircraft, Axis aircraft under Fliegerführer Irak landed in Syria en route to the Kingdom of Iraq during the Anglo-Iraqi War. Darlan, a confirmed Anglophobe, allowed the German and Italian aircraft to use Syrian airfields partly because of attacks on Vichy French ships by

18693-435: The Western Desert in April 1941. He served as Commander-in-Chief, India , from July 1941 until June 1943 (apart from a brief tour as Commander of American-British-Dutch-Australian Command ) and then served as Viceroy of India until his retirement in February 1947. Born the son of Archibald Graham Wavell (who later became a major-general in the British Army and military commander of Johannesburg after its capture during

18972-419: The aristocracy and among Roman Catholics , had never accepted the republican traditions of the French Revolution but demanded a return to traditional lines of culture and religion. It embraced authoritarianism while dismissing democracy . The Vichy regime also framed itself as decisively nationalist . French communists, strongest in labour unions, turned against Vichy in June 1941, when Germany invaded

19251-421: The departmental commissions were thus placed under the authority of the administration and of the prefects (nominated by and dependent on the executive power). In January 1941, the National Council ( Conseil National ), composed of notables from the countryside and the provinces, was instituted under the same conditions. Despite the clear authoritarian cast of Pétain's government, he did not formally institute

19530-408: The fasces , the symbol of the Italian Fascists . To advance his message, Pétain frequently spoke on French radio . In his radio speeches, Pétain always used the personal pronoun je (French for the English word "I"), portrayed himself as a Christ-like figure sacrificing himself for France and assuming a God-like tone of a semi-omniscient narrator who knew truths about the world that the rest of

19809-399: The traditionalist morality , which Pétain claimed the French had forgotten. Despite his highly-negative view of the Third Republic, Pétain argued that la France profonde ("deep France", denoting profoundly French aspects of French culture) still existed, and that the French people needed to return to what Pétain insisted was their true identity. Alongside this claim for a moral revolution

20088-541: The "zone nono", for the non-occupied zone. In theory, the civil jurisdiction of the Vichy government extended over most of Metropolitan France , French Algeria , the French protectorate in Morocco , the French protectorate of Tunisia and the rest of the French colonial empire that accepted the authority of Vichy; only the disputed border territory of Alsace-Lorraine was placed under direct German administration. Alsace-Lorraine

20367-503: The 17th Indian Infantry Brigade (8th Indian Infantry Division) would operate independently to capture all the territory in north-eastern Syria. The 20th Indian Infantry Brigade were to make a feint from Mosul, and the 17th Indian Infantry Brigade would advance into the Bec du Canard (Duck's Bill) region, through which a railway from Aleppo ran eastward to Mosul and Baghdad . Habforce was in Iraq attached to Iraq Command because it had struck across

20646-413: The 6th Australian Division to Greece. Wavell had replaced O'Connor with General Sir Philip Neame , who had no experience of desert warfare. The new GOC of the 2nd British Armoured Division , Major-General Michael Gambier-Parry was likewise new to desert warfare. Rommel soon learned from reconnaissance that the British forces in the Western Desert, at the end of a long supply line, were not prepared for

20925-667: The Allies were on the brink of a great victory, continued to bombard Wavell with telegrams demanding he sent more forces to Crete. On 22 May 1941, the New Zealanders failed to recapture Maleme airfield and on 25 May the Germans captured Galatas. A counter-attack by the New Zealanders halted the German advance for the moment. Churchill was notably angry when Wavell reported to him that Germans had air superiority made it impossible to send tanks to Crete. On 26 May Freyberg asked Wavell for permission to evacuate his forces to Egypt as defending Crete

21204-519: The Armistice allowed for a small French army – the Armistice Army ( Armée de l'Armistice ) – stationed in the unoccupied zone, and for the military provision of the French colonial empire overseas. The function of those forces was to keep internal order and to defend French territories from Allied assault. The French forces were to remain under the overall direction of

21483-544: The Australian 21st Brigade was on the verge of entering Beirut, Dentz sought an armistice. At one minute past midnight on 12 July, a ceasefire came into effect and ended the campaign. The Armistice of Saint Jean d'Acre (also known as the "Convention of Acre") was signed on 14 July at the Sidney Smith Barracks on the outskirts of the city of Acre . Wavell had not wanted the Syrian distraction, given that British forces in

21762-531: The Australians than any of the other Allied soldiers in Egypt. The 7th British Armoured Division , which Wavell chose to spearhead the offensive, was described by the American historians Williamson Murray and Allan R. Millett as an "excellent" division made of "first-class" troops. Murray and Millet also described the other two divisions selected by Wavell to lead the offensive, namely the 4th Indian Division and

22041-473: The Australians. The following day, a Dewoitine pilot shot down a Tomahawk from 3 Squadron, the only one lost during the campaign. By the end of the campaign, the Vichy forces had lost 179 aircraft from about 289 committed to the Levant, with remaining aircraft with the range to do so evacuating to Rhodes . The war at sea was not a major part of Operation Exporter, although some significant actions were fought. During

22320-643: The Axis powers meant that Wavell always had to keep forces in the Nile river valley instead of in the Western Desert. Wavell disliked King Farouk whom he described as an immature and pompous teenager who did little to conceal his anti-British feelings. British interests in the theatre were to protect the Suez Canal, which required command of the Mediterranean sea, known as the "lifeline of the Empire" where shipping went back and forth from

22599-419: The Axis since 1939, maintained full diplomatic relations with the Vichy regime until early November 1942, when Case Anton led to the complete occupation of Vichy France by the Germans. Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell , GCB , GCSI , GCIE , CMG , MC , PC (5 May 1883 – 24 May 1950)

22878-458: The Axis the moment that Axis forces reached the Nile river valley. On 6 April 1941, the Germans invaded Greece and Yugoslavia. Of the two divisions and one brigade that made up General Henry Wilson's Force W , the 2nd New Zealand Division and the 1st British Armoured Brigade were just taking up their positions on the Aliakhmon Line in central Greece while the 6th Australian Division was in

23157-699: The British and Commonwealth force consisted of about 34,000 men (18,000 Australians, 9,000 British, 2,000 Indian and 5,000 Free French troops) . The RAF and RAAF had about 50 aircraft, and the navy contributed the landing ship HMS  Glengyle , five cruisers and eight destroyers. The British plan of attack devised by Wilson called for four lines of invasion, in Damascus and Beirut, in Palestine, in northern Syria and Palmyra , in central Syria, from Iraq, and in Tripoli (in northern Lebanon) also from Iraq. The 5th Indian Brigade Group ( Brigadier Wilfrid Lewis Lloyd )

23436-588: The British and Commonwealth troops were forced once more to evacuate. The Anglo-Greek-Australian-New Zealander forces had been evacuated to Crete, and placed under the command of Freyberg. Churchill had personally insisted on Freyberg being given the Crete command. For Unternehmen Merkur (Operation Mercury), the invasion of Crete, the Germans had committed the Fallschirmjägerkorps (i.e the Parachute Corps) of

23715-510: The British as a racially degenerate "mixed race" working for Jewish capitalists, in contrast to the "racially pure" peoples on the continent of Europe who were building a "New Order". In an interview conducted by Béraud with Admiral Darlan published in Gringoire newspaper in 1941, Darlan was quoted as saying that if the "New Order" failed in Europe, it would mean "here in France, the return to power of

23994-436: The British historian Christopher Flood wrote that Pétain blamed la décadence on "political and economic liberalism, with its divisive, individualistic and hedonistic values – locked in sterile rivalry with its antithetical outgrowths, Socialism and Communism". Pétain argued that rescuing the French people from décadence required a period of authoritarian government that would restore national unity and

24273-626: The British. The British-led invasion of Syria and Lebanon aimed at preventing Germany from using the Mandatory Syrian Republic and Greater Lebanon , controlled by Vichy France, for attacks on Egypt as the British fought the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) against Axis forces in North Africa . In September 1936, the French had ceded autonomy to Syria but it retained rights to maintain some armed forces and two airfields in

24552-672: The British. He calculated that, since July 1940, 167 French ships had been seized by British forces. Under the Paris Protocols, an agreement was also made for the French to launch an offensive against the British-held Iraqi oilfields, a proposal put forward by Darlan. As well as the use of Syrian airfields, the Germans also requested permission from the Vichy authorities to use Syrian railways to send armaments to Iraqi nationalists in Mosul . In return for Darlan's enthusiastic pro-Axis gestures,

24831-603: The Caucasus to invade Iran, and from there invade India. Wavell once again had the misfortune of being placed in charge of an undermanned theatre which became a war zone when the Japanese declared war on the United Kingdom in December 1941. On 22 December 1941, Wavell went to Chungking , the temporary capital of China, to see Chiang Kai-shek to discuss keeping the Burma Road open. While waiting for his flight to Chungking, Wavell met at Rangoon airport with Claire Lee Chennault and

25110-717: The Commander-in-Chief of the Greek Army, told Wavell that the German build-up of Wehrmacht forces in Bulgaria was highly concerning to the Greeks, and that Greece would need at least nine British Army divisions to hold the Greek-Yugoslav frontier where the Metaxas line ended. Wavell told Papagos that he did not have nine divisions to spare for the defence of Greece. On 20 January 1941, the Emperor Haile Selassie returned to Ethiopia in

25389-536: The Danzig crisis that read in jest: "Lord Halifax is ready/To take off for Berlin/And if he gives them Danzig/We might just save our skin/Why should we do the fighting?/The Jews will stand to gain/We are the ones who'll suffer/If England fights again". Wavell complained in a letter in August 1939 of "wishful thinking" in Britain about the Danzig crisis as he wrote: "News smells of mustard gas and antiseptics and other unpleasant things". The British official whom Wavell met in

25668-609: The Egyptians as the First Australian Imperial Force in World War One had been notorious for its heavy drinking and debauchery in the bars and brothels in Cairo, and Wavell was forced to issue a promise that this time the Australians would be better behaved. Despite Wavell's promises, the Australians during their leave times lived riotously in the bars and brothels in Cairo, and there were more complaints about conduct of

25947-536: The Foreign Office, were all pro-Arab if they not actually anti-Semitic". This line was removed from the final draft of Their Finest Hour , but it reflected Churchill's feelings about Wavell. On 11 August 1940, the Italians invaded the colony of British Somaliland (modern northern Somalia) and faced with overwhelming Italian numbers, Wavell ordered General Reade Godwin-Austen to evacuate to Aden. On 18 August 1940,

26226-539: The Free Forces (he had been prime minister from February 1941 to April 1942) they played him against de Gaulle . US General Mark W. Clark of the combined Allied command made Darlan sign on 22 November 1942 a treaty putting "North Africa at the disposition of the Americans" and making France "a vassal country". Washington then imagined, between 1941 and 1942, a protectorate status for France, which would be submitted after

26505-558: The French did not. To justify the Vichy ideology of the Révolution nationale ("national revolution"), Pétain needed a radical break with the French Third Republic . During his radio speeches, the entire French Third Republic era was always painted in the blackest of colours as a time of décadence ("decadence") when the French people were alleged to have suffered moral degeneration and decline. Summarising Pétain's speeches,

26784-508: The French nation. It was asserted that just as the defeat of the Gauls in the Battle of Alesia (52 BCE) had been the moment in French history when a sense of common nationhood was born, the defeat of 1940 would again unify the nation. The Vichy government's "francisque" insignia featured two symbols from the Gallic period: the baton and the double-headed hatchet ( labrys ) arranged so as to resemble

27063-479: The French public initially supported the regime, but opinion turned against the Vichy government and the occupying German forces as the war dragged on and living conditions in France worsened. Open opposition intensified as it became clear that Germany was losing the war. The French Resistance , working largely in concert with the London-based Free France movement, increased in strength over the course of

27342-568: The French put up a determined defence. For a time, it appeared that a stalemate was developing as the Anglo-Australian-Indian=Free French force that had invaded Syria seemed to be stuck before Damascus. Churchill determined to relieve Wavell and after the failure in mid June of Operation Battleaxe he told Wavell on 20 June that he was to be replaced by Auchinleck, whose attitude during the Iraq crisis had impressed him. The requirement that Wavell send forces barely recovered from

27621-544: The German armed forces. The exact strength of the Vichy French Metropolitan Army was set at 3,768 officers, 15,072 non-commissioned officers, and 75,360 men. All members had to be volunteers. In addition to the army, the size of the Gendarmerie was fixed at 60,000 men plus an anti-aircraft force of 10,000 men. Despite the influx of trained soldiers from the colonial forces (reduced in size in accordance with

27900-651: The German occupation of all of France in November 1942 ended diplomatic recognition. Supporters of Vichy point out that the grant of governmental powers was voted by a joint session of both chambers of the Third Republic Parliament (the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies) in keeping with the constitutional law. The Vichy regime sought an anti-modern counter-revolution . The traditionalist right in France, with strength in

28179-480: The German success in Crete had been exaggerated because the German parachute and glider invasions of The Netherlands and Crete had been very costly and there was little chance of the Germans gaining a bridgehead in Syria. The Germans withdrew from Syria to preserve their forces and to deprive the British of a pretext for invasion. The British invaded Syria anyway and gained naval and air bases far north of Suez, thus increasing

28458-528: The Germans released 7,000 French prisoners of war, many of whom were professional officers and non-commissioned officers. Despite government prodding, General Archibald Percival Wavell , the Commander-in-Chief of Middle East Command , was reluctant to intervene in Syria, because of the situation in the Western Desert, the imminent German attack on Crete and doubts about the Free French intentions. Dentz

28737-468: The Germans". By the end of May Edward Quinan 's Iraqforce had captured Baghdad and the Anglo-Iraqi War had ended with the re-establishment of the pro-British ruler and troops in Iraq once more reverting to the overall control of Indian Army GHQ in Delhi. However, Churchill had been unimpressed by Wavell's reluctance to act. In book 3 of his memoirs/history of the war, The Grand Alliance , Churchill split

29016-515: The Grand Duke, though an excellent host, failed to share much information about the Russian operations against the Ottoman Empire. Wavell learned about the state of Russian operations by looking at the divisional patches of Ottoman POWs, which he then matched with the known locations of the said Ottoman divisions. In June 1917, he was promoted to brevet lieutenant-colonel and continued to work as

29295-702: The Greek expedition played a major role in silencing any criticism. On 25 March 1941 Yugoslavia joined the Axis Tripartite Pact , but did not grant the Germans transit rights, which would have forced Wehrmacht forces in Bulgaria to attack Greece through the Metaxas Line. Later on 25 March 1941, a military coup in Belgrade overthrew the Regent, Crown Prince Paul , which led Hitler to invade Yugoslavia as well as Greece and led

29574-533: The Greeks. Wavell also felt the Greek expedition fitted in with the British objective of bringing the United States into the war. The U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt had leaned into a pro-Allied neutrality since the start of the war, but much of American public and Congressional opinion was solidly isolationist, and Wavell wrote that to not help the Greeks would have a "deplorable" effect on American public opinion. In an attempt to appeal to American public opinion, British decision-makers had consistently portrayed

29853-625: The Islamic world. In common with many British Army officers, Wavell disliked prime minister Neville Chamberlain less because of appeasement, but rather because of Chamberlain's "limited liability" rearmament policy. Under that policy, the Royal Air Force was given first priority in terms of defence spending, the Royal Navy the second and the Army the third. Like many British Army officers, Wavell charged that

30132-530: The Italian Ambassador to France that "England has always been France's most implacable enemy" and went on to say that France had "two hereditary enemies", namely Germany and Britain, with the latter being easily the more dangerous of the two; and he wanted a Franco-German-Italian alliance that would partition the British Empire , an event that Pétain claimed would solve all of the economic problems caused by

30411-656: The Italian Tenth Army at the Battle of Beda Fomm taking 130,000 prisoners and appeared to be on the verge of overrunning the last Italian forces in Libya , which would have ended all direct Axis control in North Africa. On 29 January 1941, Metaxas died, and his successor as prime minister of Greece, Alexandros Koryzis , was unable to stand up to the British Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden (Eden had been moved from

30690-441: The Italian camps have fallen. In the Battle of Sidi Barrani , which began on 9 December 1940, a numerically superior Italian force was overwhelmed by a mixed force of British, Indian and Australian troops. The battle ended with three Italian divisions surrendering and the Italians almost pushed back into their colony of Libya. After the victory, Wavell pulled out the 4th Indian Division and sent it south to take retake Kassala in

30969-592: The Italian naval base at Kismayu be taken as soon as possible lest the Regia Marina cut off South Africa from the sea. As Smuts was a close friend of Churchill, he soon brought Churchill over to his viewpoint. On 28 October 1940 Italy invaded Greece . Britain had a legal and moral commitment to help Greece because of the "guarantee" issued on 13 April 1939, promising to defend Greece against any power that attacked it. In October–November 1940, Anthony Eden , now Secretary of State for War , made an extended visit to

31248-568: The Italians in North Africa with the Afrika Korps and by the end of April the weakened Western Desert Force had been pushed back to the Egyptian border, leading to the Siege of Tobruk . On 31 March 1941, the Afrika Korps went on the offensive and rapidly pushed back the Commonwealth forces into Egypt. Inspired by the German victories, on 3 April 1941 a group of pro-German Iraqi Army generals staged

31527-552: The Italians out of Libya. De Guingand believed that if the British reached the Libyan-Tunisian border, French officials in Tunisia, where it was known that several French garrison officers were lukewarm in their loyalty to Vichy France , would defect over to the Free French . Wavell's staff had argued that Allied control of Libya and Tunisia would enable Allied shipping to pass through the central Mediterranean to Egypt rather than via

31806-497: The Japanese counter-attacked, and by March 1943 the position was untenable, and the remnants of the attacking force were withdrawn. Wavell relieved the Eastern Army commander, Noel Irwin , of his command and replaced him with George Giffard . In 1942, Wavell brought Orde Wingate to India to launch the first Chindit raid into Burma, which began on 8 February 1943. The Chindit raid, through militarily inconclusive, lifted morale as

32085-528: The Japanese had landed in the northern islands of the Dutch East Indies .(modern Indonesia ). Late at night on 10 February 1942, Wavell prepared to board a flying boat to fly from Singapore to Java. He stepped out of a staff car, not noticing (because of his blind left eye) that it was parked at the edge of a pier. He broke two bones in his back when he fell, and this injury affected his temperament for some time. Wavell chose to focus on defending Java as

32364-579: The Jews and Freemasons subservient to Anglo-Saxon policy". France declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939 after the German invasion of Poland on 1 September. After the eight-month Phoney War , the Germans launched their offensive in the West on 10 May 1940. Within days, it became clear that French military forces were overwhelmed and that military collapse was imminent. Government and military leaders, deeply shocked by

32643-549: The Levant saw nationalist demonstrations which the French attempted to quell. With heavy Syrian casualties, notably in Damascus, Churchill opposed French action but after being rebuffed by Charles De Gaulle, he ordered British forces into Syria from Jordan with orders to fire on the French. Known as the Levant Crisis , British armored cars and troops reached Damascus, following which the French were escorted and confined to their barracks. With political pressure added, De Gaulle ordered

32922-463: The Liberation to an Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories (AMGOT) like Germany. After the assassination of Darlan on 24 December 1942, the Americans turned again towards Giraud to whom had rallied Maurice Couve de Murville , who had financial responsibilities in Vichy, and Lemaigre-Dubreuil , a former member of La Cagoule and entrepreneur, as well as Alfred Pose , general director of

33201-544: The Luftwaffe codes had been broken. During the hard-fought Battle of Crete, the British, Greek, Australian and New Zealander forces put up a ferocious resistance, and the invasion of Crete nearly turned into a German defeat as the Fallschirmjäger took heavy losses and two of the three airfields were successfully held. British and Australian forces inflicted heavy losses on the Germans at Heraklion air field and Greek and Australian forces were equally successful in holding

33480-485: The Luftwaffe. As the British had broken the Luftwaffe codes, the entire German plans for Operation Merkur was known in advance. However, Freyberg refused to believe the Ultra intelligence which warned him of an airborne assault and even named the three Cretan airfields targeted, and persisted in keeping the majority of his forces on the coast to resist a seaborne invasion. Freyberg regarded Crete as strategically unimportant, and

33759-640: The Mediterranean area alone, Vichy still had nearly 150,000 men under arms. There were about 55,000 in French Morocco , 50,000 in Algeria , and almost 40,000 in the Army of the Levant ( Armée du Levant ), in Lebanon and Syria . Colonial forces were allowed to keep some armoured vehicles, though these were mostly "vintage" World War I tanks ( Renault FT ). The Armistice required France to turn over any German citizens within

34038-510: The Mediterranean were already overstretched. However, political factors, including pressure from Churchill and CIGS in addition to guarantees by the Free French that any operation into Syria and Lebanon would meet with little resistance, forced his hand. In the event, the Vichy government ordered its soldiers to resist the invasion and its troops offered stiff resistance to the advancing British Empire forces. The Vichy government also conducted an effective propaganda campaign within France, encouraging

34317-664: The Middle East that were supposed to be redeployed to Burma were sent instead sent back to Australia as Curtin argued as the Australian prime minister that the defence of Australia took precedence over the defence of Egypt or India. Wavell also had to deal with General Joseph Stilwell , who had been appointed by Chiang to take command of the Chinese armies driven into India by the Japanese conquest of Burma . Wavell first met Stilwell in Calcutta on 28 February 1942, and had difficult relations with

34596-442: The Middle East to see Wavell who told him about his plans for an offensive in the Western Desert. On 3 November 1940, Eden cabled Churchill that Wavell had an plan for an offensive and that it was imperative that no British forces be sent to Greece. Churchill did not tell the War Cabinet about this cable and on 4 November 1940 secured the approval of the War Cabinet to send aid to Greece. On 8 November 1940, Churchill finally informed

34875-415: The Monastir Gap into Greece. On 11 April 1941, Wavell visited Athens to meet with General Henry Maitland Wilson , GOC of Force W along with Thomas Blamey , the GOC of the 6th Australian Division and Bernard Freyberg , GOC of the New Zealand Division. With the Germans having advanced into northern Greece, Wavell decided that the Aliakhmon line was indefensible and ordered Force W to retreat south with

35154-418: The Monastir gap in the mountains forms a natural invasion route into northern Greece. The Greeks had wanted Force W to hold the Greek-Yugoslav border, but Wavell chose the Aliakmon line further south on the grounds that Force W was too small to hold the entirety of the Greek-Yugoslav border. Even then, Wavell admitted that Force W was too small to hold the Aliakmon line either. Wavell also admitted that

35433-448: The National Assembly was illegal. Three main arguments are put forward: Out of a total of 544 Deputies, only 414 voted; and out of a total of 302 senators, only 235 voted. Of these, 357 deputies voted in favour of Pétain and 57 against, while 212 senators voted for Pétain, and 23 against. Thus, Pétain was approved by 65% of all deputies and 70% of all senators. Although Pétain could claim legality for himself, particularly in comparison with

35712-532: The National Assembly, comprising both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, voted by 569 votes to 80, with 20 voluntary abstentions , to grant full and extraordinary powers to Pétain. By the same vote, they also granted him the power to write a new constitution. By Act No. 2 on the following day, Pétain defined his own powers and abrogated any Third Republic laws that were in conflict with them. ( These acts would later be annulled in August 1944. ) Most legislators believed that democracy would continue, albeit with

35991-410: The Palestine Mandate (modern Israel) as an militia to assist with the defence of the Middle East, a plan that Wavell had vetoed. In the first draft of Their Finest Hour , Book 2 of his memoirs/history of the Second World War , Churchill had written: ""All our military men disliked the Jews and loved the Arabs. General Wavell was no exception. Some of my trusted ministers like Lord Lloyd and of course,

36270-449: The Red Sea was no longer a war zone and as the USA was still officially neutral, American merchantmen and tankers could now travel the Red Sea to Egypt, which greatly reduced the demands placed on British shipping. On 23 April 1941, General Charles de Gaulle arrived in Cairo to ask Wavell for permission for Free French forces to use the Palestine Mandate to invade the French mandates of Syria and Lebanon ruled by General Henri Dentz , who

36549-406: The Resistance. Members of the regular army could thus defect to the Maquis after the German occupation of southern France and the disbandment of the Army of the Armistice in November 1942. By contrast, the Milice continued to collaborate, and its members were subject to reprisals after the Liberation . Vichy French colonial forces were reduced in accordance with the terms of the armistice, but in

36828-534: The Romanian Ploesti oil fields as the Germans had constructed a powerful air defence system around them. Wavell stated that air defence system of radar stations, searchlights, flak batteries, and fighter squadrons would make it almost impossible to bomb the oil fields. On 13 January 1941, Wavell on Churchill's orders visited Athens to meet Metaxas to offer British Army forces to the mainland of Greece, and seemed privately relieved when Metaxas refused his offer. During his visit to Athens, Field Marshal Alexandros Papagos ,

37107-437: The Royal Hellenic Air Force against the Regia Aeronautica . Metaxas was very confident that the Royal Hellenic Army was more than capable of defending Greece from the Regio Esercito without British troops. However, Churchill saw Greece as the key to winning the war as British bombers could use Greek airfields to attack the Romanian oil fields , which supplied the Reich with its oil. In addition, Churchill wanted to revive

37386-417: The Royal Hellenic Army to the Aliakhmon Line as he had promised in February, saying he was not going to abandon northern Greece without a fight. Wavell was summoned to Athens, where he was unable to change Papagos's mind. On 6 March 1941, the South African prime minister General Jan Smuts arrived in Cairo for a conference with Wavell, during which he strongly expressed support for the Greek expedition. Smuts

37665-491: The Russian Section of the War Office . In July, he was granted the temporary rank of captain and became GSO3 at the Directorate of Military Training. On 20 March 1913 Wavell was promoted to the substantive rank of captain. After visiting manoeuvers at Kyiv in the summer of 1913, he was arrested at the Russo-Polish border as a suspected spy following the secret police's search of his Moscow hotel room. However, he managed to remove from his papers an incriminating document listing

37944-415: The Russian elite still hoped for a rapprochement with Germany against Britain or believed that a war against Germany was unlikely to occur; that much of the intelligentsia wanted Russia to lose a war against Germany as the best way to bring about a revolution; and that the Russian public in general did not care about foreign affairs at all. In April 1912, he became a General Staff Officer Grade 3 (GSO3) in

38223-401: The SS Simla at the same time. In 1903 he was transferred to join the battalion in India and, having been promoted to lieutenant on 13 August 1904, he fought in the Bazar Valley Campaign of February 1908. In January 1909 he was seconded from his regiment to be a student at the Staff College . He was one of only two in his class to graduate with an A grade. In 1911, he spent a year as

38502-404: The Salonika Front strategy of World War One by bringing Yugoslavia and Turkey into the war, which he believed would bog the Wehrmacht down in the Balkans. Metaxas had wanted to keep Greece neutral, and only became involved in the war when confronted with an Italian ultimatum demanding that Greece become an Italian colony. Throughout the winter of 1940-1941, Metaxas had sought German mediation to end

38781-471: The Soviet Union . Vichy was intensely anti-communist and generally pro-German; American historian Stanley G. Payne found that it was "distinctly rightist and authoritarian but never fascist ". Political scientist Robert Paxton analysed the entire range of Vichy supporters, from reactionaries to moderate liberal modernizers, and concluded that genuinely fascist elements had only minor roles in most sectors. French historian Olivier Wiewiorka rejects

39060-595: The Sudan in order to appease Smuts. O'Connor felt it was a mistake to pull out the elite 4th Indian Division from the Western Desert. On 3 January 1941, Wavell launched a new offensive that saw the destruction of what was left of the Italian 10th Army and the capture of the Cyrenaica province of Libya. On 8 January 1941, Wavell with Major William J. Donovan who was visiting Egypt as the personal representative of President Roosevelt , who often sent out his close friends on diplomatic missions. Wavell told Donovan that he saw little hope in success in Churchill's plans to bomb

39339-464: The Syrian coast, before the French destroyer retired under the cover of darkness. The French suffered further losses on 25 June, when the British submarine HMS  Parthian torpedoed and sank the French submarine Souffleur off the Lebanese coast; shortly afterwards, the French tanker Adour , which was carrying the entire fuel supply for the French forces in the Middle East, was attacked by British torpedo aircraft and badly damaged. On 10 July, as

39618-438: The Syrian coast. On 16 June, British torpedo aircraft sank the French destroyer Chevalier Paul , which had been en route from Toulon to Syria, carrying ammunition from Metropolitan France . The following day, British bombers attacked another French destroyer in the port of Beirut which was also carrying ammunition. On the night of 22/23 June, Guépard fought a brief engagement with two British cruisers and six destroyers off

39897-399: The Third Republic's democracy for France's sudden defeat by Germany, rather than military weakness. He set up an authoritarian regime that actively collaborated with Germany, despite Vichy's official neutrality. The Vichy government co-operated with the Germans' Nazi racial policies . After the National Assembly under the Third Republic voted to give full powers to Pétain on 10 July 1940,

40176-428: The United Kingdom had been severed since 8 July 1940 after the attack on Mers-el-Kébir . Julian T. Jackson wrote, "There seems little doubt... that at the beginning Vichy was both legal and legitimate". He stated that if legitimacy comes from popular support, Pétain's massive popularity in France until 1942 made his government legitimate, and if legitimacy comes from diplomatic recognition, over 40 countries, including

40455-404: The United Kingdom to Australia, New Zealand, India and the other British Asian colonies. Closely linked to the first interest was the desire to defend the oil fields in Iran and Iraq where Britain obtained much of its oil, which travelled via tankers to Britain using the Suez Canal-Mediterranean route. Italian entry into the war closed the central Mediterranean to British shipping, which had to use

40734-454: The United States, Canada, and China, recognised the Vichy government. According to Jackson, de Gaulle 's Free French acknowledged the weakness of its case against Vichy's legality by citing multiple dates (16 June, 23 June and 10 July) for the start of Vichy's illegitimate rule, implying that at least for some time, Vichy was still legitimate. Countries recognised the Vichy government despite de Gaulle 's attempts in London to dissuade them; only

41013-730: The Vichy French forces were returned but several British prisoners of war had been sent out of Syria, some after the armistice. The delay in obtaining the return of these prisoners led to the detention of Dentz and 29 senior officers in Palestine who were released when the British prisoners were returned to Syria. British and Commonwealth casualties were about 4,652; the Australians suffered 1,552 casualties, (416 men killed and 1,136 wounded.) The Free French incurred about c.  1,300 losses and 1,100 men taken prisoner; British and Indian casualties were 1,800 wounded, 1,200 men captured and 3,150 sick, including 350 malaria cases. The RAF and RAAF lost 27 aircraft. Operations against

41292-416: The Vichy government opposed to military collaboration with Germany. Washington also hoped to encourage Vichy to resist German war demands, such as for air bases in French-mandated Syria or moving war supplies through French territories in North Africa. The US position was essentially that unless explicitly required by the armistice terms, France should take no action that could adversely affect Allied efforts in

41571-492: The Vichy regime in Syria could only be conducted with troops withdrawn from the Western Desert, a dispersal that contributed to the defeat of Operation Battleaxe and made the Syrian campaign take longer than necessary. Churchill had decided to sack Wavell in early May over his reluctance to divert forces to Iraq. Wavell was relieved on 22 June and relinquished command on 5 July, leaving for India two days afterwards. In late July 1941, De Gaulle flew from Brazzaville to congratulate

41850-455: The Vichy regime, the school textbook Miracle de Jeanne by René Jeanneret was required reading, and the anniversary of Joan's death became an occasion for school speeches commemorating her martyrdom. Joan's encounter with angelic voices, according to Catholic tradition, were presented as literal history. The textbook Miracle de Jeanne declared "the Voices did speak!" in contrast with republican school texts, which had strongly implied Joan

42129-401: The War Cabinet of Wavell's planned offensive and that of his wish to not sent any forces to Greece. Wavell made it clear to Churchill throughout the winter of 1940-1941 that he did not want any forces diverted from Egypt to Greece while the Greek dictator, General Ioannis Metaxas did not want British Army troops in Greece, saying he only needed 5 squadrons of Royal Air Force fighters to assist

42408-443: The War Office to the Foreign Office in December 1940), who pressed him very strongly to allow more British forces into Greece. In February 1941, Wavell launched an offensive into the colony of Italian East Africa with the British advancing into what is now Somalia from Kenya and making amphibious landings in Somaliland and Eritrea. On 11 February 1941, a landing was made in Italian Somaliland and on 14 February 1941, Kismayu , one of

42687-422: The Wehrmacht generals to use their preferred plan to bypass the Metaxas Line by invading Yugoslav Macedonia . The new government in Belgrade refused to antagonise Hitler by mobilising the Yugoslav military and spread out the Yugoslav forces too thin to defend the whole of Yugoslavia. These decisions caused the rapid defeat of Yugoslavia. The result was a disaster. The Germans were given the opportunity to reinforce

42966-423: The aid of Janus along with six British destroyers and the French retired. The Luftwaffe attempted to come to the aid of the French naval forces on 15 June. Junkers Ju 88s of II./LG 1 (2nd Group, Lehrgeschwader 1 ), attacked British warships forces off the Syrian coast and hit the destroyers HMS  Ilex and Isis . That evening, French aircraft of the 4th Naval Air Group bombed British naval units off

43245-399: The aim of holding the Thermopylae Pass . On 13 April, Wavell returned to Cairo and on 15 April 1941 he decided that Greece could not be held and that Force W should be withdrawn before the entire expeditionary force was lost. On 16 April 1941, Papagos requested that the British pull out what was left of the Greek Army and on the same day Wavell passed along that request to Churchill. Later

43524-454: The aircraft needed to defend India. In April 1942, he wrote to Churchill after the Japanese Indian Ocean raid : "It certainly gives us furiously to think when, after trying with less than twenty light bombers to meet an attack, which has cost us three important warships and several others and nearly 100,000 tons of shipping, we see that over 200 heavy bombers attacked one town in Germany". By definition, Wavell's role in India required him to put

43803-421: The airfield was authorised later that evening. Attacks against German and Italian aircraft staging through Syria continued, and the British claimed six Axis aircraft destroyed by 8 June. Vichy French forces shot down a Blenheim on 28 May, killing the crew, and forced down another on 2 June. French Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 fighters also escorted German Junkers Ju 52 aircraft into Iraq on 28 May. The RAF shot down

44082-432: The armistice allowed some degree of independence, France was officially declared a neutral country, and the Vichy government kept the French Navy and French colonial empire under French control, avoiding full occupation of the country by Germany. Despite heavy pressure, the Vichy government never joined the Axis powers . In October 1940, during meeting with Adolf Hitler in Montoire sur le Loire, Petain officially announced

44361-431: The armistice), there was a shortage of volunteers. As a result, 30,000 men of the class of 1939 were retained to fill the quota. In early 1942 those conscripts were released, but there were still not enough men. That shortage remained until the regime's dissolution, despite Vichy appeals to the Germans for a regular form of conscription. The Vichy French Metropolitan Army was deprived of tanks and other armoured vehicles and

44640-422: The assembled senators and deputies to vote full powers to Pétain. They used every means available, such as promising ministerial posts to some and threatening and intimidating others. They were aided by the absence of popular, charismatic figures who might have opposed them, such as Georges Mandel and Édouard Daladier , who were then aboard the ship Massilia on their way to North Africa and exile. On 10 July

44919-411: The beaches. For five days starting on 24 April 1941, Force W was evacuated amid Dunkirk -like scenes under heavy German air attacks on various Greek beaches. By 29 April 1941, the last Commonwealth forces had been pulled out of Greece, having suffered 15,000 casualties and leaving behind all their heavy equipment and artillery. Force W withdrew to Crete . Further south, the successful campaign in

45198-427: The best way to defend Australia. On 23 February 1942, with Malaya lost and the Allied position in Java and Sumatra precarious, ABDACOM was closed down and its headquarters in Java evacuated. Wavell returned to India to resume his position as C-in-C India where his responsibilities now included the defence of Burma . On 27 February 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy defeated an Anglo-Australian-American-Dutch fleet in

45477-441: The bombing of Darwin and a Japanese submarine attack in Sydney Harbour led to considerable public Australian alarm in early 1942 and insistent demands by the Australian prime minister John Curtin that the Allies hold the Dutch East Indies to stop the expected Japanese invasion of Australia. The Allies rushed reinforcements to the Dutch East Indies instead of Burma. In particular, two of the three Australian divisions fighting in

45756-520: The bridge over the Sittang river to prevent the enemy crossing had resulted in most of his division being trapped on the wrong side of the river. The Viceroy of India Lord Linlithgow sent a signal criticising the conduct of the field commanders to Churchill who forwarded it to Wavell together with an offer to send Harold Alexander , who had commanded the rearguard at Dunkirk. Alexander took command of Allied land forces in Burma in early March with William Slim arriving shortly afterwards from commanding

46035-466: The call by General Maxime Weygand to take the Armée du Levant from Beirut to Thessaloniki, saying he saw much potential to opening a Balkan front similar to the First World War Salonika Front . In February 1940, Wavell first met Dominions secretary Anthony Eden who had gone to Port Said to greet the arrival of the first Australian and New Zealand troops to Egypt. Eden was later to write: "I liked [Wavell] from this first meeting and our friendship

46314-406: The coast. However, Brigadier L.W Andrew of the 22nd New Zealand Battalion unwisely pulled his forces back from Battle of Maleme airfield, which allowed the Germans to fly in heavy forces to Crete. The Allied forces defending Crete were lightly armed as they had abandoned all of their heavy equipment on the Greek mainland, and once Maleme airfield was lost, so was Crete. Churchill, who believed

46593-405: The coastal road from Haifa towards Beirut. The Australian 21st Brigade was to take Beirut, advancing along the coast from Tyre , over the Litani River towards Sidon . The Australian 25th Brigade was to attack the large Vichy French airbase at Rayak by advancing along a route further inland from the 21st Brigade. The operation was also to include a supporting commando landing from Cyprus at

46872-458: The company of Wavell's favourite guerrilla fighter Orde Wingate , and the news of his return sparked a fast-spreading rebellion all over Ethiopia, which tied down a significant number of Italian forces (see East African campaign (World War II) ). On 26 January 1941, Churchill in a cable to Wavell expressed the hope that the British would soon take all of Libya and urged him to start planning for an invasion of Sicily to be launched later in 1941. In

47151-462: The continuity of the French state were based on the pressure exerted by Pierre Laval, a former prime minister in the Third Republic, on the deputies in Vichy and on the absence of 27 deputies and senators who had fled on the ship Massilia and so could not take part in the vote. However, during the war, the Vichy government was internationally recognised , notably by the United States and several other major Allied powers. Diplomatic relations with

47430-425: The control of a collaborationist French government based at the city of Vichy, and headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain. Ostensibly, the Vichy French government administered the whole of France (excluding Alsace-Lorraine), including Overseas Vichy France-North Africa. Germany took two million French soldiers as prisoners-of-war and sent them to camps in Germany. About a third had been released on various terms by 1944. Of

47709-425: The control of the French State was based in the city of Vichy, in the unoccupied southern portion of Metropolitan France. This was south of the Line of Demarcation as established by the Armistice of 22 June 1940 . It also included the overseas French territories, such as French North Africa , which was "an integral part of Vichy", with antisemitic policies implemented in Vichy France also being implemented here. This

47988-419: The costly Battle of Crete as he was convinced that that British would use the airfields in Crete for that purpose. Having fallen back in front of Italian advances from their colonies Libya and Eritrea towards (respectively) Egypt and Ethiopia , Wavell mounted successful offensives into Libya ( Operation Compass ) in December 1940 and Eritrea and Ethiopia in January 1941. On 8 December 1940, Wavell called

48267-430: The country upon German demand. The French regarded this as a "dishonourable" term since it would require France to hand over persons who had entered France seeking refuge from Germany. Attempts to negotiate the point with Germany proved unsuccessful, and the French decided not to press the issue to the point of refusing the Armistice. On 10 July 1940, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate gathered in joint session in

48546-448: The defeat on the Greek mainland and the bloody fighting on Crete into Syria and Iraq reduced the number of forces that Wavell could commit to Operation Battleaxe while British tank commanders failed to take into the account the devastating 8.8 cm anti-aircraft/anti-tank gun; most of the British tanks knocked out in Operation Battleaxe were destroyed not by German tanks, but by the "88" guns. German tactics were to lure British tanks into

48825-494: The desert from the Transjordan border as part of the relief of RAF Habbaniya during the Anglo-Iraqi War. Habforce consisted of the 4th Cavalry Brigade, the 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment and the Arab Legion Mechanized Regiment supported by field, anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery units, to gather in western Iraq between Rutbah and the Transjordan border. As the thrust up the Euphrates took place, Habforce would meanwhile advance north-westerly to take Palmyra, Syria, and secure

49104-427: The different campaigns in Iraq, Syria, Ethiopia, Egypt and Greece into different chapters, making Wavell's complaints about feeling overwhelmed seem petty and churlish. In fact at one point in May 1941, Wavell was conducting simultaneously campaigns in Iraq, the Horn of Africa, North Africa and Crete. Churchill had great hopes for Wavell's Operation Battleaxe planned for June to relieve Tobruk, and in May 1941 sent out

49383-413: The divisions of the Royal Hellenic Army to the front in Epirus and pushed into the Italian colony of Albania while the remainder of the Greek Army held the Metaxas Line along the Greek-Bulgarian border. The Metaxas line did not extend along the Greek-Yugoslav border as Yugoslavia was a Greek ally while Bulgaria claimed parts of northern Greece (see Macedonian Struggle ). Along the Greek-Yugoslav border

49662-414: The débâcle, debated how to proceed. Many officials, including Prime Minister Paul Reynaud , wanted to move the government to French territories in North Africa and to continue the war with the French Navy and colonial resources. Others, particularly Vice-Premier Philippe Pétain and Commander-in-Chief General Maxime Weygand , insisted that the responsibility of the government was to remain in France and share

49941-457: The end of March his forces in Eritrea under William Platt won the decisive battle of the campaign at Keren which led to the liberation of Ethiopia and the British occupation of the Italian colonies of Eritrea and Somaliland . In February Wavell had been ordered to halt his advance into Libya and send troops to intervene in the Battle of Greece . Between 12 and 19 February 1941, a mission headed by Anthony Eden (now Foreign Secretary ) and

50220-463: The end of the year, although still on half pay, Wavell had been designated to command 2nd Division and appointed a CB . In March 1935, he took command of his division. In August 1937 he was transferred to Palestine, where there was growing unrest , to be General Officer Commanding (GOC) British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan and was promoted to Lieutenant-General on 21 January 1938. During his time in Palestine, Wavell found himself leading

50499-432: The essentially self-appointed leadership of Charles de Gaulle , the dubious circumstances of the vote explain why most French historians do not consider Vichy a complete continuity of the French state. The text voted by the Congress stated: The National Assembly gives full powers to the government of the Republic, under the authority and the signature of Marshal Pétain, to the effect of promulgating by one or several acts

50778-403: The exceptional mission that was confided to them, they first of all performed humbly and simply their woman's role". The key component of Vichy's ideology was Anglophobia . In part, Vichy's virulent Anglophobia was due to its leaders' personal dislike of the British, as Marshal Pétain, Pierre Laval and Admiral François Darlan were all Anglophobes. As early as February 1936, Pétain had told

51057-479: The failed Anglo-Free French attempt to seize Dakar in September 1940. Typical of Vichy anti-British propaganda was the widely distributed pamphlet published in August 1940 and written by self-proclaimed "professional Anglophobe" Henri Béraud entitled, Faut-il réduire l'Angleterre en esclavage? ("Should England Be Reduced to Slavery?"); the question in the title was merely rhetorical. Additionally, Vichy mixed Anglophobia with racism and anti-Semitism to portray

51336-425: The government had been planning to crush the Ulster Scots , whatever they later claimed. However, he was also concerned at the Army's effectively intervening in politics, not least as there would be an even greater appearance of bias when the Army was used against industrial unrest. Wavell was working as a staff officer when the First World War began. As a captain, he was sent to France to a posting at General HQ of

51615-418: The harsh terms of the 1940 armistice with Nazi Germany , it adopted a policy of collaboration . Though Paris was nominally its capital, the government established itself in the resort town of Vichy in the unoccupied "free zone" ( zone libre ), where it remained responsible for the civil administration of France as well as its colonies . The occupation of France by Nazi Germany at first affected only

51894-413: The head of French police nominated by Vichy, exercised his power in Paris through his second-in-command, Jean Leguay , who coordinated raids with the Nazis. German laws took precedence over French laws in the occupied territories, and the Germans often rode roughshod over the sensibilities of Vichy administrators. On 11 November 1942, following the landing of the Allies in North Africa ( Operation Torch ),

52173-402: The highly fortified Maginot Line and invading through Belgium , Luxembourg , and as an extension, the Ardennes . By mid-June, the military situation of the French was dire, and it was apparent that it would lose the battle for Metropolitan France. The French government began to discuss the possibility of an armistice. Paul Reynaud resigned as prime minister rather than sign an armistice, and

52452-410: The idea that Vichy France was fascist, noting that "Pétain refused to create a single party state, avoided getting France involved in a new war, hated modernization, and supported the Church". The Vichy government tried to assert its legitimacy by symbolically connecting itself with the Gallo-Roman period of France's history , and celebrated the Gaulish chieftain Vercingetorix as the "founder" of

52731-424: The impression that Chiang was planning to steal the billions of American aid that he had been promised by Roosevelt. On the second day of the conference, Wavell accepted Chiang's offer of the 6th Chinese Army to help Burma, but refused the offer of the 5th Chinese Army under the grounds it would be impossible to supply two Chinese armies at once. Wavell denied that his refusal of Chiang's offer of two Chinese armies

53010-407: The information wanted by the War Office. Wavell was working at the War Office when Army officers refused to act against Ulster unionists in March 1914; the government was expecting Unionist paramilitary opposition to introduction of devolved government in Ireland. His letters to his father record his disgust at the government's behaviour in giving an ultimatum to officers – he had little doubt that

53289-406: The last Allied forces totaling 16,000 men had been evacuated from Crete. The Germans had lost 4,000 killed and 2,500 wounded taking Crete, which was more than all of their losses on the Greek mainland and Yugoslavia combined. About 16,000 Allied soldiers were killed or captured while the Royal Navy had lost three cruisers and six destroyers to German air and naval attacks during the evacuation while

53568-444: The last British forces left Berbera . During the brief campaign, the British lost 260 men (38 killed and 222 wounded) against the Italian loss of 1, 800 (465 killed, 38 missing and the rest wounded). Wavell received what he called a "red-hot cable" from Churchill complaining that the British forces in British Somaliland must had fought poorly as hardly any British soldiers had been killed. Wavell wrote back that "a 'big butcher's bill'

53847-421: The local rank of full general . Subsequently, on 15 February 1940, to reflect the broadening of his oversight responsibilities to include East Africa, Greece and the Balkans , his title was changed to Commander-in-Chief Middle East. By the time, Wavell returned to the Middle East, the revolt in Palestine had finally been put down with the last of the fedayeen bands being hunted down or laying down their arms by

54126-404: The long route around Africa, which in effect was the same as severing the Suez canal, but the American historian Robin Higham wrote that no-one in London ever gave a serious reappraisal of what should be British grand strategy in the Middle East beyond defeating Italy as the best way to reopen the Mediterranean to British shipping. Higham wrote that much of Wavell's problems stemmed from the lack of

54405-530: The long route around Africa. At War Cabinet meeting in London on 24 February 1941, papers written by Eden were presented which argued for the expedition. By all accounts, Eden was the minister most in favour of the expedition, which he believed would cause Turkey to enter the war on the Allied side. Churchill stated at the meeting that Wavell was in favour of the expedition, saying he "was inclined to understatement and so far had always promised less than what he had delivered". The three service chiefs, namely Dill,

54684-420: The misfortune of its people; they called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. While the debate continued, the government was forced to relocate several times to avoid capture by advancing German forces and finally reached Bordeaux. Communications were poor and thousands of civilian refugees clogged the roads. In those chaotic conditions, advocates of an armistice gained the upper hand. The Cabinet agreed on

54963-493: The name République française (French Republic) disappeared from all official documents. From then on, the regime was referred to officially as the État Français (French State). Because of its unique situation in the history of France, its contested legitimacy and the generic nature of its official name, the "French State" is most often represented in English by the synonyms "Vichy France"; "Vichy regime"; "government of Vichy"; or, in context, simply "Vichy". The territory under

55242-442: The new regime in Iraq had joined the war on the Axis side. Events in Greece provoked an Iraqi pro-Axis faction to begin the 1941 Iraqi coup d'état . Wavell, hard pressed on his other fronts, was unwilling to divert resources to Iraq and so it fell to Claude Auchinleck 's British Indian Army to send troops to Basra . Churchill saw Iraq as strategically vital and in early May, under heavy pressure from London, Wavell agreed to send

55521-421: The northern and western portions of the country, but in November 1942 the Germans and Italians occupied the remainder of Metropolitan France , ending any pretence of independence by the Vichy government. The Third French Republic had begun the war in September 1939 on the side of the Allies . On 10 May 1940, it was invaded by Nazi Germany . The German Army rapidly broke through the Allied lines by bypassing

55800-465: The notoriously abrasive and Anglophobic Stilwell. Stilwell described Wavell in his diary as "a tired, depressed man pretty well beaten down". Wavell charged that Stillwell was a generally difficult subordinate who had no staff to speak of as Stilwell tried to serve as a one-man general staff for the Chinese. Stillwell had a very specific mission, namely to reopen the Burma Road so that American aid could reach China, which caused conflicts with Wavell had

56079-401: The occupation. After the liberation of France began in 1944, the Free French Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF) was installed as the new national government, led by Charles de Gaulle . The last of the Vichy exiles were captured in the Sigmaringen enclave in April 1945. Pétain was put on trial for treason by the new Provisional Government, and sentenced to death, but this

56358-455: The oil pipeline from Haditha to Tripoli. Hostilities commenced on 8 June 1941. The battles of the campaign were: The initial advantage that the Vichy French Air Force ( Armée de l'Air de Vichy ) enjoyed did not last long. The Vichy French lost most of their aircraft destroyed on the ground where the flat terrain, the absence of infrastructure and the absence of modern anti-aircraft (AA) artillery made them vulnerable to air attacks. On 26 June,

56637-418: The other pilots of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the " Flying Tigers " who were also on their way to China. Chennault and the other "Flying Tigers" impressed Wavell as brave, determined, high-spirted adventurers, whom Wavell predicted would do well in China. Wavell described his landing on a airport on a semi-flooded island in the Yangtze river as "rather hair-raising" and Chungking itself as

56916-517: The outcome of the battle had been decided. Adolf Hitler had a number of reasons for agreeing to an armistice. He wanted to ensure that France did not continue to fight from North Africa and that the French Navy was taken out of the war. In addition, leaving a French government in place would relieve Germany of the considerable burden of administering French territory, particularly as Hitler turned his attention toward Britain, which did not surrender and fought on against Germany. Finally, as Germany lacked

57195-617: The peace treaty. Germany kept two million French prisoners-of-war and imposed forced labour ( service du travail obligatoire ) on young Frenchmen. The Vichy government tried to negotiate with Germany for the early release of the French prisoners of war. French soldiers were kept hostage to ensure that Vichy would reduce its military forces and pay a heavy tribute in gold, food, and supplies to Germany. French police were ordered to round up Jews and other "undesirables" such as communists and political refugees, and at least 72,500 French Jews were killed in Nazi concentration camps . Most of

57474-441: The people to fight the "hereditary enemy" (Britain) and equating the defence of Syria as a matter of national honour. As a result of the unexpected resistance British forces quickly required reinforcements, which could only be provided piecemeal. Many of the British and Commonwealth troops were novices and the hot, dry, mountainous terrain was a severe test, in which Indian Army units excelled. The Australian contingent had to cope with

57753-477: The policy left the Army starved of funds, based on the unrealistic assumption that Britain could win a major war by only fighting in the air and on the sea while barely doing any fighting on land. In April 1938 Wavell became General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Southern Command in the UK. In February 1939, Wavell delivered the Lee-Knowles lectures at Cambridge. In July 1939, he was named as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Middle East Command with

58032-464: The policy of collaboration with Germany while maintaining overall neutrality in the war, believing that improving relations with Germany would have been the only viable option to save France and preserve for it a dignified place within the context of New European Order shaped by the victorious Germany. The Vichy government believed that with its policy of collaboration, it could have extracted significant concessions from Germany and avoid harsh terms in

58311-401: The pre-1940 French Army, such as kepis and heavy capotes (buttoned-back greatcoats) were replaced by berets and simplified uniforms. The Vichy authorities did not deploy the Army of the Armistice against resistance groups active in the south of France, reserving that role to the Vichy Milice (militia), a paramilitary force created on 30 January 1943 by the Vichy government to combat

58590-424: The principal Italian naval bases on the Indian Ocean was captured by 12th African Division . A force of Ethiopian guerrillas, known as Gideon Force , under the command of Orde Wingate operated effectively behind Italian lines and advanced on Addis Ababa . On 25 February 1941, Mogadishu was taken and on 16 March 1941 Berbera was retaken. His troops in East Africa also had the Italians under pressure and at

58869-411: The process of disembarking in Piraeus . The only good news for Wavell that day was that the British had taken Addis Ababa . Also on 6 April 1941, Wavell decided to hold Tobruk , after receiving assurances from Admiral Andrew Cunningham that it could be resupplied from the sea, on the grounds that the Afrika Korps would not be able to advance any further. Wavell believed that with the port of Tobruk,

59148-479: The quiet spa town of Vichy , their provisional capital in central France. Lyon, France's second-largest city, would have been a more logical choice but Mayor Édouard Herriot was too associated with the Third Republic. Marseilles had a reputation as an organised crime hub. Toulouse was too remote and had a left-wing reputation. Vichy was centrally located and had many hotels for ministers to use. Pierre Laval and Raphaël Alibert began their campaign to convince

59427-468: The range of the 88 guns, which was helped by British doctrine that tanks should serve in a "cruiser" role, independently in the desert away from supporting artillery, which might had knocked out the 88 guns. Churchill felt that because of the Ultra secret that Wavell must had been incompetent in conducting Operation Battleaxe, which led directly to his decision to sack him. Churchill could not mention Ultra in The Grand Alliance , but claimed that that MI6 had

59706-409: The region, but the restrictions were never thoroughly enforced and were basically abandoned following the invasion of the Soviet Union , which had the effect of turning German territorial ambitions almost exclusively to the East. German troops guarding the boundary line of the northeastern Zone interdite were withdrawn on the night of 17–18 December 1941, but the line remained in place on paper for

59985-445: The remainder of the occupation. Nevertheless, effectively Alsace-Lorraine was annexed: German law applied to the region, its inhabitants were conscripted into the Wehrmacht and pointedly the customs posts separating France from Germany were placed back where they had been between 1871 and 1918. Similarly, a sliver of French territory in the Alps was under direct Italian administration from June 1940 to September 1943. René Bousquet ,

60264-509: The remainder, the officers and NCOs (corporals and sergeants) were kept in camps but were exempt from forced labour. The privates were first sent to "Stalag" camps for processing and were then put to work. About half of them worked in German agriculture, where food rations were adequate and controls were lenient. The others worked in factories or mines, where conditions were much harsher. The French government had responsibility for preventing French citizens from escaping into exile. Article IV of

60543-444: The right to nominate his successor. On 12 July, Pétain designated Laval as vice-president and his designated successor and appointed Fernand de Brinon as representative to the German High Command in Paris. Pétain remained the head of the Vichy regime until 20 August 1944. The French national motto, Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité (Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood ) was replaced by Travail, Famille, Patrie (Work, Family, Homeland). It

60822-424: The running of the household ... It is in love that our future mothers will find the strength to practise those virtues which best befit their sex and their condition". Exemplifying Vichy propaganda's synthesis of Joan the warrior and Joan the dutiful woman, Anne-Marie Hussenot, speaking at the school at Uriage, stated: "a woman should remember that, in the case of Joan of Arc, or other illustrious women throughout

61101-437: The same day, Churchill granted his approval for a retreat from the mainland of Greece. The British and New Zealand troops holding the Thermopylae line fought bravely, but the lack of air support and devastating attack from Stuka dive bombers forced their retreat. In North Africa, the Afrika Korps could not advance further without the port of Tobruk to bring in supplies, and the 9th Australian Division holding Tobruk beat off

61380-482: The same telegram, Churchill expressed much anger at Wavell for refusing Smuts's offer of a South African division to Egypt unless the South Africans supplied of all the division's needs. The war had badly divided the Afrikaners into a pro-British "liberal" faction that supported fighting for Britain versus the pro-German "republican" faction that wanted to see South Africa fight for the Axis. Churchill accused Wavell of being politically naïve, as Churchill argued that having

61659-418: The security interests of India first, which put him at odds with the " Germany First " grand strategy. In April 1942, Wavell complained that there the 7 elite divisions of the Indian Army were fighting in Libya and Egypt while he had only 3 lesser quality Indian divisions to defend India against the expected Japanese invasion. Wavell also charged that it was not possible to raise more divisions in India owing to

61938-402: The security of the oil route from Basra to Baghdad in Iraq to Haifa in Palestine. In August, the Vichy authorities announced 6,352 casualties of whom 521 men had been killed, 1,037 were missing, 1,790 wounded and 3,004 men had been taken prisoner. After the war, Dentz stated that 1,092 men had been killed, which would mean 1,790 wounded, 466 missing and 3,004 prisoners against

62217-425: The south of Syria in Mandate Palestine were under the command of General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson and consisted of the 7th Australian Division (minus the 18th Brigade, which was in North Africa, besieged at the siege of Tobruk ), Gentforce with two Free French brigades of the 1st Free French Division (including two battalions of the 13th Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade attached to the 1st Free French Brigade) and

62496-419: The south of the Litani River. Once the two southern prongs were well engaged, a third force of formations drawn from Iraq Command , was planned to invade Syria. The bulk of the 10th Indian Infantry Division (Major-General William "Bill" Slim ) was to advance north-west, up the Euphrates River from Haditha in Iraq (upstream from Baghdad), toward Deir ez Zor and thence to Raqqa and Aleppo . The manoeuvre

62775-415: The summer of 1939. Germany and Italy had signed the Pact of Steel , a defensive-offensive military alliance, on 22 May 1939. As the Danzig crisis had pushed Britain to the brink of war with the Reich in the summer of 1939, Wavell assumed that war was near, and that should Germany invade Poland, it was almost certain that Italy would enter the war at some point. Wavell wrote an anti-appeasement poem about

63054-475: The symbol of France partly for that reason. The chief themes of Vichy Anglophobia were British "selfishness" in using and then abandoning France after instigating wars, British "treachery" and British plans to take over French colonies . The three examples that were used to illustrate these themes were the Dunkirk evacuation in May 1940, the Royal Navy attack at Mers-el-Kébir on the French Mediterranean fleet that killed over 1,300 French sailors in July 1940 and

63333-400: The tanks in Britain) were sent to Egypt via the shorter and more dangerous Mediterranean route. A major problem for Wavell was that the threat of Italian air and naval attacks had generally closed the central Mediterrean to British shipping, which had to reach Egypt via the long route around Africa, adding an extra 12,000 miles to the voyage from Britain to Egypt. Adding to Wavell's problems

63612-419: The temporary appointment of Brigadier-General, reverting to lieutenant-colonel. In December 1921, he became an Assistant Adjutant General (AAG) at the War Office and, having been promoted to full colonel on 3 June 1921, he became a GSO1 in the Directorate of Military Operations in July 1923. Apart from a short period unemployed on half pay in 1926, Wavell continued to hold GSO1 appointments, latterly in

63891-416: The terms of the Franco-German armistice of June 22, 1940, Nazi Germany effectively annexed the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine while the German army occupied northern metropolitan France and all the Atlantic coastline down to the border with Spain. That left the rest of France, including the remaining two-fifths of southern and eastern metropolitan France and Overseas France North Africa, unoccupied, and under

64170-443: The territory. The British were concerned about potential attacks by Nazi Germany from Syria and Lebanon, or that the Germans might gain access to airfields there. An additional concern related to the possibility of German troops on the Eastern Front linking up with Vichy forces if Germany defeated the Soviet Union, by advancing south through the Caucasus. Both contingencies were unlikely, but would have exposed Allied forces in Egypt to

64449-500: The triumph of the Popular Front in 1936. There were five governments during the tenure of the Vichy regime, starting with the continuation of Pétain's position from the Third Republic, which dissolved itself and handed him full powers, leaving Pétain in absolute control of the new, "French State" as Pétain named it. Pierre Laval formed the first government in 1940. The second government was formed by Pierre-Étienne Flandin , and lasted just two months until February 1941. François Darlan

64728-462: The victors. Free French General Georges Catroux was placed in control of Syria and Lebanon and on 26 November, shortly after assuming this post, Catroux recognized the independence of Syria and Lebanon in the name of the Free French movement. After elections on 8 November 1943, Lebanon became an independent state on 22 November 1943 and on 27 February 1945, declared war on Germany and the Empire of Japan . By 1945, however, continued French presence in

65007-449: The war against Nazi Germany as a crusade against evil. Wavell argued that an expedition to Greece would fit in very well with the image that Britain sought to project in the United States of being an enlightened, caring nation whose moral values were almost the same as those of the United States, especially as Congress was still debating the Lend-Lease bill at the time. The crucial moment in the change in Wavell's stance appears to have been

65286-417: The war but was soon outvoted by those who advocated an armistice. Facing an untenable situation, Reynaud resigned and, on his recommendation, President Albert Lebrun appointed the 84-year-old Pétain as the new prime minister on 16 June 1940. The armistice with Germany was signed on 22 June 1940. A separate French agreement was reached with Italy, which had entered the war against France on 10 June, well after

65565-432: The war with Italy, and promised Hitler that he would never allow British bombers to strike the oil fields of Romania. Metaxas failed to recognise that his promises made no difference to Adolf Hitler , and the mere fact that Greece was allied to Great Britain led Hitler to decide to invade Greece. Hitler would not tolerate even a theoretical threat to bomb the oil fields of Romania, a determination that later led to embark on

65844-424: The war, but many of his fellow Afrikaners did not. Mitchell was replaced as the RAF GOC by Air Marshal Arthur Longmore who with support of Wavell fought hard for modern aircraft to be sent to the Middle East as the RAF forces stationed in the Middle East were equipped with antiquated aircraft. When Italy entered the war, the Italian forces in North and East Africa greatly outnumbered the British and Wavell's policy

66123-491: The war. The US position towards Vichy France and de Gaulle was especially hesitant and inconsistent. Roosevelt disliked de Gaulle and regarded him as an "apprentice dictator". The Americans first tried to support General Maxime Weygand , general delegate of Vichy for Africa until December 1941. After the first choice had failed, they turned to Henri Giraud shortly before the landing in North Africa on 8 November 1942. Finally, after Admiral François Darlan 's turn towards

66402-445: The worst country but conducted the most effective attack, "with a good plan carried through with great determination". The achievement of air superiority was delayed by the lack of aircraft but the urgency of the situation made it impossible for the naval and ground forces to wait. Vichy French airmen concentrated their attacks on ships and ground targets, which were highly effective until they were forced to move north. The scare caused by

66681-416: The youngest general officers in the British Army. He then returned to Palestine where he served as brigadier general, general staff (BGGS), effectively the chief of staff , of XX Corps , part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF), until the war's end. Wavell was given a number of assignments between the wars, though like many officers he had to accept a reduction in rank. In May 1920 he relinquished

66960-518: Was constitutionally appointed prime minister by President Lebrun on 16 June 1940 and he was legally within his rights to sign the armistice with Germany; however, his decision to ask the National Assembly to dissolve itself while granting him dictatorial powers has been more controversial. Historians have particularly debated the circumstances of the vote by the National Assembly of the Third Republic granting full powers to Pétain on 10 July 1940. The main arguments advanced against Vichy's right to incarnate

67239-463: Was Churchill's favourite Dominion prime minister, and the one whose military advice he was most likely to follow as Churchill believed him to be a military genius after his leading role in the Second Boer War . The American historian Robin Higham described Smuts as playing a "sinister" role in British decision-making during both world wars as Smuts was grossly overrated as a general and his ideas about strategy were consistently wrong; his endorsement of

67518-740: Was Commander in Chief of the Armée du Levant ( Army of the Levant ), which had regular metropolitan colonial troops and troupes spéciales (special troops, indigenous Syrian and Lebanese soldiers). There were seven infantry battalions of regular French troops at his disposal, which included the 6th Foreign Infantry Regiment of the French Foreign Legion , the 24th Colonial Infantry Regiment and eleven infantry battalions of "special troops", including at least 5,000 cavalry in horsed and motorized units, two artillery groups and supporting units. The Army had 35,000 troops with 35,000 regulars including 8,000 French and 25,000 Syrian and Lebanese infantry. The French had 90 tanks (according to British estimates),

67797-555: Was Pétain's call for France to turn inwards and to withdraw from the world, which Pétain always portrayed as a hostile and threatening place full of endless dangers for the French. Joan of Arc replaced Marianne as the national symbol of France under Vichy, as her status as one of France's best-loved heroines gave her widespread appeal, and the image of Joan as a devout Catholic and patriot also fit well with Vichy's traditionalist message. Vichy literature portrayed Joan as an archetypal virgin and Marianne as an archetypal whore. Under

68076-456: Was a "sagacious ally" whose thinking about opening a front in the Balkans was very close to his own. The Middle Eastern theatre was quiet for the first few months of the war until Italy's declaration of war on 10 June 1940. On 17 October 1939, Wavell had signed the Anglo-French-Turkish alliance, which was hoped in London would bring Turkey into the war. At an Anglo-French war conference in Vincennes in December 1939, Wavell had strongly supported

68355-517: Was a senior officer of the British Army . He served in the Second Boer War , the Bazar Valley Campaign and the First World War , during which he was wounded in the Second Battle of Ypres . In the Second World War , he served initially as Commander-in-Chief Middle East , in which role he led British forces to victory over the Italian Army in Eritrea - Abyssinia , western Egypt and eastern Libya during Operation Compass in December 1940, only to be defeated by Erwin Rommel's Panzer Army Africa in

68634-434: Was agreement upon utmost help to Greece at the earliest possible moment". On 17 February 1941, Wavell met with the Australian prime minister Robert Menzies in Cairo, during which Wavell mentioned that Churchill was planning to revive the First World War Salonika Front and was talking about sending the three Australian divisions to Greece. Wavell asked for freedom to move about the Second Australian Imperial Force as needed,

68913-473: Was also able the better to appreciate the vastness of the problems with which he had been confronted and the greatness of his achievements, in a command in which some 40 different languages are spoken by the British and Allied Forces." Wavell in effect swapped jobs with Auchinleck, transferring to India where he became Commander-in-Chief, India and a member of the Governor General 's Executive Council. Initially his command covered India and Iraq so that within

69192-428: Was an example of armed neutrality . The most important such action was the scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon on 27 November 1942 to prevent its capture by the Axis. Washington at first granted Vichy full diplomatic recognition, sending Admiral William D. Leahy as American ambassador. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull hoped to use American influence to encourage elements in

69471-403: Was attacked as frequently and violently as Britain was in Vichy propaganda. In Pétain's radio speeches, Britain was always portrayed as the " Other ", a nation that was the complete antithesis of everything good in France, the blood-soaked " Perfidious Albion " and the relentless "eternal enemy" of France whose ruthlessness knew no bounds. Joan of Arc, who had fought against England, was made into

69750-468: Was being held, Time magazine referred to the Syria-Lebanon campaign as a "mixed show", and the campaign to this day remains relatively unknown, even in the countries that participated in it. On 28 May 1941, Admiral François Darlan , on behalf of Vichy France , signed the Paris Protocols , an agreement with the Germans which granted Germany access to military facilities in Vichy-controlled Syria. The protocols remained unratified, but Charles Huntziger ,

70029-404: Was called the Unbesetztes Gebiet (Unoccupied Zone) by the Germans, and known as the Zone libre (Free Zone) in France, or less formally as the "Southern Zone" ( zone du sud ) especially after Operation Anton , the invasion of the Zone libre by German forces in November 1942. Other contemporary colloquial terms for the Zone libre were based on abbreviation and wordplay, such as

70308-485: Was commissioned into the British Army on 8 May 1901 as a second lieutenant in the Black Watch , and joined the 2nd battalion of his regiment in South Africa to fight in the Second Boer War . The battalion stayed in South Africa throughout the war, which formally ended in June 1902 after the Peace of Vereeniging . Wavell was ill, and did not immediately join the battalion as it transferred to British India in October that year; he instead left Cape Town for England on

70587-415: Was commuted to life imprisonment by de Gaulle . Only four senior Vichy officials were tried for crimes against humanity , although many had participated in the deportation of Jews, abuses of prisoners, and severe acts against members of the Resistance. In 1940, Marshal Philippe Pétain was known as a World War I hero, who was the victor of the Battle of Verdun . As the last French prime minister he blamed

70866-405: Was confusingly renamed the 6th Division while another division was renamed 7th Division) to move his formation from Palestine to the Egyptian-Libyan border as Wavell believed it was only a matter of time before Italy entered war. Wavell's next step was to go to Beirut to meet General Maxime Weygand , the commander of the Armée du Levant , to discuss Anglo-French war plans. He reported that Weygand

71145-520: Was considered offensive by the Nazis, and in the aftermath of the battle, the Fallschirmjäger went massacred many Cretan civilians. In the aftermath of the Battle of Crete, Wavell was described as being very unhappy. Sir Miles Lampson , the British ambassador to Egypt, wrote on 29 May 1941 after a meeting with Wavell that he was "looking the picture of gloom". Lampson reported that Wavell's mood recovered as he joked that Churchill's "snappy, caustic telegrams" were useless as telegrams "didn't help him beat

71424-420: Was desperately short of motorised transport, a particular problem for cavalry units. Surviving recruiting posters stress the opportunities for athletic activities, including horsemanship, reflecting both the general emphasis placed by the Vichy government on rural virtues and outdoor activities and the realities of service in a small and technologically backward military force. Traditional features characteristic of

71703-535: Was granted full powers, Pétain began blaming the Third Republic's democracy and endemic corruption for France's humiliating defeat by Germany. Accordingly, his government soon began taking on authoritarian characteristics. Democratic liberties and guarantees were immediately suspended. The crime of "crime of opinion" ( délit d'opinion ) was reestablished, effectively repealing freedom of thought and expression , and critics were frequently arrested. Elective bodies were replaced by nominated ones. The "municipalities" and

71982-430: Was hopeless. On 27 May 1941, Wavell reported to London that the situation in Crete was "no longer tenable" and recommended a retreat to Egypt as otherwise all of the Allied forces in Crete would be lost. Owing to the strength of German air attacks on the northern shore of Crete, the Allied forces had to retreat to the southern shores where they were picked up by Royal Navy ships under heavy German air attacks. On 1 June,

72261-413: Was intended to threaten the communication and supply lines of Vichy forces defending Beirut from the Australians advancing from the south, particularly the railway line running northwards through Aleppo to Turkey , which was thought by some British strategists to be sympathetic to Vichy and Germany. A group of two infantry battalions from the 20th Indian Infantry Brigade (10th Indian Division) and two from

72540-493: Was loyal to Vichy France. On 26 April 1941, Wavell first learned via Ultra of Unternehmen Merkur , the German plan for an airborne invasion of Crete. On 30 April 1941, Wavell visited Crete, where at a meeting in Canae he expressed much approval of Freyberg as GOC of Crete, saying that Freyberg had won the Victoria Cross in 1916 and that he was a very brave, tough soldier. During the same visit, Wavell told Wilson that "I want you to go to Jerusalem and relieve Baghdad", saying

72819-427: Was mentally ill. Vichy instructors sometimes struggled to square Joan's military heroism with the classical virtues of womanhood, with one school textbook insisting that girls ought not follow Joan's example literally, saying: "Some of the most notable heroes in our history have been women. But nevertheless, girls should preferably exercise the virtues of patience, persistence and resignation. They are destined to tend to

73098-402: Was more aggressive in patrolling the "no-man's land" between the Allied and Axis lines. The end of Operation Battleaxe released more British forces to be sent north to Syria and on 21 June 1941 Damascus fell, the same day that Auchinleck replaced Wavell. One of Wavell's last duties was to serve as the host for W. Averell Harriman , another of President Roosevelt's friends whom he had sent out on

73377-442: Was not aggressive enough. Unlike the loquacious Churchill, Wavell was a quiet, reserved man, and Churchill tended to take Wavell's laconic statements as a sign that he lacked aggression. In addition, Wavell was a poet, which Churchill saw as too "soft" and inappropriate for a British Army general. In the summer of 1940, Churchill was intent on sacking Wavell and replacing him with one of his favourite generals, Bernard Freyberg , and

73656-416: Was not aware of Hitler's fears that the British would use airfields on Crete to bomb the Ploesti oil fields on which Germany depended. Freyberg's son claimed in the 1970s that Wavell had let Freyberg in on the Ultra secret shortly before Operation Mercury was launched, but also told him that would could not move his forces away from the coast to protect the three airfields as that might tip the Germans off that

73935-410: Was not necessarily evidence of good tactics", a remark that greatly angered Churchill. In the summer and autumn of 1940, the British garrison in Egypt was reinforced by tanks from the United Kingdom and additional troops, which came primarily from India, New Zealand and Australia. In a bold move despite the risk that Germany would invade the United Kingdom that summer, in August 1940 154 tanks (half of

74214-429: Was noted at the time that TFP also stood for the criminal punishment of travaux forcés à perpetuité ("forced labor in perpetuity"). Reynaud was arrested in September 1940 by the Vichy government and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1941, before the opening of the Riom Trial . Pétain was a reactionary by nature and education, despite his status as a hero of the Third Republic during World War I. Almost as soon as he

74493-412: Was officially still part of France, as the Reich never annexed the region. The Reich government at the time was not interested in attempting to enforce piecemeal annexations in the West although it later annexed Luxembourg; it operated under the assumption that Germany's new western border would be determined in peace negotiations, which would be attended by all of the Western Allies and thus producing

74772-409: Was only stopped by objections from the War Office that Freyberg lacked the necessary experience for Middle East Command. Eden, whose judgement Churchill respected, lobbied the prime minister hard to keep Wavell as the GOC Middle East, and for the moment Wavell was retained. In addition, Churchill and Wavell had clashed over the "Palestine Question". Churchill had wanted to arm the Jewish population of

75051-571: Was ordered to cross the Syrian border from Palestine and take Quneitra and Deraa . This was anticipated to open the way for the 1st Free French Division to advance to Damascus. Four days after the commencement of the operation, the force was brought under unified command and was named Gentforce after its French commander, Major-General Paul Louis Le Gentilhomme . The 7th Australian Division (Major-General John Lavarack , succeeded by Major-General Arthur "Tubby" Allen on 18 June when Lavarack took over Australian I Corps ) advanced from Palestine along

75330-410: Was racially motivated, saying that moving two Chinese armies from Yunnan province into Burma would increased his logistical problems immensely. His return flight to India was constantly stopped because of the heavy Japanese bombing of Chungking. Wavell was made Commander-in-Chief of ABDACOM (American-British-Dutch-Australian Command). Besides a relentless advance down Malaya (modern Malaysia ),

75609-463: Was replaced by Marshal Philippe Pétain , a hero of World War I . Shortly thereafter, Pétain signed the Armistice of 22 June 1940 . At Vichy, Pétain established an authoritarian government that reversed many liberal policies and began tight supervision of the economy. Conservative Catholics became prominent. The media were tightly controlled and promoted antisemitism and, after Operation Barbarossa started in June 1941, anti-Sovietism . The terms of

75888-448: Was returned to General HQ in France as a GSO2. He was promoted to the substantive rank of major on 8 May 1916. In October 1916 Wavell was graded General Staff Officer Grade 1 (GSO1) as an acting lieutenant-colonel, and was then assigned as a liaison officer to the Russian Army in the Caucasus . Wavell called the Grand Duke Nicholas, the Viceroy of the Caucasus "the handsomest and most-impressive-looking man". However, Wavell charged that

76167-443: Was said to have destroyed French society and to have brought about the defeat of 1940. Such a harsh critique of French society could generate only so much support, and as such Vichy blamed French problems on various "enemies" of France, the chief of which was Britain, the "eternal enemy" that had supposedly conspired via Masonic lodges to weaken France and then to pressure France into declaring war on Germany in 1939. No other nation

76446-407: Was short of modern equipment, and the American historian Robin Higham wrote Wavell's forces were fitted for "a 1898 'Fuzzy-Wuzzy' colonial war" and nothing else. On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Wavell was angry about what he regarded as the weakness of Chamberlain about honouring the British "guarantee" of Poland as he wrote to Lord Gort on 2 September 1939 that Chamberlain was "making

76725-444: Was that the Admiralty and War Office miscounted the number of ships available to take supplies to Egypt by including the Greek Merchant Marine and the Norwegian Merchant Marine into the British Merchant Marine and then counting the ships separately as part of their respective national merchant marines; not until April 1941 was this error corrected. The arrival of the Second Australian Imperial Force to Egypt produced much dismay amongst

77004-418: Was then head of government until April 1942, followed by Pierre Laval again until August 1944. The Vichy government fled into exile in Sigmaringen in September 1944. Vichy France in 1940–1942 was recognised by most Axis and neutral powers , as well as the United States and the Soviet Union. During the war, Vichy France conducted military actions against armed incursions from Axis and Allied belligerents and

77283-444: Was therefore one of "flexible containment" to buy time to build up adequate forces to take the offensive. In June 1940, Wavell had only two British Army divisions (36,000 men) to defend Egypt against a much larger Italian army in Libya while also having to deal with an Egyptian government whose loyalty to the Allies was questionable. The Royal Egyptian Army was not well regarded, but the possibility that King Farouk of Egypt would join

77562-457: Was to be a counter-revolution eliminating all the progress and human rights won in the last one hundred and fifty years". The minority of mostly Radicals and Socialists who opposed Laval became known as the Vichy 80 . The deputies and senators who voted to grant full powers to Pétain were condemned on an individual basis after the Liberation. The majority of French historians and all postwar French governments have contended that this vote by

77841-410: Was to grow very close and last until his death". Wavell's relations with the Australians and the New Zealanders were to be difficult as both Canberra and Wellington wanted to keep control of their own forces. In March 1940, Wavell made a lengthy visit to South Africa to ask the South African prime minister Jan Smuts if South African troops could go to Egypt; the response was negative as Smuts supported

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