Triumph and Tragedy (The Second World War) (108 page)

However I must make it clear that it is not for us
alone to defend by force either Syrian or Lebanese
independence or French privilege. We seek both, and
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we do not believe that they are incompatible. Too much
must not be placed, therefore, upon the shoulders of
Great Britain alone. We have to take note of the fact
that Russia and the United States have recognised and
favour Syrian and Lebanese independence, but do not
favour any special position for any other foreign country.

The liberation of France led to a serious crisis in the Levant.

It had been evident for some time that a new treaty would be needed to define French rights in this area, and on my way home from Yalta I had met the President of Syria in Cairo and urged him to make a peaceful settlement with France. The Levant States had been unwilling to start negotiations, but we had persuaded them to do so and conversations had begun. The French delegate, General Beynet, went to Paris for instructions, and his proposals were awaited with anxiety and excitement throughout Syria.

Delay occurred; no proposals arrived; and then news spread that French reinforcements were on their way. On May 4 I had sent a friendly message to de Gaulle explaining that we had no ambitions of any kind in the Levant States and would withdraw all our troops from Syria and the Lebanon as soon as the new treaty was concluded and in operation, but I also mentioned that we had to keep our war communications throughout the Middle East free from disturbance and interruption. We represented to him that the arrival of reinforcements, however small, was bound to be looked upon as a means of pressure, and might have serious consequences. This advice was not accepted, and on May 17 French troops landed at Beirut.

An explosion followed. The Syrian and Lebanese Governments broke off negotiations and said that now the war was over the Allies would be asked to evacuate all foreign troops. Anti-French strikes and demonstrations began. Eight people were killed and twenty-five injured in Triumph and Tragedy

666

Aleppo. The Syrian Chamber of Deputies ordered conscription. A Foreign Office announcement of May 26

regretting the arrival of French reinforcements drew a reply from Paris next day that the disturbances were artificially provoked and that many more British troops had also been moved in without protest by the Syrians or the Lebanese and without agreement by the French. We had in fact appealed to the Syrian Government on May 25 to keep control of the situation, but on the 28th they told us that events were too much for them and they could no longer be responsible for internal order. French shelling had begun in Homs and Hama; French armoured cars were patrolling the streets of Damascus and Aleppo; French aircraft were flying low over the mosques during the hour of prayer, and machine-guns were mounted on the roofs of buildings.

At about seven o’clock in the evening of May 29 fierce fighting began in Damascus between French troops and Syrians, and continued for several hours into the night.

French artillery opened fire, with serious loss of life and damage to property. and French troops occupied the Syrian Parliament buildings. Shelling continued on and off till the morning of May 31, and about two thousand people were killed and injured.

The Government of Homs had already appealed to the British Ninth Army to arrange a truce. It was now impossible for us to stand aside, and on May 31 General Sir Bernard Paget, Commander-in-Chief Middle East, was told to restore order. He communicated our request to the French commander, and the latter, on instructions from Paris, proclaimed the “Cease fire.” I sent the following message to General de Gaulle:

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Prime

Minister

to

31 May 45

General de Gaulle

(Paris)

In view of the grave situation which has arisen
between your troops and the Levant States, and the
severe fighting which has broken out, we have with
profound regret ordered the Commander-in-Chief
Middle East to intervene to prevent the further effusion
of blood in the interests of the security of the whole
Middle East, which involves communications for the war
against Japan. In order to avoid collision between
British and French forces, we request you immediately
to order the French troops to cease fire and to withdraw
to their barracks.

Once firing has ceased and order has been restored
we shall be prepared to begin tripartite discussions in
London.

By an error in transmission, and with no intentional discourtesy, this message was read to the House of Commons by Mr. Eden about three-quarters of an hour before it reached the General. He felt obliged to issue a public reply in Paris on June 1, saying in effect that the French troops had been attacked by the Syrians, but had everywhere gained control, and that the French Government had themselves ordered a “Cease fire” on May 31.

A vehement protest reached me from the President of the Syrian Republic. But the action we had already taken proved effective. I was most anxious not to vex the French more than was inevitable, and I understood de Gaulle’s view and mood about a cause for which he felt passionately. But he also struck a statesmanlike note. “We feel,” he said, “not the slightest rancour or anger towards the British. France and myself have the highest regard and affection for them. But there are opposing interests, and Triumph and Tragedy

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these must be reconciled. I hope all this will not have too far-reaching consequences. There are too many common interests at stake. There must be peace.”

I was in accord with this view, and when I gave an account of these regrettable incidents to the House of Commons on June 5 I said it was a case of “the less said the better.”

Prime

Minister

to

3 June 45

General Paget

As soon as you are master of the situation you
should show full consideration to the French. We are
very intimately linked with France in Europe, and your
greatest triumph will be to produce a peace without
rancour. Pray ask for advice on any point you may
need, apart from military operations.

In view of reports that French soldiers have been
killed, pray take the utmost pains to protect them.

And to the Syrian President, whom I deemed a sensible and competent man:

Prime

Minister

to

3 June 45

President of Syria

Now that we have come to your aid I hope you will
not make our task harder by fury and exaggeration. The
French have got to have fair treatment as well as you,
and we British, who do not covet anything that you
possess, expect from you that moderation and
helpfulness which are due to our disinterested exertions.

Our intervention was immediately effective. On June 3 the French garrison at Damascus was withdrawn to a camp outside the city, and a British detachment which had been landed at Beirut from H.M.S.
Arethusa
arrived in the Syrian capital on the same day.

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On June 4 Mr. Shone, our Minister at Damascus, delivered my message to the Syrian President, who took it well and sent the following reply:

President of Syria to

4 June 45

Prime Minister

I sent my message of May 31 to Your Excellency
under stress of bombardment and of deep emotion at
the sufferings which the Syrian people were undergoing, and which I assure you were no exaggeration.

Your Excellency will since have received my message
of June 1 expressing the gratitude of the Syrian people
for the intervention of the British Government, and I and
my Government have assured His Majesty’s Minister
and the Commander-in-Chief that our one desire is to
co-operate with the British authorities in their task of
restoring order and security in Syria. Your Excellency
can be sure that this co-operation with the British
authorities will soon have its good results.

“The President” said Mr. Shone, “who was ill in bed when he sent his message of May 31, is now up again and seems fully composed. He is in full accord with you and deeply grateful. As regards fair treatment for the French, he said they could have their schools (if any Syrians still wanted to go to them) and their commercial interests, but neither the Syrian Government nor the Chamber nor the people could ever give them any privilege in this country after what had happened.”

General Paget handled the situation with much discretion.

All passed off smoothly, and this difficult and untoward Syrian episode came to an end.

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A smaller though not less vexatious dispute arose between de Gaulle and President Truman.

In the closing days of the fighting troops of the First French Army in the Alpine region crossed the frontier and moved forward into Northwestern Italy, in the province of Cuneo.

Orders were presently issued by General Eisenhower for their withdrawal. These orders were ignored by the French units concerned under the authority of their Government.

On May 30 General Doyen, commanding the French Army in the Alps, sent a letter to General Crittenberger, commander of the United States IVth Corps in Northwestern Italy, referring to an attempt to establish Allied military government in the province of Cuneo. The letter ended with the following paragraph:

France cannot consent that a modification against
her will should be made in the existing state of affairs in
the Alpes Maritimes. This would be contrary to her
honour and her security. I have been ordered by the
Provisional Government of the French Republic to
occupy and administer this territory. This mission being
incompatible with the installation of an Allied military
agency in the same region, I find myself obliged to
oppose it. Any insistence in this direction would assume
a clearly unfriendly character, even a hostile character,
and could have grave consequences.
2

On June 2 General Crittenberger received another letter from General Doyen:

General de Gaulle has instructed me to make as
clear as possible to the Allied Command that I have
received the order to prevent the setting up of Allied
military government in territories occupied by our troops
and administered by us by all necessary means without
exception.

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This was astonishing language to use in all the circumstances. “Is it not rather disagreeable,” I wrote to the President, when Alexander reported the facts, “for us to be addressed in these terms by General de Gaulle, whom we have reinstated in liberated France at some expense of American and British blood and treasure? Our policy with France is one of friendship.”

Mr. Truman was indignant. He wrote to de Gaulle, pointing out that the messages contained the almost unbelievable threat that French troops bearing American arms would fight American and Allied soldiers, whose efforts and sacrifices had so recently and successfully helped to liberate France. The President said that as long as this threat remained no more equipment or ammunition would be issued to the French forces.

This produced immediate results. De Gaulle wrote through his Foreign Minister:

French Foreign Minister to President Truman
Obviously there has never been an intention either
in the orders of the French Government or in those of
General Doyen, who commands the Army detachment
of the Alps, to oppose by force the presence of
American troops in the small areas which French troops
occupy at present to the east of the 1939 frontier
between France and Italy. Besides, American troops
are now in these areas side by side with French troops,
and here as elsewhere good comradeship prevails….

Tomorrow morning General Juin will proceed to Field-Marshal Alexander’s headquarters to deal with this
matter in the broadest spirit of conciliation in order that
a solution may be found.

Thus the matter ended, if not pleasantly, at least without another quarrel. The British public, whose attention had Triumph and Tragedy