Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T08:55:16.840Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Churchill, De Gaulle, Spears and the Levant Affair, 1941

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

A. B. Gaunson
A. B. Gaunson
Affiliation:
Norwich School
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

After the fall of France in 1940, Britain's predicament in the Middle East became worse still when the French authorities in Syria and Lebanon aligned themselves with the new Vichy government. The British, already outnumbered by Italian forces and uncertain of Arab loyalties, now found their northern flank controlled by men susceptible to Axis pressure. Both Churchill and de Gaulle responded with the determination that the Levant should be denied to the Axis and placed in friendly hands. Despite this common resolve, however, fundamental differences emerged during the Anglo-Free French invasion of Syria in 1941. This hastily improvised venture was marred by rash political tactics, poor liaison, bad diplomacy and the interventions of Churchill and de Gaulle. Although the Syrian flank was secured, this affair did serious damage to Anglo-Free French relations, created new problems in the Levant, and precipitated personal antagonism between Churchill and de Gaulle.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , September 1984 , pp. 697 - 713
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 M.E. (O) (40)21, 1 July 1940, P.R.O., CAB 95/1.

2 Churchill, Winston S., The second world war (6 vols., London 1948–1954). II, 611Google Scholar.

3 de Gaulle, Charles, War memoirs (3 vols., with companion Documents vols., London, 1955–1960), I, 87Google Scholar.

4 Ibid. I, 177.

5 Major-General SirSpears, Edward, Fulfilment of a mission (London, 1977), p. 121Google Scholar.

6 Havard telegram, 12 Oct. 1940, P.R.O., FO 371/24594/E2774.

7 Lampson tel., 8 Apr. 1941, P.R.O., PREM 3 422/14.

8 MacMichael tel., 21 Nov. 1940, FO 371/24592/E2980; Lampson tel., 21 Dec. 1940, FO371/24595/E3084.

9 Lampson tel., 8 Apr. 1941, PREM 3 422/14.

10 Spears, , Mission, p. 17Google Scholar.

11 Ibid. pp. 32, 34 f.

12 Spears letter, 10 Apr. 1941, Spears papers, St Antony's College, Oxford, 11/5.

13 See, for example, Warner, Geoffrey, Iraq and Syria 1941 (London, 1974), pp. 35–118Google Scholar.

14 Ibid. p. 127; Sachar, H.M., Europe leaves the Middle East (London, 1974), pp. 184–9Google Scholar.

15 Spears, , Mission, p. 62Google Scholar.

16 Spears tel., 6 May 1941, PREM 3 422/6.

17 Churchill, , War, III, 228 fGoogle Scholar.

18 Churchill minute, 8 May 1941, PREM 3 422/6.

19 Churchill tel., 9 May 1941, PREM 3 422/6.

20 De Gaulle, , Documents, I, 147 fGoogle Scholar.

21 Field-Marshal Lord Wavell, ‘Despatch on operations in the middle east from 7th February 1941 to 15th July 1941’, supplement to London Gazette, 3 July 1946.

22 Spears, , Mission, p. 86Google Scholar

23 Marshal, of the Tedder, R.A.F. Lord, With prejudice (London, 1966), p. 93Google Scholar.

24 Chiefs of staff tel., 19 May 1941, PREM 3 422/6.

25 Wavell tel., 21 May 1941, PREM 3 422/6.

26 Sir John Dill minute, 21 May 1941, PREM 3 422/6.

27 Churchill tel., 21 May 1941, PREM 3 422/6. Elsewhere he admitted that Wavell had cause to complain about Spear's signals. See Churchill tel., 6 June 1941, Spears papers 11/7.

28 Spears tel., 21 May 1941, Spears papers IC/1.

29 De Gaulle, , Documents, pp. 155 fGoogle Scholar.

30 Churchill, , War, III, 291Google Scholar.

31 See, for example, H.A. Caccia minute, 19 Sept. 1941, P.R.O., CO 831/59/77241.

32 Churchill's note bristles with hasty assertions and shows a cavalier attitude towards the French mandate. Thus Mickelsen, Martin L. in ‘Another Fashoda: the Anglo-Free French Conflict over the Levant, May-September 1941’ (Revue Française d'histoire d'Outre-Mer, LXIII, 1976)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, cites this note as evidence of a British design to supplant France in the Levant. Such an interpretation ignores not only the context of Churchill's remarks but also his quick return to more orthodox views. See Gaunson, A. B., ‘To end a mandate: Sir E. L. Spears and the Anglo-French collision in the Levant, 1941–1945’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Hull, 1981)Google Scholar, ch. 11 and appendix D.

33 Churchill note, 19 May 1941, PREM 3 422/1.

34 W.P. (410) 116, 27 May 1941, PREM 4 32/5.

35 See above, footnote 8.

36 Lampson tel., 8 Apr. 1941, PREM 3 422/14.

37 FO371/27214/E2915.

38 de Gaulle, Charles, Lettres, notes et carnets (Paris, 1980–), III, 339Google Scholar.

39 See Gaunson, ‘Mandate’, especially ch. v.

40 See, for example, approved draft tel., Jan. 1941, FO 371/24592/E3103.

41 Unfortunately for the foreign office, the de Gaulle–Catroux liaison, on which it relied, was erratic. See, for example, Crosthwaite minute, 6 Dec. 1940, FO 371/24592/E3103, and de Gaulle, , Lettres, IV, 55Google Scholar.

42 De Gaulle, , Memoirs, I, 188Google Scholarf.

43 De Gaulle, , Documents, I, 157Google Scholarf.

44 Spears, tel., 4 06 1941, Spears papers I AGoogle Scholar.

45 Wavell, tels., 5 06 1941, PREM3 422/6Google Scholar.

46 War office tel., 5 06 1941, PREM 3 422/6Google Scholar.

47 Spears, tel., 6 06 1941, PREM 3 422/6Google Scholar.

48 Spears, tel., 5 06 1941, Spears papers I AGoogle Scholar.

49 Churchill, tel., 6 06 1941 PREM 3 422/6Google Scholar.

50 Catroux, Général, Dans la Bataille de la Méditerranée (Paris, 1949), pp. 135 fGoogle Scholar.

51 Field-Marshal Wilson, Lord, Eight years overseas (London, 1949), pp. 114–18Google Scholar.

52 Field-Marshal SirSlim, William, Unofficial history (London, 1959), p. 162Google Scholar.

53 De Gaulle, , Memoirs, I, 194Google Scholar.

54 Ibid. I, 188.

55 F.O. tel., 9 July 1941, FO 371/27298/E3658.

56 De Gaulle, , Documents, I, 169 fGoogle Scholar.

57 Auchinleck, tel., 11 07 1941, FO 371/27299/E3747Google Scholar.

58 Lyttelton, tel., 11 07 1941, FO 371/27299/E3761Google Scholar.

59 Churchill, tel., 12 07 1941, PREM 3 422/6Google Scholar.

60 Chandos, Viscount, The memoirs of Lord Chandos (London, 1962), pp. 245 fGoogle Scholar.

61 Lyttelton, tel., 13 07 1941, FO 371/27299/E3797Google Scholar.

62 Auchinleck, tel. (0/81317 part I), 13 07 1941, FO 371/27300/E3877Google Scholar.

63 Wilson, tel., 14 07 1941, FO 371/27300/E3877Google Scholar.

64 Auchinleck, tel., 15 07 1941, FO 371/27300/E3970Google Scholar.

65 Killearn diary, St Antony's College, Oxford, July 1941.

66 Chandos, p. 247.

67 Spears diary, Spears papers, 14–17 July 1941.

68 Spears, , Mission, p. 129Google Scholar.

69 Ibid. p. 85; de Gaulle, , Memoirs, I, 206Google Scholar.

70 Spears, , Mission, pp. 132, 89 f, 117 ffGoogle Scholar; Wilson, , Overseas, pp. 114–18Google Scholar; Killearn diary, 1941.

71 Killearn diary, 19 June 1941.

72 Spears tels., 14–15 June 1941, Spears papers I A.

73 Chandos, p. 252; Spears, , Mission, p. 164Google Scholar.

74 F.O. tel., 2 July 1941, Spears papers I A(E).

75 Wavell, tel., 2 07 1941, PREM 3 422/6Google Scholar.

76 Churchill, minute, 3 07 1941, PREM 3 422/6Google Scholar.

77 Lyttelton, tel., 6 07 1941, FO 371/27298/E3687Google Scholar.

78 Churchill, tel., 7 07 1941, FO 371/27298/E3685Google Scholar.

79 Spears, , Mission, pp. 132 fGoogle Scholar.

80 Chandos, pp. 247 ff; Spears diary, 21 July 1941.

81 Lyttelton, tel., 22 07 1941, FO 371/27302/E4044Google Scholar.

82 Spears diary, 21 July 1941; Killearn diary, 21 July 1941.

83 Lyttelton, tel., 22 07 1941, PREM 3 422/6Google Scholar.

84 Churchill, tel., 24 07 1941, PREM 3 422/6Google Scholar.

85 de Gaulle, , Documents, I, 198Google Scholar.

86 Gaunson, ‘Mandate’, ch. IV.

87 Spears tel., 16 Aug. 1941, Spears papers IC/2.

88 See Gaunson, ‘Mandate’, ch. IV, on Spears' volte-face.

89 ‘Notes on wartime jottings’, p. 15, SirCoghill, Patrick papers, St Antony's College, OxfordGoogle Scholar; Evans, T.E. (ed.), The Killean diaries (London, 1972), pp. 186 fGoogle Scholar.

90 Spears, , Mission, p. 142Google Scholar.

91 Gaunson, ‘Mandate’, ch. IV.

92 Churchill, tels., 2 Aug. and 27 08 1941, PREM 3 422/8Google Scholar.

93 Churchill, tel., 28 08 1941, PREM 3 422/8Google Scholar. De Gaulle's attempt to dismiss the offending article as ‘l'exagération sensationnelle’ made little impression on Churchill – see de Gaulle, , Lettres, IV, 54Google Scholar.

94 FO 371/27308/E5398.

95 Record of 12 Sept. 1941 meeting, Spears papers 11/4.