The Anzac Memorial recently acquired this small white metal badge which commemorates Australia’s role in the Syria-Lebanon campaign of June and July 1941. From the air, from the sea, and on the ground, Australians were central to this short yet strategically vital battle. This rather ephemeral commemorative badge depicting a slouch-hat-wearing Australian soldier in the centre of a V for Victory, between the symbols of Lebanon, a mosque and a Lebanese cedar, was probably made locally shortly after the conflict ended; 15 July 1941 marked the first day of peace. It is an extremely rare reminder of one of the largely forgotten, yet early successes of the Second World War.
Following the conquest of France by Germany in June 1940, the Mandate for Syria and Lebanon came under the control of Vichy France, the puppet government set up by the Axis powers. Later, in the aftermath of German victories in the Battle of Greece in April and May 1941 and at the Battle of Crete (20 May - 1 June 1941), the British Mandate of Palestine in the Middle East was deemed deeply vulnerable. Fearful that vital shipping and air routes in the region might be taken over by German and Italian forces, the British decided to invade and eliminate the pro-Axis Vichy French in the Syrian Republic and in French Lebanon.
The Syria-Lebanon campaign, codenamed Operation Exporter, began on 8 June 1941. Allied planners were optimistic that the battle would only last a few days. Australian troops, mostly from the recently established 7th Division, and commanded by Major-General (later Lieutenant-General) John Lavarack, formed the bulk of the main advance; they were supported by British, Free French and Indian troops. From the air they were supported by RAF and RAAF squadrons and Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy units of the Mediterranean Fleet were also deployed to the region. In all, the combined British and Commonwealth ground force totalled approximately 34,000 men of which 18,000 were Australians, 9,000 British, 2,000 Indian and 5,000 Free French.[1]
Today few Australians are aware of this early Second World War campaign, perhaps because the geopolitically strategic battle has since been overshadowed by events such as those at Tobruk and elsewhere in North Africa. Indeed, it received scant attention in Australia at the time, and with the audacious opening of Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, any public attention it had received was now largely diverted to the spectre of a new terrifying theatre of war in the Soviet Union. Yet for the thousands of Australians who were serving, the Syria-Lebanon campaign was a hard-fought, desperate fight involving a series of bloody fierce battles over rivers, hostile rugged mountainous terrain and steep-sided upland valleys. Moreover, the predicted rapid victory had been wishful thinking; the combined Commonwealth forces found themselves fighting an underestimated, yet very determined former ally, and now bitter enemy.
During the five-week battle, 416 men from the 7th Division were killed (37 officers and 379 other ranks) and 1136 were badly wounded. Hundreds more were taken sick with malaria.[2] A ceasefire ended fighting on the Levant front on 12 July. On 14 July, Allied and Vichy representatives signed the Armistice of Saint Jean d’Acre on the outskirts of the ancient city of Acre in Israel which brought Operation Exporter to an end.
To be sure, the Syria-Lebanon campaign was a relatively swift, sharp battle, as far as Second World War campaigns went. However, it was also of deep significance to Australia because two Australians were awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry awarded to British and Commonwealth armed forces. WX2437 Private (later Corporal) James ‘Jim’ Gordon (1909-1986), 2/31st Infantry Battalion from Rockingham in Western Australia was the first recipient for actions at Jezzine in Lebanon.
The battle of Jezzine was part of the Australian 7th Division’s advance on Beirut. On 10 July 1941, Gordon's company was “...held up by intense machine-gun and grenade fire from Vichy French forces, but on his own initiative, he crept forward alone and succeeded in getting close to the machine-gun post. He then charged it and killed the four machine-gunners with his bayonet. His action demoralised the enemy in this sector and the company advanced and took the position. During the remainder of the action that night and on the following day Private Gordon, who has throughout the operations shown a high degree of courage, fought with equal gallantry.” For this, he was later awarded the Victoria Cross.[3]
NX12378 Lieutenant Arthur Roden Cutler (1916-2002) from Manly in NSW was the second soldier to earn the Victoria Cross for gallant actions performed during the Syria-Lebanon campaign.[4] He earned his decoration in part for his role at the battle for the Lebanese town of Merdjayoun (19-24 June), which was part of the advance on Beirut and Damascus from Palestine, and for subsequent actions during the Battle of Damour, a coastal town south of Beirut (5-9 July). According to the London Gazette his decoration was awarded,
“For most conspicuous and sustained gallantry … and for outstanding bravery during the bitter fighting at Merdjayoun when this artillery officer became a byword amongst forward troops with which he worked… On the night of 23–24 June he was in charge of a 25-pounder sent forward into our forward defended localities to silence an enemy anti-tank gun and post which had held up our attack. This he did and next morning the recapture of Merdjayoun was completed. Later at Damour on 6 July when our forward infantry were pinned to the ground by heavy hostile machine gun fire, Lieutenant Cutler, regardless of all danger, went to bring a line to his outpost when he was seriously wounded. Twenty-six hours elapsed before it was possible to rescue this officer, whose wound by this time had become septic necessitating the amputation of his leg. Throughout the Campaign this officer's courage was unparalleled and his work was a big factor in the recapture of Merdjayoun.”[5]
The Battle of Damour was the final major operation of the campaign, after which, the fate of Beirut was sealed and the Vichy French asked for an armistice.
Having lost his right leg below the knee, Arthur Roden Cutler was invalided back to Sydney. On his arrival in Manly on Friday 12 December 1941 he received a hero’s welcome home with a civic reception at the Manly Town Hall.[6] On 11 June 1942, Cutler was presented with his Victoria Cross by the Governor-General of Australia, Lord Alexander Gowrie, at Admiralty House, Kirribilli.
Later, as Secretary of the NSW branch of the RSL, Cutler occupied an office at the Anzac Memorial. And, as the 32nd and longest serving Governor of New South Wales from 20 January 1966 until 19 January 1981, the by then Sir Arthur Roden Cutler held honorary appointments in both the army and the air force. He was the recipient of many other decorations and honorary degrees and held positions on numerous boards until his death in February 2002. [7] Cutler was accorded the rare honour of a State Funeral on 28 February 2002 by the NSW Government.
The Anzac Memorial’s collection contains the uniform Cutler wore as Honorary Air Commodore of No. 22 Squadron, RAAF. Soil from the Lebanese town of Merdjayoun, where he played a significant role in the battle fought there between 19 and 24 June 1941, is represented in the floor of the Hall of Service. And the recently acquired Syria-Lebanon commemorative badge is another small yet significant reminder of the service and sacrifice of Australians who served during the Second World War.
Lest we forget.
Article by Dr Catie Gilchrist
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Gavin Long, Australia in the War of 1939-1945, Series 1, Army, Volume 2, Greece, Crete and Syria, AWM, Canberra, 1953, p 526.
[2] Gavin Long, Australia in the War of 1939-1945, Series 1, Army, Volume 2, Greece, Crete and Syria, AWM, Canberra, 1953, p 526.
[3] London Gazette, No 35325, 24 October 1941, p 6237. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35325/supplement/6237 [4] His was the fourth Victoria Cross awarded to an Australian during the Second World War. In total, twenty Australians were awarded the Victoria Cross during the Second World War.
[5] London Gazette, No 35360, 25 November 1941, p 6825. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35360/supplement/6825
[6] ‘Cutler, V. C., Back to Welcome by Manly’, The Sun, Friday 12 December 1941, p 2.
[7] As well as the Victoria Cross, Cutler was also awarded Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and Knight of Justice of the Venerable Order of St John of Jerusalem.