Vichy Strikes Back MTO (id:#66422)

(Franc-Tireur #15 ID: FT284)   [next]   [previous]

Kuneitra, Syria 1941-06-16 (6 others)

Overview:

On the road to Damas, the small town of Kuneitra was easily taken by the Allies at the start of the campaign. A small force consisting of part of the 1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers (part of 5th Indian Infantry Brigade Group) commanded by LCOL Gordon Orr and parts of the brigade's transport and supply, a couple of carriers and a single Marmon-Herrington armed with a 20mm Breda gun, were garrisoning the town. LCOL Orr had roughly 600 men in total under his command. The battalion was short of heavy weapons other than a few Boys anti-tank rifles, and a Hotchkiss machinegun they had found a few days earlier when they first arrived in Kuneitra. This small garrison faced a strong mobile force of around 1,500 men (a mixed force of Senegalese, Moroccan and Algerian infantry and Lebanese cavalry, plus four anti-tank guns), some R35 tanks and armored cars under COL Lecoulteux which had been sent in a long-distance raid to disrupt the advance of the Allies on Damas. At dawn on the 16th of June, the attack began.

Defender: British (1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers, 5th Indian Infantry Brigade Group)  

Errata (source)