Word: levante
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...eastern Mediterranean, the German eyed Cyprus, hoped to make it another Crete, a steppingstone down the Levant to Suez. To the north in Bulgaria, General Wilhelm Student, No. 1 Nazi parachutist, whipped new men into shape, ran a vast training program for glider pilots, reconditioned ground officers to lead air infantry. Perhaps they were being trained for an invasion of Britain, but a better bet was that they were headed for the Mediterranean...
...Admiral Darlan has granted the Germans the use of air bases in the Levant. Please at once advise the Wiesbaden Commission concerning the reaction to such measures...
...second telegram (unsigned) read: "If German or Italian planes fly over Levant, please refrain from any reply. If any of these planes alight on your fields, receive them and ask instructions. British planes must be attacked at any cost...
...dishonor, made a brief show of refusing them, then dumped the whole mess into General Dentz's lap. After thanking the Vichy forces who took part in the campaign, Marshal Henri Philippe Petain declared to Syria's civilians: "France is going to suffer an eclipse in the Levant...
...sadder than Vichy's eclipse in the Levant might have been the fate of all British Middle East defense had not Syria been taken. Beginning with the Iraq revolt last spring when they used Syrian bases to fly aid to Rashid Ali El-Gailani, the Germans had increasingly filtered into the country. If the Axis had got control of Syria the British Middle East Command might as well have folded its tents and gone home...