Latakia is the second largest port in Greater Syria, but because trade is mainly concentrated in Beirut, Latakia does not have the momentum of the second largest port at all.

Today, however, it was a bit unusual, as a large number of soldiers in military uniforms appeared in the port, the Romanian officers and soldiers who had landed, and who quickly took over the city under the leadership of local Arabs.

Why is there no defenders in this city, in fact, as soon as Beirut was lost, the defenders stationed here put on their backpacks and left. Latakia is no longer relevant because of the loss of Beirut, and the city is located in the north of Syria, and in the current situation, only Damascus is the only one to contact with it.

The defenders were ordered when the Romanian army landed in Beirut to withdraw to Damascus with their troops as soon as Beirut was lost, because if Damascus was also lost, then the rest of the French Czech army would be semi-surrounded. The only way to evacuate to Iraq was along the Euphrates, which of course did not meet the expectations of the French army.

That's why the defenders of Latakia withdrew as soon as Beirut was lost.

And it's not just the defenders of Latakia who are doing this.

In Aleppo, the hundreds of French officers and soldiers who remained behind had already packed their bags and set off, and they galloped towards Damascus with the horses they had collected.

The only area left is south of Damascus, but because Damascus is in southern Syria. It can be said that at present the French army has abandoned most of the area and concentrated its limited forces in Damascus.

Of course, General Sinlai, as the commander of the French army, certainly did not think that the French army could resist the offensive of the Luo army on its own. Especially after Hoffman took the risk of sending troops to organize a surprise attack to the east, the French army on the defensive felt even more pressure.

However, now General Sinlai has no soldiers in his hands, and those who can go to the front line have basically been transferred to the front line, and even a British and Indian brigade that came to reinforce has been transferred to the front line without even taking a breath. Now he only had two remnants of the division withdrawn from Beirut, plus one and a half divisions of French troops collected from all over the country, but most of this one and a half divisions could not be counted on, and they were still on their way.

So now General Sinlay has only two options, one is to continue to ask for help from the British army commanded by General Wavell, and the other is to train the defeated French army as soon as possible and pull it into battle.

One may ask, why didn't the French army, which was gathering from all over the place, say nothing?

It is discouraged to say that now the French troops who have withdrawn from all parts of the country will not be able to reach Damascus for a while and a half. Because the French Air Force in Syria has suffered huge losses one after another, and the planes that can be used in its hands can be counted on two hands, so the sky of Syria has been completely dominated by the Romanian Air Force, although its air force is currently mainly focused on the British army, but it will still not let go of the French army.

Not to mention the withdrawal of the French troops from Latakia, the number of divisions of the unit became the focus of care. So this also led to the slow movement of the troops, and according to the report of the division commander Arsco, it was expected that it would take about a week for them to reach Damascus.

Wait another week, and Romanians should be in town to celebrate.

So at present, for General Sinlai, it is more realistic to ask for help and organize the defeated troops.

Of course, in order to hold the Black Gate Mountains, both need to be done at the same time for Sinlai, of course, the first thing to do is to ask for help, in the telegram to Wavell, Xinlai put himself completely in the position of his subordinates and begged for reinforcements from the British army, which is completely a foreign version of pulling the brothers.

Of course, he also knew that relying on the British army was not safe, so he specially recruited the former Beirut commander, General Mendelek, and asked him to integrate the defeated troops who had retreated to Damascus, and reinforce the previous regiment with a whole regiment.

Sinlai is also giving it a go in order to hold Damascus, of course, he will not put all his hopes on this, and in private, he is also quietly hoarding transports and planning for the worst. In addition, on the main road south of Damascus, the defending troops were not withdrawn at all, and were even secretly strengthened.

On the other hand, Wavell, who is the commander-in-chief of the British army in the Middle East, also has a headache now, of course, it is not only General Sinlay's request for help report that gives him a headache.

"Damn, what am I doing here. This is also a request for help, that is also a request for help, isn't there a little good news? ”

Admiral Wavell, who had just seen a telegram from London, couldn't help but complain.

"Let me see."

General Smith, who was the chief of staff, heard his partner's complaint and pushed the door in, took the telegram and read it.

"There's no need to be angry, London is also strategic."

Smith's reassuring words did not lower Wavell's morale, and he continued to complain. "What is the matter, I have made a proposal to integrate the two armies before, but the French do not agree to it and are still doing it for that little benefit. I have long said that Beirut needs to be heavily defended, and the Romanians are absolutely eyeing it. Now that I have lost it, I have only called for help, and how many troops I have to use to save them now is completely nonsense. ”

In the face of Wavell's complaints about the French army, only his partner Smith knew, and his dissatisfaction with London was also vented here. It's just that it's hard to say, otherwise he, the commander-in-chief of the British army in the Middle East, will be in danger.

In fact, Smith is clear about Wavell's ability, and this general is definitely the most suitable general for this position at the moment. Not only is it very good at training troops, but it also has a keen insight into the situation of the war.

After the attack on Alexandria, he said that the next target of Romania's attack must be the Suez Canal, and Greece could not stop the Romanians for long. For the British forces in the Middle East, the most important issue at the moment was not to bring the Romanians ashore. Because it has an advantageous navy and air force, as long as the other side goes ashore, it will basically not be able to drive away.

In addition, his attitude towards the Mediterranean islands is that if he can defend them, he will hold them out, and if he can't hold them, he will delay them until the sea and air forces change.

But his idea was not supported by London, which, in its view, centuries of glory did not allow itself to easily declare strategic disadvantage in certain places, and they could also use the power of many allies to consume the power of the Romanis and buy time for the Middle East.

Therefore, under the guidance of London, the British army successively sent troops and equipment to help Greece, but the results were disappointing. Under the offensive of the Romanians, the Greeks did not hold on for even a month before the whole territory fell.

And it completely saw what London was thinking, and even took the island of Cyprus non-stop and won the victory of the outpost. Reasonably, Wavell was also surprised by the Romanians' use of mass paratroopers to land in conjunction with the landing force's military operation to seize the island.

He didn't think that paratroopers would have such a use before, and in his opinion, paratroopers could only infiltrate and fight on a small scale because of equipment problems.

Of course, this is also the most mainstream view in the world at present.

However, after seeing the Romanians on the island, other countries also began to try to form paratroopers at the division level. The United States began to experiment with its own paratroopers, and the USSR was also in action. France, an ally, is also urgently forming paratrooper units. And the homeland is no exception, according to the information he received, there is already a regimental paratrooper unit in the process of being formed.

Of course, this did not help him with the situation he was currently facing, but he was unhappy with London's frequent interference in his own deployment. In his opinion, the current rescue of Damascus can only meet the retreat of the French army, and he has no interest in helping the French army to hold Damascus.

If you look at the distance between Damascus and Beirut, you can see that even if it costs huge casualties to hold on, the cost of frequent attacks by the Romanian air force is still not something that the British army in Egypt can afford.

Now if you ask Wavell what he wants most, his answer must be a Spitfire. Because the current battle loss ratio of the air force stationed in the Middle East is too poor, many experienced pilots are driving old-fashioned fighters and facing the enemy's new-style fighters whose performance far exceeds their own, and they are simply supporting an air defense line for them with their lives.

Although scolding can dissipate anger, things still have to be done.

Wavell took out the telegram and looked at it again, and called a telecommunications staff officer. "Now send a telegram to the 3rd Australian Division, the 1st New Zealand Division, asking them to prepare to leave for Damascus to reinforce the local French army."

After sending the telecommunications staff away, Wavell said to the chief of staff beside him. "Smith, you personally send another secret telegram, asking the two divisions to be fully prepared before leaving."

Faced with the meaning of his partner, how could Smith, as the chief of staff, not understand, I saw that he immediately nodded and replied. "Okay, I understand, I'll get it across."

This time, Wavell intended to covertly resist the order from London.

And the two divisions who got the secret order even played tricks on grinding foreign workers. First of all, he asked for material replenishment, and when the material replenishment was slow, the marching speed was called fast, basically he could walk 30 kilometers and never walk 50 kilometers, and as soon as there was a wind and grass, he would be on guard immediately. In this way, in just over 200 kilometers, they were forced to walk for six days, and just after the Montenegrin defense line was broken through, they rushed to Damascus.

And in the face of the British reinforcements that have only arrived now, General Sinlay does not know what to say. But now he has to rely on the help of this new force to take the defeated army away.

So these British GIs were still very welcome, albeit on the surface.

The supporters, having repelled the attacking vanguard on the outskirts of Damascus, quickly left, leaving the Romanian troops who wanted to outflank them empty.

The reinforcements of the British army, which got rid of the Romanian army, trotted all the way back to Jordan with the defeated French army. And the Syrian region, which has already drawn all its troops, has been surrendered under the Romanian front.

At this point, the Romanian army basically met Hoffmann's requirements, and the remnants of the French army were preserved. However, the number of French troops withdrawn to Jordan was less than 20,000, and more than 40,000 were left on Syrian soil.

It is also worth mentioning that His Excellency Abdullah, the leader of the Arab uprising, appeared in public to appear that Damascus was welcoming the Romanians.

This made Britain and France gnash their teeth in anger, and for this reason, the intelligence services of the two countries in the Middle East were reprimanded from their own countries.