Heavy casualties on the Litani River

9th June 1941: Few officers survive to give an account of the first opposed amphibious landing by the Commandos

HMS Glengyle was the only surviving landing ship in the Mediterranean. An attempted landing on the 8th had to be abandoned because all element of surprise was lost in the bright moonlight, and landing craft could not be launched in the heavy surf.

The British invasion of Syria, then held by the Vichy French, quasi-allies of Germany, is little remembered.…