Battle of Sidon (1941) 1941
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 15 June 1941 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1941 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | Lebanon | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Syria–Lebanon campaign | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 33.5606, 35.3981 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Sidon (13–15 June 1941) was part of the Australian 7th Division's advance on Beirut, which took place during the five-week-long Syria-Lebanon campaign fought between the Allies and Vichy French forces in Syria and Lebanon.
Sidon, a town of about 12,000 people at the time with a number of historic mosques and castles dating back to the Crusades, was positioned on the coast to the north of Tyre, about halfway between the Lebanese border with Palestine and Beirut. The fighting came several days after the Allied forces from the Australian 21st Brigade, under Brigadier Jack Stevens, crossed the Litani River as part of Operation Exporter. After preliminary moves by the 2/27th Infantry Battalion around Adloun, the 2/14th Infantry Battalion had carried the advance north along the coast towards Sidon. On 13 June, the 2/16th Infantry Battalion, with artillery and cavalry support, was assigned the task of capturing the town itself, undertaking a daylight advance over 6.5 kilometres (4.0 mi) of open ground to reach the town, before exploiting a further 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) to the north. The presence of the historic buildings meant that the Australian artillery bombardment of the town was limited in an effort to prevent collateral damage, which slowed the Allied advance.
On the periphery, the 2/27th was also active around Miyeoumiye to the south-east during the fighting.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Sidon (1941) (revision 1370589339), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
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- Battle of Sidon (1991) 1991 · 0 km
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- Ansariya ambush 1997 · 20 km
- Battle of Merdjayoun 1941 · 26 km
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Other battles of the Syria–Lebanon campaign
- Battle of Damascus (1941) 1941
- Battle of Damour 1941
- Battle of Deir ez-Zor (1941) 1941
- Battle of Jezzine (1941) 1941
- Battle of Kissoué 1941
- Battle of Merdjayoun 1941
- Battle of Palmyra (1941) 1941
All 8 battles of the Syria–Lebanon campaign →
Browse more: battles in Lebanon · Asia · World War II era battles