Mariano Goybet - Damascus, The Holy City

Damascus, The Holy City

In 1920 General Goybet was called by the General Henri Gouraud to command the Third Division of the Levant.

The Arab Revolt, begun in 1916, was a fight for Arab independence from the Ottoman Empire. “Laurence of Arabia” helped the Arabs in this fight on the side of Faysal. They were supported by the British troops of General Edmund Allenby. Damascus fell on 1 October 1918.

"We have, I think, changed the current of history in the Near East, I ask myself how the great powerful nations will let the Arabs have their way." - T. E. Lawrence October 18, 1918.

Faysal was proclaimed King of Syria in March 1920. The powerful nations would share the Near East between them at the conference of San Remo in Italy in April 1920. Lebanon and Syria became a French mandate and in July 1920, the 24th Division commanded by General Goybet advanced on Damascus. After the battle of Maysaloun, General Goybet's troops arrived in Damascus. Faysal escaped.

GENERAL ORDER No. 22
Aley, 24 July 1920

"The General is deeply happy to address his congratulations to General Goybet and his valiant troops: 415th of line, 2nd Algerian sharpshooters, 11th and 10th Senegalese sharpshooters, light-infantry-men of Africa, Moroccan trooper regiment, batteries of African groups, batteries of 155, 314, company of tanks, bombardment groups and squadrons who in the hard fight of 24 of July, have broken the resistance of the enemy who defied us for 8 months.

"They have engraved a glorious page in the history of our country." - General Gouraud

An ancestor of General Goybet had been taken prisoner in Damascus—Jean Montgolfier during the Second Crusade in 1147.

"Isn’t it justice that allowed the descendant of a slave to come victorious into the Holy City." - Mariano Goybet

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