'The Cherifians had blocked the road with a wall lined with machine guns, believing that they would prevent the tanks from passing, but the tanks slipped into the ravine between the wall and the mountain and, passing into the boondocks, they stormed up the ridge followed by the infantrymen of the 415th, the Algerians and the Moroccan Senegalese, launched at full gallop, enveloped the positions with an overflowing movement.Īnd from above, shells rained down and machine-gun fire. In the article entitled 'With General Goybet in Damascus' by Myriam Harry, published in L'Illustration on August 21, 1920, she underlines the incredible dexterity of the tanks in the face of the agile horses with which their opponents were still equipped: The use of Renault FT tanks in the French lines precipitated the outcome of the battle and of the war, by the capture of Damascus the following day, July 25, 1920.įor the Arab world, this battle illustrates the resistance against a stronger imperial power, but it is also a demonstration of the agility of tanks on a difficult terrain. The battle of Khan Mayssaloun took place on Jand opposed General Mariano Goybet to the troops of the Hashemite Emir Faisal.

Battle tanks in syria