Henri Dentz

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Henri Fernand Dentz (16 Dec 1881, Roanne, Loire, France - 13 Dec 1945, Fresnes, Val-de-Marne) was a General for Vichy France during WW II. He was charged with the defence of the (Vichy) Syrian protectorate, and commanded an army of approximately 45,000 men. On June 8, 1941, an allied force consisting of approximately 20,000 Free French, British and assorted commonwealth troops, under the command of Sir Henry M. Wilson (British), attacked from the British controlled territories of Iraq and Palestine during the Syria-Lebanon campaign. Dentz and the Vichy Forces were methodically surrounded in Syria over a 13 day period leading he and the remnants of his forces to abandon the capital, Damascus, to the Allies on the 21st of June. On 10 July Dentz orders ships and aircraft, under his command to Turkey where they are interned and concludes a ceasefire with the Allies.

In January 1945 Dentz was sentenced to death for aiding the Axis powers but Charles de Gaulle commuted his sentence to life imprisonment.