The Liberian Campaign
Throughout the spring of 1937, the Second American Civil War continued to drag on. For National France and other members of the entente, there was good news when the Pacific States of America, terrified of being caught up in the violence embroiling their former countrymen, joined the Entente, ceding the state of Alaska to Canada in the process.
Across the Entente, this boosted morale which had been flagging ever since the Japanese coup which had led to Australasia leaving the Entente.
This also provided an opportunity to National France.
The nation of Liberia, founded by freed black slaves from America, had long been a protectorate of the USA. With the US engulfed in chaos, the Liberian government petitioned Pétain's government to extend military protection to Liberia.
However, Liberia, despite long standing mutual resentment between the natives and the American educated political elite, was a relatively wealthy nation with a significant industrial base centred around the factories on the outskirts of the capital city of Monrovia.
With it now practically defenceless, the Marshal's government decided to deliberately misinterpret the request for protection as a request to become part of the French north African territories. When the Liberian government refused to comply with utter annexation, hostilities between Liberia and National France began.
Anticipating instability in the region, the
Armée de Terre had already dispatched a motorised division to the Liberian border under the command of Major General Delestraint.
However, Delestraint, hundreds of miles from the nearest superior officer, found himself facing a Liberian army that were dug into defensive positions and which outnumbered him two to one. Accounts by his aide-de-campe reveal that Delestraint quite literally tore up orders to attempt a drive to Monrovia. Instead, he dug into defensive positions of his own and waited until the overconfident Liberians split their forces by sending an infantry division to push along the coastline to the port of Abidjan.
Delestraint immediately moved his own forces eastwards to intercept them, encouraged by the arrival of a PSA bomber squadron in the region. Via telegraph, it was arranged that the bombers would target the Liberians threatening Abidjan.
With the Liberians moving through hostile territory and with extended supply lines, the bombing campaign proved more successful than Delestraint could have dreamed. By the time the French were in a position to attack, the Liberian forces threatening Abidjan had disintegrated. Relentless bombing of their supply lines had led to the utter collapse of morale and the Liberian soldiers, mostly native Liberians who resented their American educated officers, had deserted to make their way home to their native villages.
Delestraint wasted no time in moving south to the coast, out of the dense jungle, while he waited for reinforcements to arrive and for bombing of Monrovia to break the Liberian government's will to continue the war. This was based on the widely held belief at the time that aerial attacks would completely destroy civilian morale and result in rapid collapse of society and order. As was about to be proved in Monrovia, this was nonsense.
With the French general staff certain that Liberian morale was at breaking point, an attack on Monrovia was ordered without waiting for reinforcements.
The attack proved into a costly failure which resulted in the deaths of thousands of Frenchmen and natives. Despite aerial support from the
Armée de l'Air, Delestraint was unable to make significant progress into the Liberian interior. After days of fighting, Delestraint informed his superiors that he would not send more men to die in a pointless battle and withdrew to his starting position.
With the Liberian campaign at a stalemate, the Marshal's government was forced to reconsider the state of affairs in the south. This coincided with momentous events in Spain and the rest of Africa.
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