Page:A short guide to Syria (1943).djvu/4

 "If you give, give plenty; and

If you strike, strike hard."

Syrian Proverb



YOUR UNIT has been ordered to Syria. Soon you will be standing on the shores of a sea or on a desert which has played a great part in world history.

You, an American soldier, are now one of the countless fighting men, over the past two thousand years, who have tramped across this neck of land connecting Europe and Asia. Alexander the Great, Caesar, Napoleon—all have struggled on this land for world dominion.

Here two great religions—Christianity and Judaism—sprang up. Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, Roman, Turkish and European civilizations have left a mark on Syria's sparsely inhabited lands. And for three centuries, waves of Crusaders from Europe fought the Saracens for possession of this Holy Land.

You are in Syria to fight—and to win—against Hitler, who seeks world domination. And a big part of your 5