Anglo-Iraqi War
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| Anglo-Iraqi War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of World War II | |||||||
 Iraqi national flag at the time of the British invasion. |
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| Combatants | |||||||
 Kingdom of Iraq Nazi Germany Kingdom of Italy |
 United Kingdom British India |
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| Commanders | |||||||
 Rashid Ali |
 Gen. Edward Quinan |
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| Strength | |||||||
| Five divisions | About two divisions | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| 2,500 KIA, about 6,000 POWs | 1,200 (KIA, MIA, WIA) | ||||||
The Anglo-Iraqi War is the name of hostilities between the United Kingdom and the Iraqi nationalist government during the Second World War. It lasted from April 18 to May 30, 1941. It is also referred to as the Rashid Ali Rebellion. Although it was barely a month long, the campaign resulted in a renewal of British occupation of the country and further fuelled nationalist resentment of the British-supported monarchy.
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[edit] Causes
Although Iraq (also referred to as Mesopotamia) was nominally granted independence from the United Kingdom in 1932, before then, it had been governed by the British under a League of Nations mandate. In preparation for independence, a number of conditions had been stipulated under the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930, including the provision of military bases for British use and the free movement for British troops through the country without restriction. Many Iraqis were angry at these conditions and felt that their country was still under the effective control of Britain and the monarchy it had created. This was dictated by the British before independence, principally to ensure that they would continue to have control of Iraq's oil resources.
In 1939, the British government wanted the regent Nuri as-Said to declare war on Nazi Germany following the September invasion of Poland. However, the anti-British sentiment meant that the government was only able to cut off diplomatic relations with Germany. The anti-British Rashid Ali became prime minister as a result of the 1941 coup d'etat on April 2.[1] He did not overthrow the monarchy, but installed a more compliant Regent, and attempted to restrict the rights of the British under the 1930 treaty. Rashid Ali had already made covert contacts with the Nazi representatives in the Middle East, but was not openly pro-Nazi in 1941.
The British Army's Middle East Command in Cairo despatched a formation known as Iraqforce under the command of General Sir Edward Quinan. The landing was intended firstly to seize and secure the port of Basra which Churchill saw as a future major supply base for material from the USA, to reinstate a more compliant Iraqi government and to protect British interests in the country.
Iraqforce included the Indian 10th Infantry Division, a single brigade (Indian 20 Infantry Brigade) of which arrived at Basra on April 18 and was all ashore by the 19th whilst a further three ships with ancillary troops arrived on April 29.[2] Meanwhile, a battalion of infantry had been flown into Habbaniya on April 24 but further reinforcement by 20 Brigade moving north from Basra was made impossible by the flooding of the countryside around Habbaniya when the river bunds were cut at the end of the month.[3] A second brigade (21st Indian Infantry) from 10th Indian Division arrived at Basra in early May and command of the division was assumed by Major-General Slim mid month.[4] The divisions final brigade (25th) arrived in Basra on May 30.
There were two main British military bases in Iraq, at RAF Shaibah near Basra and the large RAF base at Lake Habbaniya, just downstream from Ramadi on the River Euphrates and a 55 miles west of Baghdad. On April 30, twelve days after the initial British landings in Basra, the Iraqi Army established itself on the high ground to the south of the Habbaniya air force base. An Iraqi envoy was sent to demand that no movements, either ground or air, were to take place from the base. The British refused the demand and then themselves demanded that the Iraqi army leave the area at once. After a further ultimatum given in the early hours of May 2 expired, at 0500 hours the British began bombing the Iraqi troops threatening the base.
[edit] British response and resolution
The British had at their disposal 96, mostly obsolete, aircraft at Habbaniya which was a training base and a refuelling point for flights to India. Many of the aircraft were trainers which were modified on the spot to carry bombs and other offensive weapons. On May 3, four Bristol Blenheim fighter bombers arrived to further strengthen the base. On the ground, Habbaniya was defended by 2,200 men and 18 armoured cars. Ground forces under British command included the locally recruited RAF Levies mainly consisting of Iraqi Assyrians and Kurds, and these were to play a significant part in the defence of the station and the attacks on Fallujah and the advance on Baghdad.
Opening the British attack, close to forty aircraft took off to attack the Iraqi positions on May 2. After 5 days of relentless attacks by the dwindling force of training aircraft, pupil pilots and their instructors the Iraqi forces fled from the plateau and the siege was lifted. Throughout this time the lightly armed ground forces defended the base and then went on the attack. The German airforce flew into Mosul and launched aerial attacks on Habbaniya. Two weeks later relief forces arrived at Habbaniya. They were British, Palestinian, and Arab Legion reinforcements from Palestine and TransJordan. This British relief force consisted of Habforce, and its flying column KingCol. The aircraft stationed at the base eventually destroyed the Iraqi airforce which -- on paper -- was better equipped than the local forces available to the RAF. RAF air superiority, the Kings Own Royal Regiment (KORR), RAF Armoured Cars, loyal RAF Iraq Levies and the reinforcements then enabled the British to defeat the Iraqi Forces defending the bridge at Fallujah and press on to Baghdad. Some assistance was given to Iraqi government forces by a squadron respectively of twin engine fighters and medium bombers from the German Luftwaffe operating from Mosul, and by a squadron of biplane fighters from Italy, all painted in Iraqi markings (recalling the Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War),[1] but by the time of the Fallujah battle the British aircraft operated unopposed against the Iraqi army.
British forces pressed on to Baghdad, where the government of Rashid Ali collapsed. Rashid Ali and his supporters fled to Persia and then on to Germany. On May 31, an armistice was signed[5] and the monarchy and a pro-British government was put back in place. Large numbers of British forces remained in Iraq until 1947 and the country remained effectively under British control. The British considered the occupation of Iraq necessary to ensure that access to its strategic oil resources be maintained. Iraq was subsequently used as a base for the British invasion of Iran in 1941. Forward defenses against a possible German invasion from the north were created in 1942. After 1942, Iraq and Iran were used to transit war material to the Soviet Union.
While Rashid Ali and his supporters were in alliance with the Nazi regime in Germany, the war demonstrated that Iraq's independence was at best conditional on British approval of the government's actions.
Military occupation of Iraq continued long after the war was over, finally ending on October 26, 1947.
[edit] Syria, Lebanon, and Iran
The Anglo-Iraqi War was soon followed by the Syria-Lebanon campaign and the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran. Many of the forces involved in Iraq were soon involved in Syria, Lebanon, and Iran.
[edit] External links
- History Guy Anglo-Iraqi war page
- Iraq in World War II
- Iraq, 1941 Displaying paintings of aircraft of both sides.
[edit] Bibliography
- Compton McKenzie (1951). Eastern Epic. Chatto & Windus, London. ISBN?. Chapter 8 (pp82-106) covers the Anglo-Iraq war and the lead up to it from the British perspective with particular reference to the activities of the Indian Army formations involved.
