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Anglo-Iraqi War

The Anglo-Iraqi War was a conflict between the United Kingdom and the nationalist government of Iraq during World War II. The conflict lasted from 18 April to 30 May 1941. The British campaign to subdue Iraq was codenamed Operation Sabine. The conflict is also referred to as the Rashid Ali Rebellion. The campaign resulted in British re-occupation of Iraq and further fuelled nationalist resentment of the British-supported Iraqi monarchy.

Causes

The Kingdom of Iraq (also referred to as Mesopotamia) was governed by Britain under a League of Nations mandate (British Mandate of Mesopotamia) until 1932, when it became nominally independent. Before granting independence, Britain imposed several conditions under the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930. These conditions included military bases for British use and the free movement for British troops through the country without restriction. They were imposed by Britain to ensure continued control of Iraq's oil resources. Many Iraqis resented these conditions and felt that their country and its monarchy were still under the effective control of Britain.

When World War II broke out in September 1939, Britain wanted Iraq to declare war on Nazi Germany. However, while Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri as-Said was pro-British, the strong anti-British sentiment in Iraq meant that his government was only able to cut off diplomatic relations with Germany.

In March 1940, the nationalist and anti-British Rashid Ali replaced Nuri as-Said. Rashid Ali refused to break ties between Iraq and Fascist Italy. By 1941, Rashid Ali made covert contacts with German representatives in the Middle East, though he was not yet openly pro-Axis.

On 31 January 1941, Rashid Ali was replaced as Prime Minister of Iraq. Italian setbacks in North Africa and elsewhere started to change public opinion in Iraq.

On 2 April 1941, Rashid Ali seized power in the 1941 coup d'état. On April 3, he again became Prime Minister. However, he did not overthrow the monarchy. Instead, he briefly removed pro-British Regent 'Abd al-Ilah and installed a more compliant regent. He also moved to restrict British rights under the 1930 treaty.

Allied response and resolution

The British Prime Minister Winston Churchill considered Iraq to be of major strategic importance but General Archibald Wavell, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army's Middle East Command in Cairo, under whose responsibility Iraq came, was reluctant to send troops to the area because of his command's existing heavy commitments in Libya, East Africa and Greece. In the event it was General Claude Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief at India Command in Delhi who despatched Iraqforce under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir Edward Quinan to secure Iraq. Iraqforce was sent by sea from Karachi to seize and secure the port of Basra. Iraqforce was also to reinstate a compliant Iraqi government, and to protect British interests in Iraq.

Iraqforce

Iraqforce consisted of the Indian 10th Infantry Division commanded by Major-General William Fraser who commanded land operations until the arrival of Quinan on 7 May. Initially only the Indian 20th Infantry Brigade was present; it arrived at Basra on 18 and 19 April. A further three ships brought ancillary troops on 29 April. The Division's second brigade (Indian 21st Infantry Brigade) arrived at Basra in early May. Major-General William "Bill" Slim, who was Quinan's chief staff officer, took command of the division in on 15 May when Fraser fell ill. The division's final brigade (Indian 25th Infantry Brigade) arrived on 30 May.

Indian 21st Infantry Brigade advanced from Basra by boat up the Tigris in Operation Regatta. Indian 20th Infantry Brigade, the "Euphrates Brigade," deployed from Basra to Kut by steamer and barge in Operation Regulta.

There were two main British military bases in Iraq: RAF Shaibah near Basra, and RAF Habbaniya, the large Royal Air Force (RAF) base at Lake Habbaniya. The latter base was just downstream from Ramadi on the Euphrates River and about west of Baghdad. A battalion of infantry (the 1st King's Own Royal Regiment) was flown into Habbaniya from Shaibah on 24 April but Iraqi forces cut the river bunds at the end of April, flooding the countryside around Habbaniya and preventing further reinforcement by Indian 20th Infantry Brigade, which was moving north from Basra.

Iraqi moves

The Iraqi Army had four infantry divisions. At full strength, each division had three brigades. The Iraqi 1st and 3rd Divisions were stationed in Baghdad. One brigade of the 1st Division was motorized. The Iraqi 2nd Division was stationed in Kirkuk, and the 4th Division was in Al Diwaniyah, on the main rail line from Baghdad to Basra.

On 30 April 1941, twelve days after the initial British landings in Basra, about 6,000 Iraqi troops with 30 artillery pieces occupied the high ground to the south of the Habbaniya airfield. The Iraqis demanded that no movements, either ground or air, take place from the base. The British refused the demand and then themselves demanded that the Iraqi army leave the area at once. The British issued a further ultimatum in the early hours of 2 May. After it expired, at 0500 hours the British began bombing the Iraqi position, and the Iraqis responded by shelling the base.

RAF Habbaniya was a training base and a refuelling point for flights to India. The British had there some 35 pilots and 96 mostly obsolete aircraft (of which 56 were fit for operations). Many of the aircraft were trainers, which were modified on the spot to carry bombs and other offensive weapons. On 3 May, four Bristol Blenheim fighter-bombers arrived to strengthen the base further. On the ground, Habbaniya was defended by 2,200 men and 18 armoured cars. The British ground forces included the recently arrived King's Own Royals, and locally recruited RAF Levies, which were mainly Iraqi Assyrians and Kurds. The Levies played a significant part in the defence of the base and later the attacks on Fallujah and the advance on Baghdad. Colonel Ouvry Lindfield Roberts, a senior staff officer from 10th Indian Division, was flown in to command the Habbaniya ground forces. Two World War I howitzers that had been decorating the entrance of the officers' mess were put in working order by some British gunners.

From 2 May to 6 May, the dwindling force of training aircraft flown by student pilots and their instructors bombed the Iraqi positions on the plateau. On 6 May Colonel Roberts ordered a sortie by the King's Own supported by Iraqi levies, some armoured cars, and the old howitzers. After a hard fight the Iraqi force withdrew from the plateau. Meanwhile Iraqi reinforcements were approaching. They met the retreating force on the Fallujah road some five miles (8 km) east of Habbaniya. Just at that moment, every remaining available aircraft from RAF Habbaniya arrived to attack the reinforcing column. The two Iraqi columns were paralysed and within two hours over 400 Iraqi prisoners were taken and more than 1,000 casualties inflicted. On the morning of 7 May British reconnaissance found the plateau vacated.

Meanwhile, forced into action by London, in early May Wavell put together in Palestine a force to cross the desert and relieve Habbaniya. The force was commanded by Major-General John Clark and was called Habforce, comprising British 4th Cavalry Brigade, a battalion of The Essex Regiment, the Arab Legion Mechanised Regiment, a field artillery battery and a troop of anti-tank guns. Operations in Iraq also passed in early May under the control of Wavell's Middle East Command.

German involvement

The Iraqi Air Force (IAF) was on paper better equipped than the local RAF strength. But by 10 May, bombing by aircraft from Habbaniya disabled the IAF as a fighting force.

However, the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) now intervened. At the direction of German Colonel General Hans Jeschonnek, the Luftwaffe sent Sonderkommando Junck under the command of Oberst Werner Junck to Iraq. Junck's unit flew 15 Heinkel 111s and 14 Messerschmitt 110s into Mosul via Vichy French airbases in Syria, arriving from 10 May to 12 May, then commenced regular aerial attacks on Habbaniya. Plans were drawn up to supply ground warfare equipment and also troops, but the German high command was hesitant and required the permission of Turkey for passage. In the end, the Luftwaffe found conditions in Iraq intolerable, as spare parts were not to be had and even the quality of aircraft fuel was far below the Luftwaffe's requirements. Less and less aircraft were servicable each day and in the end all Luftwaffe personnel were evacuated on the last remaining Heinkel He 111. Only one German aircraft was lost in action, due to Iraqi friendly fire.

British counterattack

On 18 May Kingcol (named after its commander, Brigadier James Kingstone), the flying column of Habforce, arrived at Habbaniya from the British Mandate of Palestine, too late to intervene at Habbaniya but in time to participate in the thrust from the base towards Falujah and thence Baghdad to force an early Iraqi capitulation.

On 8 May 1941, Colonel Ouvry Roberts, commanding a force of the King's Own Royal Regiment, RAF Armoured Cars, RAF Iraq Levies, and the reinforcements from Kingcol, crossed the river and then overcame the other water obstacles created by the flooding using improvised cable-drawn ferries, and moved on Fallujah. After nearly a whole day of fighting, Fallujah was taken by the evening of 19 May. Kingcol then pressed on to Baghdad.

By the time of the Fallujah battle, British aircraft were operating unopposed against the Iraqi army. The British managed this despite the presence of twin engine fighters and medium bombers from the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) and by a squadron of biplane fighters from the Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica). The German and Italian aircraft were painted in Iraqi markings (recalling the aircraft of the Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War).

Iraqi collapse

The 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 31 May 1941, an armistice was signed and the monarchy and a pro-British government was put back in place. 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 some of the troops used to attack Syria in the Syria-Lebanon campaign in June and July 1941 and also the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in August to September 1941. Forward defences 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 for two years after the war was over, finally ending on 26 October 1947.

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.

Bibliography

Mackenzie, Compton (1951). Eastern Epic. Chatto & Windus, London. 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.