| Anglo-Iraqi War | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Arabian Front of World War II | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
Third German Reich
Kingdom of Italy The French State |
United Kingdom
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Rashid Ali Al-Gaylani Amin Al-Husseini Kamil Shabib Fahmi Said Salah Al-Din Al-Sabbagh Mahmud Salman |
Claude Auchinleck H. G. Smart Archibald Wavell Edward Quinan Ouvry Roberts | ||||||
The Anglo-Iraqi War was a campaign against the rebel Arab nationalist government of Rashid Ali Al-Gaylani. The campaign would begin on the 2nd of May, 1941 when the R.A.F base of Habbaniya was attacked by Rashid Ali's National Iraqi Army's 1st and 3rd divisions.
Background[]
The Kingdom Of Iraq was given limited independence from the British thanks to the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1931 which let the British Royal Air Force(RAF) had up to 2 Military bases in Iraq. The Iraqi people were divided between 2 blocks. the first block was led by Rashid Ali Al-Gaylani and the Party of National Brotherhood while the second block was led by Nuri As-Said and Pro-British Iraqis.
1941 Rashid Coup D'etat[]
In April first of 1941, the Golden Hittite and much of the RIA marched at specific areas of Baghdad effectively making the city their own. The Hittite called for Rashid to be made Prime minister again. Rashid wanted to seek the help from the Axis Powers in order to kick the British from Iraq and the middle east has a whole. When Rashid was put in the prime ministry he immediately made the Party of National Brotherhood(HIW) the only legal party in Iraq and started to arrest Pro-British politicians and citizens alike. Rashid also made Iraq a refuge for Arab leaders thus increasing the ever worsening relations between Britain and Iraq. The British government under Winston Churchill declared Rashid's government an Illegal one. Rashid later stationed men at R.A.F Shaibah and R.A.F Habbaniya. This effectively strained the last once of peace between Britain and Iraq with one more wrong move and war was by all means acceptable by both sides.
Both Sides and their strengths[]
Iraqi Forces[]
Before this war, Britain was the main foreign support for the Royal Iraqi Military(RIM) and its many branches of military. The army was made outta 60,000 ground forces mainly into four divisions. The 1st and 3rd divisions were stationed near Baghdad while the 2nd division as stationed at in Kirkuk and the 4th division was stationed at Al Diwaniyah. When the Arab leader Fawzi Al-Qawugji came into Iraq he was given the command of about 500 irregulars(gangs and guerrilla fighters).
British Forces[]
In April first of 1941, the British forces were very small. Air Marshal Harry Smart commanded the British forces in Iraq. The British Forces had about 2,000 Christian Assyrians that were officers. The main armoured section of these forces were mainly World War I era type. The British had more air force then anything ground related.