One piece of good news for the British was that the war in east Africa ended with the Italian surrender. That meant that units freed up could be moved north. The next issue was that Iraq would be destabilized. In response, the Germans would ship arms to Iraq.
The Pie Minister hoped to arrest the regent. The regent escaped to Basra and then to Transjordan. In response, an Indian brigade was sent to Basra. General Auchinleck was the commander in India. He now was in charge of the forces sent to Iraq. The government in Iraq tried to forbid any mor units besent to Iraq as long as the brigade was in Basra. The British ignored that order and added more soldiers at Basra.
The Iraqi government decided to make trouble at Habnaniya, an RAF training base. The Iraqi's laid siege to Habbaniya. The British were able do enough to put the Iraqi force on the defensive. As the situation heated up, General Wavell was put in charge of operations in Iraq. A force was brought to the H.4 pumping station.
Eventually, the Iraqi's were pushed back to Baghdad. A friendly government was installed and the unfriendly elements were forced to go yo Persia. The whole 10th Indian Division was now at Basra.
This is based on the account in "Greece, Crete, ans Syria" by Gavin Long.
No comments:
Post a Comment