Shipbucket

Towards Baghdad

After regrouping and securing the area around Fallujah, the British mounted their next advance in the early hours of the 28th May. From Habbaniya and Fallujah a three-pronged advance was made. Racing north through the desert a combined motorised force set off to Samarra to sever the rail line there between Baghdad and Mosul. A second force of the Household Cavalry and Arab Legion struck northeast to Meshahida Station to intercept the rail line there, and then advance on Baghdad from the north. The Arab Legionnaires in both parties performed a vital additional non-combat role in the action, providing cash payments to the local tribes and sheikhs and playing up that they were just the vanguard of a massive British army. The main Kingcol force continued east towards Baghdad.



After advancing 25kms without action, the main column ran into a defensive position at the Iraqi Police fort at Khan Nuqta. After a spirited defence, finally broken by a bayonet charge led by Brigadier Kingstone himself, the fort and almost a hundred Iraqi prisoners were taken. The position was found to have been an Iraqi Battalion HQ, and in the confusion of battle the Iraqi’s had left intact the telephone link to their Baghdad headquarters. British intelligence seized the line and were able to listen in on the Iraqi plans to defend Baghdad. In an intelligence coup the 4th Cavalry Brigade’s intelligence officer, Lieutenant Somerset de Chair, reported through a translator that Kingcol included a huge force of tanks – when in reality British armour was only the handful of armoured cars. By the time that the Iraqis figured that their communications were being listened in on and cut the line themselves the damage had been done – Britain was fully aware of the Iraqi defensive plans, and the news of an advancing massive tank army had further rattled the whole of the Iraqi army.

Push To Baghdad

Kingcol held position at Khan Nuqta for the evening, gaining information from the captured phone line until the Iraqi’s terminated the connection. At dawn an advance by elements of the Iraqi 3rd Infantry Division was met by the armoured cars and repulsed. Further advance was slow going, with the poor state of the roads and numerous areas of flooding. The column eventually advanced to the first irrigation canals running from the Tigris to find the Iraqis at a well prepared defensive position. The banks of the canal had been breached, and the road bridge had been blown. Heavy fire from concealed machine gun pits pinned down the British troops. The British brought forward the 25 pounders of the 237 (Lincoln) Battery, 60th Field Regiment, but the Iraqis had prepared well and it took several hours to neutralise the machine guns. Finally an infantry push over the damaged bridge secured a foothold over the river, and more troops finally captured the Iraqi position.



Engineers struggled to repair the bridge, and by the morning of the 30th the Essex Regiment were ordered to continue to advance on foot, and had travelled another 10 km’s to the next canal and bridge before they were joined by their armoured cars and transport. This next crossing was undefended although it had been rigged with demolition charges.

The Northern Approach To Baghdad

The northern column of the Household Cavalry Regiment guided by the Arab Legion struck out northeast to cut the Baghdad – Mosul railway at Meshahida Station, and then follow the line down into Baghdad from the north, and then to the British Embassy. Mid-morning on the 28th the column had reached the rail line, and turned south towards Baghdad. Nearing the Taji Station the column’s armoured cars made contact with Iraqi armoured cars and 3 tankettes, but after a brief exchange of fire the Iraqis had withdrawn. Advancing on foot the cavalrymen arrived at the fort guarding the station to find it abandoned, and four carloads of Iraqis retreating towards Baghdad.
The column lagered up for the night, but came under intermittent sniping during the night. Before dawn an Iraqi counter attack was repulsed. The column continued a slow advance towards Al Khazımeyn, only 5 kilometres from central Baghdad, to find the Iraqis had occupied secure positions around the historic Al-Kazimiyya Mosque, one of the holiest Shia sites in the country. The British force was too small to take on the heavily defended position, especially so close to the holy sites, and pulled back to Taji Station.

Western Advance On Baghdad

The main column advanced as far as the Washash Canal bridge, and were stopped again by dug-in Iraqi resistance. Machine gun and artillery fire hit the British column, and again the 25-pounders were called forward to break the Iraqis. And again the British column spent the whole day to clear the area, and so lagered up for the evening.
With both columns of Kingcol stalled and about 13 battalions of Iraqi infantry and 5 regiments of artillery still in positions around Baghdad the British position was tenuous without the support of the southern force making its way up the Euphrates. But the Iraqi numbers were only nominal, as much heavy weaponry had been lost in the pull back to Baghdad, and desertion of both officers and men had depleted their numbers. The rumours of massed British armour and hordes of advancing soldiers had also been effective psychological warfare tools, and had further reduced Iraqi army morale. But even so the RIrAF was still able to mount sporadic attacks on the advancing British columns.

Fall Of The Golden Square

As Baghdad hunkered down for the coming British assault, in the city the Mayor and an Iraqi army delegation arrived at the British Embassy. They informed the Ambassador that Rashid Ali, the Golden Square, the Regent and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem had all abandoned Baghdad and fled towards Iran. The Mayor announced that he had now taken charge, and requested an armistice. Slow communications relayed through Jerusalem meant that Kingcol only received the news at midnight.
At 0200 a party of British officers advanced to the Iraqi position beyond the Washash Canal bridge to negotiate an armistice. The armistice came into effect at 0400 on 31st August, and Kingcol moved into positions on the edge of Baghdad 2 hours later. The terms of the armistice were kept simple to allow a quick acceptance before the weakness of the British force was apparent. As the war had been against the Golden Square government and not Iraq itself the Iraqi army was allowed to return to barracks and keep all their weapons. The Anglo-Iraqi Treaty was restored and all prisoners exchanged.
The British did not enter Baghdad immediately because that would have revealed Kingcol’s actual weakness. And in fact the northern columns both returned directly to Habbaniya, never setting foot in the city. While the British reticence in entering the city managed to negate the possibility of an Iraqi resurgence, it resulted in the breakdown of law and order in Baghdad. Blaming the Jewish community for supporting the British over the Iraqi nationalist coup, mobs took to the streets in a pogrom called the Al Farhud. In an orgy of destruction hundreds of Jewish Iraqis were killed and their properties destroyed, before the Iraqi Army were able to restore order by the 2nd of September.
On the 12th September 20 Indian Infantry Brigade finally reached Baghdad after having travelled up the Euphrates, and British troops formally entered the city.

Advance to The North

After returning to RAF Habbaniya, the northern column of Kingcol was ordered to replenish supplies and redirected back into the field. Under the command of Major Gooch “Gocol” was tasked with heading north to secure Mosul and Kirkuk, while Major Merry was to lead “Mercol” west to neutralise Fawzi al-Qawuqji’s Pan-Arabist “irregulars” who were still active in the countryside around Ramadi.
Both Mosul and Kirkuk, in the heart of the Iraqi oil fields, had major Iraqi military installations, used to both protect the oilfields and to control the local Kurdish population whose resentment of the Baghdad government had periodically flared into open rebellion. Once the forward airstrip at H4 had become operational Blenheims had been dispatched from there to attack the RIrAF bases in Mosul and Kirkuk. Expecting only Gloster Gladiators in attendance, the initial raid by Blenheim IV’s had been intercepted by Bf109’s and suffered loses for little effect. As had been learnt from Baghdad, following bombing raids were by Wellingtons from Palestine, now with the Blenheims as escorting fighters.



Losses of British aircraft were immediately covered, but the Iraqi squadrons had no backup, and no where else to relocate to. Within a week Britain had complete air superiority in the Iraqi northern sector, and the airbases, as the sole British bombing targets, were largely deserted.
With the fall of the Iraqi government and armistice it was imperative that control was taken of Mosul by grounds troops to prevent damage to Iraq’s oil infrastructure. British transport aircraft reprised their role of combat insertion, and the DC-2’s of 31 Squadron landed unopposed in Mosul. Their passengers were the 2/4 Gurkha Rifles who rapidly secured the airbase on the 2nd September.
Meanwhile Gocol advanced by land, passing through Iraqi troops who appeared friendly and even jovial now that hostilities were over. However on their arrival at Mosul on the 3rd the local Iraqi commander demanded that the British leave his city. After communications with Baghdad the Iraqi military grudgingly relented, and the British established themselves in the city. By the 5th Kirkuk was also occupied and Britain patrols were ranging through the countryside. They found the northern Iraqi civilians had little respect for the government in Baghdad and knew little of the war.

Arabistan

The executive of the Iraqi rebel government fled before the rumoured British tank assault, heading east for the Iranian border. Crossing at Mehran the small party passed through the porous frontier with little fanfare as the Iranian military presence had been pulled back to the city of Ilam to deal with the civil disorder there.
Throughout south western Iran Arabs, Kurds, successionists and anti-Britishers had escalated their rioting to open rebellion. While the undisciplined assault on the refinery at Abadan had been thrown back by the Iranian army, the Shah’s deployment of the military to the Iraqi border had left the hinterland without a significant Imperial presence. Into this vacuum the Italian-inspired rioting had quickly spread, gaining ground and departing from its anti-British root to become a more general anti-Shah and anti-Persian movement.
The attack on the Abadan facilities, right under the eye of the British army, led to an immediate diplomatic response. Britain’s de facto ambassador to Iran, Sir Reader William Bullard, presented the Shah with an ultimatum from London, quash all rebellion or British forces would have to intervene. Unspoken but understood was that Britain’s concern was for Iranian oil infrastructure, not the plight of the Iranian peoples. The Shah had no intention of kowtowing to insurrectionist forces, and could not allow Britain to send in troops against Iranian civilians, even those disloyal to Tehran. Orders to repress the mayhem by all means were relayed to divisional commanders in the southwest, and additional troops given orders to redeploy to the region.
Ahvaz, the gateway city to southern Iran, had descended into anarchy with a resurgence of Arabistani separatism, even though one of Iran’s major air force bases was located there. Tanks from the 1st Pahlavi Infantry Regiment had earlier been sent from Tehran, passing through Ahvaz and also taking the local troops with them, to the Iraqi border, to protect the open country between Basra and Ahvaz. Initial reluctance of the army to abandon their defensive border positions once the urban rioting started had left the Iranian Gendarmerie in the city isolated and overwhelmed, forcing the paramilitary police to retire, with their armoured cars, to the air force base.



The presence of the Gendarmerie and the professional air force troops dissuaded anything more than an occasional rifle shot into the base, instead the rioters turned their attention to burning government buildings and barricading the west of the city.
With the Shah’s order to crush the revolt the Iranian tanks mobilised again and advanced on Ahvaz. The air force also reacted, and the 4th Regiment’s aircraft took to the air to add their power to the assault on the city. One of the main weaknesses of the Iranian military machine was immediately apparent, with no communication between air and ground forces. The Hawker Hind bombers flew low over the city, dropping bombs on crowds, attempting to break the rioters, but not effecting the ability of defend against the incoming army.

Abadan Refinery

The initial rioting in Khorramshahr had focussed on marching on the Anglo-Iranian oil facilities at Abadan to evict the British and establish local control. Unfortunately for them, the Iranian army had prepared defences against an assault by Iraqi forces withdrawing in the face of British pressure. Britain had already wrapped up Iraqi resistance and pacified southern Iraq by that time, and instead of a military assault from over the Shatt al-Arab, the Iranian army faced rioting civilians on the road from Khorramshahr.
Unprepared and outclassed the rebels were repulsed with casualties, and dispersed back to Khorramshahr, while Abadan township remained quiet with the high profile army presence there. The presence of the Iranian naval base at Khorramshahr however had done little to dampen the ardour of the rioters, but their focus was on neighbouring Abadan, not the navy. After their initial civil demonstration had been beaten back by force, over the following days more militant action was initiated. Snipers concealed around the Abadan refinery stated firing at both workers and soldiers, while rebellion was actively fomented in the town.
The crisis point came on the 6th September when an armed mob, now with a degree of military coordination, attacked the refinery. Facing overwhelming pressure, the Iranian conscript troops faltered and started to withdraw from the western side of the facility. With the extreme importance of Abadan the Iranian navy were also tasked with breaking the rebel force, and the Iranian sloop Palang had been shadowing the spreading conflict around the refinery. With its security now breached and with the army falling back, Commander Hassan Milanian ordered the Palang to open fire into the advancing mob with its 102mm main gun.
Also monitoring the unfolding action was the HMS Shoreham under Commander Gilbert Claridge. Protection of the Abadan refinery was also his highest priority, and seeing the Iranian navy firing into the facility gave him no choice but immediate action. The Shoreham’s own 4 inch guns were brought to bear on the Palang, at short range. Explosions and fire rapidly tore through the Palang and the vessel rapidly foundered in the Shatt al-Arab.
The situation in Abadan now became more confused, as Iranian gunners on the banks of the waterway started firing on the British ship. Unable to return fire due to the risk to the refinery the Shoreham motored north out of effective range of the Iranian army, but the battle had become a three-way free-for-all. Britain now found itself in a state of war with Iran, while the dust had not even settled for them in Iraq.

Nice to see this thread going.

British Response

With the Iranian conflict having entered the refinery, British forces were immediately forced into action to secure this the most import facility in the whole of Iran, before any significant damage could be caused.
The Fairey Swordfish from HMS Hermes had been in action throughout the pacification of Basra, where their slow speed and experience in low altitude action had been used to great effect to hit individual buildings used by the Iraqi military. They now were tasked to hit concentrations of rebels within the refinery with anti-personnel munitions.



At great personal risk the naval aviators flew low over the rebels, being very judicious with their munitions drops and gunfire. To the undisciplined rioters the detonation of 2 artillery shells from the Iranian navy, the massive explosions of the sinking Palang, followed shortly by the arrival of the Swordfish, was enough to break their fighting spirit. Beneath the wings of the Swordfish the rioters turned tail and pulled back from the exposed position in the refinery back towards Khorramshahr. But the Swordfish had also been taking small arms fire from the Iranian army, and replied in kind, hitting their riverside gunpits too.
Even before the Iraqi armistice Wavell had been tasked with planning an operation to secure the Iranian oilfields in the event of continuing civil disorder, with or without Iranian military assistance. The final operation had been designed to be a three-pronged simultaneous attack, but the actions of the Iranian navy had precipitated an immediate response that removed any possibility of the co-ordinated invasion that had been designed. Instead the planned occupation of Abadan was hurriedly activated, and armoured troops expedited northeast from Baghdad to supplement the troops already in position at the Iraqi oil town of Khanaqin.

Imperial Iran

During the Russian Civil War Britain had tried to use Persia as a step-off point for an attack on the Bolsheviks. In response the Bolsheviks had made inroads into northwestern Persia, leading to the creation of the breakaway Persian Socialist Soviet Republic. Led by a weak Shah, imperial Persian control extended little beyond Tehran, and in late 1920 the Soviets were mobilising villagers to move on Tehran. In response Brigadier-General Reza Pahlavi, the commander of the Persian Cossack Brigade, led a military coup in 1921 and deposed the Shah. Within a month Persia had signed the Russo-Persian Treaty of Friendship that resulted in the exit of Soviet soldiers from Persian territory. As a tool for neutralising potential White Russian counter-revolutionaries, Article IV of the Treaty gave the Soviets the right to invade and occupy Persia should they believe foreign troops were using it as a staging area for an invasion of the Soviet Union. Reza Pahlavi spent the rest of 1921 dealing with internal rebellions and counter-revolts, including reintegrating the Persian Soviet. By the end of 1925 the country had been largely subdued and Reza Pahlavi was officially declared the Shah of Persia.
Reza Shah’s main policy position was reducing foreign influence in the country, but at the same time he brought in German and Italian assistance to counterbalance British and Soviet interests. As a part of his reinforcing the national identity, in 1935 The Shah changed the name of the country from the ancient Greek derived “Persia”, to the endonym “Iran”. From initially being supported by Britain relations rapidly started cooling, with the main issue being the meagre royalties paid by the British owned Anglo-Persian Oil Company that was eventually taken to the League of Nations.
One of Reza Pahlavi's first actions was declaring himself as Minister of War, and he had then embarked on a massive expansion and modernisation of the Persian national military; ordering vehicles, tanks and weapons. By 1924 Persia had its first aircraft in its Air Force. Persia had been without a navy, and so to combat smuggling and piracy a naval force was also created. From 1928 Italian naval advisors were in country, while Iranian naval officers were trained in Italy.
By 1941 the Imperial Iranian Air Force was in the process of modernising its aging fleet. An initial mixed bag of Russian and French and British aircraft had been standardised to British biplane fighters and ground attack aircraft by the mid 1930’s. It had been planned to upgrade further to Hawker Hurricanes, but Britain had dragged its feet on the order for 30 machines – first with the demands of Hitler’s War and then with reconsidered reluctance to supply modern equipment to Iran. Turning instead to the US, 10 Curtiss H-75A-9 Hawk fighters were purchased in late 1939, and negotiations were underway to purchase more American aircraft.
The Imperial Iranian Navy had been built not as a military fighting force, but rather as an anti-smuggling police force for the waters of the Kuwait/Iraq/Iran borderlands. From its main bases at Khorramshahr and Bandar Shapur the modest force comprised sloops and minesweepers.
The Imperial Iranian Army had experienced the most expansion. Before Reza Shah there was no “national army”, but by 1941 nearly 160,000 men were in uniform. But this same growth had also weakened the army’s military effectiveness. Rather than the previous reliance on tribal warriors, their replacement by a mass of conscripts who were mostly uneducated and poorly trained led by a corrupt officer class, meant that soldiers were often careless, unmotivated, and mistreated in their barracks. Equipment levels had also skyrocketed, with the Iranian army having over 500,000 modern rifles and nearly 1000 artillery pieces by 1941. As a former cavalryman Reza Shah had a strong interest in mobile warfare and invested heavily in motorised and armoured vehicles. In 1921 Persia received its first Rolls Royce armoured cars, followed up with custom-designed US models from LaFrance and Marmon-Herrington. In 1925 Persia received its first tracked vehicles from France, modern Citroën Kégresse halftracks and obsolete Renault FT-17 light tanks.




But the biggest Persian investment was in new tanks. Czechoslovakian ČKD became the tank manufacturer of choice, with the AH-IV-P tankette and LT vz.38 light tank set to become the Iranian armoured battle fleet. An initial order of 50 and 60 vehicles respectively was delivered and made operational by 1937, but orders for hundreds of additional machines of both types were halted as Czechoslovakia was incorporated into Nazi Germany. Further export production was halted, as the factory instead was redirected to make tanks for the Reich. With the collapse of the Nazi government export production resumed, but now Iran’s order became an updated model of the LT vz.38 based on the Pz.38(t), but still fitted with the Iranian choice of Škoda gun.
While the creation of a national defence force from the apathy and anarchy of the previous regime was a significant achievement, by the 20th anniversary of the coup the difference between the on-paper potential of the military and its in-field actuality were quite significant. Corruption and ineffectiveness were rife through the military. Senior officers were often in their positions due to political connections rather than skills or ability. This led to inefficiencies which were only reinforced with every issue running through Reza Shah as the commander-in-chief, and from there downwards though the ineffective senior officer corps, reducing the potential for initiative or decision making. No advance had been made in logistics since the start of Reza Shah’s rule. While Tehran had a full complement of supplies, vehicles, weapons and ammunition, in the regions this was not the case. Armouries were stocked at low levels and the ability to move materiel on anything other than in piecemeal on horseback was limited. Likewise communications had been neglected, with minimal modern radios meaning that couriers relayed orders and reports between headquarters and individual units. Twenty years of actions against tribal bandits had not prepared the Iranian military to be adequately prepared for modern warfare.

*Oops, spelling mistake