Today the Iraqi forces are attempting to take the city of
Fallujah back from the Islamic State. The first time the town was fought over
however was in 1941 during World War II. During that time the British were
attempting to take Baghdad and overthrow the government of Premier Rashid Ali
Gaylani that was allied with the Germans and Italians.
When World War II broke out in Europe a group of Iraqi
politicians and military officers sided with the Axis. This was due to three
major factors. First, the Germans swept through Europe, and were
threatening Egypt by 1941 leading many in the Iraqi elite to believe that the
British would eventually lose. Second, politicians, members of the military,
and the general public were all resentful of England’s domination of the
country, which had created the nation after World War I as a mandate, imposed
the monarchy, and ran the country’s oil industry. At the same time, Berlin and
Rome were actively courting Baghdad, and those two countries were seen
as possible role models for the development of Iraq. Together that led to the
April 1941 coup led by four officers known as the Golden Square that put Rashid
Ali Gaylani into power and forced Abdullah Regent of Iraq to flee the country. The
new government was widely popular because of its anti-British stance. Germany
and Italy immediately released a joint statement saying they supported the coup
and offered military support as well. The prime minister and the Golden Square
officers wanted to push the British out of Iraq, but did not want to use force.
They believed that England would let Iraq slide out of its control as it was
defeated in the war. That did not play out as planned as the country became a
battlefield in the conflict
Immediately after the coup, Prime Minister Winston Churchill
began making plans to remove Gaylani from power to make sure that Iraq stayed
under Britain’s influence. In April Churchill ordered forces from India, Transjordan,
and Egypt to be sent to Iraq. By the middle of the month, the first troops had
arrived at an airbase in Shaibah, Basra, the port of Basra, and the Habaniya
airbase in Anbar. PM Gaylani responded by sending the army to surround the
Habaniya where they gave an ultimatum to the British to stop their operations
there. That was rejected, and the Battle of Habaniya ensued with an Iraqi
defeat. The British then started a march on Baghdad, which led to the Battle of
Fallujah.
Fallujah was considered the best crossing point of the
Euphrates River in Anbar on the road to Baghdad. The Iraqis had flooded most of
central Anbar by releasing water from the river. Ramadi had a large Iraqi army
contingent and was also isolated by the flooding so that was not considered a
good target. Fallujah was considered much easier, and had a bridge across the
Euphrates.
The British commander Colonel Ouvry Roberts planned a
multi-pronged approach to taking the town. First, there would be heavy bombing
of Fallujah to undermine morale. Then leaflets would be dropped demanding that
the Iraqis surrender. A four pronged attack on the town would then be launched
hoping to seize the bridge before it could be blown up. The main task of
seizing the structure would fall on 100 Iraqi levies that had been trained by
the British to originally protect the Habaniya base. Another attack would be
made by more levies and Indian Ghurkas supported by armored cars and howitzers
from the north to cut off reinforcements that might be sent from Ramadi. A
thrust from the south would be made using boats to maneuver the flooded
Eurphrates. Another contingent of troops would be flown into the east to cut
the Fallujah-Baghdad road and block any Iraqi forces being sent from the
capital.
On May 19, 1941 the Battle of Fallujah began. At 5 am 57
British planes bombed the town for an hour. The leaflets were then dropped
calling for the Iraqis to give up. At dawn, the troops were landed in the west
by plane to cut the Fallujah-Baghdad road. Another bombing run was made on the
town, and then the Iraqi levies made a charge on the bridge backed by some
armored cars. The bridge was seized and the town taken by the end of the day.
Ten tons of bombs had been dropped on the city, 300 Iraqis were captured, and
the levies didn’t take a single casualty as they rushed the Fallujah Bridge.
Most of the Iraqi troops in the town did not put up a fight and stripped off
their uniforms and either tried to blend in with the population or fled.
The Iraqis were not so easily defeated however, and tried to
take back the town on May 22. A unit from the Iraqi 6th Infantry
Brigade launched a counter attack to try to expel the British. They were
discovered at night as they were approaching, but could not be turned back by a
small reconnaissance force. At 3 am they reached the outskirts of town on the
northeast and started firing mortars on the British positions leading to their
withdrawal inside Fallujah proper. Two Iraqi tanks then entered the town, but
were destroyed. The British then launched their own attack, which pushed the
Iraqis out of Fallujah just as the sun rose. The Iraqis then switched to the
southeast with an infantry and tank assault. Nine hours of fighting later and
they were turned back. By then reinforcements arrived from Habaniya and cleared
the town by 6 pm after some very heavy fighting. A few days later German
planes, which had been sent to aid Gaylani’s government strafed the town while
Iraqi artillery shelled it. By then it was firmly under British control. Their
next move was to take the Iraqi capital, which eventually happened leading
Gaylani to flee to Iran.
The Battle of Fallujah played a major role in defeating the
pro-German and pro-Italian government in Baghdad and ensure that Iraq would
stay in the Allied camp during World War 2. London was worried that if Iraq
fell to the Axis it would cut off an important source of oil and threaten its
petroleum interests in Iran as well. Iraq also operated as part of the trade
route to India. Winston Churchill therefore saw Iraq as a strategic asset to
maintain the British empire. Some of the tactics used then are also being
employed now such as attacking the city from all sides, heavy bombardments to
loosen the defenses, and the dropping of flyers. In 1941 the Iraqis were
defeated, but in 2016 they will come out victorious.
Timeline Of Anglo-Iraq
War During World War 2
Jan 28 Regent Abdullah made moves against PM Gaylani for his
pro-German views
leading to plot against Regent
Jan 31 PM Gaylani forced form office by British pressure
Apr 1 Golden Square officers back coup leading to Gaylani to
return to power and
Regent
Abdullah fleeing country to Palestine under British protection
Apr 3 Germany sent letter saying it supported coup and
offered military aid
Apr 8 PM Churchill orders forces to be put together in India
to be sent to Iraq
Apr 9 Germany and Italy make joint statement supporting PM
Gaylani and promising
military
and financial support
Apr 10 Hitler decided to give military aid to Iraq
- PM Gaylani said he would honor 1930 Anglo-Iraq Treaty
because didn’t want
confrontation
with London
Apr 12 British forces leave India heading for Basra
Apr 16 British tell Iraq that troops will be landing in
Basra under Anglo-Iraq Treaty
Gaylani
agrees but says they most leave for other destinations immediately
- German letter arrives in Baghdad saying it would support
Iraq revolt against British
Apr 17 Gaylani asked Germany for military assistance
- British battalion from Indian starts arriving at Shaibah
airbase in Basra
Apr 18 British troops from India land at Port of Basra
Apr 29 Gaylani sends forces to surround England’s Habaniya
airbase in Anbar
Apr 30 Iraq issued ultimatum to British to cease operations
at Habaniya base
May 1 Iraqi police opened fire on British workers in Fort
Rutba, Anbar
- British bombers sent from Egypt to Habaniya base
May 2 British planes bomb Iraqi forces outside Habaniya
starting Anglo-Iraq War
- Grand Mufti in Baghdad declared jihad against England
- Iraqi forces take British fort at Rutba
May 3 British planes bomb Iraqi forces outside Habaniya and
Iraqi airbase at Rasheed,
Anbar
- Churchill orders British troops from Palestine to Iraq
May 4 British expand bombing to Iraqi bases in Rasheed Mosul
and Baghdad
May 6 British break siege at Habaniya
- Germany makes deal with Vichy France to send military
equipment from Syria to Iraq
- Germany sends air unit to Syria bound for Iraq
May 8 British Arab Legion leaves Palestine for Iraq heading
to take back Fort Rutba
Are
attacked by German planes during march
- British take Ashar, Basra
- British air strikes destroy most of Iraqi air force
May 9 German and Italian planes leave Syria to land in Mosul
- British planes bomb Fort Rutba
May 13 German military aid begins arriving from Syria to
Mosul
- British forces take Fort Rutba and find it abandoned by
Iraqis
- German planes based out of Mosul begin attacking Habaniya
base
May 14 German commander arrives to take control of
German-Italian forces in Iraq
- German planes bomb British forces in Anbar heading for
Habaniya base from Palestine
and Fort
Rutba
May 16 British and German planes bomb opposing forces in
Anbar
May 18 British bomb Fallujah
May 19 British forces take Fallujah
May 22 Iraqi counterattack to retake Fallujah repulsed
May 23 German planes attack Fallujah while Iraqis shell town
May 26 Italian planes land in Kirkuk from Syria and start
attacking British forces in
Anbar
May 27 Operation Regulta starts with British marching from
Fallujah and Basra on
Baghdad
May 28 British forces stopped by Iraqis at Abu Ghraib
- British intelligence officer spread rumors amongst Iraqi
military that 100 tanks heading
for Baghdad
May 29 British forces defeated by Iraqis at Kadhimiya while
English break through Iraqi
defense at
Abu Ghraib
- PM Gaylani leaves office and flees to Iran
May 30 British take Baghdad
Jun 1 Regent Abdullah returns to Iraq
SOURCES
Farouk-Sluglett, Marion and Sluglett, Peter, Iraq Since 1958: From Revolution to
Dictatorship, London, New York: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2003
Lyman, Robert, Iraq
1941, The battles for Basra, Habbaniya, Fallujah and Baghdad, Oxford, Long
Island: Osprey Publishing, 2006
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