The Germans demonstrated in the original timeline that the Channel Islands could be made very much defensible...
The problem for the Germans was that having turned them into almost invincible fortresses they were unable to use them to project power in any meaningful way, except to make occasional raids on the Allied rear areas in France once the Allies had liberated most of France and were moving on elsewhere.
The Allies simply bypassed them and arranged safe passage for the occasional Red Cross supplies ship. (Edit: Minus the Red Cross supplies ships, the Allies in the original timeline did the same to a number of Imperial Japanese island positions in the Pacific...)
And also that the Anglo-Norman islands are much easier as a way to project power from England to France than from France to England.
 
26th January - 25th April 1941 – The Balkans – Part III - Operation Marita

Garrison

Donor
26th January - 25th April 1941 – The Balkans – Part III - Operation Marita

Arguably the Yugoslav coup on the 27th of March is what ended any hope of Greece continuing to hold out against the Axis until the British decided to honour their commitments and send troops to aid them. The Yugoslav government under Dragiša Cvetković that signed the Tripartite Pact did so with the greatest reluctance and insisted on a provision that Yugoslavia would not allow the right of transit for Axis troops across their territory, this did little to quell public demonstration by Serbs denouncing the treaty and the government. The denial of transit rights was a serious impediment to German plans and while an attack from Bulgaria may have proven fatal to the Greek position regardless there was perhaps some small chance of it being held or repulsed considering the complete failure of the renewed Italian offensive. The prospect of a pro-Allied coup in Yugoslavia had been bubbling away for months, with the support of Prince Peter, the heir to the Yugoslav throne. He was only 17 at the time of the coup and Yugoslavia was technically under the regency of Prince Paul. Part of the coup’s political process was to pronounce Peter of age and make him king. This was followed by a repudiation of Yugoslavia’s membership of the Tripartite Pact. As much as the British had encouraged the formation of a pro-Allied government in Yugoslavia the timing was catastrophic. The German forces that had been gathered to pass through Yugoslavia were now free to carry out an invasion and push into Greece [1].

Worse was to come for the Greeks on the 2nd of April with the Italian attack on Egypt and the British being routed and fleeing before the vastly superior Italian forces, or at least this was what happened according to Italian propaganda, which seemed far more plausible than British assurances that they had prepared for this contingency and would swiftly strike back. Whichever version of the situation anyone chose to believe this development meant that there was now no hope of British reinforcements being dispatched, indeed it seemed possible that the British would be ousted completely from the Mediterranean. Some in the USA claimed made these exact claims, primarily those who had opposed Lend-Lease and it was perhaps fortunate that this had been passed into law before the Italian invasion and the British response would swiftly dispel such notions of imminent collapse. Even with their entire strategic position seemingly unravelling the Greeks were not about to simply surrender and prepared themselves as best they could for a renewed Axis offensive. They didn’t have to wait long as the Axis Launched Operation Marita on the 6th of April and it was every bit as devastating as the Greeks had feared [2].

The German 2nd Army, LI Corps and XLIX Mountain Corps, struck from Austria advancing towards Zagreb. The Italian Second Army struck east and south from Trieste towards Ljubljana and down the coast targeting Split and Dubrovnik. XLVI Panzer Corps attacked from Hungary alongside the Hungarian 3rd Army, with the former initially aimed at Zagreb and the latter at Novi Sad. The XLI Motorized Corps was stationed in Romania and its attack was aimed at Belgrade itself. From Bulgaria 1st Panzer Group attacked towards Nis and the German 12th Army sent XL Panzer Corps towards Skopje while XVIII Corp and XXX Corps attacked Greek Macedonia and Thrace.

The Yugoslav cause also faced major setbacks from the air. The Luftwaffe bombed and strafed the airfields of the Yugoslav Air Force, despite this many of the YAFs aircraft survived and they launched continued attacks on German mechanized columns and on Bulgarian airfields. The Luftwaffe also mounted heavy attacks on Belgrade. These killed about four thousand civilians and severed the lines of communication between the Yugoslav high command and their forces in the field.

On paper the Yugoslav armed forces were still about twice the strength of the invading forces, the situation on the ground was quite different. Croat and Slovene soldiers simply refused to fight in the defence of the entity called Yugoslavia, immediately undermining defence efforts. Worse was the abysmal situation with supplies and equipment. Front line troops were supposed to receive priority but even amongst these units there were critical shortages of such basics as clothing and boots. The situation with food and medical supplies was even worse and such supplies that were available couldn’t be replenished.

Under these circumstances the rapid deterioration of the Yugoslav position was all but inevitable and the XLI Motorized Corps reaching Belgrade on the 17th. King Peter III and much of the Yugoslav government had been airlifted out by the remnants of the YAF to Greece, along with Yugoslavia’s gold reserves, two days earlier. An armistice and the unconditional surrender of all Yugoslav forces was agreed the same day the Germans reached Belgrade, and this came into force on the 18th, meaning the German forces were now free to concentrate on the Greeks. In response to the rapid German advance urgent discussions were underway in London, the subject was no longer intervention but evacuation [3].

[1] Basically this was a suicidal move on the part of the Yugoslavs, and I doubt a few divisions of British troops would have affected the outcome. What the Germans would have done if the coup had been prevented is an interesting question though.

[2] As politically awkward as it might have been this is the right decision and will be bad news for 10th Army and the Fallschirmjägers.

[3] So the Yugoslav develops as per OTL. In the end barring the British conjuring 20 extra divisions from somewhere the best that could be done would have been to postpone the inevitable, with serious consequences elsewhere.
 

Garrison

Donor
So a quick what's happening post. The last part of the Greek campaign is edited and ready to go and I've also been working towards filling in the time to the end of 1942 after deciding to extend the TL and I have just finished a draft of the Alt battle of Malaya, and I have pretty good idea of the other additions to flesh out 1942.
 
26th January – 25th April 1941 – The Balkans – Part IV - The Metaxas Line, the Aliakamon Line and Evacuation

Garrison

Donor
26th January – 25th April 1941 – The Balkans – Part IV - The Metaxas Line, the Aliakamon Line and Evacuation

The Greek response to the threat of invasion from Bulgaria was the formation of the Metaxas Line, a defensive position stretching across Thrace and Macedonia, manned by the Greek 2nd Army. This was further broken down into the Eastern Macedonia Army Section and the Central Macedonia Army Section, who would largely fight their own separate battles until the retreat from the line forced them to merge together. Many of the divisions with the 2nd Army were newly formed, filled with reservists and lacking in heavy weapons and other equipment, far from ideal to face heavily armed and highly experienced Wehrmacht troops. The 19th Mechanized Division for example had been raised only in January and its formation was only completed in March. Its complement of vehicles was largely composed of captured Italian tankettes and British Universal Carriers, as well as Mk VI Bs and the last remaining running Covenanters, probably no more than four of them in total. Some tank historians claim this as the last combat action seen by the Covenanter; the evidence suggests however that the Covenanters fell victim to accidents and mechanical breakdowns rather than enemy action [1].

The fate of the 19th was representative of the whole Eastern Macedonia Army Section, the division was destroyed in a series of piecemeal fights with the advancing Germans and by the 9th it was finished as a fighting formation. The whole of 2nd army had no choice but to fall back. In fact, many of the senior commanders in the army had advocated doing so far earlier. Politically it had not been possible to agree to giving up so much territory without a fight, however with no British divisions being dispatched to reinforce the line contingencies were put in place. Essentially the Greek Army was permitted to withdraw ‘if absolutely necessary’. In the case of 2nd Army that necessity had been recognized far too late in the day. 1st Army fared somewhat better.

1st Army began falling back almost as soon as the Axis forces attacked, even so they had underestimated the speed of the German advance and only about half its divisions successfully withdrew, joining the surviving elements of 2nd army on the far shorter and more defensible Aliakamon Line, a position they should arguably have been deployed to in the first place once the lack of British troops and the likelihood of German attack was confirmed. The scale of the Axis attacks meant that even at full strength it is unlikely that 1st and 2nd Armies could have held the Aliakamon Line. Given their weakened state the 2nd Army had no choice except to withdraw, taking some of the remnants of 1st Army with them. The larger part of 1st Army’s surviving formations found themselves pitched into the role of rear-guard and soon found themselves surrounded and isolated by superior forces with no prospect of breaking out. That they managed to hold out until the 22nd of April, delaying the German advance in the process was a testament to their tenacity[2].

The remnants of 2nd Army and the survivors of the 1st fell back into the Peloponnese and towards Athens, heading for the ports of Kalamata, Nauplia, Rafina, and Porto Rafti desperately hoping for British intervention in the shape of the Royal Navy. If the Greeks had been angry and disappointed at the failure of the British Army, they could have no complaints about the Royal Navy who had already been earmarking shipping and drawing up plans in the event, yet another evacuation was needed and had begun mobilizing as early as the 18th. The retreating Greek troops were greeted by Royal Navy shore parties deployed to engage in traffic control and to try and ensure that at least some of the small arms belonging to the Greek troops were gathered up for future use. Such considerations were not high on the agenda of Greek troops looking to escape the clutches of the Wehrmacht, and yet a surprising number of rifles and ammunition did end up on the evacuation ships, to the alarm of their crews who crates containing loaded rifles and grenades stuffed in wherever there was room for them [3].

The retreat and the evacuation of the was assisted not only by the desperate rear-guard actions of 1st Army, but also by the fact that the Wehrmacht was already looking to wind down their involvement in the Balkans. With the Greeks routed and no British intervention on the ground, barring the aforementioned shore parties, the priority of Hitler and thus that of the Wehrmacht, had shifted fully back to Barbarossa. Luftwaffe units, particularly Ju 87 dive bombers who had once again proven useful in the close support role, were withdrawn. Motorized and mechanized units of the army were ordered to halt and regroup as a prelude to also being ordered to pull out, with only relatively modest forces given free rein to continue the pursuit. The Greeks were thus harried all the way to the Peloponnese, but not overrun. There was little protest from the German Generals over this decision. Greece was finished, the possible evacuation of a few thousand, second rate, troops was irrelevant since their country was already being occupied and many of the Generals were every bit as eager as Hitler to crush the Bolshevik menace, whatever they may have claimed in their memoirs [4].

The Greek and Yugoslav governments, again along with their national treasuries were flown out on the 21st, with the last RAF personnel being evacuated by air and sea the following day. As the fall of Athens became inevitable there was increasing disorder amongst the Greek troops waiting to embark on the evacuation ships. More than once troops scheduled for embarkation had a change of heart and chose not to depart, others fought with over access to the ships. Despite these complications some 30,000 Greek troops were taken off in the official evacuation, and several thousand more escaped by dint of their own efforts over the next couple of weeks. Most of the escapees soon found themselves on Crete, with the British and the Greek government in exile facing the herculean task of restoring them as an effective fighting force. This would take months to complete, with about 8,000 men choosing to return to Greece over time. Some though were eager to fight the Axis once more and some were ready for action in time to take part in the fighting during Operation Mercury. The surrender of Greece formally took place on the 25th of April [5].

Nazi propaganda was swift to play up the lack of intervention in Greece and the retreat from the border in Egypt as signs of the fundamental weakness of the British and how they were inevitably doomed and should see sense and ask for peace terms. Phrases such as ‘a toothless lion’ and ‘perfidious Albion’ peppered the speeches made by Goebbels and even William Joyce, Lord Haw-Haw, was rolled out to make broadcasts. It seems that the only people convinced by German propaganda were the Wehrmacht as it is hard to explain the conduct of the attack on Crete in any other way. As for the Italians despite the best efforts of their own propaganda the end of the campaign in the Balkans was treated with relief rather than a sense of triumph among the general populace. The reality was that it had been won largely by German intervention. Still the Italians would largely be left in control of Greece and much of the Yugoslav coast so Mussolini could point to territorial gains, though how exactly any of these gains would bolster the Italian cause was unclear [6].

Possibly the greatest danger to the British came from Isolationists in the USA seizing on the failure of the British to support Greece with troops on the ground as proof that Lend-Lease was simply pouting US money and equipment down the drain as Britain was clearly incapable of defending either their allies or even their own Imperial possessions. This narrative of British weakness combined with calls for more arms to be retained for use by US forces could have had serious implications, if some of the loudest voices hadn’t not adopted a slightly hysterical tone, claiming that the British had betrayed the Greeks and were no better than the Germans when it came to keeping their word. That there had been no such word given was all but irrelevant in the narrative that took root in certain isolationist circles and rather than trying to refute it point by point it was far simpler for the British propaganda machine in the USA to spin such attacks as being less isolationist and far more pro-Nazi. Divisions even opened in Isolationist ranks as some were deeply uncomfortable at such comparisons. Overall, the British weathered the storm and with in a few weeks events elsewhere would make the disaster in Greece into yesterday’s news, much to the relief of Churchill and his military chiefs [7].

At sea the Regia Marina had continued to suffer when it was forced to engage the Royal Navy. An effort to intercept a large British convoy intended to deliver supplies and equipment to Crete and Greece had resulted in a one-sided battle off Cape Matapan with further heavy Italian losses, and as far as East Africa was concerned the Italians could do nothing to provide support as they were bottled up in the Mediterranean so long as the British controlled the Suez Canal. Even protecting the convoys trying to support 10th Army was now a major challenge for the battered Italian fleet. The situation on land in East Africa was no better. Despite assurances that a counterattack was imminent the Italian situation continued to deteriorate. The situation in Egypt was the only bright spot, which wasn’t to last as Wavell and O’Connor were already preparing Operation Compass and they would shortly prove that the British lion was anything but toothless [8].

[1] So OTL the 19th was largely equipped with tankettes, here they are a little better of equipment wise, which unfortunately won’t help them much in the fighting.

[2] This still better than OTL for 1st Army where practically the entire army was surrounded and captured before they could fall back to the Aliakamon Line.

[3] So the quicker withdrawal won’t save Greece, but it will save a lot of Greek troops.

[4] The reason for so much complaining about the decision to limit the pursuit is basically blame shifting over the next battle after the Greek mainland is occupied.

[5] And the battle the German Generals are so bitter about is of course Crete.

[6] So it’s a victory, it’s a pyrrhic one for the Italians and the Germans don’t gain much of any use and Yugoslavia will in due course become another sink for men and materiel.

[7] So yes Greece doesn’t go down well with some in the US, but the Isolationists overplay their hand.

[8] So Compass is coming soon, but there will be one more bit of shuffling of the deck as far as commanders go before we get there.
 
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At sea the Regia Marina had taken still further losses in the Red Sea trying to fight their way through in a questionable effort to resupply Italian troops despite the loss of Massawa
Where are these supplies coming from? Italy can't get anything out of the Mediterranean.
 
Its a good question and yet somehow they managed it OTL even after Taranto if I recall correctly.
But from where? The British had them blockaded in the Red Sea and Med, the only thing that could plausibly get in would be a sub? IOTL the Red Sea Flotilla never fought the RN to get a blockade runner in AFAIK, it was mostly just trying to be a nuisance and nothing has changed as far as I can tell?
 

Garrison

Donor
But from where? The British had them blockaded in the Red Sea and Med, the only thing that could plausibly get in would be a sub? IOTL the Red Sea Flotilla never fought the RN to get a blockade runner in AFAIK, it was mostly just trying to be a nuisance and nothing has changed as far as I can tell?
My assumption is they are running the gauntlet past Gibraltar, possibly hugging the 'neutral' waters of Vichy North Africa as much as possible. TBH its not a big point and if others think its implausible I'll happily change it.
 
My assumption is they are running the gauntlet past Gibraltar, possibly hugging the 'neutral' waters of Vichy North Africa as much as possible. TBH its not a big point and if others think its implausible I'll happily change it.
Running what through the heavily patrolled gauntlet? Merchant ships that the RN can easily run down? Valuable cruisers that would be spotted and engaged much sooner? Destroyers that lack the range to get around Africa?
 

Garrison

Donor
Running what through the heavily patrolled gauntlet? Merchant ships that the RN can easily run down? Valuable cruisers that would be spotted and engaged much sooner? Destroyers that lack the range to get around Africa?
Okay I am not wedded to and I was under the impression that part was essentially OTL. I'll just cut it.
 

Garrison

Donor
And done:

...At sea the Regia Marina had continued to suffer when it was forced to engage the Royal Navy. An effort to intercept a large British convoy intended to deliver supplies and equipment to Crete and Greece had resulted in a one-sided battle off Cape Matapan with further heavy Italian losses, and as far as East Africa was concerned the Italians could do nothing to provide support as they were bottled up in the Mediterranean so long as the British controlled the Suez Canal. Even protecting the convoys trying to support 10th Army was now a major challenge for the battered Italian fleet. The situation on land in East Africa was no better. Despite assurances that a counterattack was imminent the Italian situation continued to deteriorate. The situation in Egypt was the only bright spot, which wasn’t to last as Wavell and O’Connor were already preparing Operation Compass and they would shortly prove that the British lion was anything but toothless [8]...
 

Garrison

Donor
So OTL....how on earth did Italy support its troops in East Africa? There's no land route and no sea route?
It's a good question, but for the life of me I can't see how they did it and given the carnage at Taranto and the loss of the Marine Nationale ships ITTL I decided it made more sense to just cut the reference and have them not able to send supplies. I can only assume their OTL success in British Somaliland was based on supplies already accumulated, which might explain their inability to resist the British counterattack.
 

nbcman

Donor
So OTL....how on earth did Italy support its troops in East Africa? There's no land route and no sea route?
During peace they could send ships. After the Italians entered the war, they were reliant on what supplies were stockpiled and any supplies that arrived via prize ships that German merchant raiders brought to ports in Somalia or Eritrea. Italy was only planning for a seat at the peace table in June 1940, not to actually fight a real war.
 

Garrison

Donor
Nice update. What, if any, RAF assets were deployed to Greece? What's now available on Crete?

A couple typos:


Double negative

Putting?
That last one was pouring both fixed. :) The RAF deployed a somewhat short fighter fighter squadron and one bomber formation, both of which are on Crete but rather beaten up. On the other hand the army units that were battered and depleted of equipment after evacuating from Greece are still deployed to Crete, but intact.
 
Very cool article! I liked!
I want to add a little bit about the Great Depression. Everything was so bad that in the United States one in four was unemployed, and in Britain one in five was out of work. Imagine something like this now, it's very scary!
Turkey:
First time?
 
So OTL....how on earth did Italy support its troops in East Africa? There's no land route and no sea route?
Ships outside the Mediterranean when the Italians declared war were still at large, maybe, and able to try to run supplies in across the Indian Ocean purchased from neutrals outside the Mediterranean?
Edit:
Ninja'ed by nbcman. :)
 

Garrison

Donor
So if you recall the Canadian Infantry support tank from a few weeks back, not only did @cortz#9 create some lovely sketches of it but @Claymore has created a very cool model of it:

 
1st April – 31st August 1941 – Iraq, Syria, and Iran – Part I

Garrison

Donor
1st April – 31st August 1941 – Iraq, Syria, and Iran – Part I

The fighting in the Balkans, followed by the actions in Crete, Ethiopia and Egypt tend to overshadow everything that happened in the Middle East during 1941. The reality was that securing the British position in the region required multiple interventions, a series of actions that flatly contradicted the prevalent attitude in Rome and Berlin that the British were overextended and lacked the means to fight back. They would be too distracted by events in the Balkans and Egypt to understand how wrong they were until disaster fell on them directly and those in the region who looked to the Axis for support would be disappointed and find themselves left to face the wrath of the British alone [1].

The government of Iraq in early 1941 was nominally pro-British, with though a significant element of anti-British and pro-German cabinet ministers and senior army officers. Rashid Ali al-Gaylani had served as Prime Minister twice between 1940 and 1941, being forced to step down in the aftermath of Operation Judgement owing to his pro-German leanings, inspired by his strong desire for Iraqi independence and the hope that this might be achieved with German support. Out of power once again he began to co-operate with the so called ‘Golden Square’ a cabal of virulently anti-British military officers who also looked to Berlin and Rome for support. The Axis powers were happy to encourage the plotters, though the practical support they could offer amounted to a few Luftwaffe fighters and bombers, unconvincingly repainted in Iraqi colours, and some Regia Aeronautica aircraft that were obsolete even by Italian standards. Some of these aircraft would be staged through Vichy French territory, including bases in Syria. These aircraft only arrived after the coup had had taken place and had no impact on the outcome of the battle. Besides offering proof that the leaders of the coup were collaborating with the Axis the major effect of this intervention was to create problems for Vichy as the British resolved to deal with this blatantly violation of Vichy’s alleged neutrality, once the the situation in Iraq had been dealt with [2].

The British were well aware of the volatile situation in Iraq and while they didn’t want to intervene unless they had to, they did put contingencies in place. This was why General William ‘Bill’ Slim who had been wounded in the fighting in East Africa and was still recuperating found himself temporarily assigned to General Staff at GHQ in Delhi in March, where he played a major role in preparing the plans for a British response to the threat to British control in Iraq and would in due course find himself in the vanguard of those very same plans. Rashid Ali al-Gaylani and the plotters remained oblivious to this and pressed ahead with their plans, egged on by the Axis and convinced the British would have no choice but to negotiate for full Iraqi independence rather than face a costly battle for control of the country. They were hardly the only one to entertain such sentiments in the Middle East and the fate of the plotters would provide an object lesson in the folly of such beliefs. The coup was launched on the 1st of April and given the support of the military the Iraqi government had little choice except to capitulate and Rashid Ali al-Gaylani was restored to the office of Prime Minister. With this done attention moved to RAF Habanera, which was at this time the only significant British military presence in Iraq. The airbase had not been given a high priority for modernisation either in terms of its ground defences or its air group. The aircraft based at Habbaniya consisted of some one hundred and five aircraft, most either purpose-built trainers or obsolete fighters converted to serve as trainers. The one exception was the nine Hurricanes that had been deployed from Palestine a few days before the coup was launched. To protect the base itself there was one battalion from the King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster), well short of its establishment strength, several companies of Assyrian Levies and of course men drawn from amongst the RAF personnel. This came to around two thousand troops, backed up by eighteen armoured cars.

The Iraqi force dispatched to Habbaniya was far more powerful, with a full infantry brigade and an artillery brigade, plus armoured cars, tanks, and support from the Royal Iraqi Air Force, which possessed many modern aircraft, including some British models. When they arrived on the plain above Habbaniya the Iraqis issued demands that neither aircraft nor troops should leave or enter RAF Habbaniya. The reaction from the British was to set out their own demands, namely that the Iraqis should immediately withdraw from the area. The British forces went so far as to issue an ultimatum to the Iraqis and when this expired on the 2nd of May they launched air attacks against the Iraqi troops. The training aircraft may have been only lightly armed, but they proved more than a match for the Iraqi air force, who were not able to even prevent the arrival of a quartet of Blenheim bombers on the 3rd of May. When the Hurricanes joined the battle, they inflicted such severe losses that the RIAF didn’t just withdraw from the fighting around Habbaniya, they effectively abandoned the coup altogether [3].

Even before the climax of events at Habbaniya British forces were on the move to crush the coup, though these plans were almost undone when the Italians launched their invasion of Egypt only a few days after the coup. It would be wrong to say that Wavell panicked, he simply saw Iraq as a pointless diversion and one that now threatened far more vital strategic considerations, he event went so far as to suggest a withdrawal from Palestine, which given the political situation there might well have led to another anti-British coup. Churchill and Brooke in London saw things rather differently. Wavell had been given plenty of time and resources to prepare for the Italian attack and General O’Connor as field commander of the Western Desert Force seemed confident of being able to hold them, a confidence vindicated as the Italian advance rapidly ran out of steam. Far from agreeing to scale back on operations in Iraq Wavell’s superiors in London insisted that he commit the needed resources to deal with the coup as swiftly as possible precisely so efforts could be concentrated in Egypt. This proved somewhat optimistic as we shall see, but Wavell did his level best to comply. Confidence in Wavell had declined sharply in the wake of this, and it appears Churchill discussed with Brooke the question of replacing Wavell as early as the 20th of April, with both General Claude Auchinleck and General Harold Alexander being suggested as possible candidates [4].

On the 17th of April several hundred troops were airlifted into RAF Shaibah, near Basra, with a seaborne landing at Basra the following day, supported by a Royal Naval force including the carrier HMS Glorious, bringing in several more battalions and effectively securing the vital hub at Basra. In a highly optimistic move Rashid Ali, the head of state in the government installed by the coup, called for the British to deploy no more troops to Basra until those already there had marched out of the country. This request was passed through diplomatic channels to London, where it was naturally rejected as the troops were there to help secure British control in Iraq, though this information was not shared with Rashid Ali. The purpose of the rapidly building troops strength in Basra was made clear anyway in its designation as Iraq Force. The operations out of Basra suffered a small set back when the commander of the Indian 10th Infantry Division, Major-General Fraser, fell ill. Fortunately, General Slim had been dispatched to take up a staff position and he was now given command of the 10th Indian. This was the beginning of a long relationship between the General division. He not only led them throughout much of the rest of 1941, but also when they were transferred to Burma in 1942 and continued to serve there after Slim assumed overall command of operations in Burma until the conclusion of the Burma campaign in 1943. Slim would establish a reputation as one of Britain’s most capable Generals during his time in Burma, though he never quite reached the level of fame of his more PR friendly counterpart in Malaya [5].

Basra was not the only direction from which forces were dispatched. General Wavell in overall command of forces in the Middle East had initially been concerned about the prospect of dispatching a force from Palestine, but with intelligence providing reassurance that the Italian advance in Egypt was unlikely to resume he did formulate a plan to dispatch two formations into Iraq. The first was a column of the Arab Legion dispatched towards the fort at Rutbah. This had been seized by elements of the Iraqi Desert police who had opened fire on British workers in Rutbah itself. The Arab Legion column was supported by No. 2 Armoured Car Company RAF, dispatched ahead of the main British column and a trio of Cruiser Mk II tanks. The exact origin of these tanks is still something of a mystery, but a number of these older models were in Palestine for internal security and this trio seems to have simply been scooped up by some local officer and dispatched to Iraq without any formal orders to do so being issued. They were nonetheless highly useful as the Arab Legion column halted near the fort on the 8th of May and waited for the RAF to bomb it. This attempt was less than successful but it did rattle the defenders and a probing attack with the tanks in the lead, backed by No. 2 Armoured Car, was simply too much for the defenders of the fort who concluded that the armoured car force was in fact comprised of tanks and surrender before dusk on the 8th. A column of some forty machine gun armed trucks intended to reinforce the Iraqi defenders of the fort arrived after nightfall and being unaware that the fort had surrendered found themselves in a confused action where both sides suffered friendly fire casualties, though the truck force came off worst and barely a dozen survived to withdraw [6].

The second and much more powerful force dispatched from Palestine was called Habforce, short for Habbaniya Force as one its major objectives was the relief of the RAF base. Habforce was, with some small additions and subtractions the 1st Cavalry Division, which was indeed cavalry, not an armoured formation. Its operations would effectively be the last cavalry action undertaken by the British. Some criticism was levelled at Wavell for not using it to form a mobile column earlier, however the divisions attached artillery and mechanized transport had been constantly earmarked for detachment to other operations and by the time it was clear that these plans had been abandoned it was all rather late in the day for creating such a formation. Nonetheless the 1st Cavalry Division was at full strength when it entered Iraq on the 10th of May, and it had been given some modern cavalry equivalents to aid it in the form of four troops of Mk VI B Light Tanks. Like the cruiser tanks these had been dispatched to Palestine for security duties, for which they were far better equipped than they had been for combat operations in France. Neither the machines nor their crews were the best the British had to offer; against the limited resources of the Iraqi Army they would prove quite adequate. Major-General George Clark, commanding the 1st soon decided to take advantage of the more mechanized elements available to him by creating a ‘flying column’ called Kingcol after its commander, Brigadier James Kingstone. This force contained some cavalry units as well as all the tanks and most of the armoured cars available to General Clark. With word of the surrender Kingcol was ordered to bypass it and catch up with the Arab Legion column and reach Habbaniya as soon as possible. Linking up with the Arab Legion forces proved more difficult than expected and the two forces did not join up until Kingcol reached Habbaniya on the 15th of May. Discovering that the siege had already been lifted and that troops of the 1st battalion The Essex Regiment were already being airlifted in Kingcol swiftly moved on [7].

There were several battles fought by British, Arab legion and Indian troops over the next several weeks in and around Fallujah, and Basra. The outcome of the fighting was never in doubt by this point. Even where the Iraqis had a numerical advantage on the ground the speed of the British advance and the dominance of the RAF in the air kept them off balance and sapped their morale. The attack on Baghdad began on the night of the 25th of May and although progress was hampered by destroyed bridges and flooding cause by further sabotage. Nonetheless the National Defence Government collapsed and fled to Persia on the 27th, though some members perish in a strafing attack by RAF Hurricanes, before travelling on to take refuge in Germany. On the 28th the Mayor of Baghdad arranged the surrender of the city and by the end of May a pro-British government was back in control of Iraq. This may have been the end of the fighting in Iraq, many of the British forces involved would however soon find themselves deployed to deal with the Vichy regimes in the Levant and working with the Red Army to occupy Iran [8].

[1] These battles really tend to get lost in the shuffle when compared to what was happening elsewhere. These updates are intended to redress the balance, and there will be an impact on future events courtesy of the Alt version of these battles.

[2] Hardly the only nationalists to think the Nazis would be an upgrade over the British Empire, I guess distance did lend a certain charm.

[3] So OTL the Iraqi Air Force did lose to the training aircraft, but there were no Hurricanes so they sort of stayed in the fight as best they could. Facing first line modern fighters is their breaking point here.

[4] Again OTL Wavell suggested making a deal with the coup plotters anyway. Here his suggestion of getting out of Palestine means confidence in him declines far faster than OTL, where at least he could count on the success of Compass and the diversion in Greece as a justification for his caution.

[5] So the beginning of Slim’s rise to prominence and I decided at the last moment not to include the name of the General who makes his name in Malaya.

[6] OTL the armoured cars only joined up later and there were no tanks, the fight with the armed trucks wasn’t quite the rout depicted here.

[7] And 1st Cavalry did take part in the fighting as described, with the differences that its artillery and mechanized transport ended up joining the piles of equipment abandoned in Greece, and they had no supporting armour. Despite this they acquitted themselves well in the fighting. Also, the fighting dragged on a little longer at Rutbah in OTL, so Kingcol didn’t bypass it.

[8] Overall the fighting wraps up a few days earlier than OTL, and Wavell is hanging on to his position by a thread at this point.
 
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