34 FLYPAST December 2018
war machines, fitting additional
bomb racks and guns. Airmen dug
trenches while ground forces set
about building defensive strong
points around the perimeter.
Smart then requested assistance
from Middle East Command, as well
as from the Air Ministry in London,
but was refused. India Command,
however, obliged by diverting 400
infantrymen of the King’s Own Royal
Regiment (KORR) from the 10
Indian Division to Iraq.THE SIEGE BEGINS
On April 16, 1941, British
ambassador Sir Kinahan Cornwallis
evacuated 250 British civilians from
Baghdad to Habbaniya, then told
Rashid: “we are availing ourselves of
the provisions of the treaty and will
be disembarking troops at Basra in
the immediate future”.
The next day the officers and men
of the KORR arrived from India,
flown in by 31 Squadron Valentias,
Douglas DC-2s and Armstrong
Whitworth Atalantas, the latter on
loan from BOAC. It was the first
wartime airlift of British troops. More
men arrived by ship at Basra on April
28 and 29, and HMAS Yarra, HMS
Cockchafer and HMS Falmouth
disembarked a further contingent
from the Indian 20 Infantry Brigade.Rashid Ali told his allies that the
troop landings at Basra were “an act
of war” and asked for the promised
support from the Germans. However,
Hitler was focusing on invading
Crete and planning Operation
Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet
Union, and so ignored his plea.
Undaunted, Ali sent an army to
take up positions on the plateau
overlooking Habbaniya on April 29.
Smart informed London that the base
was surrounded by 9,000 well-armed
troops backed by aircraft and artillery,
not “peasants with muskets and
pitchforks”. Consequently, ten
Vickers Wellingtons from 70
Squadron were dispatched to RAF
Shaibah. At this crucial point Prime
Minister Winston Churchill lent his
support and encouragement to
Smart, stating: “If you have to strike,
strike hard. Use all necessary force”.
In a pre-emptive attack at
0500hrs on May 2, Habbaniya sent
every available aircraft to bomb the
Iraqi positions. Thirty-nine of its
aircraft were joined by the ten
Wellingtons from Shaibah, taking
the enemy by surprise.
Despite the hail of enemy artillery
and small arms fire striking the
runway, the aircraft continued their
assault throughout the next few
days. At night the Oxfords, usinguncle, the Regent Emir ‘Abd al-Ilah;
they supported Britain’s war effort.
Rashid Ali al-Gaylani, however, was
an anti-British nationalist who had
been at the forefront of Iraqi politics
since 1924.
Rashid Ali tried to use the war to
aid his ambitions. Dr Fritz Grobba,
head of the German legation in
Baghdad, seeing an opportunity to
seize Iraq’s oil, promised military aid
and money from Germany and Italy
if Ali rose up against the British.
Grobba hoped to cut off RAF air
routes to the Far East and ultimately
push Britain out of the Middle East.
The uprising took place on April 1,- Rashid Ali proclaimed himself
Prime Minister of the ‘Iraq National
Defence Government’.
King Faisal, protected by his
English nanny, was spirited away to
safety in the north of Iraq. The regent
was driven to Habbaniya, hidden in
the back of the American
ambassador’s car, and was then put
on a Royal Navy warship in the Gulf.
AOC Smart started to examine
ways of defending Habbaniya. Its
main runways outside the perimeter
fence were vulnerable, so the polo
field was pressed into service for
short take-off aircraft, such as the
Audax. Work then began on
converting the training aircraft into
“At Habbaniya life had calmed down after the siege, but the peace
was shattered on May 15 by an attacking force of six Bf 110s and
three He 111s.”Left to right
A Junkers Ju 52
unloading radio
equipment at Mosul
on May 14 or 15, 1941.
Note the disguised
markings. VIA M SA 1941 image of
a Douglas DC-2,
belonging to 31
Squadron. KEY-VIA BEN
DUNNELLFor a more detailed
story it’s worth
considering this DVD
on RAF Habbaniya,
available from
http://www.outposts-of-
empire.co.uk, priced
£14.99 plus P&P.1918 2018