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Middle East CampaignThe Middle East Campaign was a part of the Middle East Theatre of World War II Over view This campaign included: - The British police actions in Palestine.
- The British suppression of a revolt in what is now Iraq.
- The short but bitter conflict bewteen Allied and Vichy French forces in Lebanon and Syria.
- The British and Soviet invasion and occupation of Persia
Command structure British Commonwealth forces in the region were for the most part under the Comander-in-Chief of the Middle East Command based in based in Cairo. The exception was Persia which for some of the time came under the command of the Commander-in-Chief in India. Palestine - See also British_Mandate_of_Palestine
As in most of the Arab world, there was no unanimity amongst the Palestinian Arabs as to their position regarding the combatants in WWII. Many signed up for the British army, but others saw an Axis victory as their best hope of wresting Palestine back from the Zionists and (as they saw it) their British protectors. Some of the leadership went further, especially the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin Al-Husseini (by then expelled from Palestine), who on November 25, 1941, formally declared jihad against the Allied Powers. Even though Arabs were only marginally higher than Jews in Nazi racial theory, the Nazis naturally encouraged Arab support as much as possible as a counter to British hegemony throughout the Arab world. The Holocaust—the killing of approximately six million European Jews by the Nazis—had a major effect on the situation in Palestine. During the war, the British forbade entry into Palestine of European Jews escaping Nazi persecution, placing them in detention camps or deporting them to other places such as Mauritius. Avraham Stern, the leader of the Jewish Lehi terrorist gang, had advocated an alliance with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, believing these ties would assist the nationalist effort in Eretz Yisrael. The Jewish Irgun gang were implicated in the assassination in Cairo on 6 November 1944 of Lord Moyne, the British Minister of State. Fighting Jewish terrorists on one hand and the Germans in North Africa on the other did not endear the British to the Jews in Palestine at this critical stage of the war. The British considered it more important to get Arab backing, due to their important interests in Egypt and other Arab lands. The influx of Jewish refugees had already caused severe problems in Palestine, and the British did not wish to further exacerbate the situation. The British authorities were also concerned about the possibility of German agents entering Palestine on a refugee boat. Irgun opposed British control of Palestine and the restriction on refugees in particular which was an opposition that would continued after the end of World War II. Iraq In late 1941, a rebellion broke out in British-controlled Iraq. A pro-German ruler took power in the coup and ordered British forces to withdraw. There were two main British bases in Iraq, at Basra and at Habbaniya, north east of Baghdad. Basra was too well-defended for the Iraqis to consider taking. However, Habbaniya was an isolated and poorly-defended British Royal Air Force base, with no offensive aircraft. Nonetheless, the RAF personnel at the base converted as many of the training aircraft as possible to carry weapons. Iraqi forces surrounded Habbaniya and warned that any military activity would be considered as hostile, leading to an attack. However, the RAF training aircraft took off and bombed the Iraqi forces, repelling them from the base. The hastily assembled Iraqforce, including the Arab Legion, then despatched columns from Habbaniya and Basra to capture Baghdad, and put an end to the rebellion. They succeeded at relatively low cost in human lives. Syria and Lebanon - See main article Syria-Lebanon campaign
A Luftwaffe aircraft was shot down over Iraq during the advance on Baghdad. Since the nearest Axis bases were on Rhodes, the Allies realised that the plane had refueled in Vichy French- controlled Syria or Lebanon. This confirmed suspicions among the Allies regarding the "armed neutrality" of Vichy territories. Australian, Free French and Indian units invaded Syria and Lebanon from Palestine, to remove the Vichy officials. Vigorous resistance was put up by the Vichy in Lebanon. However, the Allies weight of numbers eventually told, and when this combined with an advance on Damascus by Iraqforce, the French surrendered. Persia The final major military operation in the war in the Middle East campaign took place shortly thereafter. The Soviet Union desperately needed supplies for its war against Germany. Supplies were being sent round the North Cape convoy route to Murmansk and Archangel, but the capacity of that route was limited and subject to enemy action. Supplies were also sent from American to Vladivostok in Soviet-flagged ships. However, yet more capacity was needed, the obvious answer was to go through Persia. The Shah of Persia was somewhat pro-German, and so would not allow this. Consequently British and Soviet forces invaded and occupied Persia. The Shah was deposed and his son put on the throne.
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