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N0KFQ > TODAY 13.05.12 00:08l 39 Lines 1678 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 22301_KB0WSA
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - May 12
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<IK6ZDE<VE3UIL<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 120512/2256Z 22301@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.50
May 12, 1941:
Hitler backs Rashid Ali in his fight against Britain
On this day in 1941, Adolf Hitler sends two bombers to Iraq to
support Rashid Ali al-Gailani in his revolt against Britain,
which is trying to enforce a previously agreed upon Anglo-Iraqi
alliance.
At the start of the war, Iraqi Prime Minister General Nuri
as-Said severed ties with Germany and signed a cooperation pact
with Great Britain. In April 1941, the Said government was
overthrown by Ali, an anti-British general, who proceeded to cut
off the British oil pipeline to the Mediterranean. Britain fought
back by landing a brigade on the Persian Gulf, successfully
fending off 9,000 Iraqi troops. Ali retaliated by sealing off the
British airbase at Habbaniya. Hitler, elated at the grief the
British enemy was enduring in the Middle East, began sending
arms, via Syria, as well as military experts to aid Ali in his
revolt.
On May 12, Hitler sent Major Axel von Blomberg, an air force
officer who was to act as a liaison between Iraq and Germany to
Iraq, along with the two bombers. Blomberg arrived in the middle
of an air battle between Iraqi and British fighters and was shot
dead by a stray British bullet. By the end of the month, Iraq had
surrendered, and Britain re-established the terms of the original
1930 cooperation pact. A pro-British government formed, with a
cabinet led by former Prime Minister Said. Iraq went on to become
a valuable resource for British and American forces in the region
and in January 1942 became the first independent Muslim state to
declare war on the Axis powers.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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