Middle East
1941: The Middle East campaign
May – September 1941 · 3 battles
In the spring of 1941, as the British fell back in Libya and Greece, their position in the Middle East was shaken. In Iraq a pro-German government under Rashid Ali al-Gaylani seized power, and the Vichy French authorities in Syria and Lebanon opened their airfields to Luftwaffe aircraft flying to Baghdad. The British answered with three campaigns in turn: in May they defeated the Iraqi army, in June and July, together with the Free French, they occupied Syria and Lebanon, and in August, together with the Red Army, Iran. This secured the oil, the overland route to India and a supply route to the USSR, while Germany, absorbed by the war in the east, was unable to exploit anti-British feeling among the Arabs.
- 2–31 May 1941Key battleAnglo-Iraqi WarFrom 2 to 31 May 1941 the British defeated Rashid Ali's army: they held RAF Habbaniya, took Fallujah and reached the outskirts of Baghdad.
- 8 June – 14 July 1941Key battleOperation ExporterFrom 8 June to 14 July 1941 British, Australian, Indian and Free French troops took Syria and Lebanon, fiercely defended by the Vichy French army.
- 25 August – 17 September 1941Key battleAnglo-Soviet invasion of IranOn 25 August 1941 British troops and the Red Army entered neutral Iran. After four days of fighting the Shah ended resistance; on 16 September he abdicated.