One can always count on Osprey to provide insights into some of the less well known areas of military history. Such it is with the war in Iraq during 1941.

This book is #165 in their Campaign series and covers the brief struggle of the British against a pro-German coup in May of 1941.

There are a number of similarities with the British experience in Iraq as there are in today's conflict in this region, except for the scope. I was quite taken by this and it made me shake my head in sadness on how we seem to never learn the lessons of history.

In 1941 the ruler of Iraq was still a child following the death of his father in a road accident. A regent ruled in his stead under the watchful and guiding eyes of the British, who had a treaty with the former King. Of course, the British interest, as it is today, was oil and it was imperative to them that this resource stay in British control. 1941 was also the bleakest part of the war with the Axis moving forward on all fronts. It was a very real possibility that Egypt would fall and then the Near East. British resources were stretched very thin and little was available for another theater of operations.

Anyway, the leader of the coup called on Germany to provide assistance to keep the British at bay, but Hitler was planning on his Russian Invasion and didn't have the resources to spare. This, as much as anything sealed the fate of the usurpers and allowed the British to eventually keep control.

The story is quite ably told by Robert Lyman and superbly illustrated by Howard Gerrard. In combination with period photos and excellent maps, we can follow the near-heroic struggles of the British to overcome a vastly superior (at least in number and equipment) Iraqi force. Yet superiority in numbers does not always work and like modern experience, the inferior in size, but better trained British forces were able to route the Iraqi Army in the end, despite some initially very intense fighting. Like today, the British also had to put up with snipers and problems with insurgency as well as looting and arson whenever a town was captured and there was no strong military presence to prevent it.  As I said, the lessons of history are soon forgotten.

This was, for me, a fascinating read, made even more so by the locale of the subject. It is a book that I know you will find as interesting as did I and so I can highly recommend it.

September 2006

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