The Persia and Iraq Command was a

command Command may refer to: Computing * Command (computing), a statement in a computer language * COMMAND.COM, the default operating system shell and command-line interpreter for DOS * Command key, a modifier key on Apple Macintosh computer keyboards * ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

established during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in September 1942 in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

. Its primary role was to secure from land and air attack the oilfields and oil installations in

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

(officially

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

) and

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. Its further role was to ensure the transport of supplies from

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

ports through Iraq and Persia to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Background

During the rebellion in Iraq the command of land forces in the country was passed from

GHQ India GHQ may refer to: * Garhwa railway station, in Jharkhand, India * General Health Questionnaire * General headquarters, or, specifically: ** General Headquarters (Pakistan Army) ** Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (General Headquarters in ...

Middle East Command Middle East Command, later Middle East Land Forces, was a British Army Command established prior to the Second World War in Egypt. Its primary role was to command British land forces and co-ordinate with the relevant naval and air commands to ...

, as the latter was the only formation that could send effective support for operations in northern Iraq and also because air operations were controlled by the

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

(AOC-in-C), Middle East.Playfair, p. 128 In June 1941 following the conclusion of fighting in Iraq command was passed back to the

Commander-in-Chief, India During the period of the Company rule in India and the British Raj, the Commander-in-Chief, India (often "Commander-in-Chief ''in'' or ''of'' India") was the supreme commander of the British Indian Army. The Commander-in-Chief and most of his ...

(C-in-C, India). The British

Chiefs of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the support ...

wished to return control of land forces in Iraq back to Middle East Command but decided to let

Operation Crusader Operation Crusader (18 November – 30 December 1941) was a military operation of the Western Desert Campaign during the Second World War by the British Eighth Army (United Kingdom), Eighth Army (with Commonwealth, Indian and Allied contingents) ...

get underway before making any changes. On 12 December 1941 with Operation Crusader well on the way to success, the German threat from the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

subsided and with the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

attacks on

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, Malaya and

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

the Chiefs of Staff decided now was the time to make changes to the command structure; to unburden GHQ India so it could now solely "look east" and so that speedier planning could take place for forces in the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean areas.

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Sir Archibald Wavell, now the C-in-C, India, opposed such a move as he believed Iraq to be an overburden and distraction to Middle East Command; General

Claude Auchinleck Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, (21 June 1884 – 23 March 1981), was a British Army commander during the Second World War. He was a career soldier who spent much of his military career in India, where he rose to become Commande ...

, now C-in-C, Middle East Command, believed it to be the right move and would allow speedier planning and the administration and operational aspects of all forces in the

Mediterranean Basin In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (; also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea) is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and w ...

and Middle East to be more closely related; the

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

also supported such a move as it would help to ease the supply situation and would also, at a later date, help co-ordinate the planning of operations with the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

if they only had one command to deal with. The Defence Committee agreed with the Chiefs-of-Staff and Middle East Command retook over Iraq on 12 January 1942. All forces in Iraq were first known as

Iraqforce Iraqforce was a British and Commonwealth formation that came together in the Kingdom of Iraq. The formation fought in the Middle East during World War II. Background During World War I, the British Army defeated the Ottoman Army in the Middle Eas ...

and then Iraq Command were redesignated

British Tenth Army The Tenth Army was a field army of the British Army during the Second World War created in Iraq and formed from the major part of "Paiforce" (Persia and Iraq Force). It was active in 1942 and 1943, and then disbanded. In April 1941, British and ...

Formation of the command

In August 1942 the

British Prime Minister The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern p ...

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

, accompanied by a senior delegation including the

Chief of the Imperial General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) has been the title of the professional head of the British Army since 1964. The CGS is a member of both the Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Army Board. Prior to 1964, the title was Chief of the Imperial G ...

Alan Brooke Field Marshal Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, (23 July 1883 – 17 June 1963), was a senior officer of the British Army. He was Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), the professional head of the British Army, during the Sec ...

, held discussions in Cairo which resulted in a reorganisation of Middle East Command. This included the replacement of Auchinleck in his role as GOC-in-C Middle East by General

Harold Alexander Harold Rupert Leofric George Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, (10 December 1891 – 16 June 1969) was a senior British Army officer who served with distinction in both the First and the Second World War and, afterwards, as Governor Ge ...

and in his role as

British Eighth Army The Eighth Army was an Allied field army formation of the British Army during the Second World War, fighting in the North African and Italian campaigns. Units came from Australia, British India, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Free French Forces, ...

commander by

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Bernard Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and t ...

and the splitting of Middle East Command to create a new Persia and Iraq Command. Aware that the Commander-in-Chief, Middle East Command needed to devote his full attention to halting the German-Italian forces in North Africa, Churchill wanted to free him of the burden of the forces in Iraq and Persia. With Commander-in-Chief, India also having to devote his full-time attention to fighting the Japanese the solution seemed to be the creation of a new command to guard the northern front.Playfair, p. 375 After some resistance the British cabinet approved its creation on 8 August and Auchinleck was offered the command but turned it down. He opposed the idea of the new command, believing that all forces in Iraq and Persia should be under the same leadership as those in the Middle East area. The

War Cabinet A war cabinet is a committee formed by a government in a time of war to efficiently and effectively conduct that war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers, although it is quite common for a war cabinet to have senior ...

believed that with the renewed threat from the Caucasus that the argument for a unified command was even stronger now, than it had been in January. On 21 August 1942, the Persia Iraq Command was offered to General Sir Maitland Wilson who accepted the post. On 18 September, the headquarters was opened in Baghdad. Wilson's tasks were as follows: First, to secure, at all costs, the oil fields and oil installations in Persia and Iraq from land and air attack. Second, to ensure the transport of supplies to Russia from the Persian Gulf ports to the maximum extent possible without prejudicing the primary task.

Transition of commanders

In 1943, a series of Soviet victories in southern Russia and the success of operations in North Africa rendered the German threat to northern Persia progressively more and more unlikely. Therefore, the forces in Wilson's Command were reduced and the status of the Command was revised. In January, Wilson received orders to despatch the 5th Infantry Division to the Middle East Command and, on 23 January, Wilson was summoned to a conference with the Prime Minister in Cairo. On 10 February, the

56th (London) Infantry Division The 56th (London) Infantry Division was a Territorial Army infantry division of the British Army, which served under several different titles and designations. The division served in the trenches of the Western Front during the First World War. ...

was also ordered to the Middle East Command. Wilson then decided to re-group the remaining formations within the Command and issued orders for their location in the general area Mosul-Kirkuk. On 17 February, Wilson left for Cairo to take up his new duties as commander-in-chief of the

. The commanders-in-chief were: * 1942 - 1943 Lieutenant General

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

Maitland Wilson * 1943 - 1944 Lieutenant General Sir

Henry Pownall Lieutenant General Sir Henry Royds Pownall, (19 November 1887 – 10 June 1961) was a senior British Army officer who held several important command and staff appointments during the Second World War. In particular, he was chief of staff to the ...

* 1944 - 1945 Lieutenant General Sir Arthur Smith

Order of battle - Persia and Iraq Command 1942

General Officer Commanding -

Sir Henry Wilson Field Marshal Sir Henry Hughes Wilson, 1st Baronet, (5 May 1864 – 22 June 1922) was one of the most senior British Army staff officers of the First World War and was briefly an Irish unionist politician. Wilson served as Commandant of the St ...

* General Reserve troopsMackenzie, p. 594 ** 5th Indian Infantry Division -

Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Harold R. Briggs *** 9th Indian Infantry Brigade -

Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

W.H. Langran ***

161st Indian Infantry Brigade The 161st Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. As part of the arrangements for the independence and partition of British India the brigade was allocated to India and became the 161st Infa ...

- Brigadier D.F.W. Warren ** 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division -

Stanisław Kopański **

British 7th Armoured Brigade The 7th Armoured Brigade was an armoured brigade formation of the British Army. The brigade is also known as the "Desert Rats", a nickname formerly held by the 7th Armoured Division, of which the brigade formed a part of during the Se ...

- Brigadier John H. Anstice *

Mackenzie, pp. 593–594 -

Sir Edward Quinan General Sir Edward Pellew Quinan (9 January 1885 – 13 November 1960) was a British Army commander during the Second World War. In the early part of his career, he was involved in Indian Army campaigns in Afghanistan and Waziristan on the No ...

** Army troops ***

6th Indian Infantry Division The 6th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the Indian Army during World War II, created on 1 March 1941 in Secunderabad. On 11 September 1941 it was shipped to the Iraq and later Iran. During 1942 and 1943 it was part of the Tenth Ar ...

- Major-General James N. Thomson **** 27th Indian Infantry Brigade - Brigadier A.R. Barker **** 6th Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers ***

31st Indian Armoured Division The 31st Indian Armoured Division was an armoured division of the Indian Army during World War II, formed in 1940, originally as the 1st Indian Armoured Division; it consisted of units of the British Army and the British Indian Army. When it was ...

- Major-General

Robert Wordsworth Major-General Robert Harley Wordsworth CB, CBE (21 July 1894 – 22 November 1984) was a British Indian Army officer and an Australian politician. Military career Born in Collarenebri, New South Wales, Wordsworth was educated at North Sydne ...

****

3rd Indian Motor Brigade The 3rd Indian Motor Brigade was formed in 1940 by the Indian Army during World War II. In 1941, the brigade was surrounded at Mechili by Axis forces during Operation Sonnenblume and suffered many casualties breaking out of the encirclement. On ...

- Brigadier A.A.E. Filoze ****

252nd Indian Armoured Brigade The 252nd Indian Armoured Brigade was an armoured formation of the Indian Army. It was formed from the 3rd (Meerut) Cavalry Brigade when it was dispersed and reformed as the 2nd Indian Armoured Brigade in 1940, from July 1941 as 2nd Independent A ...

- Brigadier G. Carr-White ***

10th Indian Motor Brigade The 10th Indian Motor Brigade was a formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in Egypt in March 1942. The brigade left Egypt for Persia in September 1942 and was converted to the 60th Indian Infantry Brigade in July 1943. ...

- Brigadier

Harold Redman Lieutenant General Sir Harold Redman, (25 August 1899 – 1986) was a senior British Army officer and Governor of Gibraltar. Military career Redman was commissioned into the Royal Artillery 28 February 1917. He served in the First World War in ...

** III Corps - Lieutenant-General Sir Desmond Anderson *** 5th Infantry Division - Major-General Horatio P.M. Berney-Ficklin **** 13th Infantry Brigade - Brigadier V.C. Russell **** 15th Infantry Brigade - Brigadier H.R.N. Greenfield **** 17th Infantry Brigade - Brigadier G.W.B. Tarleton **** 5th Reconnaissance Regiment,

Reconnaissance Corps The Reconnaissance Corps, or simply Recce Corps, was a corps of the British Army, formed during the Second World War whose units provided reconnaissance for infantry divisions. It was formed from infantry brigade reconnaissance groups on 14 Janu ...

Indian XXI Corps The Indian XXI Corps was an Army Corps of the Indian Army during the Second World War. It served in the Tenth Army in 1942. Formation Lieutenant-General Mosley Mayne General Sir Ashton Gerard Oswald Mosley Mayne GCB CBE DSO (24 April 1889 � ...

- Lieutenant-General Sir Mosley Mayne ***

8th Indian Infantry Division The 8th Mountain Division was raised as the 8th Indian Infantry division of the British Indian Army. It is now part of the Indian Army and specialises in mountain warfare. The 8th Indian Infantry Division was formed as an infantry division in ...

- Major-General Charles O. Harvey **** 17th Indian Infantry Brigade - Brigadier F.A.M.B. Jenkins ****

19th Indian Infantry Brigade The 19th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in October, 1940 at Old Delhi in British Raj, India and assigned to the 8th Infantry Division (India), 8th Indian Infantry Di ...

- Brigadier C.W.W. Ford *** 10th Indian Infantry Division - Major-General Alan B. Blaxland **** 20th Indian Infantry Brigade - Brigadier L.E. MacGregor **** 25th Indian Infantry Brigade - Brigadier A.E. Arderne ***

- Major-General Eric G. Miles **** 167th (London) Infantry Brigade - Brigadier J.C.A. Birch **** 168th (London) Infantry Brigade - Brigadier K.C. Davidson **** 169th (London) Infantry Brigade - Brigadier L.O. Lynne In addition, lines of communication headquarters, either designed Lines of Communications Areas or Sub-Areas or under deception titles such as the 2nd Indian Infantry Division, were also ultimately responsible to the command.

Notes

;Footnotes ;Citations

References

* * * * * in

External links

*
London Gazette
{{DEFAULTSORT:Middle East Command Military units and formations of the United Kingdom in World War II Commands of the British Army Military history of Iran during World War II