Arthur Harris bombing Iraq

[Attila the Hunking]

I recently read an Article concerning indiscriminate area bombing of german cities by the allies. It briefly mentioned Sir Artur Harris ordering the RAF to bomb and strafe iraqi villages regardless of losses among non-combattans in order to quell a revolt (I suppose this happened when he was Air Officer Commanding RAF Palestine and Trans-Jordan). I can remember a quote in the text, in which he expressed his satisfaction about the devastating effect these attacks had on the morale of revolting Iraqis. When they learned about the capacity of the RAF to kill about 40 percent the entire population of any of their villages in a single attack, the iraqi rebels would give up. I'm interested in more detailed Information on this topic, since to me it seems Mr. Harris developed that way his 'break the morale of the enemy civilian population by massive area bombing' - attitude. Can anybody provide information on this Topic, especially concerning british colonial warfare,development of pre-ww2 bombing tactics, acounts of the mentioned incidents and at last but not least opinions?

[Ken]

I thought you meant something about modern day Iraq...

Local outbreaks against British rule had occurred even before the news reached Iraq that the country had been given only mandate status. Upon the death of an important Shia mujtahid (religious scholar) in early May 1920, Sunni and Shia ulama temporarily put aside their differences as the memorial services metamorphosed into political rallies. Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, began later in that month; once again, through nationalistic poetry and oratory, religious leaders exhorted the people to throw off the bonds of imperialism. Violent demonstrations and strikes followed the British arrest of several leaders.

When the news of the mandate reached Iraq in late May, a group of Iraqi delegates met with Wilson and demanded independence. Wilson dismissed them as a "handful of ungrateful politicians." Nationalist political activity was stepped up, and the grand mujtahid of Karbala, Imam Shirazi, and his son, Mirza Muhammad Riza, began to organize the effort in earnest. Arab flags were made and distributed, and pamphlets were handed out urging the tribes to prepare for revolt. Muhammad Riza acted as liaison among insurgents in An Najaf and in Karbala, and the tribal confederations. Shirazi then issued a fatwa (religious ruling), pointing out that it was against Islamic law for Muslims to countenance being ruled by non-Muslims, and he called for a jihad against the British. By July 1920, Mosul was in rebellion against British rule, and the insurrection moved south down the Euphrates River valley. The southern tribes, who cherished their long-held political autonomy, needed little inducement to join in the fray. They did not cooperate in an organized effort against the British, however, which limited the effect of the revolt. The country was in a state of anarchy for three months; the British restored order only with great difficulty and with the assistance of Royal Air Force bombers. British forces were obliged to send for reinforcements from India and from Iran.

Ath Thawra al Iraqiyya al Kubra, or The Great Iraqi Revolution (as the 1920 rebellion is called), was a watershed event in contemporary Iraqi history. For the first time, Sunnis and Shias, tribes and cities, were brought together in a common effort. In the opinion of Hanna Batatu, author of a seminal work on Iraq, the building of a nation-state in Iraq depended upon two major factors: the integration of Shias and Sunnis into the new body politic and the successful resolution of the age-old conflicts between the tribes and the riverine cities and among the tribes themselves over the food-producing flatlands of the Tigris and the Euphrates. The 1920 rebellion brought these groups together, if only briefly; this constituted an important first step in the long and arduous process of forging a nation-state out of Iraq's conflict-ridden social structure.

The 1920 revolt had been very costly to the British in both manpower and money. Whitehall was under domestic pressure to devise a formula that would provide the maximum control over Iraq at the least cost to the British taxpayer. The British replaced the military regime with a provisional Arab government, assisted by British advisers and answerable to the supreme authority of the high commissioner for Iraq, Cox. The new administration provided a channel of communication between the British and the restive population, and it gave Iraqi leaders an opportunity to prepare for eventual self-government. The provisional government was aided by the large number of trained Iraqi administrators who returned home when the French ejected Faisal from Syria. Like earlier Iraqi governments, however, the provisional government was composed chiefly of Sunni Arabs; once again the Shias were underrepresented.

At the Cairo Conference of 1921, the British set the parameters for Iraqi political life that were to continue until the 1958 revolution...

Revolt in Occupied Kurdistan 1922-1924

Kurds (30% of Iraq) asking for autonomy under Arab-ruled Iraq were not given autonomy.. Northern Iraq was in a state of revolt against Britain.. Britain used the RAF to carry out bombing raids on Kurdish villages and towns.. Gas was used and many civilians died.. The revolt came to a quick halt.. Britain later gave some sort of autonomy to the Kurdish provinces..



Sheikh Mahmood's rebellion: Kurdish Rebellion in Iraq 1930-1931

Another Kurdish rebellion.. Iraqi infantry and the RAF defeated it..


1932 Kurdish Rebellion.. Same thing.. RAF.. Iraqi ground forces..

Claims that gas was still being used and civilian deaths were high..


A note on Kurdish warfare: The Kurds are not an organized nation state but a rather large minority in Northern Iraq.. The area is mountaneous and Kurdish soldiers take advantage of the terrain to defeat armies not used to mountain warfare.. However, they have no standing army.. Random volunteers called Peshmerga (means: those who face death)..

The volunteers head to battle and return to their homes once its done.. There are no garrisons or seperate military buildings..

When the RAF attacks, it attacks their homes and so naturally, civilian death tolls were high.. Thousands of innocent civilians were killed, but Britain could not leave the Iraqi army fight the war by itself since the Kurds were stronger than the Iraqi army that has never fought in mountains before...

[Attila the Hunking]

Thanks a lot, Ken!