Axis in Syria, 1941

Discussions on WW2 in Africa & the Mediterranean. Hosted by Andy H
User avatar
Peter H
Member
Posts: 28628
Joined: 30 Dec 2002, 14:18
Location: Australia

#16

Post by Peter H » 01 Dec 2007, 16:22

Me 110 over Iraq
Attachments
me110.jpg
me110.jpg (15.98 KiB) Viewed 3346 times

User avatar
Peter H
Member
Posts: 28628
Joined: 30 Dec 2002, 14:18
Location: Australia

#17

Post by Peter H » 01 Dec 2007, 16:24

Oberst Werner Junck.

Junck had previously served under Kundt in the German Military Mission to Bolivia in the 1930s.
Attachments
junck.jpg
junck.jpg (7.57 KiB) Viewed 3341 times


User avatar
Peter H
Member
Posts: 28628
Joined: 30 Dec 2002, 14:18
Location: Australia

#18

Post by Peter H » 01 Dec 2007, 17:08

According to Kurowski:

6th May 1941-Junck appointed commander of Flieger Fuhrer Irak.Transport chief was Major Pinagel.

Hauptmann Schwanhaeusser lead the He 111s, 4./KG 4,while the Me 110 Staffel was under Oberleutnant Holbeinstand.

11th May-first He 111s reach Rhodes.

13th May--Palmyra used as airbase in Syria.

15th May-first Luftwaffe deployment over Iraq,desert patrol along Syrian-Iraq border.

16th May-Three He 111s launch air attack on Habbaniya airfield.Following this six Me 110s conduct a low level attack on the RAF airfield.

Following this another strafing attack is made on a secondary airfield near Falluja.In response the RAF bomb Baghdad Airfield ubder Iraqi control.One Me 110 is shot down,one makes a forced landing.Junck moves some of his aircraft into Mosul and Kirkuk.

18th May-four Me 110s from Mosul launch strafing attacks against Habforce.Assisted by Italian planes at Mosul.RAF again bomb Baghdad.Only one Me 110 of the four is still operational by the end of the day.

20th May-Habbaniya again attacked by He 111s.RAF encounter four Me 110s in air battle over Falluja.Germans claim they shot down a Blenheim and a Gla­diator.RAF bomb Iraqi Airforce HQ at Hinaidi.A Me 110 that makes a forced landing there is destroyed on the ground.

22nd May-Germans launch air attacks on British columns advancing from Habbaniya Two Me 110s and one He 111 lost.

23rd May-Falluja air battle.Two Gla­diators shot down.However RAF Hurricanes defend Habbaniya from three He 111s and two are lost.Effectively 4./ZG 76 at Kirkuk has no more operational aircraft,only two in repair.

26th May-RAF bomb Baghdad,One He 111 attacks Habbaniya again.Wellington bombers hit Mosul and knock out the last remaining He 111 there.

27th May-Junck counsels German officials flown in (Major Hansen OKH,Major Arnold Abwehr) about situation.A decision is made to withdraw from Iraq.

28th May-German Counsel in Baghdad tells Iraqis they will pull out the next day.

29th May-remaining force of 5 Me 110s,2 He 111s and 6 Ju 52s fly out.Destination Rhodes via Syria

30th May-last German elements leave Baghdad,Italians pull out of Mosul the next day.

Jon G.
Member
Posts: 6647
Joined: 17 Feb 2004, 02:12
Location: Europe

#19

Post by Jon G. » 01 Dec 2007, 18:34

Also see this thread

Iraq
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=103406

These two links about the British side of things. Wavell was opposed to the whole idea of invading Iraq:

British Operations in Iraq

The British Invasion of Iraq in 1941

User avatar
Peter H
Member
Posts: 28628
Joined: 30 Dec 2002, 14:18
Location: Australia

#20

Post by Peter H » 02 Dec 2007, 04:00

Thanks Jon.

Adler is publishing Sonderkommando Junck - 4./ZG 76 Haifisch Guppe - Mission in Iraq and Syria early next year.

This link comments on the Luftwaffe wrecks left in Iraq:

http://hubpages.com/hub/World_War_II_Air_War_Over_Iraq
The Italians, too, were sufficiently forewarned to depart Kirkuk for Syria on the 31st, burning two Fiats that were too damaged to fly out. Sonderkommando Junck had a more ignominious departure, the last of its surviving personnel escaping overland to Syria on June 10, leaving behind the wrecks of all 14 Me-110s, five He-111s and two transport planes. Those losses were far less damaging than the pounding their prestige had taken in the eyes of the Arabs they had hoped to convert to the Axis side.
Junck suffered a 95% attrition rate in Iraq.Its said that he begged for reinforcements,in his view another 30 planes would have turned the tide,but OKH was more concerned with the upcoming war in Russia.

User avatar
Peter H
Member
Posts: 28628
Joined: 30 Dec 2002, 14:18
Location: Australia

#21

Post by Peter H » 02 Dec 2007, 04:05

Luftwaffe pilots who served in Iraq included Martin Drewes,Paul Zorner and Wilhelm Herget the latter night time ace.


Drewes(right) in Iraq,from: http://www.pilotenbunker.de/Nachtjaeger ... drewes.htm

Image

User avatar
Peter H
Member
Posts: 28628
Joined: 30 Dec 2002, 14:18
Location: Australia

#22

Post by Peter H » 02 Dec 2007, 04:14

A Ju 90 also flew supplies into Baghdad from Palmyra.

This is it pictured in Iraqi colours.
Attachments
ju90.jpg
ju90.jpg (27.07 KiB) Viewed 3300 times

User avatar
Peter H
Member
Posts: 28628
Joined: 30 Dec 2002, 14:18
Location: Australia

#23

Post by Peter H » 02 Dec 2007, 04:21

One Me 110 that crashlanded intact near Fallujah was seized by the RAF and used for test flights/evaluations in Iraq and Egypt.It was named the "Belle of Berlin".

User avatar
Peter H
Member
Posts: 28628
Joined: 30 Dec 2002, 14:18
Location: Australia

#24

Post by Peter H » 02 Dec 2007, 05:00

This is the photo of the He 111 mentioned here in previous discussions.It looks like the same downed He 111 posted on page 1 of this topic.

From Purnell's History of the Second World War


Fliegerführer Irak consisted of:

4./ZG 76 with 12 Bf110Cs led by Oberlt. Hobein
1 kette from ZG 26 with 2 Bf110s led by Lt. Wörner
4./KG 4 with 7 He 111H-6s led by Hptm. Schwanhäuser
1./K.G. z.b.v. 106 with 20 Ju 52s led by Major Pinagel
1 kette of 3 Junkers Ju 90B (Lufthansa)
1 Flak Battery 20mm guns
Attachments
iraq_tail.jpg
iraq_tail.jpg (61.29 KiB) Viewed 3290 times

User avatar
Peter H
Member
Posts: 28628
Joined: 30 Dec 2002, 14:18
Location: Australia

#25

Post by Peter H » 02 Dec 2007, 10:02

Of interest:

http://www.mideastweb.org/iraqaxiscoup.htm
The first train load of war supplies arrived from Vichy Syria on 11 or 12 May, and two more followed on 26 May and June 3. A third shipment on June 10, and perhaps more, would have followed, but RAF reconnaissance had soon spotted the shipments and commenced attack on the railway line and Vichy French bases where German aircraft had been spotted. They even air landed British army engineers into Syria to blow the railway bridges. The supplies that arrived seem to have been stored in Mosul by the Iraqis but were never used. It is not known why, though some military historians suggest it was because the Iraqi forces were not trained to use French equipment, and Vichy had not supplied promised instructors. One of the enduring mysteries about the French supplies is whether or not aircraft were supplied. The RAF claim to have seen Me109s on Iraq airbases, and encountered them in the air, but it is clear that no German single engine fighters went to Iraq. There is a suggestion in some of the sources that Vichy may have supplied MS406s, their standard fighter of the time, but no solid evidence.



As well the only recorded combat death I can find is that of Fw. Hans Borcher,pilot,17/5/1941.

User avatar
Peter H
Member
Posts: 28628
Joined: 30 Dec 2002, 14:18
Location: Australia

#26

Post by Peter H » 02 Dec 2007, 11:37

Its also said that the Vichy authorities in Syria transported to the border and armed Syrian volunteers to assist Rashid Ali in his uprising.Estimates vary from 2,500 to 5,000 volunteers.

User avatar
Peter H
Member
Posts: 28628
Joined: 30 Dec 2002, 14:18
Location: Australia

#27

Post by Peter H » 02 Dec 2007, 12:01

Brandenburgers in Iraq:

Feldwebel Wienand
Feldwebel Bulach

Both "Palästina-Deutschen" that flew in with the Grobba Mission(2 He 111s) to Mosul,10th May 1941.

Two other Brandenburgers joined them the next day(3 Ju 52s) among the German Foreign Ministry officials flying in on the 11th:


Unteroffiziere Brass
Unteroffiziere Krautzberger


These four were given the role of destroying oil plants and wells, in the case of a German retreat from Iraq,with high explosives flown in with one of the Ju 52s.This role did not eventuate due to the British landings in Basra in the same month.

User avatar
Peter H
Member
Posts: 28628
Joined: 30 Dec 2002, 14:18
Location: Australia

#28

Post by Peter H » 02 Dec 2007, 12:21

The later leader of the "Arabian Volunteer Band" Untersturmführer Franz Wimmer-Lamquet also states in his memoirs that he spent 5 days in Iraq in May 1941.His role was to recruit volunteers and arm them.However he states that the Iraqis he courted were only interested in being armed,and reluctant to be under any control.

Wimmer-Lamquet is also crtiical of General Helmuth Felmy,Junck's superior in Syria,who stayed all the time in Aleppo and did not fulfil his command role in the enterprise.Felmy commanded Sonderstabes F,the overall German Military Mission in the Levant set up on the 21st May 1941.Plans included more air reinforcements and the despatch of a Brandenburger Battalion to Syria.There they would be supplied with Iraqi Army uniforms and move into Iraq.The subsequent quick British reaction in the region put a stop to these plans.Any further Luftwaffe units flying into Iraq was futile at best--aviation fuel was not adequate in Iraq and the lack of spares etc crippled Junck's small force anyway.

rogerjowett
New member
Posts: 1
Joined: 04 Aug 2010, 17:58

Re: Axis in Syria, 1941

#29

Post by rogerjowett » 05 Aug 2010, 12:03

so the he-111 is a german aeroplane in italian colours flown through vichy syria?
how did the polish pilots get to the uk using the same route?

User avatar
Peter H
Member
Posts: 28628
Joined: 30 Dec 2002, 14:18
Location: Australia

Re: Axis in Syria, 1941

#30

Post by Peter H » 05 Aug 2010, 13:00

In Iraqi colors.

Luftwaffe flights would have been via Greece to Italian Dodecanese Islands to Syria.

Post Reply

Return to “WW2 in Africa & the Mediterranean”