German troops in Iraq during WWII

Korbius · Post by **Korbius** » 14 Mar 2003 14:32

Does anybody have any info or images of the german troops that were helping the insurgent Iraqis in WWII? From what I've heard there were mainly luftwaffe crew in that region.

Andy H · Post by **Andy H** » 16 Mar 2003 03:01

Your correct in that only the Luftwaffe supported the Iraqi revolt. The German op's got off to a bad start when a recce plane from Damascus (Syria0 was shot down by the Iraqi's, the pilot was Major Axel von Blomberg, son of the German Field Marshall.

Plans were made to set-up a Fliegerfuhrer Irak under Colonel Werner Junck with an intial force of 14 Me110's and 7 He111's bombers from FliegerkorpsVIII plus transport aircraft. There were to be based eventually at Baghdad with a light AA Btty. The Italians sent some 12 CR42 fighters, which arrived in Mosul on May 27th'41.

By May29th Axis aircraft losses were 14 Me110's, 5 He111's and 3 CR42's. Junck at the end only had 4 "bombs"

Andy

Korbius · Post by **Korbius** » 16 Mar 2003 15:58

Hi Andy, do you know roghly the losses afflicted to the enemy by the luftwaffe in that region?

Paul80 · Post by **Paul80** » 28 Mar 2003 10:35

Hi!
There were not only Luftwaffe in Iraq. The revolt
was also led by the military secret service of the
germans. Several officers of the Brandenburg unit
organized the revolt and led the iraqis in the battles.
There is an interesting book about the theme from
Werner Brockdorff: Geheime Kommandotruppen im
2. Weltkrieg. I don`t know if it`s available in english,
but if you are interested I can get more detailed in-
formation about the iraqi revaolt and translate it for
you.
Maybe it lasts a bit, because I am not at home at the
moment.

Peter H · Post by **Peter H** » 28 Mar 2003 12:24

All German aircraft in Iraq had Iraqi markings,but were crewed by Germans.

Korbius · Post by **Korbius** » 28 Mar 2003 14:46

Paul80, thanks a lot for the info, I would love it if you could find or translate the text you mentioned. Thanks

Paul80 · Post by **Paul80** » 01 Apr 2003 09:36

Here is an extract of the instruction no.30, may 23rd 1941:

1. The arabic movement for freedom in the middle east is our ally against England. In this connection, the uprising in iraq is especially important....
2. I order, in connection with my decision to support the iraq:
- assistance from the Luftwaffe
- delievery of weapons
- to dispatch a military mission
3. The military mission (alias Sonderstab F) is under the command of General der Flieger Felmy. The tasks are:
- to advice and support the iraqi army
- to get connections to forces, which are hostile against England
- to get experience for the german army

Paul80 · Post by **Paul80** » 01 Apr 2003 10:03

There were two Arabian groups, supported by the Germans. The first one was the German-Arabian legion, which was commanded by Major Dr. von Hippel. It was multi-ethnic with soldiers from France, Algeria, Morocco, Serbia and Germany. But its military worth was low. The second and much more important one was the Arabian brigade.

The inadequate equipped and trained Iraqi army could only achieve a bit of resistance. Nevertheless, for a while it seemed that the Arabian brigade, a motley collection of Arabic volunteers and under German command, could change the war in the middle east. The size of the Arabian brigade was 25000 volunteers and it was commanded by Leutnant Brecht, Leutnant Dreesen and Hauptmann Berger. The Arabian brigade fought in Susa, the valley if the Tigris and all over Iraq.
With support of their Indian, Australian, South-African and French allies, the English troops defeated the Iraq within 30 days.....
The leaders of the Iraq escaped to Persia, which was attacked by Soviet and English forces shortly afterwards.....
The German military mission in Persia organised the resistance, but it was senseless. Nevertheless the Leutnants Dr. Meinhard and von Hammerstein fought against the Soviets in the north, together with Persian troops, until 1945.

All quotes are from the book: Geheime Kommandotruppen im 2. Weltkrieg, Werner Brockdorff

There were also German special forces brought to action, but there are very few information about it.

Paul80 · Post by **Paul80** » 01 Apr 2003 10:07

Hope you understand everything, because my english is quite poor.
Especially grammar.

Korbius · Post by **Korbius** » 01 Apr 2003 13:17

Paul80, thanks a lot, the translation was understandable. Great info, thanks again.

Andy H · Post by **Andy H** » 01 Apr 2003 17:40

I found a website at the weekend that lists the Iraqi OoB for WW2, I'll post when I get home. Has other armies/countries on it, though most of it is locked unless you subscribe

Andy

Korbius · Post by **Korbius** » 01 Apr 2003 23:47

Andy H wrote:I found a website at the weekend that lists the Iraqi OoB for WW2, I'll post when I get home. Has other armies/countries on it, though most of it is locked unless you subscribe

Andy

That's great Andy, can't wait to check 'em out

Andy H · Post by **Andy H** » 02 Apr 2003 01:02

As promised, plenty of golden nuggets in this site

http://www.orbat.com/site/data/historic ... y1941.html

Korbius · Post by **Korbius** » 02 Apr 2003 01:32

Dang, it asks for a password and login name. Do you know what might be the prob?

Thanks a lot again Andy

Andy H · Post by **Andy H** » 02 Apr 2003 01:38

Yep, as I stated earlier a lot of the info is only available through subscribing to the site, so where you see padlocks and you click on it, a pop up box appears asking for your password etc.

However there is stacks of info in other areas of the site just search through it.

Andy