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The Battle for Habbaniya – The forgotten war
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Introduction
During 1941 the Germans had swept across Europe and southwards as far as Greece, crossing the Mediterranean before racing across the Western Desert of North Africa towards the British main base in Egypt. In Iraq, farther to the east, the Germans had promised the Iraqis, who held vital supplies of oil, financial and military aid from Germany in order to to help them rid their country of the British. Relying upon this support the Iraqis attacked RAF Habbaniya 60 miles west of Baghdad on road to Damascus.
The RAF fought a battle which lasted five days and a campaign which lasted a month, which against all odds they won. The history of this sensational battle is given over the next few pages.
