Part 1: The turn of the tide
It’s the end of May 1941, Baghdad. The air in the city quivers, not only with the usual summer’s heat, but also with anxious anticipation. In April that year, an anti-British Iraqi nationalist movement supported by Nazi Germany carried out a coup against the Britain-supported Iraqi government. But the celebrations of independence from the British were premature. For the Allied Forces, the loss of Iraq threatened to cut them of oil supplies and strategic routes. Worse still, other Middle Eastern countries would likely follow suit and change their allegiance, bringing devastating losses to the Allies in the Middle East. So by mid-April, British troops had arrived in Iraq and, joined by the Iraqi forces loyal to them, had begun their occupation of parts of the county.