The local Turkomen commander did not yet have the gumption to actually order his men to confront the tough German paratroopers at Kirkuk, but he was clearly making a show of force, deploying his battalions to surround that area on three sides, wise enough to leave a route of retreat open for the Germans.
But Barenthin wasn’t going anywhere. He had been told that General Student and the entire 1st Falschirmjaeger Division were already on the way, but oddly, there was no direct rail connection from the railhead at Mosul to Kirkuk. With the Crete operation winding down, Goring had flown the paratroopers back to Athens, but he needed to use those transports to fly in garrison troops to replace them. So the division went by rail to Mosul, then south along the Tigris to a point about 120 kilometers east of Kirkuk. From there they would move overland using reserve trucks pooled there by the rail crews that had been working on the line.
Guderian also was still waiting for the other two regiments of the 22nd Luftland to come in from the Euphrates, an area that was now to be designated as part of Rommel’s new command. A detachment from the 164th Light was moved there to replace the 22nd, as reinforcements scheduled for Rommel’s Army of Syria began to flow in through Aleppo. Rommel was not even due to arrive for another week. He would reach Istanbul about the same time 16th Panzer arrived from the West, with 5th SS Wiking Division right on its heels.
The log jam was slowly breaking up. Things were beginning to move and become more fluid. Guderian had a lot of business right there in Baghdad, his troops, largely from the 78th Sturm Division, advancing into the city the following morning to take over ground abandoned by the British. KG Rosenfeld and Schafer were ordered east by Hube to rejoin the entire division and prepare for the drive south.
There were questions about the facilitation of a new Iraqi government he had to see to, as Rashid Ali was arriving to declare himself the new Pasha. The Embassies of Britain, China and the United States had to be searched, the whole city swept for stay behinders, supplies and fuel had to be salvaged wherever possible. So a sudden violent pursuit was out of the question for the next few days. He would give his troops some rest after the long battle, which had raged since the 22nd. On the last Day of February, he rode triumphantly into Baghdad, and when the news reached Berlin, Hitler was elated.
The Führer saw the sudden improvement on that front as the direct result of his determination to make it a priority. It was a much needed victory for him, after suffering a string of half measures, withdrawals, failed offensives and lost territory in North Africa. His spirits were high, and his mind was now obsessed with the tremendous economic and military windfalls that his Operation Phoenix had made possible. He might have reaped this bounty much earlier, but Brigadier Kinlan had stopped him in Syria. That shining knight in impenetrable armor was no longer there to joust for King and Country. It was a whole new war now, and the changes it would cause to the overall course of events were still unseen, even by men like Anton Fedorov.
In England, Churchill and Alanbrooke received the news with great distress. The Prime Minister would later say that the fall of Baghdad eclipsed even the loss of Ceylon in his mind for strategic significance.
“How is it possible,” he railed. “Auchinlek had five divisions to hold that city; over 100,000 troops. Montgomery stopped the Japanese at Singapore with far less.”
“First off it wasn’t Auchinlek in charge on the ground. It was Wilson,” said Alanbrooke. “It’s true that Wilson had 15 Brigades, and the two armored brigades as well compared to 10 brigades defending Singapore, but Monty was facing only three Japanese divisions, while Wilson was facing two good German Panzer divisions, the Brandenburg Division, and other forces totaling at least 16 brigades.”
“Even odds,” said Churchill.
“You might see it that way, but these were some of the best troops in the German Army, while a lot of those Indian divisions, the 5th excepted, had languished in Persia with little training, poor equipment, and understrength formations. The 6th and 8th Indian Divisions were garrison units, and rated as even second tier units for defense. Wilson had little in the way of offensive potential until Grover finally arrived with 2nd Division, and the armor came up. By then, Guderian had pushed us out of west Baghdad, and was threatening a double envelopment. Wilson made the correct decision. If he had stayed where he was, in ten days to two weeks we might be discussing the loss of the entire army.”
“But we simply must hold on there in Iraq,” said Churchill. “It cannot be lost, any more than we could afford to lose Egypt when Rommel was after us. We defeated him, and so we must also stop this General Guderian. Where can we find more troops?
Chapter 30
That was a very good question.
“We have other assets close at hand,” said Alanbrooke. “Don’t forget the two divisions in Abyssinia. The 11th East Africa Division is formed up, pulling troops from Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika and Rhodesia. Fluffy Fowkes has it there now, and he’s been training the men well from all reports. Then we still have the forces we used for the occupation of Madagascar last year. The two good British Brigades returned to 5th Division in Syria, but there’s still our 29th Independent Brigade, the South African 7th Motorized Brigade, and the Rhodesian 27th Infantry Brigade there as a garrison.”
“We might make good use of the 29th Independent.”
“My thinking exactly. The other two can stand as a garrison well enough. Now then, after that, we have more troops being organized by General Giffard in Africa. He’s used units of the Royal West African Frontier Force and teed up two divisions for service in Burma, or the planned counterattack at Ceylon.”
“Ceylon can wait,” said Churchill glumly. “We’ve lost the rubber plantations, but losing the oil rigs is out of the question, and the Germans have already occupied Baba Gurgur.”
“Well, we’ve taken Abadan from Persia in compensation.”
“Which we should have done long ago,” said Churchill. “The Persians have been flirting with the Germans ever since Turkey became a wayward bride. Now they’ll throw in with them completely.”
“It couldn’t be helped,” said Alanbrooke. “Don’t worry, they’ve little to contribute militarily, though they did cross the border into Iraq and they’ve occupied Amara after we took Abadan and Ahwaz. We did have plans to go all the way to Tehran, but that operation had to be shelved when the Germans pulled Operation Phoenix out of their hat—that’s what it’s being called.”
“Well named,” said Churchill. “They took an old plan that we foiled with our own Operation Scimitar, then gave it to an old General that had gone into semi-retirement after falling out of favor with Hitler. Well it seems there was a good deal of mileage left in that warhorse after all.”
“Indeed,” said Alanbrooke. “I agree that under these circumstances, our attack on Ceylon will have to be postponed.”
“These two new divisions Giffard has organized,” asked Churchill, “will they be any good?”
“Decent fighting men,” said Alanbrooke. “But they’ll have no transport—not even for artillery or any of the heavy equipment. They were both to be organized using porter squads to carry everything—jungle warfare has little use for trucks. That may be good for Burma, but they’ll have limited offensive capability if sent to Iraq, unless we can motorize them.”
“We’ll have to do so. Trucks we have in abundance, but it’s a long voyage by sea to get them there. What else can we find—good experienced troops?” Churchill was pacing.