My Amazon Review of John Broich's " Blood, Oil and the Axis: The Allied Resistance Against a Fascist State in Iraq and the Levant, 1941"

Iraq War circa 1941

Case Western Reserve history professor John Broich tells us the little known story of how a small group of British soldiers and airmen along with local allies kicked the Axis out of the Middle East. With tacit support from Germany a group of Iraqi officers known as the Golden Square staged a fascist coup in Baghdad thereby threatening British oil supplies. Along with a pro-Vichy government in Syria the Axis powers had the ability to cripple British power in region by cutting off its oil supplies in the Mediterranean. If instead of invading Russia in 1941, had Hitler moved into the Middle East, he very well could have brought Britain to its knees and won the war.   

With Britain’s position in Egypt under attack by Erwin Rommel’s panzers, there were few resources to spare for the Levant. Yet with  volunteer troops from India, consisting of Hindus, Moslems and Sikhs, and a few airman, including the writer Roald Dahl of “James and the Giant Peach” fame, the British persevered first in Iraq and then in Syria where French forces supported the Vichy regime. In this Iraq war we are reminded of the battles in early 2000s where fighting takes place in Ramadi, Baghdad and Fallujah.

The British wisely enlisted local forces from Jordan under General Glubb and Palestine where the Palmach commando unit is established. It is during a battle in Syria where future Israeli general Moshe Dayan loses his eye. From Broich’s book I learned that both the Germans and the Italians bombed Haifa to stop the flow of oil from that city’s refinery to the British fleet. Further had Hitler’s armies moved into the region the 500,000 Jews then living in Palestine likely would have been slaughtered like there European counterparts.  

Broich tells a good story, but sometimes his writing seems to be bogged down in the sands of Iraq. I better editing job would have helped. Nevertheless it is a powerful story that highlights, yet again, that the Allied victory in World War Two was a close run thing.

The full amazon URL appears at:  https://www.amazon.com/review/R3KKM2ECEIECQD/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv