Much of the fighting took place in Libya and Egypt. The Allies entered North Africa in Algeria in Morocco. After the Italian army was defeated by the British, the famed Nazi general Erwin Rommel and his famed “Afrika Korps” moved in and the Germans entered Egypt in an effort to capture the Suez Canal and Middle Eastern Oil. The Early battles took place between Italy and Britain in the Italian colony of Libya. īetween September 1940 and May 1943 the Allies battled the German-Italian Axis in North Africa. More than ever convinced of the importance of getting people to talk-a matter of saving not one but two civilizations-Stark celebrated the release by buying three new hats on her way back to work.
The Embassy gates were thrown open on June 1st. By the end of the month, the government had changed hands again. Hitler, preparing to send huge numbers of troops to the Soviet Union, could spare only two squadrons of planes for Iraq, and these were unable to stop a makeshift British battalion sent from Palestine-it included buses from the streets of Haifa-as it made its way across the desert to Baghdad. It turned out that Baghdad’s Nazi contingent had known no more than anyone else about German military plans. As foreigners held their breath, hoping for diplomatic intercession, Stark-never one to resist danger-took a quick recreational jaunt to Tehran, returning barely in time to pass the fearful month of May, 1941, among the captives in the British Embassy, waiting to see which side’s reinforcements would come through. On pro-Nazi coup in Baghdad, Claudia Roth Pierpont wrote in The New Yorker: “ The palace was seized, the British-backed regent fled, and shopkeepers tore pro-British posters out of their windows. Anxious to rid themselves of their British and French oppressors, resistance movements in the Middle East turned to Germany for support.īut still things did happen. They had hoped to occupy Alexandria and Cairo before mounting an attack on Saudi Arabia to capture the Persian Gulf oil fields.
However the Germans lead a major campaign in Egypt and North Africa. It vast oil wealth was largely undiscovered. The Middle East was of minimal importance in World War II.
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