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Coll 17/10(4) 'Internal: political situation; relations with HMG' [296v] (592/1031)
The record is made up of 1 file (515 folios). It was created in 10 Apr 1941-19 Mar 1947. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
to hand over their keys the authorities would open the banks by force. After
consulting with myself and the adviser to the Ministry of the Intel ior, the two
managers in the embassy decided to authorise their representatives in the United
States Legation to hand over their keys under protest in the face of force
majeuve. Whether the surrender of the keys actually took place I was unaware,
as no contact existed between His Majesty’s hmbassy and the l nited
Leo-ation. Details of the manner in which this action was taken, and of the
situation of the banks under the control of Rashid All’s Administration, will be
reported in a separate despatch.
26. The 4th May was a second eventful day. In the early morning
Wellington bombers were seen from the embassy dropping leaflets over the city.
Shortly afterwards an official in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs telephoned to
tell a member of my staff that these leaflets contained a threat that the Govern
ment offices in Bagdad would be bombed unless the Iraqi forces were withdrawn
from Habbaniya within four hours. The official said that he had been instructed
to inform the embassy that the Iraqi forces would not be withdrawn and that, if
the Government offices in Bagdad were bombed, the Iraqi Air Force would
retaliate by bombing all places inhabited by the British. This, of course, was
tantamount to a threat to bomb His Majesty’s Embassy and the United State*
Legation, where so many British subjects were congregated, and constitutes a
further example of the flagrant disregard by the Iraqi authorities of interna
tional law and custom. This message was afterwards confirmed in a note from
the Ministry. . « T i i j
27. The threat made in these leaflets came as a surprise, for I had under
stood that all ideas of bombing other than military targets had been dropped.
I had already made it clear by telegram to the British military authorities on
1 st May that I was strongly opposed to such action. As I saw it, the bombing
of the'Government offices would have united public opinion throughout Iraq
against us, and aroused the fury of the Bagdad mob without in an\ wa\ alteimg
the militarv situation at Habbaniya. I therefore addressed an urgent telegram
to the Air Officer Commanding,' Middle East, the Air Officer Commanding.
Habbaniya. and the General Officer Commanding, Basra, recalling my opinion
that the bombing of civilians was undesirable. This telegram was sent off en
clair through the Iraqi civil telegraph office.
28. Hardly had this action been taken- before a police inspector arrived at
the embassy gates with a note from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs asking that
all Iraqi subjects within the embassy should be expelled and handed over to the
inspector in charge of the police guard. It mav have been that the Iiaqi
authorities were anxious to withdraw Iraqis from the danger zone of the
British Embassv in case it were to be bombed, but I feared that the underlying
purpose of this'request was to get hold of all the Iraqi servants and to victimise
them for having served the British, and I decided to reject it. A member of my
staff discussed the matter with the Ministry by telephone, making my attitude
clear, and was then informed that the reason for the request was that the wives
of some men employed in the embassy had petitioned the Ministry, alleging that
their menfolk were being forcibly detained and asking for their release. When
it was explained that all Iraqis'were free to leave, if they wished to do so, the
Ministry were satisfied with a list of their names. I have a feeling, however,
that the demand would have been pressed had it not been for the timely bombing
of the military camps near Bagdad that morning.
29. The'next event was the unexpected arrival of M. Ustum, my Turkish
colleague. He came to acquaint me with bis Government’s offer of good
offices to find a solution of the dispute between Great Britain and Iraq. He also
told me that he had been invited by the Iraqi Ministry for Foreign Affairs to
suggest that it was desirable that the action threatened in the leaflets dropped
earlier in the morning should at all events be postponed so as to enable the Turkish
offer to be considered in a favourably atmosphere. I showed him a copy of my
telegram about bombing civilians, but explained that as I was cut off from all
confidential communication with my own Government I was unable to express to
them my views concerning the Turkish Government’s offer. This visit, however,
gave me the opportunity of explaining to M. Ustum the various humiliations
to which His Majesty’s Embassy was being subjected, with the request that his
Government should be fully informed. Forty-eight hours later M. Ustum paid
me another visit, complaining that he was unable to withdraw certain funds from
About this item
- Content
This file is a continuation of IOR/L/PS/12/2862. It contains correspondence and memoranda regarding relations between HM Government ( HMG Her or His Majesty’s Government in London. ) and the Government of Iraq, and documents the reaction of the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. and Foreign Office to political developments within Iraq. The file opens with descriptions of the situation following the coup d'état of Rashid Ali al-Gaylani, and documents the build-up to the Anglo-Iraqi War (2-31 May 1941), including the arrival of British and Indian troops in Basra (under rights granted in the Anglo-Iraq Treaty of 1930), arrangements to evacuate the Regent 'Abd al-Illah, British attempts to shore up support from the Turkish and Egyptian authorities, and Axis propaganda in Iraq. The papers then contain communications regarding the progress of the war, including reports on troop movements, the dispatch of war materials, the actions of Germany, Italy, France and Turkey, and Indian public opinion regarding the conflict. These papers consist of dispatches sent by the British Ambassador to Iraq (Sir Kinahan Cornwallis) to the Foreign Office, as well as numerous copy communications between the Senior Naval Officer in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , the Commander in Chief of the East Indies Section, the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. Kuwait, the Viceroy of India, and HM Ambassador to the United States.
From the end of the war the file consists primarily of dispatches from Cornwallis to the Foreign Office, reporting on the return of the Regent, the pogrom against the Jewish community, the breaking of diplomatic relations with Vichy France and Japan, the trial of the coup supporters, the Iraqi declaration of war against Germany, Italy and Japan, the possibility of Iraqi membership of the United Nations, and the release of political prisoners from the Ammara [̔Amāra] concentration camp. The regular dispatches also contain details of various cabinet crises, and details of the domestic economic and military situation. The file contains a small amount of material for the years 1944-1946, including annual reports submitted by Cornwallis and his successor, Sir Hugh Stonehewer-Bird.
The file includes dividers which give lists of correspondence references found in the file by year. These are placed at the end of the correspondence (folios 2-4).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (515 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in rough chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 515; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is also present in parallel between ff 2-514; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/2863
- Title
- Coll 17/10(4) 'Internal: political situation; relations with HMG'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:15v, 17r:86v, 90v:105v, 107r:119v, 121r:298v, 300r:304v, 307r:373r, 379r:401v, 405r:515v, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence