Neutral Iran is Attacked 1941

[PERSPOLIS]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHKmX8sB14U

reza shah army ousted in a matter of hours !!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pliq7MfY_o0&feature=related

[PERSPOLIS]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVuTz2C3pSM&feature=related

[PERSPOLIS]

Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Find out more about navigating Wikipedia and finding information •Jump to: navigation, search
Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
Part of World War II, Middle East campaign


Date August 25, 1941-September 17, 1941
Location Iran
Result Allied victory
Territorial
changes

Soviet occupation of Northern Iran
British occupation of Southern Iran


Combatants
United Kingdom
British India
Soviet Union
Iran
Commanders
Edward Quinan
Dmitri T. Kozlov Reza Shah Pahlavi
Strength
3 armies
2 divisions, 3 brigades 9 divisions
Casualties

22 KIA[1],
50 WIA[1]
at least 1 tank destroyed

40 KIA
3 planes lost approx. ~800 KIA,
~200 civilians killed,
2 gunboats sunk,
4 gunboats damaged,
6 planes lost

[show]v • d • eMiddle East campaign
Palestine – Iraq – Syria & Lebanon – Iran

The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran was the invasion of Iran by British and Commonwealth forces and the Soviet Union, codenamed Operation Countenance, from August 25 to September 17, 1941. The purpose of the invasion was to secure Iranian oil fields and ensure supply lines (see Persian Corridor) for the Soviets fighting against Germany on the Eastern Front.

Contents [hide]
1 Background
2 Invasion
3 Aftermath
4 See also
5 Bibliography
6 References
7 External links



[edit] Background
Following Germany's invasion of the USSR in June 1941, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union became allies. Although a neutral nation, Reza Shah Pahlavi had brought Iran closer to Germany. This concerned the British who feared that the Abadan Oil Refinery, owned by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, might fall into German hands — the refinery produced eight million tons of oil in 1940 and was thus a crucial part of the Allied war effort. For the Soviets, Iran was a country of extreme strategic importance. The German Army (Wehrmacht Heer) was steadily advancing through the Soviet Union and there were few ways for the Allies to get desperately needed American Lend-Lease supplies to the Soviets.

With increasing German submarine attacks, as well as heavy ice floes and the coastal ice cap fast rendering convoys to Arkhangelsk impossible, the Trans-Iranian Railway seemed a very attractive route to transport supplies up from the Persian Gulf. The two Allied nations applied pressure on Iran and the Shah but this led only to increased tensions and pro-German rallies in the capital of Tehran. Reza Shah refused to expel the many German nationals residing in Iran, and denied the use of the railway to the Allies; this, along with the above strategic concerns, prompted Britain and the Soviet Union to launch an invasion of Iran on August 25, 1941.


Reza Shah Pahlavi
[edit] Invasion
The invasion was rapid and conducted with ease. From the south the British Iraq Command (known as Iraqforce), renamed six days later to Persia and Iraq Command (Paiforce), under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir Edward Pellew Quinan, advanced. Paiforce was made up of the 8th and 10th Indian Infantry Divisions, 2nd Indian Armoured Brigade, 4th British Cavalry Brigade (later renamed 9th Armoured Brigade) and the 21st Indian Infantry Brigade. The Soviets came from the north with their 44th, 47th and 53rd Armies of the Transcaucasian Front under General Kozlov. Air force and naval units also participated in the battle. The Persian Army mobilised nine infantry divisions. Reza Shah appealed to American President Franklin Roosevelt under the Atlantic Charter:

"…on the basis of the declarations which Your Excellency has made several times regarding the necessity of defending principles of international justice and the right of peoples to liberty. I beg Your Excellency to take efficacious and urgent humanitarian steps to put an end to these acts of aggression. This incident brings into war a neutral and pacific country which has had no other care than the safeguarding of tranquillity and the reform of the country." — a letter of August 25
However, this plea failed to prompt a response from the American President to save the Shah's nation, as Roosevelt's response shows:

"Viewing the question in its entirety involves not only the vital questions to which Your Imperial Majesty refers, but other basic considerations arising from Hitler's ambition of world conquest. It is certain that movements of conquest by Germany will continue and will extend beyond Europe to Asia, Africa, and even to the Americas, unless they are stopped by military force. It is equally certain that those countries which desire to maintain their independence must engage in a great common effort if they are not to be engulfed one by one as has already happened to a large number of countries in Europe. In recognition of these truths, the Government and people of the United States of America, as is well known, are not only building up the defenses of this country with all possible speed, but they have also entered upon a very extensive program of material assistance to those countries which are actively engaged in resisting German ambition for world domination."
Roosevelt also reassured the Shah by noting "the statements to the Iranian Government by the British and Soviet Governments that they have no designs on the independence or territorial integrity of Iran". However, the Soviets would later back separatist states in the north, while the U.S. and UK would later support the overthrow of the popular and democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh during the Abadan Crisis in 1953.


Map of Iraq and western Iran in 1941The campaign began on August 25 with a dawn attack by the British sloop HMS Shoreham on the harbour at Abadan. The Iranian sloop Palang was quickly sunk, and remaining ships were destroyed or captured. Resistance had not had time to prepare and the oil installations at Abadan were captured by two battalions from 8th Indian Division's 24th Indian Brigade making an amphibious crossing of the Shatt al-Arab from Basra.[2] A small force was also landed at Bandar-e-Shahpur from the armed merchant cruiser HMAS Kanimbla to secure the port and oil terminal there. The Royal Air Force attacked airbases and communications. 8th Indian Division (18th Brigade plus 25th Brigade under command from 10th Indian Division) advanced from Basra towards Qasr Shiekh (which was taken on August 25) and by August 28 had reached Ahwaz when the Shah ordered hostilities to cease.[3] Further north, 8 battalions of British and Indian troops under Major-General William Slim advanced from Khanaqin (100 miles north east of Baghdad and 300 miles from Basra) into the Naft-i-Shah oilfield and on towards the Pai Tak Pass, leading towards Kermanshah and Hamadan. The Pai Tak position was taken on August 27 after the defenders had withdrawn in the night and the planned assault on Kermanshah on August 29 was aborted when the defenders called a truce to negotiate surrender terms[4].

The Soviets invaded from the north and advanced toward Maku, which had been softened up by bombing raids. There were also Soviet landings at Bandar-e Pahlavi, on the Caspian coast. In one incident, Soviet ships suffered from "friendly fire".

In naval actions, 2 Iranian warships were sunk and 4 crippled by the Royal Navy. Six Persian fighters were shot down. Approximately 800 Iranian soldiers, sailors, airmen were killed, including Admiral Bayandor. Approximately 200 civilians died in Russian bombing raids in Gilan. British and Indian casualties were 22 killed and 42 wounded.

Without anyone to step in and save Iran, Iranian resistance had been rapidly overwhelmed and neutralised by Soviet and British tanks and infantry. The British and Soviet forces met at Senna (100 miles west of Hamadan) and Kazvin (100 miles west of Tehran and 200 miles north east of Hamadan) on August 30 and 31 respectively. Iran was defeated, the oilfields safeguarded and the valuable Trans-Iranian Railway was in Allied hands. Because of lack of transport the British decided not to establish any forces beyond Hamadan and Ahwaz. In the meantime, the new Persian Prime Minister, Fourughi, agreed that the German Minister and his staff should leave Tehran, the German, Italian, Hungarian and Romanian legations be closed and all remaining German nationals be handed over to the British and Soviet authorities. The failure to meet the last of these conditions led to British and Soviet troops entering Tehran on September 17, the day after Reza Shah had been arrested and sent into exile in South Africa, leaving his son Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi to replace him on the throne. The Soviet and British forces withdrew from Tehran on October 17, after the German agents had been dealt with[5] although Iran was effectively divided between Britain and the Soviet Union for the duration of the war.


[edit] Aftermath
With this crucial supply route now open to the Soviet Union the Persian Corridor was opened and would provide a massive flow of supplies (over 5 million tons of war materiel) to the Soviets primarily, but also the British in the Middle East. The new Shah signed the Tri-Partite Treaty of Alliance with Britain and the Soviet Union in January of 1942, under which Iran provided nonmilitary assistance to the Allied war effort. Article Five of this treaty, although not entirely trusted by the Iranian leader, committed the Allies to leaving Iran "not more than six months after the cessation of hostilities". In September 1943, Iran declared war on Germany, thus qualifying for membership in the United Nations. At the Tehran Conference in November of that year, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and General Secretary Josef Stalin reaffirmed their commitment to Iran's independence and territorial integrity and displayed a willingness to extend economic assistance to Iran.

At the war's end Britain withdrew but Soviet troops stationed in northwestern Iran not only refused to withdraw but backed revolts that established short-lived, pro-Soviet separatist regimes in the northern provinces of Iran Iranian Azerbaijan, the People's Republic of Azerbaijan and the Kurdish People's Republic in late 1945, both effective Soviet puppet states. Soviet troops did not withdraw from Iran proper until May, 1946 after receiving a promise of oil concessions. The Soviet republics in the north were soon overthrown and the oil concessions were revoked.


[edit] See also
Anglo-Persian War - 1856-1857
Russo-Persian Wars
Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907
The Third Reich and the Arab East
Iran-Britain relations
Iran-Russia relations
History of Iran
The Great Game
Iraqforce
Persian Corridor

[edit] Bibliography
Compton McKenzie (1951). Eastern Epic. Chatto & Windus, London. ISBN?.

[edit] References
^ a b Compton Mackenzie, Eastern Epic, p.136
^ Compton McKenzie, p.130
^ Compton MacKenzie, pp.132-133
^ Compton Mackenzie, pp130-136
^ Compton Mackenzie, pp136-139

[edit] External links
BBC WW2 People's War - Persia Invaded
Persia and Iraq Command
Strange Menagerie: the US in Iran 1941-1946
Pink Elephants on the road to Baghdad - personal account of the invasion by a British soldier
Despatch on the Persia and Iraq Command (Aug. 1942-Feb. 1943) by General Sir H. Maitland Wilson (PDF)
Persia in World War 2
History of the campaign (in Italian)
[show]v • d • eCampaigns & Theatres of
World War II

Europe
Poland – Phoney War – Finland – Denmark & Norway – France & Benelux – Britain – Eastern Front – North West Europe (1944–45)
The Mediterranean, Africa and The Middle East
Mediterranean Sea – East Africa – North Africa – West Africa – Balkans (1939–41) – Middle East – Yugoslavia – Madagascar – Italy

Asia & The Pacific
China – Pacific Ocean – South-East Asia – South West Pacific – Japan – Manchuria


Other Campaigns
Atlantic – Strategic Bombing – North America
Contemporaneous Wars
Chinese Civil – Soviet-Japanese Border – French-Thai – Anglo-Iraqi – Invasion of Iran – Greek Civil – Sino-Japanese – Ecuadorian-Peruvian

[PERSPOLIS]

Anglo-Persian War
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Have questions? Find out how to ask questions and get answers. •Jump to: navigation, search
Anglo-Persian War

British-Indian forces attacking at the Battle of Kooshab
Date 1856 - 1857
Location Persia (Iran) and Afghanistan
Result British victory

Combatants
United Kingdom Persia
Commanders
Major General Sir James Outram Nasser al-Din Shah
The Anglo-Persian War lasted between November 1, 1856 and April 4, 1857, and was fought between the United Kingdom and Persia (which was at the time ruled by the Qajar dynasty). In the war, the Britain opposed an attempt by Persia to reacquire the city of Herat, which was nominally part of Afghanistan (then a very loose entity) but which had been part of Persia under the Safavid dynasty. Persia ultimately agreed to surrender their claims to the city.

Contents [hide]
1 Origins
2 1856
3 1857
4 Diplomacy
5 Battle Honours Awarded
6 Sources
7 See also
7.1 External links
7.2 Books



[edit] Origins
In the context of the Great Game — the Anglo-Russian contest for influence in Central Asia — the British wished for Afghanistan to remain an independent country friendly to Britain as a buffer against Russian expansion towards India. They opposed an extension of Persian influence in Afghanistan because of the perception that Persia was unduly influenced by the Russians. The Persians had repeatedly attempted to acquire Herat by force, most recently in 1838 and 1852; both times British opposition had convinced them to back down prior to war. They made a fresh attempt in 1856, and succeeded in taking the city on 25 October. In response, the British Governor-General in India, acting on orders from London, declared war on 1 November.

Separate from and in many ways prior to the dispute over Herat was a separate incident concerning one Meerza Hashem Khan, whom the British ambassador hoped to appoint as a secretary in the mission in Teheran. The Persians objected, creating a dispute that escalated when rumors appeared that the British ambassador had improper relations with the man's wife, who was the sister of the Shah's principal wife. The dispute escalated still further when the Persians arrested the woman; the British ambassador broke relations when they refused to release her. Indeed, the initial mobilization of British forces began in response to this incident, although it is unlikely that the British would have gone beyond the occupation of one or two islands in the Persian Gulf had the issue of Herat not arisen.


[edit] 1856
In the aftermath of the disastrous First Afghan War, the British were reluctant to send a force through Afghanistan to relieve Herat directly. Instead, they elected to attack the Persians on the Persian Gulf coast. As a first step, a British-Indian Naval squadron, commanded by Commodore Young, landed a force that captured Bushire on 10 December 1856 after a short naval bombardment. There was then a delay as the British waited for reinforcements.


[edit] 1857
Once reinforcements arrived, an Army expeditionary force under Major General Sir James Outram advanced on Brazjun, which the Persians abandoned without a fight. The British appropriated or destroyed the supplies at the site and then, deciding against a risky pursuit into the mountains, began to return to Bushire. During the withdrawal the British force was attacked at Khushab, on 7 February 1857. The Persians caught the British in a potentially dangerous situation, but the British forces ultimately managed to inflict a heavy defeat on the attacking Persians in what turned out to be the largest battle of the war. Pursuit of the defeated army was deemed impracticable, and thus the British returned to Bushire.

The British then shifted their focus north up the Persian Gulf to the city of Mohammerah on the Euphrates River. The transfer of forces was delayed by the separate deaths by suicide of two high-ranking British officers, which occasioned a shuffling of commands and forced Outram to leave Brig. John Jacob in command in Bushire. Mohammerah had strong defenses and was further protected by the political requirement that the British not violate Ottoman territory, as the city lay right on the border. In the event, however, the Persians abandoned the city to a British force under Brigadier Havelock after naval bombardment. The Persians under the command of Khanlar Mirza withdrew to Ahvaz, a hundred miles up the Karun River, where they were attacked by the Royal Navy and a forces from the 64th Foot and 78th Highlanders. The town fell to the British on 1 April 1857. On returning to Mohammerah on 4 April the force learned that peace had been signed in Paris on the 4 March. At the time that news of peace arrived, Outram was planning an invasion into the Persian interior that likely would have significantly escalated the war.


[edit] Diplomacy
The Persians apparently hoped that the British would not contest their acquisition of Herat — they recognized that they could not expect to win a war against the British army — and thus once British opposition became clear they attempted to back down. Negotiations in Constantinople between Persian ambassador Ferukh Khan and British ambassador Lord Stratford de Redcliffe ultimately broke down over British demands that the Persians replace the Shah's principal advisor, Sadr Azim. News of the onset of fighting resulted in a formal rupture of talks, but discussions soon began again in Paris, and the two sides signed a peace treaty on 4 March. In the treaty, the Persians agreed to withdraw from Herat, to apologize to the British ambassador on his return, to sign a commercial treaty, and to cooperate in suppressing the slave trade in the Persian Gulf; the British agreed not to shelter opponents of the Shah in the embassy, and they abandoned the demand to replace Sadr Azim as well as one requiring territorial concessions to the Imam of Muscat, a British ally.

The Persians faithfully withdrew from Herat, permitting the British to return their troops to India, where they were soon needed for combat in the Indian Mutiny. Herat returned to more direct Afghan control when it was retaken by Dost Mohammed Khan in 1863.


[edit] Battle Honours Awarded
Three Victoria Crosses were awarded during the expedition, to Captain J.A.Wood, Captain J.G.Malcolmson, and Lieutenant A.T.Moore.


[edit] Sources

[edit] See also
Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran - 1941

[edit] External links
Persian War
Regiment Site

[edit] Books
English, Barbara. 1971. John Company's Last War. London: Collins.
Hunt, Capt. G. H. and George Townsend. 1858. Outram & Havelock's Persian Campaign. London: G. Routledge & Co.
Outram, Lieut. General Sir James. 1860. Lieut.-General Sir James Outram's Persian Campaign in 1857. London: Smith, Elder and Co.
Walpole, Sir Spencer. 1912. A History of England from the Conclusion of the Great War in 1815. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. (vol. VI, pp. 266-273)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Persian_War"

[retaxis]

If its more land and easy land to claim why not right?

[Plato]

Because Iran obviously never attacked or invaded in other country in their history... duh..

[Chiloe]

Wikipedia - Iran in WW2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participants_in_World_War_II#Iran)

During the start of the war the Allies demanded that Iran remove German nationals from Iran fearing they might be Nazi spies or harm the British owned oil but, Reza Shah refused stating that they had nothing to do with the Nazis.

German demand for oil rose and the Allies worried that Germany would look to neutral Iran for help. Soon the Allies questioned themselves about Iran neutrality and they gave Reza Shah a final warning to remove the German workers. He refused once again. In August 1941, the British and Soviet troops invaded Iran (Operation Countenance) and, in September 1941, forced Reza Shah Pahlavi to abdicate his throne. He was replaced by his son Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was willing to fight the Axis Powers. Within months Iran entered the war on the side of the Allies and became known as "The Bridge of Victory".

Iran's geographical position was also important to the Allies. It provided a 'blue water' supply route to the Soviet Union via the port of Bandar Abbas and a specially constructed railway route. The supply routes were known collectively as the Persian Corridor. Soviet political operatives known "agitprops" infiltrated Iran and helped establish the Comintern affiliate Tudeh Party in early in 1942.

By January 1942, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union agreed to end their occupation six months after the end of the war. The Soviet Union fomented revolts among Azeris and Kurds in Iran and soon formed the People's Republic of Azerbaijan (December 1945) and the Kurdish People's Republic not long after, both being run by Soviet-controlled leaders. However, Soviet troops remained in Iran following the January 1946 expiration of a wartime treaty providing for the presence of American, British, and Soviet troops in Iran during the war

The Tehran Conference was an important point in WW2:

Tehran Conference (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehran_Conference)

The Tehran Conference (codenamed EUREKA) was the meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill between November 28 and December 1, 1943 in Tehran, Iran. It was the first World War II conference among the Big Three (the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom) in which Stalin was present. It succeeded the Cairo Conference and was followed by the Yalta Conference and Potsdam Conference. The chief discussion was centered on the opening of a second front in Western Europe. At the same time a separate protocol pledged the three countries to recognize Iran's independence:

"The Three Governments realize that the war has caused special economic difficulties for Iran, and they are agreed that they will continue to make available to the Government of Iran such economic assistance as may be possible, having regard to the heavy demands made upon them by their world-wide military operations, and to the world-wide shortage of transport, raw materials, and supplies for civilian consumption." (Declaration of the Three Powers Regarding Iran—December 1, 1943)

Most importantly the conference was organized to plan the final strategy for the war against Nazi Germany and its allies.

Neutrality happened to Ireland as well (http://www.irandefence.net/showthread.php?t=22983)

Iran was also declared a pure-Aryan nation by Hitler...
Iranian-German Relations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian-German_relations)

[Infomailas]

I wrote my bachelor thesis in History about the British attack on Iran 1941 , I used formerly classified documents from the British embassy in Tehran to write. I would gladly share it with people here but unfortunately it is in Swedish, maybe I should get it translated.

[Alex]

I wrote my bachelor thesis in History about the British attack on Iran 1941 , I used formerly classified documents from the British embassy in Tehran to write. I would gladly share it with people here but unfortunately it is in Swedish, maybe I should get it translated.

hi,
it would be good if you still could upload it since there are people here who can read swedish. open a thread in the non english sub-forum and post it there.

[Mohmar 'Deathstrike']

While it's always highlighted how the axis invaded neutral countries tt's often conveniently left out in historical media that the allies did exactly the same.