After a German-backed coup d'état against the pro-British Emir, the Allies had worries. An Iraqi alliance with the Axis would threaten Middle-East oilfields, the tenuous Soviet supply line across restless Persia and British shipping to Egypt -- as well as create an Axis link with Vichy-held Syria. The British dispatched elements of the 10th Indian Division and the King's Own Rifles Regiment to reinforce their garrisons at the Habbaniya and Basra RAF bases, defying an Iraqi ultimatum on further Allied troops entering the country. Within two days, nearly 9000 Iraqi soldiers, supported by British-built armored cars, were firmly established on the 200-foot high Habbaniya Ridge which dominated the British airbase. On April 30th, after placing the base under siege, the Iraqi government demanded the surrender of the British forces. When that did not come, airstrikes and bombardment of the airbase began. Although outmanned, on May 5th, the entire compliment of the 1st KORR launched an assault on the Habbaniya Heights.
