Iraq, May 13th, 1941
The Turkish VII Corps marched into Kirkuk. No opposition had been encountered so far, the Iraqi army was allied, the Kurdish tribes mostly indifferent and the Assyrians lacked arms and organization to act. Fighting between the Iraqis and the British was ongoing further south while the Soviet Union had officially recognized the government of Rashid Ali the previous day.
North Africa, May 16th, 1941
Half a dozen British tanks lay burning at El Agheila. The first, limited, British counteroffensive in the Western Desert had ended in failure within 48 hours. XIII Corps under Lt general Philip Neame start preparing for the next try.
Ethiopia, May 18th, 1941
The last remnants of the Italian army in East Africa, under the Duke of Aosta surrendered to Allied forces. Already French and British troops from East Africa were being moved to Egypt and the Middle East to reinforce Allied forces there.
Fallujah, Iraq, May 20th, 1941
British forces from Habbaniya, had not bothered waiting for the French army advancing down the Euphrates nor for their own comrades and the Arab Legion advancing from Jordan to march out against Baghdad. Iraqi forces at Fallujah had surrendered on the 19th after mostly token resistance. Any thoughts of further advance abruptly ended though at the sight of over two hundred German Ju-52 coming over Fallujah. By midday the RAF troops and the Assyrian rifles had been pushed out of Fallujah by the fallschirmjägers. But it was just the beginning of the battle of Fallujah. By the 22nd French and British troops would enter the battle. But so would the rest of the 7th Flieger division and the Turkish army...
Bergen, Norway, May 20st, 1941
Bismarck, Tirpitz, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen left Grimstadfjord for the Atlantic. It was the first major sortie of the Kriegsmarine since the invasion of Norway the year before. But if the Germans hoped to achieve surprise luck was not on their side. Signal intercepts had already given out the sortie. The British cruisers patrolling between Greenland and the British islands were being joined by HMS King George V and Hood and the French Richelieu, Strasbourg and Algerie while the Royal Navy's Home Fleet with Rodney and Prince of Wales was about to sail.
Denmark Strait, May 22nd, 1941
The German squadron had been sighted by HMS Manchester the previous day, Gneisenau had opened fire at her but had failed to get any hits. At dawn the British and French battleships at sea had intercepted the Germans and admiral Lutjens had been forced to accept battle. The engagement had not start well for the allies. Strasbourg, hit by several 380mm shells early in the battle had been crippled and sunk. Hood nearly had the same fate, post battle analysis would determine that without her modernization before the war she could well had been sunk by Gneisenau's fire. But her armour held and her return fire had
knocked out two of Gneisenau's turrets forcing her to flee. Tirpitz engaged by King George V hadn't fared much better being hit several times but had managed to break contact and escape. Bismarck and Prinz Eugen had not been so lucky. Prinz Eugen engaged by Algerie, HMS Southampton and HMS Manchester and the large destroyers Mogador and Volta had been sunk. Bismarck locked into a duel with Richelieu had been turned into a floating wreck by the French ship's 16in guns but had still remained afloat even after the two British batteships had also turned their fire on the crippled ship. In the end Lacroix had ordered his destroyers to finish her of by torpedoes but her destruction had at least given Tirpitz and Gneisenau the time to escape.
Teheran, May 25th, 1941
The past ten years had been frustrating ones for
Abdolhossein Teymourtash. A loyal supporter of president Reza Pahlavi, he had nevertheless found himself under a cloud as the increasingly erratic and dictatorial Pahlavi had start to fear his erstwhile ally and become jealous of him. First Pahlavi had sidelined Teymourtash in the dispute with the British over Iranian oil revenues signing a compromise agreement with Britain, worse tha the one Teymourtash had hoped to achieve. Then he had been dismissed from his position as prime minister and sent as ambassador to Britain, a polite way of removing himself from politics. Then he had been replaced as ambassador and informally informed that it would be best for his continued health to avoid returning to Iran, he had taken the hint and remained in Britain instead, returning to Iran only last summer. Now with war at Iran's doorstep to president was again turning to him for advice but was failing to actually implement any of it. Perhaps after all it ad been a good thing that Reza had been dissuaded from becoming shah all these years ago. A president is replaced much more easily than a king if needed...
Basra, Iraq, May 27th, 1941
Two brigades of the 10th Indian division under William Slim begun advancing north. The division's third brigade was due to arive in the next few days but Slim could not afford to wait. Battle was raging at Fallujah and by now it looked as if the fall of Habbaniya to the enemy was just a matter of days. Wavell had already committed the 7th Australian division as well to the fighting in Iraq but it would be some time before it actually reached the frontlines...
Eleusis, May 30th, 1941
The pilots of the HAF 21st fighter squadron had a collective sigh of relief when the Luftwaffe failed to appear. After 17 days of fighing the Germans and Italians had been thrown back once more at Thermopylae and now the Luftwaffe was apparently starting to pull out for the Balkans for some reason. Which was fortunate, the HAF was down to 106 aircraft by now having lost 400 aircraft to all causes from the start of the war and the other allies weren't much better off, the Yugoslavs were down to 31 aircraft and the French expeditionary force in the Balkans to a dozen.