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Fighting with Monty in North Africa and Wavell in the Middle East: Diaries of Corporal of Horse Wager, The Life Guards

By (author) Martin Sullivan

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In the spring of 1941 a small number of flight instructors, students and ground troops successfully defended the RAF base at Habbaniya, 55 miles from Baghdad, from a besieging force of Iraqi troops, greatly superior in numbers to the defending British. A relief column of British regular troops was hurriedly put together and crossed 500 miles of desert from the Mediterranean coast to Habbaniya, going on to occupy Baghdad. This was the first of three campaigns fought in early 1941, the others being against Vichy Syria and in Iran, where the British eventually linked up with the Russians. The results of these campaigns were tremendously important. By preventing Iraq from falling to the Nazis, and later by aggressive pre-emptive action in both Syria and Iran, Britain had ensured that these countries did not fall themselves to Nazi intrigue. These actions closed the back door to the Suez Canal and allowed a conduit to open from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea, thus connecting the USA to the USSR, safeguarding Britainâ€™s supplies of non-American oil, without which the war would have undoubtedly been lost. Martin Wager joined the Life Guards in the late 1920s and remained with the Regiment until 1949\. When war was declared, Martin started to write a diary. This was strictly against regulations, but his officers turned a blind eye. Martinâ€™s regiment left Britain in February 1940 for Palestine and was stationed in the Middle East, Egypt and North Africa through until May 1944, when they embarked for Italy. He returned to Britain in October 1944 and spent the remainder of the war in France and Germany. The diary records not only the above events of 1941 but also the campaign in North Africa and the Battle of El Alamein in 1942, the invasion of Italy in 1943 and the end of the war in Germany in 1945\. Martin wrote entries almost daily, often in conditions of extreme discomfort and danger, and they cover not only the military aspects of the campaigns but also the ordinary day-to-day life of a serving soldier. The diary is a fascinating historical and personal record, and this book, edited by Martinâ€™s nephew, transcribes the most interesting passages, alongside analysis of the events being recorded.