The First Iraqi War

In April 1941, a pro-Nazi coup occurred in Iraq. Believing Britain was losing World War II to Germany, Iraqi Pan-Arab nationalists ousted Iraq’s pro-British monarch. The Golden Square, a military junta, replaced the monarchy. It invited in the Germans and Italians, who sent in Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica aircraft.

1941: Thirty Days in May, a novel by JD Wood, tells of the six months preceding the coup and the subsequent thirty-day Anglo-Iraqi War. It follows events through three participants.

Maddie Miller is an American. She is an English tutor in Baghdad, teaching the children of Iraq’s elite. Yet she is also an operative for British intelligence. She has her pulse on the pro-Nazi movement within the Iraqi Army.

Colin Wood is an RAF officer. One of four officer volunteers from Britain’s Indian Army (who call themselves the Four Musketeers), he is going through flight training at RAF Habbaniya, 55 miles west of Baghdad.

James McGovern is a British intelligence officer in Cairo. He monitors events throughout the Middle East and North Africa, including Iraq.

The lives of these three get braided together by the war. Iraq, then nominally independent, was controlled by Britain. Britain maintained military bases in Iraq, was allowed unrestricted passage for its troops, and controlled Iraq’s petroleum industry. Iraq was Britain’s major fuel source for its North Africa forces.

Fomented and supported by Germany, the Iraqi Army staged a coup, offering Germany an alliance. They demanded the surrender of the massive British training facility at RAF Habbaniya. When the base’s commander refuses, it is placed under siege. Colin, with the other flying students, participates in the defense, flying obsolete biplane trainers hastily converted to light bombers.

Maddie, who has been collecting intelligence before the coup, continues her efforts gathering critical information about how to stop the Iraqi Golden Square leaders and their Nazi allies. James McGovern, whose warnings have come true, accompanies an Anglo-Arab column sent from Palestine to relieve RAF Habbaniya.

Stakes could not be higher. If the scratch forces at RAF Habbaniya and Palestine cannot stop the Golden Square, Iraq will fall into German hands. The line between Egypt and India will be severed; Britain’s North African Army cut off and surrounded.

1941: Thirty Days in May is a fast-paced thriller about a little-known yet critical campaign of World War II. A page-turner, readers will not want to stop reading until they finish the book.

“1941: Thirty Days in May,” by JD Wood, Kensington Square, June 2026, 478 pages, $19.99 (Paperback), $6.99 (E-book)

This review was written by Mark Lardas, who writes at Ricochet as Seawriter. Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City, TX. His website is marklardas.com.