In early May of 1941, in the deserts of Iraq that had seen the armies of Alexander battle Darius, a force of 9000 Arabs and Iraqis descended on the small British airfield of Habbinayah. Only 39 pilots and a small collection of antiquated and obsolete aircraft stood between British maintenance of crucial oilfields, and their loss and consequent disaster for fuel supplies to the British Army and the Royal Navy in Egypt and throughout the Mediterranean.

Joining today is James Dunford Wood who describes the extraordinary story of defiance and heroism that he has described as a Second World War Rorke’s Drift.

James Dunford Wood Links

The Big Little War: A World War II Epic

The War Diaries of Colin Dunford Wood

Aspects of History Links

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