Habbaniya was soon relieved by Iraqforce , which defeated the larger but poorly trained Iraqi Army in a series of battles , even though the Iraqis received direct aid from the '' Luftwaffe '' . Iraqforce pressed on from Habbaniya to Baghdad and then to Mosul . Rashid Ali and his supporters fled the country and an armistice was signed . Prior to the arrival of British forces to Baghdad , the power vacuum erupted into a series of massacres and looting ( Farhud ) , in which the Baghdadi Jewish community was hit particularly hard
Farhud
Farhud
Middle East Theatre of World War II