GoodGuy
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From: Cologne, Germany
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Joe D.
Was the rationale for the WW II "invasion" to keep Persian oil out of the hands of the Africa Corps?
No. The British Middle East Command didn't even move those reserves which were "parked" (held back to cater for possible arabian-jewish conflicts) in Palestine to the North African front. They weren't sure whether Cairo was out of reach or not, after Rommels thrust to El Alamein (in fact Cairo HQ started to burn files and documents already), but I am sure that they at least felt that the Germans couldn't reach Baghdad from the West, let alone Teheran.
Still, the Allies (Brits, some Indian Brigades + Soviets) invaded Iran, simply to grab the oil and, as mentioned in this thread, to secure a supply line across the Caspian Sea (and making use of the Trans-Iranian railroad).
Ironically, in 1942, Hitler indeed ordered to conduct a thrust to the Caucasus, but just in order to secure the Russian oil fields, as even Hitler (unlike some SS officers) regarded the Iranian fields as unreachable.
The Germans then advanced even into the wide Kalmücken-Steppe (dunno the English word), and - starting from Rostov at the Don - also southwards through the Caucasus.
The southern thrust did halt way past Stavropol I think, which is pretty much half of the distance from Rostov at the Don to the Iranian border.
The last obstacle some 130 km north of the border to Iran, though, is a rough mountain range forming the Northern border of Georgia, nowadays. I don't think it was tank friendly :). The only narrow point where you could ship around this range was some plain at the Caspian Sea, at the Eastern tip of the range.
Besides that, there was no real front in the Steppe, and I am not sure if there really was a fixed/stable front in the Caucasus. The Germans penetrated the area with light/medium armor, basically with fast troops.
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Technically, and according to international law, I guess, the invasion of a neutral country (Iran) was uncalled for and unauthorized. Iran rose to a regional power, due to the oil resources that had been discovered (1930s? 20s?). Rezah Schah actually had quite some sympathy for the Germans and their cause, and the Abadan refinery had an output of 8 million tons in 1940. As the Schah would not give in to Allied pressure/demands, after pro-german public protests and after he denied to let the Allies use the Trans-Iranian railroad for supply deliveries to Russia, they decided to sack him and invade in August 1941.
I did some research last year, and figured that the German war machine used to have a (motor gasoline) consumption between 70,000 (early 1945) and 320,000 tons (peak in June 1941) per month, so with a theoretical average of 666,666 tons per month (= 8 mill/year) being refined in Abadan, the possession of this massive output was going to be decisive for the "owner" and for the outcome of the war. After the Russians had to withdraw from their Caucasian oil fields (after destroying the installations), the Iranian fields helped a whole lot to keep up their mobility, I guess. The main reason for the Russians to invade (at that point) was to secure supply lines for (early British) "lend and lease", though.
Even though Ahmadenidschad (sp?) is a psycho, the Allies (which surely includes Russia) never paid any compensation, not for the massive amounts of oil, nor for any resources squeezed out of Iran. Germany had to pay reparations at least until 1953 (East Germany AND West Germany), and other Axis powers - after the Paris treaty in 1947 - paid reparations as well. German assets abroad (some say 20 Billion Reichsmarks) were kept and not deducted when the Allies determined the reparation figures.
Now, if some rational and reputable guy from Iran would have emitted such a claim, I could imagine that I would be tempted to say that he's got a point.
From his POV, it'd be like invading Great Britain, pumping their oil for a few years (to supply "his" war), and then leave and drop a non-chalant "bye", while squeezing some more oil + FULL benefits for another 6 years outta their oil fields. 
After the war, since the country's economy was down, Iran received some support as part of the US Marshall plan.
The refinery/oil production remained in British hands, though, and - when Britain refused to give at least half (50%) of the net earnings to Iran - the Schah's son Mohammed Reza nationalized the oil industry (1951, IIRC).
Well, since it's him who claims stuff, I'd rather say "the past is the past".
< Message edited by GoodGuy -- 1/10/2010 11:08:43 PM >
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December 22nd, 1944
Bastogne
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8th of August, 2006
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