Resumen de Britain, the Middle East, and the "Northern Front", 1941-1942
This article explores British plans for the defence of the `Northern Front' of the Middle Eastern theatre of war - Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran - in the event of a German defeat of the Soviet Union in 1941-42. It demonstrates that, despite a traditional emphasis on the war in Libya and Egypt, the Northern Front mattered enormously to the British. Rather than undertaking to defend their ally Turkey against a German invasion, the British instead relied on Turkey to `defend us' while British armed forces prepared a fighting defence of the Middle East proper.
