PERSIAN-IRAQ COMMAND

Southland Times, Issue 24832, 26 August 1942, Page 5

PERSIAN-IRAQ COMMAND

Change Caused By Caucasus Thrust (Rec. 7.45 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 24. The creation of an independent Per-sian-Iraq Command, with General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson as Commander-in-Chief, obviously has been decided on as a result of the German thrust in the Caucasus, says the Cairo' correspondent of The Times. The chances of a German advance across Turkey seemed at the end of last year greater than the thrust through the Caucasus, so the role of the 9th Army transcended that of the. 10th Army in importance. Now it is the other way round. The 10th Army has a bigger responsibility, considering the long front of 500 miles it has to cover. It is provided, however, with base depots on the Persian Gulf and with ordnance and supply services on a scale to fit a much larger army and now, presumably it will be suitably reinforced to meet the German thrust as it comes nearer. . Both the 10th and 9th Armies have been engaged since their creation in organizing defence and supply. As long

as this was the case they did not provide much preoccupation for the Com-mander-in-Chief, but it is otherwise now there is a propspect of the opening of a second major front in the north in addition to the Bth Army s operations. In this case the Middle East Command, which is already somewhat unwieldy, would become too heavy a burden for one man.