Author’s Note

Irazh and the aerodrome at Kubaiyah are fictitious, but only transparently so, and this story is based on a series of events which took place in the Middle East in 1941. Nearly every incident described actually took place and they were unusual enough to be described just as they happened – though, for the demands of fiction, they have been concentrated on one or two characters. The affair occurred at a time when, after the fall of France, the British were entirely without allies and were fighting a losing struggle against a strong and confident Germany, which had not up to that time lost a battle and was looking around for new means towards world conquest. With Greece and the Balkans – and eventually Crete – under their domination, their stepping stones to Middle East oil and India were almost in place, the final one, Syria – under Vichy French domination – far from unwilling to help. With all these assets, Hitler and the Nazi generals, who had already filtered their agents and propaganda into the Middle East countries, were ready to strike. Unfortunately, as in the case of the man who intended to blow a pill into the mouth of a sick bear, the bear blew first.

I am indebted for the details to the various RAF officers who wrote so entertainingly on the affair, and to Somerset de Chair’s version of the activities of the relieving column in The Golden Carpet.