The mission was part of a larger effort to gain support in the Middle East for the Axis Powers against the United Kingdom and its allies during the World War II.

German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop persuaded Adolf Hitler on the 3rd of May that Dr. Fritz Grobba be secretly returned to Iraq to head up a diplomatic mission to channel support for the Rashid Ali regime.

The military mission had the cover name Sonderstab F (Special Staff F); it included components from the Abwehr-based Brandenburgers and the Luftwaffe.

[3] On the 6th of May, in accordance with the "Paris Protocols", Germany concluded a deal with the Vichy French government to release war material, including aircraft, from sealed stockpiles in Syria, and to transport them to the Iraqis.

The French also agreed to allow the passage of other weapons and stores, and to loan several airbases in northern Syria to Germany for the transport of their aircraft to Iraq.

[1] After meeting with Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, Junck was named Commander of Aviation Iraq (Fliegerführer Irak).

The aircraft of Sonderkommando Junck had Iraqi markings and operated from an air base in Mosul, some 240 miles north of Baghdad.

[1][nb 2] The military aircraft deployed by the end of the mission were as follows: Junck was accompanied to Iraq by Major Axel von Blomberg.

Von Blomberg's task was to head a reconnaissance group preceding the unit[2] and to integrate Fliegerführer Irak with Iraqi forces in operations against the British army.

By the end of the day, he had assembled a force comprising 12 Messerschmitt Bf 110s, 5 Heinkel He 111s, a communications flight with light aircraft, a section of anti-aircraft guns, and 3 Junkers Ju 52s.

[8] On the same day, the British Royal Air Force (RAF) attacked the Germans in Mosul with two cannon-firing, long-range Hawker Hurricanes which had arrived unannounced from Egypt, and six Bristol Blenheim bombers from 84 Squadron.

In addition, two Gladiator biplane fighters from Habbaniya encountered two Messerschmitt 110s attempting to take off from Rashid Airfield in Baghdad.

With few replacements available, no spares, poor fuel, and aggressive attacks by the British, this rate of attrition did not bode well for Fliegerführer Irak.

[13] Other reports state that they actually arrived in time to take part in the final air battle of the Iraq campaign on the 29th of May, scoring victories against No.

[14] Grobba sent a panicked message from Baghdad to Berlin on the 28th of May reporting that the British were close to the city with more than "one hundred tanks".