in april 1941, the 4th cavalry brigade, together with a battalion of infantry from the essex regiment, a mechanised regiment from the arab legion and supporting artillery was organised as "habforce" for operations in iraq as part of the response to pro-axis rashid ali who had seized power in baghdad and was besieging raf habbaniya. on 9 may 1941, 1st household cavalry regiment were ordered to prepare to move with 2-inch mortars, hotchkiss machine guns and, later, bren machine-guns (much as they had been armed in 1914): the operation across the desert by was one of the most illustrious in the earlier period of the war. there was a heatwave as they followed the oil pipeline to join glubb pasha's arab legion at the rutba oasis. the column covered 700 miles in six days, led by household cavalry officers, who were awarded several military crosses. c squadron was stationed at fallujah, to hold the euphrates against any attack from baghdad. the advance on the capital began on 27 may. lieutenant-colonel andrew ferguson, the commanding officer, took the main force north, while c squadron circled south of the city. faced by an iraqi division, and flanked by another regiment, the british regimental hq was attacked, but repulsed the enemy. b squadron had a sharp fight at al-khadimain, and there was a display of singular courage in the face of the enemy by corporal of horse charles maxted, who was awarded the military medal. but the germans in baghdad called a truce, and on 31 may, c squadron were billeted in the city's railway station unopposed.