Table Of ContentTHE US, THE UK
AND SAUDI
ARABIA IN
WORLD WAR II
The Middle East and the Origins of
a Special Relationship
MATTHEW FALLON HINDS
I.B. TAURIS
LONDON• NEW YORK
Published in 2016 by
I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd
London• New York
www.ibtauris.com
Copyright > 2016 Matthew Fallon Hinds
The right of Matthew Fallon Hinds to be identiid as the author of this work has been sserted by
the author in ccordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reseved. Except or brief quotations in a review, this book, or any art thereof,
may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any orm or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Reerences to websites were correct at the time of writing.
International Library of Twentieth Century History 87
ISBN: 978 1 784S3 182 9
eISBN: 978 0 8S772 963 7
A ull CIP record or this book is available rom the British Library
A ull CIP record is available rom the Library of Congress
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: availble
Typeset in Garamond Three by OKS Prepress Services, Chennai, India
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CRO 4YY
This onei s for my wife, Tanja, and our son, Samuel,
with lovea nd the deepesgt ratitude
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements viii
Abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
1. Oasis: Anglo-American Relations and Ibn Saud prior to 1941 20
2. Storm: Anglo-American Relations in Saudi Arabia, 1941 37
3. The Empty Quarter: Anglo-American Relations in
Saudi Arabia and Wartime Strategy, 1942 60
4. Nahal: Anglo-American Relations and Ibn Saud outside
Saudi Arabia, 1943 80
5. Shifting Sands: Anglo-American Relations inside Saudi
Arabia, 1943-4 94
6. Mirage: Anglo-American Relations in Saudi Arabia and the
Limits and Advantages of Co-operation, 1944-5 121
7. Wadi: Anglo-American Relations in Saudi Arabia in
1945 and the Postwar World 146
Conclusion 162
Notes 174
Bibliography 225
Index 239
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to thank the person who inspired me to
study Anglo-American relations, Professor Nigel· Ashton. His insight,
assistance and encouragement throughout this project have been truly
invaluable. From the International History Department of the LSE, I would
also like to thank, Professor Steven Casey, Dr Antony Best and Dr Joanna
Lewis. Our discussions over the years have offered me a wealth of
intellectual stimulation. In addition, I must thank the Department of
International History and the LSE for their generous grants, which have
allowed me to pursue my research. To Professor Kathleen Burk and Dr
Spencer Mawby, thank you for your constructive input on transforming my
thesis to a monograph. Reflecting on my time as a visiting research fellow I
would like to thank Dr Hope Harrison and Professor Jussi Hanhimiiki for
making my stay at George Washington Universiry and the Graduate
Institute respectively such an enjoyable experience. Much appreciation as
well co I.B.Tauris and the crucial support given by Tomasz Hoskins and
Sara Magness.
Finally, I would like to say thanks to my family and friends, who have
provided me with so much love and support, especially during the most
trying times related to the completion of this volume. I would first like to
acknowledge my grandmother, Theresa Fallon, a great influence in my life
and who sadly passed away during the time that I was writing much of this
work. Kevin, thank you for letting me stay with you on my many trips to
London, especially during those early days at Seymour Street. To my
parents Adrienne and Michael Hinds; there are really no words available for
me to fully express my love and gratitude to the both of you. Lastly, enough
can't be said for Tanja and Samuel. Thank you for the love and inspiration.
ABBREVIATIONS
AIR Air Ministry
AACFC American Air Corps Ferry Command
ABC American British Staff Conference
AAWPG Anglo-American War Planning Group
AIOC Anglo-Iranian Oil Company
ARAMCO Arabian American Oil Company
AUML Arkansas University Mullins Library
BPC Bahrain Petroleum Company
BDFA British Documents on Foreign Affairs
BL British Library
BOAC British Overseas Airways Corporation
CAB War Cabinet Records
cw
Cable & Wireless Limited
CASOC California-Arabian Standard Oil Company
co
Colonial Office
ccs
Combined Chiefs of Staff
CIPP Committee on International Petroleum Policy
BOC Enemy Oil Committee
FO Foreign Office
FRUS Foreign Relations of the United States
FDRPL Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library
HAN Hansard
HMG His Majesty's Government
JCS Joint Chiefs of Staff
x THE US, THE UK AND SAUDI ARABIA IN WORLD WAR II
IPAA Independent Petroleum Association of America
ICS Indian Civil Service
IOR Indian Office Records
IPC Iraqi Petroleum Company
LL Lauinger Library
LC Library of Congress
MESC Middle East Supply Centre
NARA National Archives and Records Administration
NEA Division of Near Eastern Affairs
oss
Office of Strategic Services
PAN-AM Pan American Airlines
PAW Petroleum Administration of War
PRC Petroleum Reserves Corporation
PPS Policy Planning Staff
PREM Prime Minister's Office Records
PRO Public Records Office
RG Record Group
SAMEC St Antony's Middle East Centre
SA Saudi Arabia
SAMS Saudi Arabian Mining Syndicate
SWNCC State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee
SML Seeley Mudd Library
SOE Special Operations Executive
TVA Tennessee Valley Authority
TAPLINE Trans-Arabian Pipeline
TWA Trans World Airlines
UK United Kingdom
us
United States
USAFIME United States of America Forces in the Middle East
WO War Office
INTRODUCTION
Our modern-day picture of Anglo-American relations during World War II
is one of powerful contrasts. One vision of the alliance between Great
Britain and the US portrays a relationship bound by a kindred history,
political beliefs, culture and language, featuring the two allies fighting
against a common enemy in which the stakes were nothing less than world
domination - in short a 'Special Relationship'. Sweeping and
straightforward, such tropes have produced an enduring legacy, leaving
behind an indelible imprint on the popular imagination. A formidable
counter vision however, commonly associated with the scholarly world, has
emerged during the past 40 years. Historians have done their best to search
for more sophisticated, exact interpretations. Now the 'Special
Relationship' that once saved the West is commonly portrayed as
something far less grandiose; instead it has been characterised as an 'alliance
of a kind'. 1 This dramatic dichotomy is apparent when observing the twists
and turns of the Anglo-American experience in the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia between 1941- 5.
In Saudi Arabia, as in so many other parts of the world, efforts to
strengthen the Allied position vis-a-vis the Axis powers had led the US and
Britain to be - in the words of Winston Churchill - 'mixed-up together'.2
Preceding the war, Britain and the US forged their own bilateral relations
with Saudi Arabia, which were markedly different in emphasis and scale.
From the beginning London's relationship with the Kingdom had been built
on strong, political, strategic and economic foundations reaching back to the
re-emergence of the Al-Saud dynasty in 1901.3 In the years that followed,
Britain enjoyed the advantage of being the predominant foreign power in the
2 THE US, THE UK AND SAUDI ARABIAI N WORLD WAR II
Arabian Peninsula, a state of affairs that caused the Anglo-Saudi relationship
to oscillate between the amicable and the contentious.4 By the time of the
1927 Treaty of Jeddah, Britain's recognition of the 'complete and absolute
independence' of Saudi Arabia had guaranteed the future security of the new
state's defence under British aegis.5 Saudi Arabia was at no time officiallyp art
of the British Empire, but London's commitment to the Kingdom sprang
from the desire to promote regional stability, which in essence meant
protecting British suzerainty in the Middle East.
Compared with Britain, the US government's relations with Saudi
Arabia were far less comprehensive, but possibly more momentous.
American influence mainly came by way of the privately owned Arabian
American Oil Company (ARAMCO), which had since 1931 held a
360,000 square mile concession in Saudi Arabia.6 Oil in the Kingdom
would not be discovered until 1938. and it .would be eight more years
before it was exported commercially. The US was the world's leading oil
producer during World War II and American domestic oil reserves were
rapidly channelled towards the Allied war effort. This did not stop policy
makers in Washington from casting their eye on the Kingdom's oil
potential, anticipating that the extra foreign reserves might offer a safety
valve for the country's postwar national security.7
The roots of American and British spheres of interest in Saudi Arabia
were markedly distinct, but the vicissitudes of World War II meant that
ultimately each would merge together in an unprecedented way. Although
distant from the famous battlefields of the Pacific and Europe, what this
book shows,is how the wide-ranging strategic influence of Saudi Arabia, an
attribute notably overlooked, bound British and American interests, not
just within the country, but taking a more panoramic view, throughout the
entire Middle East. When US Secretary of War Henry Stimson said in
1944: 'The US has considerable interest in a sovereign nation [Saudi
Arabia} which is also of undeniable importance to the British Empire', he
perceptively speaks of a reality that swung not between competition and co-
operation, but of an Anglo-American relationship in Saudi Arabia moored
by an unmistakeable degree of interdependence.
Here, Stimson's words echo loudly as a leitmotif which runs through
this book. It seeks to not only uncover how, why and to what extent Britain
and the US became mutually involved in Saudi Arabia, but how they
managed and defined their relationship in a place that in the words of one
American official at the time was 'probably the largest little-known unit
