Free Arabian Legion
The Free Arabian Legion (German: Legion Freies Arabien; Arabic: جيش بلاد العرب الحرة, romanized: Jaysh bilād al-ʿarab al-ḥurraẗ) was the collective name of several Nazi German units formed from Arab volunteers from the Middle East, notably Iraq, and North Africa during World War II. == Operational history == === Origins === In April 1941, a group of senior Iraqi officials, including the politician Rashid Ali al-Gaylani and several army officers who were part of the Golden Square nationalist group, launched a coup d'état which overthrew the Kingdom of Iraq's pro-British government. The new regime, which was pro-Axis, soon made contact with German and Italian authorities and requested military support.