Second World War Service in The Middle East
Quinan spent the early years of the Second World War on the North West Frontier but in 1941, he was promoted to lieutenant general, consulted General Sir Archibald Wavell in Cairo and was sent to command the Indian Army Corps in the landing at Basra, Iraq, and was appointed GOC British Troops in Iraq (Iraqforce).
At that time, the pro-German government of Iraq led by Rashid Ali al-Kaylani had tried to capture the RAF base at Habbaniya and force the British to leave the country. During the short Anglo-Iraqi War, Quinan's invasion from the south, supported by British troops from Trans-Jordan overthrew the Axis-leaning Iraqi government and replaced it with a pro-British one. He became GOC 10th Army in Persia and Iraq Command. As the Luftwaffe had used bases in Syria to support the Iraqis, an operation was planned to invade Syria from Palestine, supported by Quinan's troops in Iraq and replace the Vichy French government of Syria and Lebanon with a Free French one. This was completed successfully. Later in 1941, he planned and executed the invasion of Persia. The principal reason for this was to secure the supply lines to the Soviet Union and to protect British oil installations in Abadan. The Shah of Iran Reza Pahlavi was considered to be pro-German so he was deposed and replaced by his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
He was knighted in the birthday honours of 1942 and made Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire. In August 1942, he was promoted to be a full general.
In 1943 he left the Middle East and was appointed GOC-in-C North West Army, India. Three months later, on 16 November 1943, he retired for medical reasons, a recurrence of his previous problem of high blood pressure, and returned to Britain. In 1945 he was awarded the Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. In November 1945, he was appointed as Colonel of the 8th Punjab Regiment. He lived quietly in Somerset until his death on 13 November 1960.
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