Let’s say the start of this project is August 15th. That’s the day I agreed to go to Egypt to film the battle sites of the British Eighth Army. The problem with the internet is you can find out impossible things. I googled trips to World War 2 military sites. Sure enough. There was a tour. Here was my chance to walk where my grandfather walked. Although to walk exactly where he walked might be a bit tricky. I have a map that gives the general location of his Landing Grounds but not exact coordinates.
One of my new tasks is hiring a researcher to go looking for that information. One researcher immediately came back with a list of sites. Unfortunately, she only had about half the sites and again none of them were accurate. She will continue to look. Hiring a researcher is one of my early tasks. I also sent money to the World War 2 museum. They have a services to get all the military records on a particular person. I put in a request for my grandfather’s records. I have a bunch of his records already but I’m seeing what else they can come up with. There is a big notice on the World War 2 Museum site saying don’t get your hopes up for information because 80% of the records were destroyed in a fire in 1973.
Since my knowledge of World War 2, particularly the North African Campaign, can be measured with thimbles, I have opted to build up a library of books. I am reading Rick Atkinson’s book “An Army at Dawn” that covers the North African Campaign but he comes at it from the American side and so far the book only talks about the invasion that landed in Algeria and Morocco. Very interesting material, the book did win the Pulitzer, but doesn’t cover the battles I need to read about. To that end, I have the book “Alamein” by Jon Latimer standing by along with two other books on the Eighth Army. Another avenue I would like to touch on is what do the native people think about this war being fought in their country. The talk is all about the English, French, Americans and Germans. What was the opinions of the Egyptians, Libyans, and Tunisians. I have one book so far, “No One Sleeps in Alexandria” by Ibrahim Abdel Meguid that will give me the perspective I look for.
Making a film also allows me to give in to my worst impulses about buying camera gear. Can’t make a film without camera gear. I’m currently looking at another lens for my main camera and I’m also looking at the newest GoPro which shoots in 8K. I was going to maybe a new drone for some beautiful overhead shots of the battlefields until I looked up Drone Regulations for Egypt. Drones will be confiscated at the airport. No exceptions. Might have to look in that some more.
If this trip goes well, I might do trips to Tunisia where the company that leads this battlefield tour also leads one there as well. The wildcard will be going into Libya. There are tours there despite the US State department saying do not travel here. It would be quite the adventure to visit Libya. One of the big sections of the books concerning Libya is when the cross under Mussolini’s Marble Arch on the border between Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. The arch is long gone, destroyed by Khadafi, but the spot where it stood is a spot I know my grandfather passed through.
