Pyramids and Fleshpots

Book excerpt: Pyramids and Fleshpots tells the true story of the experiences and achievements of British military personnel serving in Egypt in the First World War fighting a determined enemy to protect the Suez Canal – the lifeline of the Empire. The popular impression that the campaigns were merely a sideshow, with troops enjoying a holiday among the pyramids and the 'fleshpots' of Cairo, is far removed from the truth. Troops faced appalling heat, abrasive sand, poor rations and water shortages. In the desolation of the Western Desert they fought the Senussi, an Islamic sect supported by the Ottomans, in a reversal of Lawrence's later work with the Arabs, while in the Sinai Desert they countered German-backed moves to dominate this strategically important area. Meanwhile, the Royal Navy fought to keep the supply lines to Gallipoli open, and keep men and materiel flowing to France from India, Australia and New Zealand. These arduous and hard-fought land, sea and air campaigns in Egypt, Libya and the Eastern Mediterranean are comprehensively covered by Stuart Hadaway in this groundbreaking analysis of an often overlooked theatre of war so vital to Britain's empire.