I enjoyed this vignette of one man's experiences and thought some people here might like a read: War in the Desert Notes for a Lecture given by The Very Rev. A.C. Bridge [1914-2007] for SWAN HELLENIC CRUISES Ladies and Gentlemen. Just to make things clear, by 'War in the Desert' I mean the war in the Egyptian desert in 1940 to 1943, about which a number of romantic films have been made. In them actors like Dirk Bogarde, John Mills and David Niven, have tended to say things like 'jolly good show' and 'wizard prang' to show how British they are, while others have clicked their heels a lot and said ' Ya, ya, mine hair' (sic) to show how German they are, though all have proved surprisingly fluent in English for the rest of the film. Well, obviously, it wasn't like that. I was there for just over two years - not as anything to do with the church but as an ordinary soldier - and perhaps I may begin by saying something about what it was like. For instance, why were the British fighting in Egypt at all? The answer is that we owned the Suez Canal, which was a life-line connecting us with our far eastern Empire - India, Malaya, Burma, Singapore, Shanghai and so on - and we were determined to defend it. [...] Continued at length: The Very Reverend Antony Bridge - War in the Desert
An interesting read. A drink with him at the bar later would have also been interesting. Thanks Geoff
Further to this very good read, there's now a full book available. It's rather ranging in topic, but if you search for the term 'Not long before the Second World War broke out', you'll arrive at a longish section on his wartime thoughts and activities: https://www.theveryreverendantonybridge.com/one-mans-advent.pdf
