for Sam, Becky, Katy, Mary and T.J.
In the hope that their generation does not repeat the stupidities of their grandparents.
INTRODUCTION
The events recorded here took place about fifty years ago. I did not keep a diary, nor have I written about them in the meanwhile, so their accuracy must depend on what has remained in my head. One of the drawbacks of memory is that it has little sense of priorities: what should be a great or significant event – certainly memorable, one might think – can be replaced instead by trivia, perhaps even by delusion. I have tried to be objective but the reader must bear in mind that in every paragraph there is an unwritten ‘I think that it may have been like this…’
December 1992 Paul Bullard
LIBYA AND EGYPT All the Desert battles from December 1940 until January 1943 were fought on this strip of coastline. The Province of Cyrenaica changed hands five times during this period.
THE GAZALA FRONT ON 29 MAY 1942
The Front Line, which has a series of defensive boxes protected by minefields, had been outflanked by Rommel from the South.
