Lion Of The Desert

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I went to see this outstanding action flick while I was still in the Marines.  This is a Libyan funded movie that appears to be historically accurate, although General Graziani is certainly treated with prejudice, which he deserves.  Oliver Reed is outstanding as a general gloating over cheap and honor less victories.




The actor and the general.  Oliver Reed and Rodolpho Graziani.  The hero of the resistance was Omar Mukthar, a teacher of the Koran who knew the desert inside out.  His hit and run tactics fucked the Italians up.  He was ably played by Anthony Quinn in the movie.





(Both of the above from the site U.S. Militaria Forum).
The battle scenes are awesome, in fact that is about most of the movie, and the equipment is reproduced very well.





I just love early armor.  And, as long as you are fighting people with nothing but rifles, I am sure it usually worked a lot better than what we see here.






Cyrenaica, aka Pentapolis.  The story is that a land dispute developed between Carthage and Cyrene.  It was resolved that a team from each city would walk towards each other on a given day.  The point where they met would be the border.  The Carthaginian pair, the Fileni brothers, advanced so far into Cyrene's territory that they were accused of cheating.  They denied this, so the Cyrene team said that if the brothers were willing to be buried alive at the spot, they would accept the border as agreed.  And so it happened.  Mussolini put up this to remind everyone about what Italy, I mean Carthage, had done.





Arco dei Fileni.  Extant 1937 to 1973, demolished by Gaddafi.  I can see his point, but I would have kept it.
The two bronze statues of the Fileni are now in a museum in Medinat Sultan.  This structure also provided a much needed navigation mark for the RAF.





Pretty fucking cool.






Enjoy your hard earned sand, muchachos!






There is a scene where General Graziano, wearing a blue and white cape, is gloating over the capture of a town by poison gas, bombers, and armor.  The only still I can find has Stock Photo printed across it, and I think that diminishes it's value.  This will have to do.





Well done, Sir.  Go with God, the Almighty, the Merciful!


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