World War 1, Middle East, Egypt, Mena Camp, 1916
1916Informal outdoor portrait of unidentified Australian soldier at Mena Camp, Egypt
When the AIF left Australia in November 1914, the expected destination was England and the training grounds of the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. Overcrowding and shortages of equipment in England meant that this all changed and with the fleet approaching the Suez Canal it was decided that the Anzac troops would spend the winter in Egypt. Plans for a new camp in Egypt therefore had to be rapidly put in place. The arriving Australian and New Zealand troops had not brought any tents with it, but tents for 8,500 men could be provided and those for the remainder would arrive in two weeks from England.
The camp at Mena was chosen about 10 miles from the centre of Cairo just on the outskirts of the city, with enough space for the camps and manoeuvres for unlimited troops, and with the Pyramids and the Sphinx at Giza a spectacular back-drop. Within the few days since the change of plan had been made, British staff in Egypt had set contractors to work laying water-pipes to all the camps, extending the tramlines to the prospective depot at Mena, and forming the roads about the camp sites. Before the winter of 1914-15 was over, the Camp as described by Bean was filled with the hum, bustle, the dust, smell, sounds and lights of a busy city.’
Upon arrival in the Egypt the staff divided the desert around Mena into three large training areas, one for each of the infantry brigades of 1914. The divisional light horse artillery and engineers were given stretches of desert outside of these; the transport and ambulances were allotted ground nearer camp.
https://anzac-22nd-battalion.com/training-camps-egypt/
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Nearest geotagged records:
- World War 1, Middle East, Egypt, Mena Camp, 1915 (0km away)
- World War 1, Middle East, Egypt, Mena Camp, ROBERTS, 11 Battalion, 1915 (0km away)
- World War 1, Middle East Egypt Mena, 1915 (0km away)
- World War 1, Middle East Egypt Mena, 1915 (0km away)
- World War 2, Middle East, Egypt, Gaza,, 2/11 Battalion, 1942 (0.93km away)
- World War 1, Middle East, 10 Australian Light Horse, 1918 (1.22km away)
- World War 1, Middle East Egypt Giza, 1915 (1.22km away)
- World War 1, Middle East Egypt Giza, 1916 (1.22km away)
- World War 1, Middle East Egypt Giza, 1914 (1.22km away)
- World War 1, Middle East Egypt Giza, 1914 (1.22km away)
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Australian Army Museum of Western Australia
Australian Army Museum of Western Australia
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