1941: Egypt

Egypt, an ally of Great Britain, found herself during 1941 in an important strategic position as one of the important British bases for war developments in the Near and Middle East.

Suez Canal and Libyan Campaigns.

The Suez Canal, one of the most important life arteries of the British Empire, passes through Egyptian territory. In the course of this war the Suez Canal was frequently mentioned as a center of German aspirations, and therefore British and Imperial forces watched most closely over the protection of Egypt. As the Suez Canal forms the link between Britain and South Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand, troops from all these parts of the British Commonwealth of Nations participated in the defense of Egypt.

Although Egypt did not become a center of war activities, nevertheless, it was the base of the British campaign in Libya which opened on Dec. 9, 1940, with the offensive of the British Army of the Nile against the Italians in the northwestern part of the Egyptian desert. By Jan. 22, 1941, the British had captured Tobruk and by Feb. 6, Bengasi, the capital of Eastern Libya or Cyrenaica. But in a counter-offensive undertaken by German motorized units, the British, thinned out by withdrawals of units to Greece, were forced to evacuate Libya in April 1941, with the exception of Tobruk where a British garrison held out, and to withdraw to bases in Egypt. It was only at the end of November 1941, that the British armies started another attempt at conquering Libya against the strongly entrenched German and Italian armored divisions. This new offensive was made possible by the fact that the large amount of war material produced in the United States had been shipped to Egypt, and that Egypt had become one of the centers in which the American arsenal of democracy fulfilled its lend-lease program. The influx of so many British and Allied soldiers and the vast amount of machinery made itself felt decisively in the internal life of Egypt. The importance which Egypt had gained as a center of the Near and Middle Eastern defense system, was expressed in the visit which the British Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, and the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Sir John G. Dill, paid in February 1941.

Internal Affairs.

The Egyptian Parliament devoted much of its time during 1941 to the discussion of the internal problems of the country in view of the war crisis. Probably the most remunerative enterprise in Egypt, the Suez Canal Company, suffered heavily through the war for the first time in its existence. As this company was predominantly French owned and directed, the collapse of France, where its headquarters were, immobilized its affairs. Its receipts dropped heavily in view of the fact that commercial shipping in the Mediterranean ceased almost entirely and that the Canal itself was repeatedly bombed. The Egyptian military government disallowed the claims of the bond holders and ruled that the company should not pay dividends on the ground that the operation of the Canal was vital to Egyptian economy, imperative to Britain, and an obligation of Egypt as Britain's ally. The Egyptian Parliament also considered measures to ensure the employment of Egyptians by foreign firms and to place Egyptians on boards of directors of foreign companies doing business in Egypt. All reports to be submitted to the government were to be written in Arabic instead of in English or French. Proposals for the introduction of an excess profits tax were also considered.

At the beginning of June the cabinet resigned in an effort to create an all-inclusive national government, but the new cabinet under the premier Hussein Sirry Pasha was virtually identical with the former cabinet. Meanwhile the affair of General Aziz el Masir Pasha, former Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Army, aroused much attention. He was known as a fervent Axis sympathizer who had attempted to flee from Egypt by airplane with important documents, but was captured in his hideout in a house in a Cairo suburb. The trial against him began at the end of November, and he was accused of crimes injuring the security of the state.

Imports and Exports.

Egypt is a country producing mainly cotton, and is thus forced to import a large part of the needed food stuffs. On Aug. 12 an agreement was concluded between the British and Egyptian governments, according to which the Egyptian cotton crop of the current year would be bought in equal parts by the two governments at prices equaling those of last year when Great Britain bought almost the whole crop of 7,800,000 bales for about £25,000,000. An Anglo-Egyptian Cotton Purchase Commission was formed which started to buy the crop in Upper Egypt by the middle of September and that in Lower Egypt by the beginning of November with funds advanced by Great Britain. The purchased cotton will be stored and later shipped abroad as soon as transportation facilities and markets will permit. Meanwhile Great Britain shipped thousands of tons of foodstuffs to Egypt, to feed the British armies, balancing the foodstuff against the cotton, for Great Britain feels bound to support the Egyptian cotton growers, so as to keep the people of Egypt contented. Nevertheless the shortage of some foods resulted in a sharp price rise in view of the fact that the consumption has increased and that no general system of rationing has been introduced. Living standards in Egypt have been high compared with those of Europe. Living costs in Egypt were reported by the end of October to have risen 55 per cent since the war began and 43 per cent since Jan. 1. This situation prompted the British and Egyptian authorities to develop a plan to make Egypt more self-sufficient in foodstuffs by restricting the acreage devoted to cotton and having wheat and other foodstuffs grown instead. Thus, in spite of the fact that the great port of Alexandria was several times bombed and a number of lives were lost on these occasions, on the whole, Egypt suffered relatively little from the impact of the War.