 Your commentator is James Coy. Fierce fighting in Egypt, British and Nazi armies battle furiously before the gates to the Near East, the vitally strategic land of the pyramids. Three times Nazi Field Marshal Rommel smashes eastward toward Suez, his artillery blasting the desert, twice the British counter-drive to the west. Mastery of the air is won first by the Axis, then by the British, and mastery of the shell-torn sands of Libya seesaws back and forth. There goes the alert, and hardy desert fighters come from dugouts on the double to man the anti-aircraft batteries. Down to earth comes a Nazi bomber, one of hundreds knocked out of the sky. Cautiously, a soldier looks for signs of life, but there are no survivors. The defenders of Libya and Egypt reach their critical front when Rommel's columns clash with the British in the desert wilderness between Barakim and the coast. Here, American General Grant tanks get their baptism of fire. On the burning desert, first the tanks advance, then a smoke screen shields the advancing troops. Roars into the battle to blast the enemy supply lines. A German supply base and unprotected, a bombardier's dream, here go the eggs. Then follows the flowery pattern of destruction in the hot sands below. Battle nears a climax, but not a decision. But of action, this German tank stopped the shell. Rommel's battered forces are halted and pushed back. His air power is reduced. Field artillery pieces are battered, some beyond repair. The medical corps is constantly on the alert to administer to those who can be attended on the field. The more seriously injured are moved slowly to the rear in lumbering ambulances. And here is something of the fortunes of war. The best of fighting men sometimes are forced to surrender. Rommel's second in command, the Nazi General Ludwig Krüvel, salutes his captor. The war is over for these men who would like to be going back to Rome and Berlin, but they're on their way to internment. A British prison camp is at the end of the rainbow for them. Now the battle for Egypt shifts to the sea. Britain desperately needs supplies and reinforcements for her valiant 8th Army. A convoy from Gibraltar approaches the hot spot of the Mediterranean, the narrow straits between Tunis and Sicily. German and Italian dive bombers and torpedo planes begin the attack, and there's a close one. A continuous curtain of fire must be maintained to save this British convoy. Under the sea too, listening devices detect the sound of submarines close by. Destroyer's answer with depth bombs, dropping bomb after bomb, and all dangerously close. The gun crew makes a direct hit. It's one of Ilduchi's war eagles whose wings are clipped forever. And here's one of the most astounding scenes ever taken under fire. A huge enemy bomber staggers down to flaming destruction. Dusk approaches, and destroyers begin to lay down a smoke screen as reconnaissance planes report naval units moving into attack. Coming of night only brings on more intense action. One comes to the flaming desert. Tobruk has fallen. The RAF is desperately pounding Rommel's supply lines to halt his advance, and they stop him at Mersa Matru. Mastery of the air still belongs to Egypt's defenders. But neither side has mastery over the blinding, choking sandstorms that torture men and machines alike. Now the enemy's lengthening communication lines must be bombed. More American planes join the RAF. A sudden and dramatic change in command brings General Sir Claude Aukenlech to rally the battered Aethame and halt Rommel at the very gates of Egypt. Supply lines for Aukenlech's men are short, and reinforcements pouring from Cairo and Alexandria. There is a constant rumble of heavy trucks all through the back areas. Just as naval forces mine the seas, desert fighters mine the sands, burying tank traps loaded with TNT to stop the next assault of the Nazi armored divisions. Gun emplacements are set up to hang a curtain of steel in the sky if dive bombers attempt an attack. A fearless cameraman pictures the shelling of a supply train in the thick of the fighting. Tanks and trucks get through the shell fire to provide desperately needed reinforcements. The Nazi artillery firing blindly, Ares' Aukenlech's men and machines constantly. Here goes an American plane to join a squadron with orders to disrupt the thinning lines of enemy communications. The defenders are forced to salvage disabled tanks even under fire. They have lost far too many in the retreat from Tobruk to wait for another convoy to bring more. This one's too close for comfort, and so the fight for Egypt goes on, in the air, in the desert, and at sea. It's a desperate battle, a battle in which strategy and leadership are vital to victory.