MovieChat Forums > Lion of the Desert (1981) Discussion > Not the first to use tanks in the desert

Not the first to use tanks in the desert


Despite what the movie says, the Italians were not the first to use tanks in the desert. The British used tanks in the Palestine campaign in WWI. But of course why would an ego maniac like Rodolfo Graziani know that!

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Good point!
Graziani was certainly no Allenby...

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Technically it was Archibald Murray at the Second Battle of Gaza.

"What's the matter rednecks? Progress got you down?"

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Well, The British got revenge on him in the most humiliating way possible, so that should make up for his boasting.

"No man is just a number"

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Another interesting early use of tanks in the desert is by the Spaniards in Morocco in the 1920s, fighting the Rifs of Abd-el-Krim, a charismatic leader in the Omar Mukhtar mould.

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