Sidi Barrani ( ) is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, near the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

, about east of the Egypt–Libya border, and around from

Tobruk Tobruk ( ; ; ) is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District (formerly Tobruk District) and has a population of 120,000 (2011 est.)."Tobruk" (history), ''Encyclop� ...

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

. Named after

Sidi ''Sidi'' or ''Sayidi'', also Sayyidi and Sayeedi, ( (dialectal) "milord") is an Arabic masculine title of respect. ''Sidi'' is used often to mean "saint" or "my master" in Maghrebi Arabic and Egyptian Arabic. Without the first person possessiv ...

es-Saadi el Barrani, a

Senussi The Senusiyya, Senussi or Sanusi () are a Muslim political-religious Sufi order and clan in Libya and surrounding regions founded in Mecca in 1837 by the Grand Sanussi ( ''as-Sanūssiyy al-Kabīr''), the Algerian Muhammad ibn Ali al-Sanusi. ...

sheikh who was a head of its Zawiya, the village is mainly a

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

community. It has food, gasoline outlets and one small hotel, but virtually no tourist activity or visited historical curiosities. It is the site of an

Egyptian Air Force The Egyptian Air Force (EAF) () is the aviation branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces that is responsible for all airborne defence missions and operates all military aircraft, including those used in support of the Egyptian Army, Egyptian Navy ...

base.

History

Located close to the Roman city of Zygra, in the Roman province of Libya Inferior, Sidi Barrani is often mentioned in historical records to mark the limit of the initial Italian invasion of Egypt from Libya. The Italian Tenth Army built a series of

forts A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from ...

in the vicinity. American Field Service volunteers, providing ambulance services and serving with the British 8th Army were based in the area, in June 1942, 30 miles east of Sidi Barrani. Sidi Barrani was a destination during the annular solar eclipse on October 3, 2005, as expeditions traveled to the best observation point, Zawiet Mahtallah, east of Sidi Barrani. " Valoria La Buena annular eclipse expedition Oct. 3, 2005" (report), Solar Physics Group, Astrophysics Lab, University of Rome, January 10, 2007, webpage (mostly Italian)
ICRA-solar
mentions the Sidi Barrani observation area.

Climate

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot desert (''BWh''), but it is part of the

northern coast of Egypt The Northern Coast of Egypt (, , . ''"The Northern Egyptian Coast"'' extends for about along the Mediterranean Sea, it covers entirely the northern territory of Egypt. It is one of the longest Mediterranean coastlines, and is popularly known o ...

which has moderated temperatures.

In popular media

In Kurt Vonnegut's novel ''

Bluebeard "Bluebeard" ( ) is a French Folklore, folktale, the most famous surviving version of which was written by Charles Perrault and first published by Barbin in Paris in 1697 in . The tale is about a wealthy man in the habit of murdering his wives an ...

'', Sidi Barrani is the site where Dan Gregory (a tormenting magazine illustrator and Nazi sympathizer) was killed on 7 December 1940 during the

Battle of Sidi Barrani The Battle of Sidi Barrani 1940) was the opening battle of Operation Compass, the first big British attack of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. Sidi Barrani, on the Mediterranean coast in Egypt, had been occupied by the Italia ...

. The battle continued until 10 December, in which 30,000 British troops defeated almost 80,000 Italian soldiers holding the town. "Did I ever tell you about the time I was in Sidi Barrani?" was a catchphrase for

Kenneth Horne Charles Kenneth Horne, generally known as Kenneth Horne (27 February 1907 – 14 February 1969), was an English comedian and businessman. He is perhaps best remembered for his work on three BBC Radio series: ''Much-Binding-in-the-Mars ...

in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

radio comedy show ''

Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh ''Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh'' was a comedy show broadcast from 1944 to 1950 and 1951 to 1954 by BBC Radio and in 1950–1951 by Radio Luxembourg. It was written by and starred Richard Murdoch and Kenneth Horne as officers in a fictional RAF sta ...

'' which ran from 1944 to 1954 and was initially about life on a mythical

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

(RAF) station.

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British India, where he spent his ...

was, according to his memoirs, posted to Sidi Barrani during the Second World War.

References

External links

* Photograph of twilight Sidi Barrani

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...

(Oct. 2005, copyright 2005–2007 Magyar Csillagászati Egyesület)
Hungarian-foto Sidi-twilight
(540x345, 38 KB). * Photograph of

at Sidi Barrani (Oct. 2005, copyright 2005–2007 Magyar Csillagászati Egyesület)
Hungarian-foto Sidi-eclipse
(9 KB). * Photograph of Sidi Barrani observers (Oct. 2005, copyright 2005–2007 Magyar Csillagászati Egyesület)
Hungarian-foto Sidi-people
(50 KB). {{Cities of Egypt Populated places in Matrouh Governorate Cities in Egypt