From 1941 to 1945 the main business of the U. S. Army in the Middle East was to facilitate the supply of lend-lease goods to British and Soviet forces. This task involved the construction of docks, warehouses, shops, and highways as well as the operation of ports, a railroad, and a motor transport service in Iran. At the same time the Army constructed numerous airfields and bases, stretching across Egypt, the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Eritrea, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. [Illustration: EGYPT THE PYRAMIDS NEAR CAIRO, EGYPT. For more than six months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States had recognized the military importance of the Middle East. Lend-lease equipment was poured into Egypt to aid the British in the western desert. The type of transport plane shown above performed constant service in the Middle East area. It was known familiarly as “the work horse of the war.” (C-47 transport, Dakota.)] [Illustration: EGYPT BRITISH SOLDIERS receiving instructions on an American-made engine at the U. S. Ordnance Repair Depot at Heliopolis near Cairo.] [Illustration: EGYPT TANKS AT THE HELIOPOLIS U. S. ORDNANCE REPAIR DEPOT. On Black Saturday, 13 June 1942, in a battle near Tobruk in Libya, British armor suffered severe tank losses inflicted by German 88-mm. antitank guns. This defeat caused a withdrawal to the El Alamein Line in Egypt. (General Grant M3.)] [Illustration: EGYPT ITALIAN ANTIAIRCRAFT GUN captured by the British in the western desert of Egypt. Before the United States entered the war, American technicians worked closely with the British in the Middle East to obtain information on German and Italian weapons, equipment, and methods of warfare. (Italian Ansaldo antiaircraft gun, 75-mm.)] [Illustration: EGYPT INOCULATING EGYPTIAN WORKER WITH TYPHUS VACCINE. In June of 1942 a separate command was formed in Cairo, called the U. S. Army Forces in the Middle East (USAFIME). Natives working with U. S. personnel were usually under Army medical supervision. Those handling food were subject to physical inspection and received medical treatment and whatever immunization inoculations were indicated for the locality. The use of preventive medicine stopped the outbreak of epidemics.] [Illustration: EGYPT B-25’S OVER THE WESTERN DESERT IN EGYPT. The U. S. Air Forces was active in the Middle East several months before the Allied landings in North Africa. The first mission of these bombers was against the enemy-occupied port of Matruh on the coast of Egypt in July 1942. (Medium bombers, North American B-25 Mitchell.)] [Illustration: EGYPT