Metro Cinema, Cairo, Egypt, 1943

Photograph by Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), World War Two, North Africa, 1943.

In March 1943 3rd County of London Yeomanry was stationed at Cowley Camp near Cairo, where it undertook training, prior to its involvement in Operation HUSKY, the Allied invasion of Sicily.

The Metro Cinema, on Soliman Pasha Street (now Talaat Harb Street), opened in 1940 with the Egyptian premier of 'Gone with the Wind'. The Art Deco building, designed by New York architect Thomas Lamb, was bombed by the Muslim Brotherhood in 1947. It was finally destroyed by fire during the 'Black Friday' riots in January 1952, part of the civil unrest directed against British occupation.

From a photograph album containing 241 photographs compiled by Major Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), 1943-1944.