The diabolical maze of landmines still left in Egypt from WWII

Second World War belligerents left behind up to 15 mn landmines that continue to litter Egypt’s North Coast to this day, writes Peter Schwartzstein for the Daily Beast. Italian expert and president of the Italian Society for Military Geology and Geography (SIGGMI) Aldino Bondesan and his colleagues have been able to identify every single Italian and German emplacement right down to company level—and some to platoon level. By matching satellite imagery with markings on Afrika Korps maps, they’ve pinpointed up to 30k defensive positions. With the aid of a series of WWII maps handed over by the British Embassy, former head of Egypt’s land mine clearance unit Fathy El Shazly had previously said finding the battlefield positions will help find most of the mines. Here’s to hoping all of the mines are cleared before work begins on building the nuclear power plant in Daba’a.