Ice Cold in Alex is set during the North African campaign, where the Allied forces fought Italian and German troops along the Mediterranean coast, roughly from 1940 to 1943. Control of ports, supply lines, and desert routes was critical. Units were frequently forced into long, dangerous movements across the desert. The campaign had its fair share of logistical challenges and is remembered as much for the extreme conditions as for its battles.

The film opens in Tobruk, a Libyan port that changed hands several times during the war and was of great strategic importance. In 1941, Tobruk was under a seven‑month siege, defended, among others, by Australian troops. Even after the siege ended, the region remained under threat of German advances, which shaped evacuation and withdrawal plans, as depicted in the film.

British medical and transport units operated under great risk in North Africa. Ambulance crews were expected to navigate minefields, bombed roads, and open desert while transporting wounded personnel. Vehicles like the Austin K2/Y ambulance, affectionately nicknamed “Katy,” were widely used by Commonwealth forces.

Another part of the film takes place in the Qattara Depression in Egypt, one of Africa’s lowest points. During World War II, it was considered largely impassable due to soft ground, salt marshes, and unstable terrain. Both Allied and Axis forces treated it as a natural barrier, and attempts to cross it carried a serious risk of vehicles becoming irretrievably bogged down.