El Alamein (, ) is an Egyptian city in the northern Matrouh Governorate. Located on the Mediterranean Sea, it lies west of Alexandria and northwest of Cairo. The town is located on the site of the ancient city Antiphrai (). The city is divided into three main areas: El Alamein, Sidi Abdel Rahman, and Tel El Eis village.

The city's economy is mainly based on its natural resources of petroleum, which is explored by several Egyptian companies, and the tourist areas where a number of luxury hotels and tourist resorts are located, such as the tourist town of Marina.

Tourism

Many Egyptians, particularly the upper and middle class travel to El Alamein during summer to flee the summer heat in other cities and towns.

Climate

El Alamein has a hot desert climate, Köppen climate classification BWh, common with most of the Middle East and North Africa. However, like the rest of the northern coast of Egypt, its climate is slightly less hot, compared to the rest of Egypt, because of the prevailing Mediterranean Sea winds.

World War II

thumb|[[Bernard Montgomery watches his tanks move up during the Battle of El Alamein.]]

Two important World War II battles were fought in the area:

  • At the First Battle of El Alamein (1–27 July 1942), the advance of Axis troops on Alexandria was blunted by the Allies, stopping the Italian and German forces that were trying to outflank the Allies' position.
  • At the Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 4 November 1942), Allied forces broke the Axis line and forced them all the way back to Tunisia. Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister at the time, said of this victory: "Now this is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." After the war, he wrote: "Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein, we never had a defeat."

Military cemeteries

There are Italian and German military cemeteries on Tel el-Eisa Hill outside the town. The German cemetery is an ossuary, built in the style of a medieval fortress.

The cemetery of the Italian War Memorial at El Alamein contains 5,200 graves.

There is also a Greek cemetery at El Alamein.

The Commonwealth Alamein Memorial and attached war cemetery, built and maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, has graves of soldiers from various countries who fought on the Allied side.

<gallery>

File:El Alamein Commonwealth Denkmal.jpg|Cross of Sacrifice, El Alamein Commonwealth cemetery

File:South African Memorial El Alamein.jpg|South African Memorial El Alamein Commonwealth cemetery

File:El Alamein Commonwealth Cemetery 11.JPG|El Alamein Commonwealth cemetery plaque – 1939–1945 – The land on which this cemetery stands is the gift of the Egyptian people for the perpetual resting place of the sailors, soldiers and airmen who are honoured here.

File:El Alamein Commonwealth Cemetery 2.JPG|El Alamein Commonwealth cemetery

File:El Alamein Italian memorial entrance.jpeg|Italian War Memorial at El Alamein

File:El Alamein Deutsches Kriegsgraeberdenkmal.jpg|El Alamein German memorial

File:El Alamein Commonwealth Cemetery 5.JPG|El Alamein Commonwealth cemetery – A soldier of the 1939–1945 war known unto God

File:Египет47.jpg|In El Alamein museum

File:Египет48.jpg|German cannon

File:Египет49.jpg|The list of fallen German soldiers

File:Египет111.jpg|German Memorial

File:Египет112.jpg|British Crusader tank

</gallery>

See also

  • El Alamein Fountain (war memorial commemorating the battle, in Sydney, Australia)
  • El Alamein International Airport
  • Enham Alamein (village in Hampshire in England, renamed after the battle)
  • Marina El Alamein (tourist resort)
  • New Alamein

References