El Alamein is an Egyptian city in the northern Matrouh Governorate. Located on the Mediterranean Sea, it lies 106 kilometres (66 mi) west of Alexandria and 300 kilometres (186 mi) northwest of Cairo. The city is divided into three main areas: El Alamein, Cidi, and Tal 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 many luxury hotels and tourist resorts are located, such as the tourist town of Marina.
Contents
Tourism
Many Egyptians, particularly the upper and middle class travel in huge masses to El Alamein and North Coast every 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
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.