El Alamein

El Alamein lies 113 kilometres west of Alexandria Driving distance 1 hour 31 mins, El Alamein takes its name from the twin-peaked hill, Tell El Alamein, upon which it stands. Protected by the sea and in the south by Qattara depression, El Alamein is a strong defensive position, whoever controlled it


El Alamein

El Alamein Controlled the north African coast which opens the way to the whole Egypt and the trade routes to the Far East via the red sea and the Indian Ocean. During the second world war, the Axis powers wanted to dominate Egypt in order to close Britain`s sea routes to its colonial empire, which the British desperate to protect. starting in 1940 with the Italian invasion to Egypt via Libya, The coastal town of Al Diffa was the scene of the ongoing battle.

El Alamein Museum

The small El Alamein museum,  about 1 mile west of the British memorial, is located on the north side of the road, for anyone interested in the war Memorabilia. it is worth a stop. Created in 1965 from debris found on the battlefield, It contains uniforms, Weapons, Flags and other war Paraphernalia. Displays include Photographs and the battle sites

 

El Alamein War Cemetery

It was designed by Sir Herbert Worthington and is maintained by the British war graves commission in Cairo, Here 7,367 men from Britain, Newzealand, Australia, South Africa, Greece, France, India and Malaysia are buried in individual graves, while 11,945 men, whose bodies were never found, are honoured in the cloister that precedes the graveyard

Beyond the cloister is the Individual graves, each, topped with white Marker, Approximatly 815 soldiers were identified and their names are inscribed over the graves

 

The German war Memorial

Thee kilometres,west of the Italian marker, the German war memorial is a single octagonal building erected in 1959, overlooks the sea, Patterned after the castle del Monte.the memorial contains the bodies of 4280 German soldiers, at the Entrance, it stands an impressive golden mosaic, to the right of the Entrance is small chapel where families and friends honour the dead with wreaths, Photographs and memorial ribbons.

 

The Italian Memorial

The Elegant white marble Italian Memorial, the largest structure at El Alamein .stands 5 kilometres beyond the German Memorial, it was designed by Paolo Caccia dominoni who served  at El-Alamein and also wrote a book about it

In the Entrance,  there is a small museum and  in the chapel is inscribed ( To 4800 Italian soldiers, sailors and airmen, the desert and the sea did not give back 38,000 who are  missing)

The main memorial overlooks the sea at the top.

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