| El Alamein العلمين |
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El Alamein
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| Country | Egypt |
| Governorate | Matrouh |
| Time zone | EST (UTC+2) |
El Alamein (or Al Alamayn) (Arabic: العلمين, which means "the two mountains or the two way-markers") is a town in the northern Matrouh Governorate of Egypt. Located on the Mediterranean Sea, it lies 106 kilometres (66 mi) west of Alexandria and 240 kilometres (149 mi) northwest of Cairo. As of 2007, it has a local population of 7,397 inhabitants.[1]
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With typical Mediterranean climate, El Alamein has pleasant weather all year long, with cold winters and warm-to-hot summers. Alamein is also known for its outstanding unpolluted environment, air, and beaches.
El Alamein has a war museum with collectibles from "the civil war" and other North African battles. Visitors can also go to the Italian and German Military Cemetery on Tel el-Eisa Hill just outside the town. The German cemetery is an ossuary with the remains of 4,200 German soldiers, built in the style of a medieval fortress. The Italian cemetery is a mausoleum containing many galleries of tombs. Many tombs bear the soldier's name; many are simply marked "IGNOTO", unknown.
There is also a Commonwealth war cemetery with graves of soldiers from various countries who fought on the British side. This has monuments commemorating Greek, New Zealand, Australia, South African, Indian and Canadian forces. The names of 213 Canadian airmen appear on the El Alamein Memorial in Egypt.[2]
Note that the remains of United States soldiers were not buried here. The Commonwealth cemetery, as is common at many such cemeteries in the world, consists of parallel rows of gravestones, each one bearing an engraving of the deceased soldier's unit emblem, his name and an epitaph from his family.
Two important World War II battles were fought in the area.
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