El Alamein
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El Alamein العلمين |
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 El Alamein
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| Coordinates: 30°50′N 28°57′E / 30.833°N 28.950°E | |
| Country |
 Egypt |
| Governorate | Matrouh |
| Population | |
| • Total | 7,397 (as of 2,007) |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
El Alamein (Arabic: العلمين, IPA: [elʕælæˈmeːn], literally "the two flags") 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 had a local population of 7,397 inhabitants.
El Alamein has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh), in 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.
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 cemeteries on Tel el-Eisa Hill outside the town. The German cemetery is an ossuary, built in the style of a medieval fortress.
The Italian cemetery is a mausoleum containing 5.200 tombs. Many tombs bear the soldier's name; many are simply marked "IGNOTO", i.e. unknown.
There is a separate Greek cemetery at El Alamein.
There is also a Commonwealth war cemetery, built and maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, with graves of soldiers from various countries who fought on the Allied side. Buried here are 6,425 identified Commonwealth service personnel and 815 unidentified ones, besides 102 of other nationalities. These include four Victoria Cross recipients:
Others buried here include:
This has monuments commemorating Greek, New Zealand, Australian, South African, Indian and Canadian forces. The cemetery entrance is through the Alamein Memorial and there is also a separate Alamein Cremation Memorial to 603 Commonwealth service personnel who died in Egypt and Libya and were cremated in line with their religion.
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