El Alamein

El Alamein (or Al 'Alameen) (العلمين,, literally "the two flags") is a town in the northern Matrouh Governorate of Egypt. Located on the Mediterranean Sea, it lies 106 km west of Alexandria and 240 km northwest of Cairo. As of 2007, it has a local population of 7,397 inhabitants.

Climate
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.

Alamein is also known for its unpolluted environment, air, and beaches.

El Alamein war museum
El Alamein has a war museum with collectibles from "the civil war" and other North African battles.

Germany
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.

Italy
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.

Greek
A separate Greek cemetery is present at Alamin.

Commonwealth of Nations
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. This has monuments commemorating Greek, New Zealand, Australian, South African, Indian and Canadian forces. The names of 213 Canadian airmen appear on the Alamein Memorial in Egypt.

The cemetery was designed by Sir J. Hubert Worthington

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, when the German Panzers tried to outflank the allied 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 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."