The Battle of El Alamein

by coach & on foot

The Egyptian coastline stretching along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea from Alexandria, is considered to be one of the most beautiful areas along the country’s coast. Your journey will take you through the towns and villages located along this area of coastline as you make your way to the small village of El Alamein, set in a broad and barren desert-plain. Meaning ‘two worlds’ in Arabic, El Alamein’s history and geography conspire to allow the town to live up to its name.

It was here in November 1942 when Allied forces under the command of British General Montgomery put a halt to the advance of Nazi Africa Corps who considered El Alamein the gateway to Alexandria and the key to having control of the African continent.

The Allied victory in the battle of El Alamein marked the beginning of the end for the Axis Powers in North Africa, crushing the mystique surrounding German Field Marshal Rommel (known as the ‘Desert Fox’), whose force of tanks had previously proved invincible. The Battle of El Alamein was one of the most violent, as well as most important confrontations during World War II.

Your first stop will be a visit to the Alamein Military Museum containing displays of weapons, military artifacts and tanks. Descriptions of the actions of Montgomery, Rommel and others participating in the battle are also on display.

Your journey then continues with a short drive to the west of the town for a visit to the Commonwealth Cemetery, located on a peninsula overlooking the sea. This is the final resting place for Commonwealth soldiers who died at all stages of the Western Desert campaigns, bringing them together from a wide area, but especially those who died during the Battle of El Alamein at the end of October 1942 and in the period immediately prior to this. The neat rows of tombstones provide a poignant scene set against the seemingly interminable desert.

You will continue to visit both the Italian and German cemetery before returning to the port.