Three graves contain 20 thousand victims and 50 thousand unknown names

Alamein Memorial: a witness to the foremost important battles of the Second warfare

Sixty-six years ago, specifically on the twenty-fourth of October of the year 1954, the cemeteries of El Alamein were inaugurated, which contain the remains of nearly 20 thousand soldiers, additionally to about 50 thousand names of missing soldiers within the battles that occurred within the city of El Alamein in warfare II. Which is one in all the foremost famous battles of warfare II between the Allies and also the Axis Powers, within which the German African Legion forces were defeated.

 

The construction of the worlds graves came in accordance with the choice of the Commonwealth Graves Committee for War "CWGC", an intergovernmental organization of six member states, namely the uk, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and African nation African country African nation, and was founded by Major General Sir Fabian Arthur Golston Ware, on May 21, 1917, Under the name of the Royal War Graves Committee, its main function is to locate, record and maintain graves and places of memorialization for soldiers and civilians who belong to the Commonwealth countries and who died within the first and second world wars, on condition that these graves are built on the sites of the battles that occurred during The two wars, so there are approximately 2,500 cemeteries and monuments, additionally to 23,000 burial sites in 153 countries round the world.

The cemeteries contains three main tombs, the primary belonging to the victims of the Commonwealth, designed by country engineer Sir John Hubert Worthington, and was opened within the presence of the Allied commander within the battle, "Bernard Montgomery", and it includes the remains of 7367 victims from Britain, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, France, India and Malaysia, as recorded On its walls are the names of 11945 of the missing soldiers, and therefore the second Italian cemetery, which was designed by the Italian engineer Paolo Cacia Dominioni, was inaugurated within the presence of the Prime Minister of Italy, Amintore Vanfani on January 9, 1959, and includes the remains of 4,634 Italian soldiers, additionally to a memorial plaque indicating 38 thousand missing and eventually, the German cemeteries, which were designed by the German engineer Robert Tesgler within the variety of a castle on a hill, were inaugurated in October 1959, and contain the remains of 4,280 soldiers, including 80 unidentified soldiers in an exceedingly separate room.

The most important thing that attracts attention is that the Commonwealth cemeteries in El Alamein aren't the sole ones on the land of Egypt, there are 15 Commonwealth cemeteries spread within the Egyptian governorates. Ismailia governorate in Fayed, Qantara east, the nice Hill and Camp al-Galaa, a cemetery within the Suez governorate, a cemetery in Aswan governorate, and in Marsa Matrouh there, next to Al-Alamein, the Sallum cemetery.

 

Inside the cemeteries of El Alamein unite one among the foremost important warfare II memorials, the Greek memorial, which was in-built 2005, 1971, and was designed per Ancient Greek architectural styles, to commemorate the death of about 320 Greek soldiers, a number of them within the cemeteries of the Commonwealth, et al within the Mary Gerges Church in Cairo.

El Alamein cemeteries also include the El Alamein Military Museum, which was inaugurated on December 16, 1965 to be a witness to the Battle of El Alamein, which befell in October 1942, and includes six main sections, the common hall, Egypt Hall, Italy Hall, Germany Hall, England Hall, and exhibition square The exposed and command center, and therefore the museum tells the story of the four main countries that participated within the Battle of El Alamein, namely Britain, Germany, Italy and Egypt, therefore the museum’s holdings are displayed in Arabic, English, German and Italian languages, and include many weapons and military uniforms, additionally to audio instructions telling the story of the battle within the four languages. within the museum's garden, many tanks, cannons and military vehicles are spread.

And these cemeteries witness an annual celebration to commemorate the battle that happened during this area within the Matrouh Governorate in northwestern Egypt quite 78 years ago. This battle, which is taken into account a turning point within the interest of the Allied forces led by General Montgomery over the Axis forces led by Rommel, and also the celebration takes place within the presence of representatives. For the Commonwealth countries, led by England, France, Canada, Greece and India, and representatives of Germany and Italy, with the participation of dozens of delegations of various countries, and variety of veterans who participated within the battles of warfare II within the Western Sahara region, additionally to the families of the soldiers who were victims of the Battle of El Alamein.

The battle of El-Alamein resulted in heavy losses, as about 13 thousand soldiers were killed from the Allies, 250 tanks that would not be repaired were lost, additionally to 250 damaged tanks, 500 cannons, and 250 aircraft, while the axis lost about 15 thousand soldiers, additionally to what happened Nearly 30,000 prisoners, losing 450 tanks, 800 guns, and 400 aircraft.

 

Although the battle of El Alamein occurred nearly 78 years ago, its tragic results are still witnessing to the present day, and its victims still fall to the present day, because the warriors left behind a satanic field of mines, where everyone planted nearly 20 million mines and an explosive object. In a section resembling 683 thousand feddans, or about 2869 square kilometers, within the area from western Alexandria to the Libyan border, and despite the efforts of the Egyptian state to get rid of it, much of it's still present.

References:

- Canadian photographer and traveller lesleyanne ryan.
- Monument to Alamin, official website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission 28 December 2013, https://www.cwgc.org/.
History of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Summers, Jolly, London, 2007.
- Tourism development in Egypt: from a geographical and planning perspective, Fathi Mohammed Masilehi, Magda Mohammed Juma, Al Majid Publishing and Distribution House, First Edition, 2004.
- Battle of Al-Alamein and its leaders, Shawki Mohammed Badran, Anglo-Egyptian Library, first edition, 1967.
- Rommel and the African Legion - Desert War, Suleiman Mahmoud Suleiman, Jamahiriya Publishing, Distribution and Advertising House, First Edition,1998.

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