1.
First Battle of El Alamein
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The British prevented a second advance by the Axis forces into Egypt. Since General Ritchie had virtually no armoured units left fit to fight, to defend the Matruh line, Ritchie placed 10th Indian Infantry Division and 50th Infantry Division under X Corps HQ, newly arrived from Syria. The 1st Armoured Division had taken over 4th and 22nd Armoured Brigades from 7th Armoured Division which by this time had three tank regiments between them. On 25 June, General Claude Auchinleck—Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command—relieved Ritchie and he decided not to seek a decisive confrontation at the Mersa Matruh position. He decided instead to employ delaying tactics while withdrawing a further 100 miles or more east to a defensible position near El Alamein on the Mediterranean coast. While preparing the Alamein positions, Auchinleck fought strong delaying actions, first at Mersa Matruh on 26–27 June, the result was poor co-ordination between the two forward Corps and units within them. Late on 26 June, the 90th Light and 21st Panzer Divisions managed to find their way through the minefields in the centre of the front, early on 27 June, resuming its advance, the 90th Light was checked by British 50th Divisions artillery. Meanwhile, the 15th and 21st Panzer Divisions advanced east above, the 15th Panzer were blocked by 4th Armoured and 7th Motor Brigades, but the 21st Panzer were ordered on to attack Minqar Qaim. Rommel ordered 90th Light to resume its advance, requiring it to cut the coast road behind 50th Division by the evening, as the 21st Panzer moved on Minqar Qaim, the 2nd New Zealand Division found itself surrounded. It succeeded in breaking out on the night of 27 June without serious losses, Auchinleck had planned a second delaying position at Fuka, some 30 mi east of Matruh, and at 21,20 he issued the orders for a withdrawal to Fuka. Confusion in communication led the division withdrawing immediately to the El Alamein position, X Corps, having made an unsuccessful attempt to secure a position on the escarpment, were out of touch with Eighth Army from 19,30 until 04,30 the next morning. Only then did they discover that the order had been given. The withdrawal of XIII Corps had left the flank of X Corps on the coast at Matruh exposed. They were ordered to break out southwards into the desert and then make their way east, Auchinleck ordered XIII Corps to provide support but they were in no position to do so. At 21,00 on 28 June, X Corps—organised into brigade groups—headed south, in the darkness, there was considerable confusion as they came across enemy units laagered for the night. In the process, 5th Indian Division in particular sustained heavy casualties, Axis forces captured more than 6,000 prisoners, in addition to 40 tanks and an enormous quantity of supplies. Alamein itself was a railway station on the coast. Some 10 mi to the lay the Ruweisat Ridge, a low stony ridge that nonetheless gave excellent observation for many miles over the surrounding desert
2.
Second Battle of El Alamein
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The Second Battle of El Alamein was a decisive battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein. With the Allies victorious, it marked the watershed of the Western Desert Campaign, the First Battle of El Alamein had prevented the Axis from advancing further into Egypt. The British victory turned the tide in the North African Campaign and ended the Axis threat to Egypt, the Suez Canal, the Second Battle of El Alamein revived the morale of the Allies, being the first big success against the Axis since Operation Crusader in late 1941. The battle coincided with the Allied invasion of French North Africa in Operation Torch, which started on 8 November, as well as the Battle of Stalingrad and this threatened the British Empires control of the Suez Canal and Mandatory Palestine. General Claude Auchinleck withdrew the Eighth Army to within 80 kilometres of Alexandria to a point where the Qattara Depression came to within 64 kilometres of El Alamein on the coast. This gave the defenders a short front to defend and provided secure flanks because tanks could not traverse the Depression, the Axis advance was halted here in early July in the First Battle of El Alamein. The Eighth Army counter-offensives during July failed, as Rommel had dug in to allow his troops to regroup. Auchinleck called off all offensive action at the end of July to allow rebuilding the Eighth Armys strength. The attack failed in this battle at the Alamein line, better known as the Battle of Alam el Halfa, expecting a counter-attack by Montgomerys Eighth Army. The factors that had favoured the Eighth Armys defensive plan in the First Battle of El Alamein, the front line. Rommel, furthermore, had plenty of time to prepare his defensive positions and lay extensive minefields, Alexander and Montgomery were determined to establish a superiority of forces sufficient not only to achieve a breakthrough but also to exploit it and destroy Panzer Army Africa. The British had an advantage, signals intelligence from Ultra and local sources, exposed the Axis order of battle, its supply position, force disposition. A reorganisation of the function in Africa in July had also improved the integration of intelligence received from all sources. With rare exceptions, intelligence identified the ships destined for North Africa, their location or routing and in most cases their cargoes. By 25 October, Panzer Army fuel stocks were down to three days supply, of only two days worth were east of Tobruk. Did not possess the operational freedom of movement that was essential in consideration of the fact that the British offensive can be expected to start any day. Submarine and air transport somewhat eased the shortage of ammunition and by late October, after six more weeks, the Eighth Army was ready,195,000 men and 1,029 tanks began the offensive against the 116,000 men and 547 tanks of Panzer Army Africa. Montgomerys plan was for an attack to the north of the line
3.
El Alamein
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El Alamein is a town in the northern Matrouh Governorate of Egypt. Located on the Mediterranean Sea, it lies 106 kilometres west of Alexandria and 240 kilometres northwest of Cairo, as of 2007, it had a local population of 7,397 inhabitants. El Alamein has a hot climate, in common with most of the Middle East. However, like the rest of the northern coast of Egypt, its climate is less hot, compared to the rest of Egypt. El Alamein has a war museum with collectibles from the civil war, 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 name, many are simply marked IGNOTO. 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, the names of 213 Canadian airmen appear on the Alamein Memorial in Egypt. The cemetery was designed by Sir J. Hubert Worthington, at the Second Battle of El Alamein Allied forces broke the Axis line and forced them all the way back to Tunisia. Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister at the time, said of this victory, Now this is not 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. El Alamein International Airport Marina El Alamein Enham Alamein El Alamein Fountain Falling Rain Genomics, geographical information on Al Alamayn, Egypt. El Alamein photos, Commonwealth war cemetery, Italian and German memorial, El Alamein war museum, Egypt
4.
Governorates of Egypt
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Governorates are the first-level of the subdivisions. Egypt is divided, for administrative purposes, into twenty-seven governorates, egyptian governorates are the top tier of the countrys jurisdiction hierarchy. A governorate is administered by a governor, who is appointed by the President of Egypt, most governorates have a population density of more than one thousand per km², while the three largest have a population density of less than two per km². Governorates are either fully urban or else a mixture of urban, the official distinction between urban and rural is reflected in the lower tiers, i. e. fully urban governorates have no regions, as the markaz is, natively, a conglomeration of villages. Moreover, governorates may comprise just one city, as in the case of Cairo Governorate or Alexandria Governorate, hence, these one-city governorates are only divided into districts. Cairo Governorate consists of 41 districts, Alexandria Governorate consists of 7, two new governorates were created in April 2008, Helwan and 6th of October. In April 2011, however, the 6th of October and Helwan governorates were again incorporated into the Cairo and Giza Governorates, respectively. Luxor was created in December 2009, to be the 29th governorate of Egypt, but with the abolition of the 6th of October and Helwan governorates, before 1979, local government traditionally enjoyed limited power in Egypts highly centralized state. Under the central government, there were twenty-six governorates and these were subdivided into regions, each of which was further subdivided into towns or villages. At each level, there was a structure that combined representative councils and government-appointed executive organs headed by governors, district officers. Governors were appointed by the president, and they, in turn, the coercive backbone of the state apparatus ran downward from the Ministry of Interior through the governors executive organs to the district police station and the village headman. Before the 1952 revolution, state penetration of the areas was limited by the power of local notables. However, under Nasser, land reform reduced their socioeconomic dominance, the extension of officials into the countryside permitted the regime to bring development and services to the village. State penetration did not retreat under Sadat and Mubarak, the earlier effort to mobilize peasants and deliver services disappeared as the local party and cooperative withered, but administrative controls over the peasants remained intact. The local power of the old families and the headmen revived, the district police station balanced the notables, and the system of local government integrated them into the regime. Sadat took several measures to decentralize power to the provinces and towns, governors acquired more authority under Law Number 43 of 1979, which reduced the administrative and budgetary controls of the central government over the provinces. The elected councils acquired, at least formally, the right to approve or disapprove the local budget, in an effort to reduce local demands on the central treasury, local government was given wider powers to raise local taxes. Local representative councils became vehicles of pressure for government spending, under Mubarak decentralization and local autonomy became more of a reality, and local policies often reflected special local conditions
5.
Matrouh Governorate
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Matrouh Governorate is one of the governorates of Egypt. Located in the part of the country, it borders Libya. The interior of the Matrouh Governorate is part of Egypts Western Desert, including the Siwa Oasis, in the center of the Governorate is the Qattara Depression, descending to 133 metres below sea level. Marsa Matrouh is the ancient Paraetonium and it was the westernmost city of Aegyptus as defined in the Hellenistic period. The city of Apis, some 18 km to the west of Paraetonium, marked the boundary to Libycus Nomus, Matrouh Governorate contains many historical sites related to World War II. The latter include El Alamein, which comprises cemeteries of fallen soldiers from Axis, an estimated 16 million mines, planted by the Europeans during the world wars, still hinder development of most of the governorate, and are constantly being removed. The province has been described as religiously conservative, according to population estimates from 2015 the majority of residents in the governorate live in urban areas, with an urbanization rate of 70. 6%. Out of an estimated 447,846 people residing in the governorate,316,005 people live in areas as opposed to only 131,841 in rural areas
6.
Eastern European Time
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Eastern European Time is one of the names of UTC+02,00 time zone,2 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. The zone uses daylight saving time, so that it uses UTC+03,00 during the summer, a number of African countries use UTC+02,00 all year long, where it is called Central Africa Time, although Egypt and Libya also use the term Eastern European Time. The following countries, parts of countries, and territories use Eastern European Time all year round, Egypt, since 21 April 2015, used EEST from 1988–2010, Kaliningrad Oblast, since 26 October 2014, also used EET in years 1945 and 1991–2011. Libya, since 27 October 2013, switched from Central European Time, used year-round EET from 1980–1981, 1990–1996 and 1998–2012. Belarus, in years 1922–30 and 1990–2011 In Poland this time was used in years 1918–22, in time of World War II, Germany implemented MET in east occupied territories. Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol used EET as part of Ukraine in years 1991-94 and 1996-2014 Turkey, used EET in years 1910-1978, now uses year round DST timezone called Further-eastern European Time or Turkey Time. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus also uses FET, sometimes, due to its use on Microsoft Windows, FLE Standard Time or GTB Standard Time are used to refer to Eastern European Time. Since political, in addition to geographical, criteria are used in the drawing of time zones. The EET time zone, were it drawn by purely geographical terms, the easternmost part of the Republic of Macedonia, including the city of Strumica. The absolutely easternmost part of Serbia, in the Pirot District, the easternmost town in Norway, Vardø, lies at 30°51 E, which is located east of even of the central meridian of UTC+2, i. e. east of Istanbul and Alexandria. The Norwegian-Russian border is the place where CET borders Moscow time. There is a point at the Norway-Finland-Russia tripoint, near the town of Rayakoski. Belarus is located between 23°11′E and 32°47′E and is fully located with the physical UTC+2 area, but it uses UTC+3 year around. This also includes the city of Anapa, at the westernmost tip of the Krasnodar Krai near the entrance to the Sea of Azov, the Norway–Russia–Finland tri-zone point at Muotkavaara is surrounded by three different times in winter, two in summer. It had three time zones year-around before 2014, two of the four tripoints of Belarus and the tripoint of the Kaliningrad Region are surrounded by three different times in winter
7.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
8.
Mediterranean Sea
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The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a separate body of water. The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning inland or in the middle of land and it covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2, but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar. In oceanography, it is called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has a depth of 1,500 m. The sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia and it is located between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west-east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun, the seas average north-south length, from Croatia’s southern shore to Libya, is approximately 800 km. The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, has an area of approximately 2,510,000 square km. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade, the history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri, the term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning amid the earth or between land, as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ancient Greek name Mesogeios, is similarly from μέσο, between + γη, land, earth) and it can be compared with the Ancient Greek name Mesopotamia, meaning between rivers. The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names, for example, the Carthaginians called it the Syrian Sea and latter Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum, and occasionally Mare Internum. Another name was the Sea of the Philistines, from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites, the sea is also called the Great Sea in the General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer. In Ottoman Turkish, it has also been called Bahr-i Sefid, in Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon, the Middle Sea, reflecting the Seas name in ancient Greek, Latin, and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East. Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr al-Mutawassiṭ, in Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz, the White Sea since among Turks the white colour represents the west. Several ancient civilisations were located around the Mediterranean shores, and were influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonisation, and war, as well as food for numerous communities throughout the ages, due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history. Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilisations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states, later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum
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Egypt
