First Battle of El Alamein

The First Battle of El Alamein was a battle during the Second World War that took place in El Alamein, Egypt. It was fought between the Allied forces, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy from July 1 to July 27 1942. It was part of the Western Desert Campaign.

German Field Marshal Commander Erwin Rommel led the Afrika Korps. British Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck led the Eighth Army, defending El Alamein from Rommel's attacking army. Italian General Ettore Bastico was also part of the battle.

The British prevented a second advance by the Axis forces into Egypt, which were 66 miles from Alexandria and dangerously close to the ports and cities of Egypt.

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First Battle Of El Alamein Media

Afrika Korps tank hunters with an Sd.Kfz. 232 armoured car in front.
Area of Western Desert Campaign 1941–1942 (Click to enlarge).
Italian anti-aircraft battery at Mersa Matrouh in June of 1942
Rommel in North Africa (June 1942).
The Western Desert Battle Area, July 1942.
25 pdr guns of the 2/8th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery at El Alamein, 12 July 1942.
A Panzer II of the Afrika Korps.
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, with his aides during the desert campaign, 1942.
Ettore Bastico, Italian marshal, commander of the Italian forces in North Africa.
A soldier inspects an Italian M13/40 tank that was knocked out near El Alamein, 11 July 1942