Rows of headstones
Identical white graves.
Roland Unger — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Einsamer Schütze — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mona Hassan Abo-Abda — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Peter Astbury — CC BY 3.0 · Unknown — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Unknown — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Einsamer Schütze — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Einsamer Schütze — CC BY-SA 3.0
The military cemetery for Commonwealth soldiers who fell in the Western Desert campaigns of the Second World War, above all the Second Battle of El Alamein in October and November 1942, which halted the Axis advance on Alexandria and the Suez Canal. It holds more than seven thousand two hundred graves of soldiers from Britain, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa and elsewhere, more than eight hundred of them unidentified. The identical white headstones stand in long, orderly rows among flowering desert plants, with the stone Cross of Sacrifice at the centre. At its entrance is the Alamein Memorial, a stone cloister whose walls bear the names of more than eight thousand five hundred soldiers with no known grave. The nations that fought in the battle hold commemorations here every October. Entry is free, and it opens daily from seven in the morning to five according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission; quiet and respect are expected. It is close to the military museum, so pair the two in one visit.
Identical white graves.
Names with no grave.
Yearly ceremonies.
East of El Alamein town, on the coast road
Yes, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website has a database of names and grave locations to use before your visit.
