First Battle of El Alamein 1942
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 1 July 1942 – 27 July 1942 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1942 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | Egypt | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Africa | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Battles of El Alamein, Western Desert campaign | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Axis Powers, United Kingdom | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 30.8414, 28.9428 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The First Battle of El Alamein (1–27 July 1942) was a battle of the Western Desert campaign of World War II, fought in Egypt between Axis (German and Italian) forces of the Panzer Army Africa—which included the Afrika Korps under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel—and Allied (British Empire and Commonwealth) forces of the Eighth Army under General Claude Auchinleck.
In this battle the British halted a second advance by the Axis forces into Egypt. Axis positions near El Alamein, only 106 km (66 mi) from Alexandria, were dangerously close to the ports and cities of Egypt, the base facilities of the Commonwealth forces and the Suez Canal. However, the Axis forces were too far from their base at Tripoli in Libya to remain at El Alamein indefinitely, which led both sides to accumulate supplies for more offensives, against the constraints of time and distance.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article First Battle of El Alamein (revision 1378815069), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the Western Desert campaign
- Battle of Sidi Barrani 1940
- Siege of Giarabub 1940
- Capture of Kufra 1941
- Operation Sonnenblume 1941
- Battle of Alam el Halfa 1942
- Battle of Gazala 1942
- Battle of Mersa Matruh 1942
- Second Battle of El Alamein 1942
All 9 battles of the Western Desert campaign →
Browse more: battles in Egypt · Africa · World War II era battles