FORMER ALLIES MARK 75 YEARS SINCE BATTLE OF EL ALAMEIN TURNED COURSE OF WORLD WAR II IN NORTH AFRICA

 EL ALAMEIN, EGYPT – Delegates from former foes on Saturday marked 75 years since the pivotal WWII battle of El Alamein, in which the Allies turned the tables in North Africa. Host country Egypt meanwhile mourned the killing of policemen in a desert shootout with militants.

 The commemoration, held under tight security, was marred by the Friday night shootout, which officials said left at least 54 policemen dead. The ensuing firefight was one of the deadliest for Egyptian security forces in recent years.

 Two police officials said the firefight began when security forces moved against a militant hideout in the area. Backed by armored personnel carriers and led by senior counterterrorism officers, the police contingent drew fire and rocket-propelled grenades. What happened next is not clear, but the force likely ran out of ammunition, and the militants captured several policemen and later killed them.

 Officials from 35 nations paid their respects in a ceremony at a Commonwealth cemetery on Egypt’s Mediterranean shore that holds the remains of more than 7,000 soldiers from the victorious British-led force.

 In a speech, the British ambassador to Egypt, John Casson, hailed “the sacrifices of those who gave their lives here … and thanksgiving for acknowledgement that, in the end, evil will not prevail.”

A German soldier in a tank surrenders to two soldiers belonging to the Commonwealth and Allied forces on Oct. 25, 1942, as a sandstorm clouds the battlefield at El Alamein, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) west of Alexandria, Egypt. | AFP-JIJI

 “This will be a place to remember those who fallen 75 years ago but also remembering those who are still dying and falling,” said Casson.

 Casson paid tribute to “especially those who lost their lives in this despicable terrorist attack yesterday” in Egypt’s Western Desert.

 In a speech, President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said “the memory of the thousands of victims who perished in the battle of El Alamein pushes us to renew our efforts to preserve peace, and to put more effort to establish peace, especially in the Middle East.”

 The region “is facing unprecedented crises,” his office quoted him as saying while on a visit to El Alamein Military Museum.

 El-Sissi was not seen at an open-air ceremony involving foreign dignitaries.

 The World War II Battle of El Alamein — which began on Oct. 23, 1942 — pitched the forces of British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s against the Afrika Korps of Germany’s Erwin Rommel.

 The defeat of the German and Italian troops put an end to the ambitions of Hitler and Mussolini to take over the port of Alexandria on the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal.

 The battle was a major turning point in the war, halting the advance of the Axis in North Africa and paving the way for the final victory there the following year.

 “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning,” British leader Winston Churchill famously said in the wake of the victory.

 The event on Saturday was attended by representatives from Commonwealth countries that made up the Allied force, including Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa, and those who were their sworn enemies at the time.

 Organisers from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission called the commemoration the “largest for many years” and said it “is likely to be the last on this scale.”

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/10/22/world/former-allies-mark-75-years-since-battle-el-alamein-turned-course-world-war-ii-north-africa/#.Wex4wmi0Pcs