Atlas of Battles

battle, major, interwar and Second World War

Battle of Alam el Halfa

Battle of Alam el Halfa was a battle fought on 30 August 1942 at El Alamein, in what is now Egypt; it lasted 6 days. It was part of the Mediterranean and Middle East Theater of World War II, which ran from 1940 to 1945. The recorded result: British victory.

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Italian XX Motorised Corps (XX Corpo d'Armata), commanded by General De Stefanis.
Italian XX Motorised Corps (XX Corpo d'Armata), commanded by General De Stefanis.. Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Fought30 August 1942lasted 6 days
WhereEl Alamein, Egypt30.667N, 29.167E
OutcomeBritish victory
Part ofMediterranean and Middle East Theater of World War II1940 to 1945

Where it sits in the Mediterranean and Middle East Theater of World War II

Battle of the Espero Convoy, 1940Battle of Cape Spada, 1940Battle of Cape Passero, 1940Battle of Sidi Barrani, 1940Siege of Giarabub, 1940Battle of Kufra, 1941Operation Sonnenblume, 1941Battle of Cape Matapan, 1941Siege of Tobruk, 1941Battle of the Tarigo Convoy, 1941Battle of the Duisburg Convoy, 1941Battle of Cape Bon, 1941First Battle of Sirte, 1941Raid on Alexandria, 1941Second Battle of Sirte, 1942Battle of Gazala, 1942Battle of Bir Hakeim, 1942Axis capture of Tobruk, 1942Battle of Mersa Matruh, 1942Battle of Alam el Halfa, 1942Battle of Skerki Bank, 1942Battle of the Gulf of Gabes, 1943Battle of the Cigno Convoy, 1943Battle of Enfidaville, 1943Battle of the Campobasso Convoy, 1943Battle of Rhodes, 1943Battle of Leros, 1943Battle of Kos, 1943Action of 1 November 1944, 1944Battle of Ist, 1944Raid on Santorini, 1944Battle of Port Cros, 1944Battle of La Ciotat, 1944Battle of the Ligurian Sea, 194519401945Battle of Alam el Halfa, 1942
34 placed engagements of the Mediterranean and Middle East Theater of World War II in time order; taller ticks are more widely documented. Each tick is a link.

Record

Date30 August 1942
to 5 September 1942
PlaceEl Alamein, Egypt
30.667N, 29.167E
KindBattle, interwar and Second World War
Battle of Alam el HalfaBattle of Alam el HalfaSecond Battle of El AlameinFirst Battle of El AlameinOutpost SnipeRaid on AlexandriaSiege of AlexandriaSecond Battle of El AlameinOutpost SnipeRaid on AlexandriaSiege of AlexandriaDamanhûrRashidEl Daba100 km30.667N, 29.167E
The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

The ground today

Relief of the ground around the site of Battle of Alam el Halfa
Relief within about 10.0 km of the site, contours every 10 m. Copernicus DEM GLO-30, ESA.
Satellite view of the site of Battle of Alam el Halfa today
The same ground from Sentinel-2 on 2024-06-19. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2024.

The recorded site stands at about 110 m; within 10.0 km the ground runs from 59 to 133 m, 74 m of relief, gently rolling country and today it is 100% bare ground.

bare ground: 100%bare ground 100%
west to east, 10.0 km92 to 128 mnorth to south, 10.0 km69 to 116 m
Elevation from the Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (ESA, Airbus); land cover from ESA WorldCover 2021 (CC BY 4.0), within about 5 km of the recorded site. Computed, not recorded.

Nearest engagements

In the same war

Elsewhere in 1942

Combat data (CDB90)

Attacker: GER & ITAL PZ ARMY AFRICADefender: BR 8TH ARMY
Strength124,000120,000
Casualties2,940 (2.4%)1,750 (1.5%)
Mission accomplishment, 1 to 1057
Outcomedefender won
Duration3.1 days
Front width90 km90 km
Attacker advanced12 km

From the US Army Concepts Analysis Agency Database of Battles (CDB90, battle 386), public domain, in the CC0 tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold. Figures are the database's estimates, compiled in 1990 from published histories, and may differ from the Wikipedia infobox above.

Battle of Alam el Halfa is one of 2,997 engagements of the 20th century in the atlas and one of 110 in present-day Egypt.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q541997, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Battle of Alam el Halfa, revision 1384387220, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.