Landmines from External Powers in World War II at El-Alamein in Egypt

For over 50 years, since the end of World War II (WWII), Egyptians have been paying the price of conflicts they were not responsible for. During the decisive battle in WWII at El-Alamein between the British Eighth Army under General Bernard Montgomery and the German-Italian troops under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, landmines were extensively implanted in the Western Desert of Egypt. The large-scale mining process in the Egyptian desert started even before the battle of El-Alamein, when the British forces decided to establish a defensive line on Egypt’s western borders against Italian attacks launched from Libya in 1940. From September to December 1940, the fight was only between the British and the Italian troops until Rommel arrived at Tripoli with his African Corps in February 1941.