Mersa Matruh
Mersa Matruh is a port in Egypt and the capital of Matrouh Governorate. It is located 240 km west of Alexandria and 222 km east of Sallum on the main highway from the Nile Delta to the Libyan border. The city is also accessible from the south via another highway running through the Western Desert towards Siwa Oasis and Bahariya Oasis.
History
Mersa Matruh started as a small fishing town during Ancient Egyptian times and the reign of Alexander The Great and was named Amunia. There are ruins of a temple for Ramesses II (1200 BC). The city became known as Paraitonion in the Ptolemaic era. Ovid wrote that its goddess is Isis. After Egypt came under Roman rule, the town became an important harbour for trade and shipping goods and crops to Rome.
After the Arabic conquest, the city's name changed to Al-Baretoun. The city also bore other names from at least the beginning of the 20th century – Berek Marsa, Port Mhaddra (Mithr) and Port Bardiah.
During World War II, the British Army's Baggush Box was located to the east. Starting with the completion of an extension from the previous railhead at Fuka in February 1936, Mersa Matruh was the terminus for a single-track railway, which passed through El Alamein. Mersa Matruh served as a vital British military base during World War II and was a major objective of Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps, which captured it during the Battle of Mersa Matruh.