Italy and Nazi Germany fought against the British in a very long desert campaign.
Key point: North Africa might be desert, but is open, flat tank country. Here is how the Axis and Allies duked it out with some of their best tanks and leaders.
The North African campaign has been aptly described as a “tactician’s paradise and quartermaster’s hell.” The contested area was large, stretching some 1,400 miles from Tripoli in the west to Alexandria in the east, a vast expanse of waterless desert wastes. In spite of the eviscerating heat, sandstorms, and swarms of flies, the desert was ideal for mobile warfare. It has been said that the infantry is the “queen of battles,” but in North Africa the “crown” was passed to that unique form of AFV (Armored Fighting Vehicle), the tank.