Sahara Desert: Did you mean...?

The shoulder flash of the British 7th Armoured Division showing a jerboa, a small rodent with a long tail that is native to the deserts of North Africa and Asia. The badge gave the division its lasting nickname, the 'Desert Rats'. The division...

A 1942 photograph of a British tank regiment soldier shaving in the desert in North Africa during the Western Desert Campaigns of the Second World War (1939-45). (Imperial War Museums)

A July 1941 photograph showing a South African desert patrol in North Africa during the Western Desert Campaigns of the Second World War (1939-45). (Imperial War Museums)

A 1942 photograph showing British soldiers in greatcoats keeping warm in the freezing desert night in North Africa during the Western Desert Campaigns of the Second World War (1939-45). (Imperial War Museums)

A map of the principal locations involved in the Western Desert Campaigns of the Second World War (1939-45).

A Messerschmitt Bf 109 (ME-109), the principal German fighter plane of the Second World War (1939-45). Shown with desert camouflage. Taken at the Flying Legends airshow in 2015.

Commemorative plaque of the first synod in the Désert at Montèzes near Monoblet, organized by Antoine Court in 1715.

Assembly in the Desert, painting by Jeanne Lombard, 1934.

A 1941 photograph of a British soldier giving a haircut to a comrade in North Africa during the Western Desert Campaigns of the Second World War (1939-45). (Imperial War Museums)

Desert kites on the Ustyurt Plateau (left) and in the northern Nefoud (right).