During WW1 British tanks had a huge problem with sand as it was so coarse, rough, irritating, and it got everywhere (see image in description). Did tanks in North Africa have as big of a sand problem and how did they cope with it? Thank you

Out of the Foxholes Questions
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British tank in the Palestine front with an engineer who wasn’t granted the rank of master:
image

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I can only give a basic answer but the short answer is Yes, sand was a major issue

I remember reading somewhere that the British and Germans lost more tanks, vehicles and equipment to the sand than actual combat in North Africa as moving parts and sand do not mix well.

Both the British and Germans created makeshift deflectors to try to minimize sand from getting into various areas of the vehicles. All had varying degrees of success but in the end the sand always won.

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No wonder the engineer who wasn’t granted the rank of master hated sand.

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This is still a major issue today and changes maintenance requirements considerably. I believe the calling it sand might be a bit of a misnomer as I have heard it’s more about dust clogging everything but then even heavier, sand is also quite an abrasive. No fun but maybe not as bad as Russian mud, jungle rot etc.

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