Allies advance in Libya. At the height of the Allied pursuit of the Axis forces heavy rain fell in the Western Desert turning the sand and dust into mud and flooding low-lying parts. It made things difficult for the Axis, but even more so for the British troops, like these General Grant tanks ploughing through a wet and muddy stretch of road

Tanks in mass culture. Tanks were first developed separately and simultaneously by Great Britain and France as a means to break the deadlock of trench warfare on the Western Front. Their first use in combat was by the British Army in September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. The name "tank" was adopted by the British during the early stages of their development, as a security measure to conceal their purpose.