History Main / DesertWarfare

-->-- '''Duke Leto Atreides''', ''{{Literature/Dune}}''

* ''ComicBook/{{Commando}}'' stories set in North Africa during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII will often have desert fighting between British forces and Rommel's Afrika Korps as a staple.

!Examples:

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

* The Ishval Civil War in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' was fought in the Ishval region, a harsh desert region that is the setting's [[FantasyCounterpartCulture equivalent of the Middle East.]] Overlaps with UrbanWarfare as well, with much fighting taking place in densely populated towns in the area.
* In ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed'', the ''Archangel'' makes landfall in the Sahara Desert upon reaching Earth, way off-course from their intended landing zone of Alaska. The local ZAFT forces in the region are led by Andrew Waldfeld, the "Desert Tiger," who immediately begins operations to destroy the ''Archangel.'' Kira, who has only been fighting in space up to this point, has to adjust to fighting in both atmospheric and desert conditions, taking into account things like heat throwing off his beam rifle's trajectory and the soft sandy environment hindering the Strike Gundam's mobility.

[[folder: Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/FuryPeacemaker'': Fury is captured by Germans in the African theater and released, getting rescued by British fighters with a guerilla approach to warfare. This influences Fury's later approach to special-ops warfare, though by the end of ''ComicBook/FuryMyWarGoneBy'' he realizes ElitesAreMoreGlamorous was a very bad mindset that ignored the crucial necessity of having foot soldiers do most of the work.

[[folder: Fan Works]]

[[folder: Film]]

* ''Film/{{Jarhead}}'' follows USMC Scout Snipers during the Gulf War, who become frustrated as the wide open space makes their expertise obsolete. One marine explains how long it took the front to advance in WWII and Vietnam, compared to the fast pace of desert warfare with fighter jets.

* ''Film/Sahara1943'', starring Creator/HumphreyBogart. It has all the tropes related to this and ThirstyDesert, with the main characters initially focusing on CrossingTheDesert and looking for water. It later becomes this once the Germans start advancing towards the well that they hold.
* ''Film/TheDesertFox'' has the first third of the film set in North Africa, showing through StockFootage the losing situation for the Axis forces in North Africa.
* The 2018 Chinese war movie ''Operation Red Sea'' takes place in [[{{Qurac}} Yewaire]], an obvious {{Expy}} of the Yemen civilian evacuation that occurred in March 2015. A major action setpiece involves a [[EpicTankOnTankAction tank battle]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbrl7drJzxs in the desert]] as an enormous sandstorm descends upon the region.
* ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'' depicting the Battle of Hattin and the beginning of the Third Crusade.

* ''Film/StarshipTroopers'': the invasion of the Bug homeworld sees the Marines fighting in deserts and mountains.
* ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/AttackOfTheClones'': The desert planet of Geonosis becomes the site of the first battle between the newly-formed Republic Clone Army and Separatist droid forces.
* Referenced in, of all things, ''Film/TheBigLebowski''; Walther compares his experiences from Vietnam with the upcoming Operation Desert Storm.
--> We're going to see a lot of tank battles, but fighting in the desert's a lot different from fighting in the jungle....
* ''Film/{{Border}}'': This 1997 Bollywood movie is about the Battle of Longewalla fought during the [[UsefulNotes/TheIndoPakistanConflict 1971 Indo-Pak war]] in the Thar desert in Rajasthan. A heavy weapons company defends a remote forward desert outpost close to the Pakistan border, against an onslaught by an entire Pakistani tank battalion.

[[folder: Literature]]

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''

* ''{{Literature/Dune}}'': As shown in the page quote, House Atreides, and later the Fremen, make use of this, as the desert planet of Arrakis is utterly devoid of any water, and air power is risky due to the huge, deadly sandstorms. Desert power is achieved because the Fremen can ride on the great sand-worms instead, and are able to go anywhere they want because they know the desert, unlike the Harkonnen forces.
* ''Literature/GenerationKill'' and its tv adaptation depict the story of a Marine Force Recon unit during the Invasion of Iraq in 2003.

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]
* The 1960s show ''Series/TheRatPatrol'' depicts the adventures of the title Allied combat team against the German Afrika Korps in the Libyan desert during World War Two.

[[folder: Music]]
* ''Music/{{Sabaton}}'': Their song "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" from ''The Great War'' ConceptAlbum about UsefulNotes/WorldWarI tells the story of UsefulNotes/TELawrence, popularly known as Lawrence of Arabia, and his fight with the Arab Revolt, raiding [[UsefulNotes/TurksWithTroops Ottoman]] railway lines in the sands of UsefulNotes/TheMiddleEast.

[[folder: Video Games]]
* The ''VideoGame/{{ARMA}}'' series:
** Sahrani in ''Arma: Armed Assault'' (a.k.a Arma 1) has a desert in a section of the southern part of the map (as well South Sahrani troops use desert-based camouflage) but it also has parts with Mediterranean climate and coniferous forests.
** ''Arma 2'''s expansion ''Operation Arrowhead'' introduces a series of desert maps in the fictional country of "[[{{Qurac}} Takistan]]" inspired in Afghanistan and Iraq.
* ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor''
** ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorUnderground'': "Hunting the Desert Fox" takes place in Morocco, North Africa just before Operation ''Torch'' is about to commence. Manon herself is forced to fight the infantry and Panzers of the Afrika Korps, all the while having to signal in the Allied invasion fleet and then make her escape.
** ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorAlliedAssault'' and its ''Breathrough'' expansion cover Operation Torch and the Tunisia campaign, respectively.
** Subverted in ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorAirborne'', where the mission set in North Africa is merely a JustifiedTutorial.
* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty''

** ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' has this overlapped with UrbanWarfare in the US Marine campaign of the first game. The second game, meanwhile has four levels set in Afghanistan.
* ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'' is set in Dubai, and in this case overlaps with UrbanWarfare.
* ''VideoGame/{{Stronghold}}'' ''Crusader'', set in the Holy Land during the Third Crusade.
* ''VideoGame/HomeworldDesertsOfKharak'' is, as the subtitle describes, set in the Great Banded Desert of Kharak, which takes up the vast majority of the planet's surface and is claiming more territory each year. The entire reason the [[TheAlliance Northern Coalition]] even mounts the expedition to the Jaraci Object (later revealed to be the first city on the planet and the remains of the transport ship that brought the Kushan people to Kharak) is because they hope the discovery will help boost the Coalition's space program and allow the Kharakians to flee the dying world. They are opposed by the fanatical Gaalsiens, who have used the technology from crashed ships to build a powerful force of advanced vehicles. Both sides are based around a [[MilitaryMashupMachine land carrier]], which acts similar to the Mothership in the original ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}''.

* ''VideoGame/SniperElite3'' takes place in the North African theater of World War II.
* ''VideoGame/Battlefield1'' has maps in the Arabian desert, and the final War Story campaign occurs there.

* ''VideoGame/Uncharted3DrakesDeception'' takes place in the Rub al'Khali desert in the Arabian peninsula as Drake and a [[BedouinRescueService local Bedouin tribe]] race to stop Talbot and Marlowe from reaching the lost city of Ubar.

* ''VideoGame/HalfLife'': ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'', ''VideoGame/HalfLifeBlueShift'', and ''VideoGame/HalfLifeOpposingForce'' all take place in the New Mexico desert, of which the Black Mesa Research Facility is built in and around of. During the Xen and subsequent Race X invasions that happen, the HECU, Black Ops, Black Mesa Science Team and Security Force fight against the AlienInvasion as well as each other, with the Xen and Race X aliens themselves also competing. Ultimately, following the Nihilanth's death at Gordon Freeman's hands, the Race X Invasion ends up triumphing, with their main opponents becoming the Black Ops team sent to replace the HECU following their failure to contain the invasion. [[spoiler:After the Black Ops themselves end up being overwhelmed as well, they resort to [[NukeEm detonating a nuclear warhead]] in Black Mesa, ending the invasion for good.]]
* ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'', being a FanRemake of ''Half-Life'', features intense combat between the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit of the US Marine Corps fighting against the Xen Invasion and the Black Mesa Science Team simultaneously in both the Black Mesa Research Facility and the surrounding desert. This fighting is most evident in ''Surface Tension'', where the Marines call in air, artillery, and armored support against the now-reinforced Xen invaders who have themselves brought in heavy units in the form of Gargantuas, Alien Grunts, and Manta Ray craft. Much like in the original, the HECU are eventually forced to retreat from Black Mesa after taking heavy casualties, with air and artillery strikes then directed against the facility.

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals'' most of the campaign involved witht he fight against GLA is set in the middle east.

[[folder: Web Original]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/StarshipTroopersTraitorOfMars'' takes place on Mars, where terraforming has made the planet suitable for human habitation but is still basically one big desert.

[[folder: Real Life]]

[[/folder]]

* The 2018 Chinese war movie ''Operation Red Sea'' takes place in [[{{Qurac}} Yewaire]], an obvious {{Expy}} of the Yemen civilian evacuation that occurred in March 2015. A major action setpiece involves a [[EpicTankonTankAction tank battle]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbrl7drJzxs in the desert]] as an enormous sandstorm descends upon the region.

* Many ''VideoGame/WorldOfTanks'' matches will feel like this, particularly the more desolate desert maps like El Halluf, Sand River, or Ghost Town. Tanks will kick up clouds of sand, concealment is limited to whatever scrub grows in the few green spots on the map, and the lack of cover will generally favor tanks that can either dodge quickly or deflect enemy fire with their armor.