I just thought I'd mention this. It isn't like Europe and the USA aren't familiar with the region.

The tank was known as "The Waltzing Matilda." It was a design by the UK. It was responsible for a great deal of the North Africa campaign against the Third Reich.

 The British Commonwealth:
circa 220,000 dead, wounded, missing and captured^[1] including 35,478 confirmed dead

The Free French were those still uncaptured and in prisons in Italy. At the time Germany saw North Africa as occupied by the Allied forces and needed to be dealt with to end any hiding places where a defeated France could reconstitute their forces. These are mostly unofficial body counts of the Allied Forces with conventional weapons when the campaign there turned around and drained the Third Reich of resources of men and officers.

 Free French:
20,000 killed, wounded and missing

 United States:
2,715 killed
8,978 wounded
6,528 missing

France was defeated in May of 1940 and the North African campaign began, albeit, without official consent June of that same year. North Africa became a campaign that could be won. Once attacks on Italian forces began in Libya the Axis countries found it necessary to reinforce their troops in the region. As a result the North African campaign began to drain the Axis Powers of assets, both, human and artillery.