Until a few years ago the army used to conduct field exercises around our area twice every year. Once in summer & once in winter. The intetreting thing about winter exercises being that every now & then You would see a tank got stuck in sand as the stream flowing by our village would dry up during winter months. It was both weird & pretty amusing at the same time. They always had a pulling vehicle that we used to call a crane & I remember very clearly that on one occasion even that crane had difficulty in pulling that tank out of the sand. Rest of the formation had moved on leaving that tank behind & it was after 2 days that a pulling vehicle came over & pulled it out.
Considering the fact that it was only the dry bed of seasonal stream & the difficulty tanks had in that sand & then comprehending how it must have been for tanks & their crews down south in desert areas was a bit worrying.
I hope the situation is different now.