The LRDG area of operations between 1940-1943, known as the Western Desert, stretched about south from the Mediterranean to the Tibesti and the Jebel Uweinat mountains, and about from the Nile valley in the east to the mountains of Tunisia and Algeria in the west. Paved roads were non-existent and only small tracks and pathways crossed the area. The daytime temperatures could reach and at night drop below freezing. The only water in the area is found in a number of small oases, which is also where the only vegetation grows. While the vast majority of the 8th Army operated along the coast, the LRDG started operations inland south of the Great Sand Sea, were later based there and operated west and north, and were later based further west, well south of the coast.