The story
- German · calque ofWüstenfuchs
- English todayDesert Fox
Possibly a calque of German Wüstenfuchs, in reference to the terrain in which the North African campaign was fought, and the popular conception of the slyness of the fox. Not clear whether it was coined in British or German media first, as the respective term arose in each language near-simultaneously.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.