Chapter 24

JAN 1941 TOBRUK IN NORTH AFRICA FALLS TO THE BRITISH

“Tobruk was the only deep water port in Eastern Libya and as a consequence it had been heavily fortified by its former Italian garrison. The capture of Tobruk was essential for an advance on Alexandria and Suez.

In April 1941, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel made its capture the main objective of his first offensive in North Africa. British forces ibn Libya’s eastern coastal region of Cyrenaica were caught completely by surprise and retreated several hundred miles across the desert towards Tobruk.

Realising that he had a chance to capture Tobruk before the Allies had time to organize a defense, Rommel pushed forward. The 9th Australian Division, supported by British tanks and artillery, repulsed initial German assaults on 10 – 14 April 1941, and even when the fresh 15th Panzer Division was committed to the attack on 30 April, the defenders held on.

Under siege, the defenders had to adjust to life in stifling heat, under constant artillery and air bombardment. Supplies of food and water decreased, and the troops were plagued by flies, fleas and illness. Nevertheless, morale remained high – the Australians adopting the ironic nickname “The Rats of Tobruk”, in response to reports that Nazi radio propagandist “Lord Haw Haw” had described them as being caught “like rats in a trap” in one of his broadcasts.

The Australians provided the mainstay of the Tobruk defence force until August, when they were withdrawn and replaced by the British 70th Division, with the attached Polish Carpathian Brigade.

British forces lifted the siege on 10 December 1941 during Operation “Crusader” when the 1st Army Tank Brigade linked up with a “break out” force from Tobruk – the 32nd Army Tank Brigade – at Ed Duda, to the southeast of town.”

Amanda Mason Imperial War Museum (2018)

The cat and mouse game with the German Armored forces under command of Field Marshal Rommel and the British troops in North Africa started with a mad dash of several hundred miles across the desert sands and winding up in the fortress of Tobruk.

The fact that the Australian forces were able to defend the position for the better part of a year frustrated Rommel and enraged Hitler back in Berlin. One of the notable facts was that the siege ended on 10 December 1941, only three days after the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy. That startling news must have changed the long range thinking of war planners on both sides of the conflict and it must have changed General Rommel into a primarily defensive posture in all future engagements. That must have contributed to his eventual falling out with Hitler and his participation in the assassination attempt on the Fuhrer’s life towards the end of the war. He committed suicide rather than face the firing squad in an unseemly and dishonorable manner.

The Australian defenders of Tobruk during the year of 1941 were a different cut of soldier from the regular British Army. There was no doubt that they were courageous and loyal and dedicated to the same level but they were to a certain extent a bit undisciplined and likely to take risks and endure hardships to a greater degree due to their rough environment and the frontier spirit that permeated the enlisted ranks. The officers were more likely to listen to the senior non-commissioned officers with actual respect for their opinion and most of the field officers were to a large extent more like the enlisted fighters than in the British or German armed forces. In the American military ranks, probably only the Marine Corps evidenced that sort of comradeship that linked officers and enlisted together in a brotherhood of survival.

The Australian forces were somewhat unique at that time period because they were almost one hundred percent Caucasian without the mix found in the British or the American ranks. The German were, of course, almost completely Aryan due to the Fuhrer’s obsession with the “Master Race”. In fact, the concept of “Surrender” was not in the Australian vocabulary because of their wild and independent views on life and honor. The Australians were somewhat itchy to get back to their native Australia because they had received numerous reports that the Imperial Japanese Navy was making threatening gestures to their homeland. That did happen before the end of the Tobruk chapter of life and death on the North African battlefield.

Throughout the year of 1941, the Nazi forces had air superiority because the bulk of the British Air power was hard at work in the Battle of Britain to protect the civilian slice of that island kingdom from the assault of the Luftwaffe in twenty four hour around the clock bombing of London and most of the major cities in the country. When the Luftwaffe was stretched for resources to continue the heavy bombing, the Nazi scientists introduced the art of rocket artillery into warfare with the huge missiles launched from positions many miles away inside occupied France.