Coming soon to YouTube
What happened
In April 1941, Rommel's German and Italian forces chased the British and Australians back across Libya to the small port of Tobruk. About 24,000 fighting men dug in behind its Italian-built perimeter, with the sea at their backs.
Rommel told his wife Tobruk would fall "in ten days or a fortnight". German leaflets invited the men to surrender by waving white handkerchiefs. Their general reported that, with the dust and water rationing, none were available.
German radio sneered at the men living in holes in the ground as rats. They took the name with relish, and made themselves medals out of scrap: "Presented by Lord Haw Haw to the Tobruk Rats, 1941".
By the end, most of the Australians had gone: their government insisted they come home, and the navy swapped them out by night. One battalion, the 2/13th, missed the last boat. It fought the break-out and walked out in December.
Sources (87)
The sources behind this episode's script. Where we couldn't read one in full, it says so. Links go to the original where it's online.
Australian official history (Maughan, B., Tobruk and El Alamein, Australia in the War of 1939–1945, Series 1 Army, Vol. III, AWM, 1966). Read in full for chapters 4–10 via AWM PDFs; OCR, so verify page numbers in print.
- Volume record: awm.gov.au
- Ch. 4 "At Bay – The Easter Battle", pp. 111–158: s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com
- Ch. 5 "Striking Back", pp. 159–194: s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com
- Ch. 6 "Assault Withstood", pp. 195–235: s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com
- Ch. 7 "Midsummer in the Fortress": s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com
- Ch. 8 "Last Counter-attack and a Controversial Relief", pp. 305–383: s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com
- Ch. 9 "Parting Shots and Farewell Salutes", pp. 384–417: s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com
- Ch. 10 "Ed Duda", pp. 418–513: s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com
- Index: s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com
Primary: German side
- Liddell Hart, B. H. (ed.), The Rommel Papers (Collins, 1953). archive.org text: archive.org (letters of 14, 16, 22, 23 April, 6 May 1941; pp. 121–132; footnote on Wilmot)
- Halder, F., The Halder War Journal (US translation, 1947), entry of 23 April 1941: archive.org
- Afrika Korps war diary (KTB), 10 April 1941, as translated on Rommelsriposte: rommelsriposte.com (blog translation; T2–T3)
Australian War Memorial
- Encyclopedia, "Tobruk": awm.gov.au
- Siege of Tobruk 80th anniversary: awm.gov.au
- Wartime 54, "The great siege": awm.gov.au
- Wartime (Burness), Morshead article: awm.gov.au (issue attribution unclear)
- Rat medal, RELAWM20120: awm.gov.au
- Blog, "Medals of a Rat" (Gist, 31 Aug 2011): awm.gov.au
- William Joyce photo record, P1077904: awm.gov.au
- Edmondson VC, P10676284: awm.gov.au
- Photo 020277, bush artillery: awm.gov.au
- Photo 041852 (multinational group, Oct 1941). Referenced via the Anzac Portal; catalogue page not opened.
- Blog, "Reports of proceedings: the Tobruk ferry and HMAS Waterhen" (Cronk): awm.gov.au
- Tobruk diaries (schools resource and blog): awm.gov.au ; awm.gov.au ; awm.gov.au
- Riches, L., AWM Summer Scholar paper (2012): awm.gov.au
- Film footage F07086 (the 1944 film's New Guinea scenes being shot): awm.gov.au
- War Stories: Rats of Tobruk (AWM YouTube, 2011): youtube.com
DVA / Anzac Portal
- Tobruk 1941: anzacportal.dva.gov.au
- Leslie Morshead: anzacportal.dva.gov.au
- John Wade oral history: anzacportal.dva.gov.au
- Pte Richard Gordon Hughes (film): anzacportal.dva.gov.au
- DVA 80th anniversary page (returned "not found" on our fetch): dva.gov.au
- Bob Semple obituary: dva.gov.au
Oral histories
- UNSW Australians at War Film Archive: Ken Hall (No. 6): australiansatwarfilmarchive.unsw.edu.au ; Richard Gordon Hughes (No. 49): australiansatwarfilmarchive.unsw.edu.au
Trove: 1941–45 Australian newspapers
- Argus 14 Apr 1941 p1: trove.nla.gov.au
- Argus 15 Apr 1941 p1: trove.nla.gov.au
- Argus 19 Apr 1941 p3: trove.nla.gov.au
- Argus 22 Apr 1941 p1: trove.nla.gov.au
- Argus 28 Apr 1941 p1: trove.nla.gov.au
- Argus 8 May 1941 p1: trove.nla.gov.au
- Argus 1 Jul 1941 p3: trove.nla.gov.au
- Gippsland Times 28 Aug 1941 p1: trove.nla.gov.au
- Argus 28 Aug 1941 p5: trove.nla.gov.au
- SMH 6 Sep 1941 p12, "The 'Rats of Tobruk'" (Harriott): trove.nla.gov.au
- Advertiser 9 Sep 1941 p6: trove.nla.gov.au
- Argus 18 Sep 1941 p1: trove.nla.gov.au
- Argus 8 Oct 1941 p4: trove.nla.gov.au
- Argus 11 Oct 1941 p4: trove.nla.gov.au
- Argus 13 Oct 1941 p4: trove.nla.gov.au
- SMH 23 Oct 1941 p10: trove.nla.gov.au
- Argus 24 Oct 1941 p4: trove.nla.gov.au
- Border Watch 30 Oct 1941 p4: trove.nla.gov.au
- Argus 20 Nov 1941 p5: trove.nla.gov.au
- Argus 24 Nov 1941 p5: trove.nla.gov.au
- Argus 25 Nov 1941 p3: trove.nla.gov.au
- SMH 1 Dec 1941 p8: trove.nla.gov.au
- Argus 30 Dec 1941 p3, "Tobruk 'rats' award own medals": trove.nla.gov.au
- Australian Women's Weekly 16 May 1942 p15: trove.nla.gov.au
- West Australian 28 Jul 1945 p3: trove.nla.gov.au
Papers Past (NZ press, via DigitalNZ)
- Evening Post 15 Apr 1941 (Italian communiqué): paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
- Evening Post 22 May 1941 (Tobruk Truth "always appears"): paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
- Evening Post 19 Jul 1941 (Rome radio "tins of jam"): paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
- Ellesmere Guardian 14 Oct 1941 (camouflage): paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
- Ellesmere Guardian 13 Nov 1941 (bush artillery, news sheet): paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
- Evening Post 24 Mar 1943 and 26 Aug 1943 ("Rats of Tobruk" usage): paperspast.natlib.govt.nz ; paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
- Evening Post 8 Mar 1945 (film advert, Haw-Haw origin): paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Other institutions and references
- State Library Victoria, Tobruk Truth 14 Apr 1941 (MS 9643) and the rat-medal item: ergo.slv.vic.gov.au ; ergo.slv.vic.gov.au
- ACT Library, "The Rats of Tobruk": library.act.gov.au
- Rats of Tobruk Association, "Why the name": ratsoftobrukassociation.org.au ; "Vale Australia's last Rat of Tobruk": ratsoftobrukassociation.org.au
- Tank Museum, jerboa stencil: tankmuseum.org
- Navy Sea Power Centre (Scrap Iron Flotilla; snippet only): seapower.navy.gov.au
- Churchill Archives catalogue (4 May 1941 telegram): archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk
- ADB, Morshead (JavaScript-only; snippet): adb.anu.edu.au
- uboat.net (HMAS Parramatta, U-559)
- Canberra Times (AAP), 6 Aug 2024, "Last Rat of Tobruk dies": canberratimes.com.au
- Local press on veterans: jimboombatimes.com.au ; veteranssa.sa.gov.au ; citynews.com.au
Books not read directly (cited via others)
- Wilmot, C., Tobruk 1941 (Angus & Robertson, 1944): via Maughan and Liddell Hart.
- Moore, J. M., Morshead (1976): via the Anzac Portal.
- FitzSimons, P., Tobruk (HarperCollins, 2006); Johnston, M.; Stockings, C.: not consulted.
- Churchill, W. S., The Grand Alliance (1950): cables quoted via Maughan.
- Mitcham, S. (2008), on Streich: via Wikipedia.
- Playfair, I. S. O., The Mediterranean and Middle East vol. II: via Wikipedia (ship losses).
Films
- ASO, The Rats of Tobruk, curator's notes (Paul Byrnes): aso.gov.au
- Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org) ; en.wikipedia.org) ; en.wikipedia.org) ; en.wikipedia.org) ; en.wikipedia.org)
- AFI catalog, The Desert Rats: catalog.afi.com
- Chauvel Cinema: chauvelcinema.com
- NFSA, Desert War: pro.nfsa.gov.au