Siege of Tobruk (1941): How the Rats of Tobruk Held Out

The Siege of Tobruk was the defence of the Libyan port of Tobruk by an Allied garrison, led at first by the 9th Australian Division, against German and Italian forces under Erwin Rommel. It lasted about 241 days, from April to late November 1941. The defenders, who became known as the “Rats of Tobruk”, stopped Rommel from advancing safely into Egypt and became one of the most celebrated episodes in Australian military history.

Background

Italy had declared war on Britain in June 1940 and invaded Egypt from its colony of Libya in September. In Operation Compass, from December 1940 to February 1941, a much smaller British and Commonwealth force routed the Italians, capturing Tobruk on 22 January 1941 with Australian troops in the assault.

Hitler sent German help. In February 1941 Erwin Rommel arrived in Libya with the first units of what became the Afrika Korps. At the same time, many experienced British and Commonwealth units were withdrawn from Libya to fight in Greece. Rommel attacked on 24 March, earlier than expected, and drove the weakened British forces back across Cyrenaica within a few weeks.

Tobruk, with the only good harbour between Benghazi and the Egyptian border, became the place where the retreat had to stop. The British commander in the Middle East, General Archibald Wavell, decided it must be held.

The garrison

The defence was commanded by the Australian Lieutenant General Leslie Morshead, known to his troops as “Ming the Merciless” for his strict discipline. His force was built around the 9th Australian Division and the 18th Australian Infantry Brigade, with British artillery and tank units and the Indian 18th Cavalry. In all, the garrison numbered around 25,000 to 30,000 men.

They held a perimeter of about 50 kilometres, based on concrete posts built earlier by the Italians, strengthened with new minefields and wire. Morshead insisted on an aggressive defence: his troops patrolled no man’s land at night, raided enemy positions and made it clear there would be no retreat.

What happened

Axis forces surrounded Tobruk by 10–11 April 1941. Rommel expected the port to fall quickly. On the night of 13–14 April, during what became known as the Easter Battle, German tanks broke through the outer line, but the defenders let them pass and then cut off the following infantry while British artillery fired on the tanks at close range. The attack failed with heavy losses.

A larger assault at the end of April took the area around Ras el Medauar on the south-western perimeter after several days of fighting, but again the defenders held. After this Rommel settled into a siege, since he lacked the strength to take the fortress and to advance into Egypt at the same time.

Life in the fortress settled into a hard routine. Soldiers lived in dugouts and caves cut into the rocky ground, sheltered from the heat by day and manning posts and patrols by night. Water was rationed, fresh food was rare, and many men suffered from dysentery and desert sores. Yet the garrison also produced its own newspaper and found ways to swim in the harbour between air raids.

For months the garrison endured heat, dust, flies, shortages of water and constant shelling and air attack. British attempts to relieve Tobruk, Operation Brevity in May and the larger Operation Battleaxe in June 1941, both failed.

The lifeline by sea

Supplies, reinforcements and the wounded moved by sea. Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy destroyers, sloops and small craft ran into the harbour at night, unloaded quickly and left before dawn. The route between Alexandria and Tobruk became known as the “Tobruk Ferry”, and the old Australian destroyers that ran it were nicknamed the “Scrap Iron Flotilla”. Many ships were lost to air attack, including the Australian destroyer HMAS Waterhen in June 1941.

The Australians are relieved

From mid-1941 the Australian government, concerned about the health of its exhausted troops and keen to reunite its forces, pressed for the 9th Division to be withdrawn. Between August and October most Australians were taken out by sea and replaced by the British 70th Division under Major General Ronald Scobie, the Polish Independent Carpathian Brigade under Stanisław Kopański and a Czechoslovak battalion. One Australian battalion stayed until the end of the siege.

The withdrawal was controversial. The British commanders, including General Claude Auchinleck, who had replaced Wavell in July, argued that the relief was risky and used scarce shipping. The Australian government, under three prime ministers in quick succession, Robert Menzies, Arthur Fadden and John Curtin, insisted. The convoys that carried the Australians out also lost ships to air attack.

Relief and losses

In November 1941 the British Eighth Army launched Operation Crusader to relieve Tobruk. The garrison broke out towards Ed Duda and, on 27 November, linked up with New Zealand troops, ending the siege. Heavy fighting continued, and Rommel withdrew westward in early December.

During Operation Crusader, British, Commonwealth and South African forces fought a confused series of tank battles around Sidi Rezegh, south-east of the fortress, while Rommel made a daring raid towards the Egyptian frontier. Losses on both sides were heavy, but the Axis armies were eventually forced back to El Agheila, where Rommel had begun his advance nine months earlier.

The Australian War Memorial puts Australian casualties during the siege at about 3,000, including more than 800 killed and about 940 taken prisoner. British, Indian, Polish and Czechoslovak units also suffered significant losses.

Myths and facts

“The name came from Lord Haw-Haw.” The German propaganda broadcaster William Joyce is often credited with calling the garrison rats, but the exact origin of the phrase is uncertain. What is clear is that the defenders adopted it as a badge of honour.

“Tobruk was an Australian siege only.” The 9th Australian Division bore the main burden for most of the siege, but British gunners and tank crews fought throughout, and by the end most of the garrison was British, Polish and Czechoslovak.

Legacy

Tobruk’s defence showed that Rommel could be stopped, at a time when German forces seemed unbeatable. In Australia, the “Rats of Tobruk” take their place in national memory alongside the Anzacs of the Gallipoli campaign. The 9th Australian Division went on to play a key role at the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1942.

The port’s later history was less happy for the Allies. On 21 June 1942 Rommel captured Tobruk in a single day, taking about 33,000 prisoners, a defeat that shocked Churchill and Britain.

Timeline

• 1941, 22 January: Australian and British troops capture Tobruk from Italy.
• 1941, 24 March: Rommel begins his offensive in Cyrenaica.
• 1941, 10–11 April: Axis forces surround Tobruk.
• 1941, 13–14 April: The Easter Battle; the first German assault is repulsed.
• 1941, 30 April – 4 May: Rommel’s second major assault gains ground at Ras el Medauar.
• 1941, 15–17 June: Operation Battleaxe fails to relieve the port.
• 1941, August–October: Most Australian troops are replaced by British, Polish and Czechoslovak units.
• 1941, 27 November: The garrison links up with relieving forces during Operation Crusader.

Why it matters

The Siege of Tobruk was the first serious check to Rommel in North Africa and a symbol of Allied endurance in 1941. It shaped the desert war that would end with Axis defeat in North Africa in 1943.