Watching the war on television brought back memories of that other campaign in Libya, the one in the western Desert between 1940 and 1942 where the Allies and the Axis forces fought back and forth along those very same roads from Benghazi to Tripoli and either side. One report spoke of a siege of revolutionary forces by the government in the city of Tobruk and immediately one’s mind races back to 1941 and the gallant stand of the 8th Army.

Of course this latest conflict, and WW2 are not the only wars this region has endured. We can go back into the pages of history to the Romans and before, the Carthaginians, Ancient Egyptians and other ancient peoples who fought and died in this sun scorched land. Perhaps the only sure, yet sad fact is that this will not be the last time blood is spilt in these sands.

Join the forum discussion on this post

This website is for the memory of our loving grandfather, which we started shortly after he left us when we were 12 and 13.

The .303 Lee Enfield rifle, introduced in 1895, was the main military service rifle of the British Empire and her Commonwealth countries for over 60 years, over this period of time it went through various upgrades and modifications. The most notable alteration being the adoption of a single size of rifle in 1903 for both the cavalry and infantry use. This model had a ten round magazine, usually filled via five or ten round charging clips. It was a single shot bolt action weapon. This rifle, known as the Short Magazine Lee Enfield, or SMLE MkIII*,was still Britain’s service rifle in 1939 and was not declared obsolete and officially replaced until 1941 with another Lee Enfield, the No 4 rifle shown in the photograph above. Both models stayed in use until the end of WWII although it was the SMLE MkIII* that was used by Australian troops at Tobruk.

The American designed and manufactured Thompson .45  (11 mm) calibre sub-machine gun, made famous by the Chicago gangsters like Al ‘Scarface’ Capone and others. It went to war in WW2 and did good work. The troops called it the Tommy Gun. It was heavy, expensive and complicated to manufacture and the 50 round drum magazine took a long time to reload.

Below are three submachine guns used by Australian forces during WW2. From top to bottom: A 9mm Owen Mark 1, a .45 Thompson and a 9mm Austen Mark 1 submachine gun.

The Germans put up propaganda trying to show that Australians are rats and theives, they also called them rats because of the way the Australians dug tunnels as bomb shelters.

Surviving examples of the propaganda used specifically in Tobruk was hard to get and is probably very rare. These are the only examples I could find

The siege started on 10 April 1941 and was finally relieved at the end of November.

The rest of the garrison was made up of 12,000 British (the 3rd Armoured Brigade, 4 artillery regiments) and Indian (the 18th Indian Cavalry Regiment) troops. In three stages on moonless nights between August and October, the Australian troops and Indian cavalry were withdrawn by sea. Their replacements were the British 70th Infantry Division and the Polish Independent Carpathian Brigade with the Czechoslovak 11th Infantry Battalion under command.

The city of Tobruk had to be held as a strong point where future attacks could be launched upon German forces.

The Australian troops were up against the odds.

The German forces were twice the size of the Allies. The Germans were led by a millitary genius, Erwin  Rommel, who to that time had never been defeated in battle.

The Australians did not give up, they didnt even think about escape or surrender. They managed to hold off Rommel’s forces for 250 days.

The Australians knew they would not win on just courage alone, instead they fought the battle with their strengths rather than their weaknesses.

When Rommel charged into Tobruk with tanks the Australians attacked the infintry leaving the tanks with no ground support and giving the Australians an advantage.

When the Luftwaffe dropped waves of bombs onTobruk, the Australians didn’t fight back but instead they hid safely in Tobruk’s network of tunnels. This ensured they remained focused on the task of defending the city against the German infantry.

When the Germans retreated to regroup, the Australians didn’t wait. Instead they went on the offensive attacking German positions, stealing German artillery and then retreating back into the city without trace. The stolen artillery (known as ‘bush artillery’) was used against its creators.

The Australians who fought were outnumbered but still had courage and defended Tobruk from the attacking Germans even though Tobruk was bombed to almost nothing.

Please watch this short presentation (click next in the picture)