Who were the Rats of Tobruk?

The Rats of Tobruk were the Australian soldiers (alongside British, Indian, Polish, and Czechoslovakian troops) who defended the Libyan port of Tobruk against German and Italian siege from 10 April to 27 November 1941. About 14,000 Australian soldiers of the 9th Division formed the core of the defending force during the eight-month siege, holding the port against the German Afrika Korps under General Erwin Rommel.

Tobruk was strategically important because of its deep-water harbour, which allowed the Royal Navy to supply Allied forces in North Africa. Holding Tobruk denied the Axis forces a major port and kept a substantial Australian force operating behind enemy lines, absorbing German and Italian troops who could otherwise have been used elsewhere. The Australian defence under Lieutenant General Sir Leslie Morshead's 9th Division broke a key element of the Wehrmacht's reputation for invincibility, having repulsed Rommel's first major Afrika Korps assault in April 1941.

Conditions during the siege were extraordinarily harsh. The defenders lived in shallow trenches and rocky outposts under constant shellfire, dust storms, extreme heat in summer and cold in winter, severe water shortages (with each soldier allocated less than half a gallon of water per day for drinking, cooking, and washing), and constant air attacks. Dysentery, scabies, and other diseases were widespread. The defenders were resupplied by the Royal Navy at night, with the Tobruk Ferry Service running destroyers and smaller ships between Alexandria and Tobruk throughout the siege.

The name 'Rats of Tobruk' came from German propaganda. Nazi propagandist William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) broadcast from Berlin calling the defenders 'caught like rats in a trap'. The defenders adopted the term proudly. Most of the Australian 9th Division was withdrawn by sea in September to October 1941 (Prime Minister Curtin had specifically requested the withdrawal of Australian forces because of growing Japanese threats in the Pacific). The siege was ended by Operation Crusader on 27 November 1941. Tobruk eventually fell to the Germans in June 1942, after the Australian forces had left, prompting controversy over the British command. The 'Rats of Tobruk' Association, formed by veterans after the war, remained an important veterans' organisation for decades. Each year on 23 October (the anniversary of the start of the Second Battle of El Alamein, which the 9th Division participated in after Tobruk), the Rats of Tobruk are commemorated. The Rats of Tobruk Memorial in Canberra at ANZAC Parade was unveiled in 1985.