Your generous donation will be used to ensure the memory of our Defence Forces and what they have done for us, and what they continue to do for our freedom remains – today and into the future. The six month siege, crucially involving many Australians, was a pivotal WWII battle between the Allied and Axis forces in Northern Africa. Tobruk, Libya. Tobruk, strategic Libyan port abandoned by the Nazis, was reoccupied by the British, Nov. 13, 1942. Our collection contains a wealth of material to help you research and find your connection with the wartime experiences of the brave men and women who served in Australia’s military forces. The first image presents a map of location, in which the first mission of the campaign takes place. Between Apr and Nov 1941, the Allies suffered over 3,000 casualties and 941 captured, most of whom were Australian. They’re the tools of the trade, and you just had to go with it, and you had to depend on your mates.”. Tobruk, port, northeastern Libya. Siege of Tobruk. In 1941 Tobruk had held out for eight months (10 April-16/17 December 1941), after being besieged towards the end of Rommel's First Offensive. In the initial battle, the Australians held off the Nazi attack. The success of the campaign came with a cost however. The Australian War Memorial acknowledges the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia. Men of the 2/13th Australian Infantry Battalion 'digging in'. By mid-1941, the Australian forces had become weary. It is also surrounded by steep escarpments, which make it easy to fortify against attack from the land. They lived in dug-outs, caves and crevices for months on end, enduring searing heat during the day and bitter cold at night, as well as hellish dust storms. The Siege of Tobruk (Arabic:حصار طبرق) was a series of North African-theatre battles of World War II, fought in 1941-2 between Nazi German attackers and Australian defenders, over the town's invaluable harbor. Supplies of food and water decreased, and the troops were plagued by flies, fleas and illness. However, 2/13 Battalion could not be evacuated and was still there when the siege was lifted on 10 December, the only unit present for the entire siege. They lived in … With the Afrika Korp distracted, Tobruk could be relieved. There were some 14,000 Australian troops and 12,000 … The Australian withdrawal began in the August and continued through to October by fast warships non-moon period. Places of Pride, the National Register of War Memorials, is a new initiative designed to record the locations and photographs of every publicly accessible memorial across Australia. These ships included the Australian destroyers Napier, Nizam, Stuart, Vendetta and Voyager. They endured the desert’s searing heat, the bitterly cold nights, and hellish dust storms. A relieving infantry section of the 9th Australian Division is wished good luck by the departing section as they leave their dugout. Battles, History, WW2 / May 17, 2020 May 17, 2020 / Leave a Comment / By Kretaner / 1941 / 7 minutes of reading. General Sikorski visiting Polish soldiers in Tobruk.Matilda tanks at Tobruk, September 1941On 15 June, Wavell had launched Operation Battleaxe, a land offensive intended to relieve Tobruk. “Ship of the desert”. The Axis capture of Tobruk, also known as the Fall of Tobruk and the Second Battle of Tobruk (17–21 June 1942) was part of the Western Desert Campaign in Libya during the Second World War. The Australian War Memorial describes it as one of the longest sieges in British military history. We recognise their continuing connection to land, sea and waters. On 24 March, Rommel launched his first offensive with the newly arrived Afrika Korps. An outstanding documentary series following the fortunes of Australian and New Zealand forces through World War 2 Come and see why. Australia, 2020 Premier’s Anzac Spirit School Prize – Results, Premier’s Anzac Spirit School Prize Winners. It was, like the Battle of Britain, a bright note for the Allies in the aftermath of a string of defeats across western Europe by Hitler’s Wehrmacht … Rommel realised that he had an opportunity to capture Tobruk before the Allies had time to organise a defence, and so quickly pushed forward with an attack on the town’s port on the 10th of April. Siege of Tobruk ends. By early April he had destroyed most of Major-General Michael Gambier-Parry's 2nd Armoured Division's tanks (British 3rd Armoured Brigade) and severely damaged its 2nd Support Group at Mersa Brega, leaving the road south of the Jebel Akhdar (Green Mountains) to Mechili open. Half the Australian garrison was relieved in August, the rest in September-October. ), as … The siege of Tobruk from April to December 1941. “There were no trees on the joint at all, and [when we arrived] we thought, God. When the morning came, there was this great heap of old Italian guns … but the biggest problem was they were all in the metric system, and we’d been trained in the imperial system, so you had to convert it all. Those who served there became known as 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. German forced first advanced on Cyrenaica, located in Libya’s eastern coastal region, where British forces were caught off guard, resulting in a retreat of several hundred miles towards Tobruk. Australian casualties from the 9th Division from 8th April to 25th October numbered 749 killed, 1,996 wounded and 604 prisoners. This photo shows Tobruk harbor and the city beyond, with fires burning, when it was previously captured by British forces early in 1941. Directed by Václav Marhoul. Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill said the memorial being installed at the Tobruk Memorial Baths would commemorate the lives of the thousands of Australian soldiers that fought during the siege that began on 10 April in 1941. Siege of Tobruk. After a few months, however, purely defensive operations gave way to patrols. All rights reserved. Australian War Memorial, Canberra. These forays outside friendly lines were broken into two categories: reconnaissance and fighting. Use this login for Shop items, and image, film, sound reproductions, Units which took part in the seige of Tobruk, Photograph: First Australian VC Winner of the Second World War, Biography of Lieutenant General Leslie James Morshead. The Relief of Tobruk 2021 Lieutenant-General Thomas Blamey, as commander of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), with the support of the Australian government, requested the withdrawal of the 9th Division from Tobruk. Over the centuries, Tobruk also served as a waystation along the coastal caravan route. What You Need To Know About The Siege Of Tobruk Tobruk was the only deep water port in Eastern Libya and as a consequence it had been heavily fortified by its former Italian garrison. Siege of Tobruk Advancing west along the Libyan coast, the 6th Division captured Tobruk from the Italians on 21–22 January 1941 and the town became a garrison for the Australian and British forces. The siege on Tobruk was lifted in late Nov due to the success of the Allied Operation Crusader offensive which began on 18 Nov 1941. In January 1941, Australians fought their first major land battle in World War II when men of the 6th Division AIF, and other Allied troops, engaged Italian forces at the town of Bardia on the coast of Libya. The total losses in the 9th Division and attached troops from 1st March to 15th December amounded to 832 killed, 2,177 wounded and 941 prisoners. The 70th Infantry Division, the Polish Carpathian Brigade and Czechoslovak 11th Infantry Battalion (East) replaced the withdrawn forces. The Rats of Tobruk were soldiers of the Australian-led garrison that held the Libyan port of Tobruk against the Afrika Corps during the Siege of Tobruk in World War II. But then, having captured Allied battle plans and stopped an advance on Tobruk, he saw an opportunity. When General Wavell's army captured Tobruk in January 1941 some 25,000 Italian troops were taken prisoner. Between April and August 1941 around 14,000 Australian soldiers were besieged in Tobruk by a German–Italian army commanded by General Erwin Rommel. (Read more about the capture of Tobruk here. For eight long months, surrounded by German and Italian forces, the men of the Tobruk garrison, mostly Australians, withstood tank attacks, artillery barrages, and daily bombings. It was the site of Antipyrgos, an ancient Greek agricultural colony, and thereafter a Roman fortress guarding the Cyrenaican frontier. The German Afrika Corps under the command of General Erwin Rommel had commenced the offensive which drove the British forces eastwards across the desert to the Egyptian frontier. Racing around the advancing enemy, he tried to cut them off from the rear. During World War II Tobruk changed hands several times and was the focus of some of … For much of the siege, Tobruk was defended by the 9th Australian Division, the 18th Brigade of the 7th Division and RAN ships that provided gunfire support, supplies and fresh troops and by ferrying out the wounded. Later, almost exclusively at night, a fighting patrol would act on viable targets found, operating under the simplest of guidelines: do as much damage as you can without getting caught. Men of the 2/13th Australian Infantry Battalion 'digging in'. The ensuing nine-month siege catapulted Tobruk from obscurity to headlines around the world, a cause célèbre. The capture of Tobruk was essential for an advance on Alexandria and Suez. Over 40,000 Italian prisoners were taken. (AP Photo). 581 contains a brief history of the siege, based on Chester Wilmot’s book Tobruk, 1941: Capture, Siege, Relief, Angus & Robertson, Sydney & London,1945. There are various markers on the map, showing the most important places (goals of the mission, the main routes, etc. The battle was between Axis and Allied Forces. With Jan Meduna, Petr Vanek, Robert Nebrenský, Michal Novotný. The battle started on 11 April 1941, when Tobruk was besieged by an Italian and Nazi German force commanded by … Engineers who find life in a comfortable dugout furnished with bits from wrecked ships. We pay our respects to elders past and present. In the Australian Official History of World War Two, recorded casualties for the 9th Australian Division from 8 April – 25 October (including two days before the siege started) numbered 749 killed, 1,996 wounded and 604 prisoners. In early March, one of Hitler’s best generals, Erwin Rommel, with his Afrika Korps came to the aid of their Italian allies in Libya. The Australian War Memorial was voted the number one landmark in Australia by travellers in the 2016 Trip Advisor awards. Advancing west along the Libyan coast, the 6th Australian Division captured Tobruk from the Italians on 21-22 January 1941. Once joined by the Tobruk garrison, the combined forces would then press the offensive westwards, driving the Germans as far ba… The battle was fought by Panzer Army Africa (Panzerarmee Afrika/Armata Corazzata Africa) an Axis (German–Italian) military force in north Africa, which included the Afrika Korps, led by Generalleutnant Erwin Rommel) and forces from the United Kingdom, India, South Africa and Allied contingents in the British Eighth Army (Gene… This opened with an attack on the Axis frontier postions. Tobruk Tobruk is a tiny but significant harbor on the coastline of Cyrenaica. “These men carried the name ‘Rats of Tobruk’ with honour and with humour, representing those traits with which Australian service personnel have long been associated – dedication, determination and a larrikin wit.”, 2016 Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Centenary of Anzac, Dan Tehan, https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-siege-of-tobruk, https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/tobruk, https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1124777.shtml, https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/wars-and-missions/world-war-ii-1939-1945/events/libya-and-siege-tobruk-1941, Level 4 The town became a garrison for the Australian and British forces under the command of Lieutenant General Leslie Morshead. Come April, German Field Marshal, Erwin Rommel, had set his sights on Tobruk. The year 1941 had been a dark one for the Allies. This photo shows Tobruk harbor and the city beyond, with fires burning, when it was previously captured by British … Overview of the siege of Tobruk: this document from the AWM Files of Research No. Tobruk. British tanks wait in foreground. ), Tobruk, strategic Libyan port abandoned by the Nazis, was reoccupied by the British, Nov. 13, 1942. There were a few picks there, and we were told, you’d better get to work and see if you can dig a hole for yourself because you’ll get some guns in the morning. Adelaide SA 5000 The Germans conquered all before them but Tobruk held out against Rommel and stood in the way of his advance towards Egypt and the Suez Canal. Under siege, the defenders were under constant artillery and air bombardment. The siege of Tobruk (17-21 June 1942) was one of the more embarrassing British defeats in North Africa, and helped to reduce Churchill's confidence in General Auchinleck's abilities as a commander. The Siege of Tobruk was a confrontation that lasted for 241 days between Axis and Allied forces in North Africa during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. Tobruk was subject to repeated ground assaults and almost constant shelling and bombing. The Siege of Tobruk was a battle in Libya during the North African Campaign of World War II. The siege of Tobruk (10 April-16/17 December 1941) saw a beleaguered Allied garrison hold out for eight months against German and Italian attacks, and helped prevent Rommel taking full advantage of his victory in his first offensive, which had seen him conquer Cyrenaica only a few weeks after it had fallen to the British. 151 Pirie St By 1911, Tobruk had become an Italian military post, but during World War II, Allied forces, mainly the Australian 6th Division, took Tobruk on 22 January 1941. Siege of Tobruk filmed by British Army Film Unit, story line in commentary. From August 1941 until the end of the Siege of Tobruk in December 1941 (Part III). German siege of British and Commonwealth troops in Tobruk in North Africa in World War II. He brought forward along the coast road, elements of the 1… The defiance of the defenders of Tobruk raised morale in the countries of the British Empire and Commonwealth. After capturing the frontier, the brigades of the 7th Armoured Division were intended to reform and continue on north to relieve Tobruk. (Read more about the capture of Tobruk here.) 1941-10-21. Australians withdrawn and replaced by Polish troops and ending the siege. He also wanted to unite Australian forces in the Middle East to strengthen defences. General Archibald Wavell, the Commander-in-Chief of Middle East Command, ordered Morshead to defend the port for eight weeks; the Australians held on for over five months. The Siege of Tobruk took place in 1942 and was part of the North Africa Theater of World War II. On 10 April 1941, the long and famous Siege of Tobruk began. Blamey wrote that the health of the Australian division had deteriorated “to the point where it was no longer capable of resisting attack”. The next year, the city was captured by the Germans in a second battle. The Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy provided the garrison's link to the outside world, the so-called 'Tobruk ferry'. It was agreed that the troops would be withdrawn, however special considerations had to be made to ensure that air attacks on troop ships were avoided. Before WW2 its inhabitants figures about 4,000 citizens, residing in several 100 white-colored 10 am to 5 pm daily (except Christmas Day), Get your ticket to visit: awm.gov.au/visit, Copyright Because he was preparing to take Tobruk, Rommel didn’t fall into the trap. On June 21, 1942, General Erwin Rommel turns his assault on the British-Allied garrison at Tobruk, Libya, into victory, as his panzer division occupies the North African port. Losses comprised two destroyers, including HMAS Waterhen, three sloops, including HMAS Parramatta, and 21 smaller vessels. The total losses in the 9th Division and attached troops from 1st March to 15th December amounted to 832 killed, 2,177 wounded and 941 prisoners. During the Siege of Tobruk, which lasted from February to November 1941, during World War II, German and Italian troops, led by General Erwin Rommel, gained control of the city of Tobruk in Libya. Italian Actions in the Siege of Tobruk “Always beating against the unbreakable barrier of the Bologna Division” These are the words of an Italian war correspondent on 1 December 1941, when describing the fighting spirit of Major-General Carlo Gotti’s Bologna Division, which had fought off repeated attacks from the 70th Infantry Division, the largely British garrison defending Tobruk. It's the Tobruk Fortress and the surrounding mountain areas. Set in the Libyan Desert in WW2 a battalion of Czech soldiers face the siege of Tobruk. The Axis suffered about 8,000 casualties. During the first phase of the offensive, the Rats were mostly concerned with constructing and reinforcing their defences and observing the enemy. Apart from providing information on the enemy, sometimes these reconnaissance patrols entailed the capture or field interrogation of an enemy. It lasted for 241 days. The Nazi propagandist Lord Haw Haw (William Joyce) derided the tenacious defenders as 'rats', a term that the Australian soldiers embraced as an ironic compliment. The 9th of December 2016 is the 75th anniversary of the lifting of the siege of Tobruk, the port on the north coast of Libya that proved such a thorn in the side of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel during the eight months that the siege lasted. It was vital for the Allies' defence of Egypt and the Suez Canal to hold the town with its harbour, as this forced the enemy to bring most of their supplies overland from the port of Tripoli, across 1500 km of desert, as well as diverting troops from their advance. Its capture was essential for an advance on Alexandria and Suez. Tobruk was the site of an ancient Greek colony and, later, of a Roman fortress guarding the frontier of Cyrenaica. The Siege of Tobruk took place in the Western Desert of North Africa in 1941 at the height of the Second World War. On 3-5 January 1941, the Italian positions were attacked and Bardia was captured. Tobruk is the most important port in northern Africa, because its deep water allows large ships to dock there. The successes of Axis forces during the Siege of Tobruk were largely due to Rommel’s ability to launch effective defenses against British tank forces. Outlines the events leading up to and during the siege. 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