[Image] 25 Pounder at the Australian War Memorial

August, 2008. Australian War Memorial

The 25 Pounder Heavy Field Gun.

A British 25 Pounder Heavy Artillery piece is as returned from service with the 9th Division in the Western Desert Campaign. This actual gun was used during the Battle of El Alamein in the attack that stopped Rommel's final drive across North Africa and is on public display at the Australian War Memorial at Canberra, Australia.

It sits on a heavy steel base plate that acts as a means with which to anchor and turn the gun on uneven ground, like the sand or rock of the Western Desert. It fires the standard commonwealth High Explosive charge but was also capable of firing Armour Piercing, Chemical, Smoke and Flare rounds. This gun is said by many to be the best artillery piece of the Second World War, though there are just as many supporters of the German 88mm.

The 25 Pounder was the standard artillery piece of both the Royal Australian Artillery as well as the Royal Horse Artillery, the British Artillery Regiment, that aided the Australian Infantry with the defence of Tobruk during the siege by the Afrika Korps in 1941.

Several of these guns, along with countless crates of ammunition, were captured by the Germans at Mersa Matruh in Rommel's rapid advance towards Alexandria in 1942. These same guns were turned upon the 2/48th Infantry Battalion during the Battle of El Alamein with devastating effect. The 2/48th retook the guns within a short period of time and again set them upon the fleeing Germans.

All accounts from Tobruk that I have read all say that without the support of the Royal Horse Artillery the Siege of Tobruk would have been over very quickly. Tobruk was the perfect example of Australian Infantry and British Cavalry and Artillery working as one cohesive unit.

image courtesy of Robert Snewin. Used with permission.

This post is a direct reponse to the question asked by Douglas Chan who wanted to know what were the Royal Horse Artillery guns used during the Siege of Tobruk. I hope this helps Douglas. Good luck with your project!

[Image] Anzac Day 2008, Tobruk, Libya.

April 25th, 2008, Tobruk, Libya.

An impromptu dawn service at Tobruk.

On a cold, windy Libyan April morning a small group of expat Australians and a few English gather at the Australian Memorial at the Tobruk War Cemetery. With no official consular representation or organised service these dedicated few gathered together to say a few words in memorial to the Rats of Tobruk that never came home to taste the glory of a proud nation.

I find it extremely sad that there was no official Australian Government representative at Tobruk on Anzac Day. It seems that it is up to a few of us to remind the world of the extreme sacrifice undertaken by them on our behalf.

It is my sincere hope to be there at Tobruk on Anzac Day, 2011 for the 70th Anniversary memorial. If the Australian government wont see fit to appropriately honour these men then I will do it myself, by any means possible.

image news.ninemsn.com.au

[Memorial] Alamein 9th Division Memorial

22nd December, 2006. El Alamein, Egypt.

The 9th Division Memorial.

This is a modern photo of the 9th Division Memorial at Alamein. The site of the major battle's of 1942 has now been built upon, as evidenced by the buildings in the background. A 5 star hotel now stands on the site of the 2/17th's front line positions during the 2nd Battle of Alamein.

image by Acad Ronin from Wikipedia Commons. Click on the image for a high resolution shot.

[Image] Tobruk (c.2002 in colour)

The lone Fig Tree still stands north of the Derna Road

During the Siege of Tobruk, the 9th Division operated a Regimental Aid Post (RAP) in a cave underneath the lone fig tree just north of the Derna Road and behind the Red Line. The cave, like the fig tree is still there.

Weapons pits of the Red Line still virtually untouched.

Only time itself seems to have been in these weapon pits since the departure of the allied forces from Tobruk. There is even still, in 2002, evidence of spent shell casings and magazines found in these trenches.

The Harbour as it was in 2002.

And this is what the whole thing was all about. Whoever controlled the deep water harbour in Tobruk, the only deep water port between Egypt and Tripoli, could rapidly move troops and supplies via sea rather than transport them up to 1,200 miles over the harsh desert.

Holding Tobruk for the time that they did meant that the Australian's and English troops there delayed the Battle of El Alamein until a time when the Allies were adequately reinforced and supplied. It seems weird to see the harbour in colour and without the wrecks of so many ships in it.

images from Galen R. Frysinger, Wisconsin, USA. http://www.galenfrysinger.com/tobruk_libya.htm