[Memorial] Australian War Memorial, Tobruk

Sunset.

16th October, 1941. Tobruk, Libya.

The unveiling of the Australian War Memorial.

This photograph was taken at the official ceremony to commemorate the unveiling of the tablet on the Australian War Memorial at the Tobruk War Cemetery. The memorial, built entirely by sappers of the Royal Australian Engineers, included a marble tablet inlaid at the base of the memorial.

The inscription reads;

"Here is hallowed ground, for here lie those that died for their country".

Major General Leslie Morshead officiated the official dedication of the war memorial to honour the Australian fallen of the Tobruk campaign. It would be some years before Maj. Gen. Morshead was to return to this site but return he did to honour his Rats of Tobruk.

image 020988 Australian War Memorial.

[Image] The P.M. and the Private.

5th August, 1942. El Alamein, Egypt.

The Hon. Sir Winston Churchill.

The Prime Minister of England, Sir Winston Churchill, visits the 9th Division forward lines at Alamein. Dressed in Suit, Tie and with Pith Helmet, Mr Churchill uses a horsehair fly swatter to keep the insects at bay. He smokes one of his trademark cigars whilst he is escorted by Major General L.J. Morshead, GOC 9th Australian Division.

And the Private.

SX13319 Pvt. Stanley Collins

2/23rd Infantry Battalion.

When touring the front lines Mr Churchill stopped to speak with Pvt. Collins of Adelaide. What happened next ensured that Pvt. Collins was the most famous man in the 9th Division for a day. He bummed a cigar off the Prime Minister of England.

When later asked by curious mates if he intended to smoke it, Pvt. Collins joked that he was going to take it home have it sealed in glass and would then pass it down as a family heirloom. Pvt. Collins survived the war, discharging in September, 1946 as Staff Sergeant Collins. It is not currently known if he did indeed take the cigar home with him in early 1943.

images 024760, 013354 & 013355 Australian War Memorial.

[Quote] Lieutenant-General Morshead

On the 22nd December, 1942 the Commander of the 9th Division, NX8 Lieutenant-General Morshead addressed the Division at Gaza Airport, Palestine in their final parade before embarking for home and the war in New Guinea. Lieutenant-General Morshead said;

"The battle of Alamein has made history, and you are in the proud position of having taken a major part in that great victory. Your reputation as fighters has always been famous but I do not believe you have ever fought with greater bravery or distinction than you did during that battle when you broke the German and Italian armies in the Western Desert."

- quote: Barton Maughan, "Tobruk and El Alamein", Canberra, 1966, p. 752

- image p03014.003 Australian War Memorial.

[Image] Tobruk Patrol by Day

Image taken from "Active Service - with Australia in the Middle East". Australian War Memorial 1941.

A patrol of 9th Division troops goes outside the wire of Tobruk's defenses into no mans land. Patrols like this constantly harassed the enemy at Tobruk. It was commonly felt amongst Australian troops that they "owned no-man's land". Major-General Leslie Morshead, commander of the Tobruk garrison implemented a series of relentless patrolling around the besieged troops in a constant source of concern for both Germans and Italians alike.

The patrol pictured appears to be a standard section patrol of 8 men. 6 with Lee-Enfield .303's with fixed bayonets (a constant source of fear amongst Axis troops) and two with the American Thompson submachinegun. The man in front, the leader of the patrol has the larger 50 round drum magazine whilst the other "Tommy Gunner" appears to have the smaller 20 or 30 round box magazine. All men wear the standard commonwealth tin hat helmet, shorts and carry only extra ammo, grenades and field dressings.

Morshead organised two different types of patrol around Tobruk. Reconnaissance and Fighting. A Recon patrol would often go out after dark, lightly armed for thousands of yards to often lie for hours in the cold desert within yards of enemy positions to gather intelligence about enemy troop dispositions and movements. Often a recon patrol would return, report the night's findings and return to their positions after up to 6 hours in the desert without a shot being fired or a word spoken.

The other type of patrol, the Fighting Patrol, would often go out the next night to attack targets watched the night before. These patrols were often larger in number and more heavily armed than usual. They would often sneak up on the enemy and toss grenades amongst the unsuspecting foes only to charge them with fixed bayonets or blazing Tommy Guns. There was even a report of a fighting patrol of 11 men who attacked 188 Germans with fixed bayonets at night and killed over 20 and captured the rest, including a dreaded Flak 88 gun and many Spandau MG's without a word being spoken or a shot being fired.

The patrols wreaked havoc amongst the Italians around Tobruk with their own leaflet campaign. 9th Division recon patrols would sneak into the Italian positions and stick leaflets with the words "V per Vittoria" (V for Victory) written on them all over the place. There was even a report of an Italian soldier waking up in the morning in his dugout with a "V per Vittoria" leaflet neatly tied around his bootlaces at the foot of his bedding.

image 009394 Australian War Memorial.