[Heraldry] Rats of Tobruk Association

Rats of Tobruk Association Crest

This is the crest of the Rats of Tobruk Association. It is a group set up by veterans of Tobruk as a means of keeping in contact and raising awareness of the actions of the men of the AIF at Tobruk.

This particular crest is scanned off a window decal that was in my Grandfather's personal items. It's old and never been used. At first I wondered why Grandad wouldn't have put the decal on the back window of his car and then I remembered that when I was young he drove a Toyota Corona. I also remember that he hated the fact that he couldn't afford to drive an Australian built car, as they were more expensive at the time. I never heard him say anything about the Germans commiting war crimes in the Middle East. He did however, never have anything nice to say about the Japanese.

Realising now just what my Grandfather faced at the hands of the Japanese forces in the jungles of New Guinea and Borneo it's no wonder that he just couldn't bring himself to put his Rats of Tobruk decal on his Toyota.

Rats of Tobruk Association window decal from the author's private collection.

[Image] 9th Division troops move From Blue to Red Line at Tobruk

Tobruk, Libya, 8th August, 1941.

9th Division troops move to relieve others in the Red Line.

This image shows unidentified troops of the Australian 9th Division moving on foot from the inner perimeter "Blue Line" to relieve others in positions in the front "Red Line" at Tobruk.

Troops coming off the front lines, where they had often been in close contact with the enemy for weeks, would fall back to take up positions in the inner defensive perimeter known as the "Blue Line". When Tobruk was originally taken from the Italians in January, 1941 by the men of the Australian 6th Division the English command wanted to set up the outer defenses in the area known as the Blue Line. Australian command argued that the outer Red Line should be the one to hold as to do so would place enemy artillery out of range of the vital supply point, Tobruk Harbour. That one decision alone could may well have changed the entire course of the war.

Had defenses been set up at the originally planned Blue Line, Rommel's artillery would have likely captured the city within days. With a deep water harbour secured Rommel could move forward with his plans to rapidly take Egypt and with it, a gateway to the rich Middle Eastern oil fields of Iraq. With unlimited supply of oil relatively close to the planned Eastern Front with Russia the whole shape of the war starts to look different.

What strikes me about this image of the Libyan desert is that fact that the landscape, if viewed through a red filter, reminds me of footage I've seen of the surface of Mars. Weird I know but those rock formations are like nothing I've seen on this planet.

image 041777 Australian War Memorial.

[Image] On leave in Palestine, 1941.

NX17811 Pvt L.J McCarthy

2/17th Battalion

Palestine, 1941.

Today a parcel from my mother arrived that contained all the photos my Grandfather took from his time in active service with the 2/17th Battalion. This one is a classic photo postcard that I've scanned. On the back in my Grandfather's handwriting is the following;

"Tell-Aviv 1941. Les McCarthy. D Coy."

What I also realised when looking through the photos was that one of them stood out like I'd seen it before. It was of a bunch of diggers skylarking at Alamein, one of them wearing a German helmet. Try as I might I just couldn't think where I'd seen it before. I was certain it wasn't on the internet, but rather in a book.

I went and made a cup of coffee and read through the names of the soldiers on the back of the photo and one name stood out.

Jack Barber.

Then it hit me. I had borrowed his book "The War, The Whores, The Afrika Korps" from my local library about 18 months ago and enjoyed it alot. What I didn't know at the time is that alot of these stories in the book concerned his mates on leave. My grandfather was one of his mates. I now have photos of my Grandfather on leave with Jack Barber.

Oh shit. I hope my mum doesn't read that book.

image from the author's personal collection.

[Image] The Baby Faced 'Rat of Tobruk'

11th May, 1942. Beirut, Lebanon.

NX21849 Pvt. Elson Evered Bell on leave, aged 18 years.

If you are thinking that Pvt. Bell of the 2/17th Infantry Battalion looks young, that's because he was. Following in the time honoured Australian tradition of not being entirely truthful about your age to go to war Pvt. Bell bumped up his age by 5 years to meet the strict age requirements of the Second A.I.F.

Being only 16 years, 7 months old when he enlisted on 27th May 1940 (the day before my Grandfather) Pvt. Bell was the youngest man Mentioned in Despatches (MiD) at Tobruk.

The Australian War Memorial writes "Private K E Bell, A Company, 2/17th Infantry Battalion ... was aged 17 years when he was Mentioned in Despatches for bravery at Tobruk. During an offensive patrol he carried in his officer although wounded himself. The officer later died."

The Australian War Memorial credits this photo as being of Pvt. K. E. Bell of the 2/17th Battallion. My personal research has led me to believe that the baby faced Rat of Tobruk was actually Pvt. E. E. Bell who was, like the AWM states, a member of A Coy. 2/17th Battalion who was Mentioned in Despatches and wounded in Tobruk.

The nominal roll of the 2/17th Battalion shows only one soldier with a surname of Bell who was wounded at Tobruk, and no soldier with a name of K.E. Bell. The nominal roll of the 2/17th lists his service number as NX21849 and also mentioned was the fact that he was wounded not only at Tobruk, but also Alamein and New Guinea. He was discharged on 30th November, 1945 having just celebrated his actual 21st birthday the month before. How bizarre to think that Pvt. Bell fought a World War for 5 years and won all before his 21st birthday.

They don't make 'em like him anymore.

image 024225 Australian War Memorial

Nominal roll research from "What we have, we hold - A history of the 2/17th Australian Infantry Battalion", 2/17th Battalion History Committee, Sydney.

[Quote] QX11512 Pvt. John Joseph Alman

Whilst reading a travel website about tours of Tobruk I came across a link to the NineMSN Travel website where the journalist, Kim Wildman, travels to Tobruk to attend this year's dawn service at the Tobruk War Cemetery.

At this service she reads a prepared speech that her Grandfather (a member of the 7th Division's 2/9th Infantry Battalion attached to the 9th Division for the duration of the siege) is to read at a similar service back in Australia. It's final moving paragraph is this;

"While remembering our mates and their bravery and dedication sometimes it is so easy to forget just how young these men were and what they did for their country. It makes you feel so proud to be an Australian."

- QX11512 Pvt. John J. Alman 2008.

Sadly Pvt. Alman passed away not long after his Grandaughter read his moving words to a small gathering of expats on Anzac Day, 2008. At the time of his death Pvt. Alman was 87 years old.

To read the article by Kim Wildman click here http://travel.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=452426

[Slang] "To draw the crabs"

Australian slang is famous, especially when coupled with the dry humour of the Australian soldier at war. One famous saying used often in Tobruk was to "draw the crabs".


Draw the crabs -

"to perform any action in the front line, deliberate or not, that results in a rapid offensive response from opposing German forces, usually in the form of sniper, machinegun, mortar or artillery fire."

Example - #1

Digger A : "Mate, what did ya do that for? It was nice and quite out here with Gerry snoozing."

Digger B : "I was bored mate. Thought I'd draw the crabs for a bit."

Example - #2

Digger to mate: "Better put that smoke out mate, wouldn't want ya to draw the crabs."

[Image] Tobruk's Anti-Aircraft Guns welcome the Luftwaffe

Tobruk, Libya, 1941.

With powerful searchlights lighting up the night sky the Anti-Aircraft batteries of Tobruk Garrison open up with a barrage of flak and tracers to lay a protective blanket above the besieged city.

At the time of the siege, Tobruk was one of the most well defended cities from air attack in the world yet at the same time one of the most bombed. The immense cloud of splintered metal flak bursting at bombing altitude made accurate targetting of the harbour and city area as difficult as possible for the Luftwaffe, the German Air-Force.

Just as the Luftwaffe did significant damage to the city with their bombing sorties the besieged allied forces inside the defenses shot down their fair share of attacking planes. The fighters of the R.A.F. when available would also account for German losses.

German planes brought down inside the perimeter were high profile targets for the scavengers and souvenir hunters of the 9th Division. Within no time the Australians would strip a downed plane of anything of military value and have the captured guns working against the next bombing sortie to fly over.

Metal, especially aluminium, was in short supply and anything that fell to earth was quickly scrutinised for what value it could add to the defense. crash sites were also popular spots for those lucky enough to have access to a camera to take happy snaps for the folks back home.

image p00150.001 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] Post R49 Tobruk Explained

Post R49

Red Line Outer Defenses.

Tobruk, Libya, 1941.

This German aerial reconnaissance image shows the outer perimeter defenses at post R49. This post is one of those built in the early 1930's by the Italian occupation force. It consisted of concrete trenches and weapons pits, an anti-tank ditch and even a underground bunker for when you were under artillery fire. All this surrounded by miles of razor wire and fields of landmines.

The numbers in the picture refer to the following;

1. Main anti-tank ditch
2. Barbed Wire
3. Barbed Wire
4. Weapons pit with connecting trench and bomb-proof shelter
5. Local anti-tank ditch
6. Supply road

9th Division troops would occupy these posts for weeks on end. Some of the posts were within 400 yards of German lines and even raising your head two inches above the sandbags would draw intense fire from German snipers.

Days in the line would often be spent resting due to the intense heat and the lack of usable cover in the desert. Exposing yourself in daylight hours would often be fatal. In Tobruk, it was said that the Australians owned the night. Once the harsh African sun set it would be time for the nightly patrols to commence.

Patrols would leave posts like the above one pictured to venture thousands of yards beyond the wire to gather intelligence (usually by capturing prisoners for interrogation) or to destroy a known objective. At this activity the Australian's excelled.

image #44246L3 by Ullstein as scanned from "The Rats Remain - The Siege of Tobruk, 1941" by J.S. Cumpston, Grayflower Productions 1966.