Eastern Adelaide Teacher resource.pdf - Army Museum of South ...

Teachers information on the Seige of Tobruk
Tobruk, like Gallipoli, is a name that means much in the war
annals of Australia. Between April and August 1941 up to
14,000 Australians, under the command of Lieutenant-
General Leslie Morshead, were besieged in Tobruk by a
German-Italian army commanded by General Erwin Rommel.
The Allied garrison, largely Australian, grimly defended the
strategically important fort. At night, the Royal Navy and the
Royal Australian Navy service kept the garrison supplied by
means of the "Tobruk ferry" which included the Australian
destroyers Napier, Nizam, Nestor and Vendetta that were also
known as the “scrap iron flotilla” due to the age of the ships.
The German propagandist Lord Haw Haw (William Joyce) derided the allied troops
as the "Rats of Tobruk", because they lived underground during the day to escape
bombing raids by German aircraft. The term “rats” was proudly embraced by the
defenders of Tobruk as an ironic compliment.
Tobruk was a nut the Germans and Italian forces could not crack. Its defence held up
Rommel’s advance towards Egypt and the vital allied sea link the Suez Canal. If
successful in his North African campaign, Rommel then could have advanced further
east and threatened the Middle East oilfields. Under the inspired leadership of the
Australian General Morshead, offensive tactics achieved the task of defending
Tobruk. These tactics included regular night patrols deep into enemy held territory. Its
defence was a thorn in the side of the German army, upsetting not only plans for an
attack on Egypt, but also giving the allies time to build up its forces for a counter
attack. This occurred in November 1941 and the siege at Tobruk finally ended after
242 days when the garrison broke out to join up with the British Eighth Army, which
affected the relief of Tobruk on 10 th December 1941. The Australian casualties at the
siege of Tobruk were 3,009 killed or wounded and 941 taken prisoner.
Source: www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/tobruk/
Teachers note: William Joyce was executed after the war for his treasonous
propaganda.
Peter Frederick Newman was a Lance Corporal with the South Australian 2/27 th
Battalion, which was involved during the final stages of delaying of the Japanese
advance along the Kokoka track at Efogi and Brigade Hill in September 1942.
Teachers information on the Kokoda Track
In July 1942 the Japanese landed troops at Buna and Gona on the Papuan north coast.
Their plan was to capture Port Moresby. The barrier between the Japanese forces in
the north and Port Moresby on the south coast was the Owen Stanley Range - a steep,
rugged series of mountains crossed only by a few foot tracks, the most important of
which was the Kokoda Track. At the end of June, one thousand Australian militiamen,
‘Maroubra’ Force, had been ordered to hold Kokoda and its airfield against any
possible Japanese attack.
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