The Rats Of Tobruk

THIS is the personal record of nine months spent as a medical officer on active service in Libya. Its purpose is to endeavour to show what a great warrior the ordinary Australian soldier really is, and with what light-hearted bravery and endurance he faces up to discomfort and death. It is written as a personal record to gain continuity, and always in the spirit of an onlooker who sees much of the play. It is neither a scientific document nor history, and I cannot vouch for the accuracy of many of the stories set down herein, but even if they are not wholly true, they are still characteristic. No names are included, and it is purely coincidental that most of the happenings herein described are fact and not fiction. Some of the illustrations are taken from drawings and oil sketches made by the author on the spot, and the remainder are photographs taken with a miniature camera and developed in Tobruk. “Major Devine’s little volume of personal experiences brings the whole picture of the dust and desert, of stone and rock, of battered equipment, of patient endurance, back before one’s eyes. It translates into human individual terms all the planning and endeavour and struggle that characterized the splendid defence of Tobruk by our own 9th Australian Division and by other British troops from the United Kingdom and troops from India who were there with them in that epic siege.”—T. A. Blamey General, Commander-in-Chief, Australian Military Forces (Foreword to “The Rats of Tobruk”)

When a Bedouin boy, Omar, is separated from his family in Libya during WW2, he makes his way to the coast to look for them. Tired and hungry, Omar is taken in and cared for by two Australia soldiers, Bluey and Albert, as they struggle to survive during the Siege of Tobruk. When Bluey disappears during a patrol, Omar is determined to find him, and uses all his knowledge of the desert as he searches for his friend. This is a story of friendship found in the most unusual of places, and a boy's determination against all the odds. AUTHOR: Fine artist Mark Wilson has been illustrating and writing children's books for over twenty years, at the same time exhibiting as a fine artist in many solo and group exhibitions and performing as a musician. Of his numerous popular children's books, the most recent are 'Stranded!', 'Angel of Kokoda', 'Journey of the Sea Turtle', 'My Mother's Eyes: The Story of a Boy Soldier', 'The Yellow Turban', 'Aladdin and The Magic Lamp' and 'The Little Wooden Horse'. Mark has won many awards for illustration and fine art.

Lieutenant John Rosel won a Military Cross for displaying 'calmness and outstanding leadership' when his platoon became surrounded at a critical point in the siege of Tobruk. He led the defence of several vital outposts against numerous attacks by the troops of General Rommel. His son Mike has written not only a touching tribute to his father's war service but also a perceptive and stylish account of the soldiering experience of a generation. A Rat of Tobruk has many fascinating photographs - mainly taken by John Rosel - and is recommended to anyone interested in the Australian soldiers who risked all while making a substantial contribution to Allied victory in World War II.

The number 1 non-fiction bestseller.More than 100,000 copies sold! 'What we have, we hold'MOttO OF AUStRALIA'S 2/17tH BAttALIONIn the tradition of his bestselling Kokoda, Peter FitzSimons, Australia's most beloved popular historian, focuses on one of the seminal moments in Australian history: the Battle of tobruk in 1941, in which more than 15 000 Australian troops - backed by British artillery - fought in excruciating desert heat through eight long months, against Adolf Hitler's formidable Afrika Korps.During the dark heart of World War II, when Hitler turned his attention to conquering North Africa, a distracted and far-fl ung Allied force could not give its all to the defence of Libya. So the job was left to the roughest, toughest bunch that could be mustered: the Australian Imperial Force. the AIF's defence of the harbour city of tobruk against the Afrika Korps' armoured division is not only the stuff of Australian legend, it is one of the great battles of all time, as against the might of General Rommel and his Panzers, the Australians relied on one factor in particular to give them the necessary strength against the enemy: mateship.Drawing on extensive source material - including diaries and letters, many never published before - this extraordinary book, written in Peter FitzSimons' highly readable style, is the definitive account of this remarkable chapter in Australia's history.Foreword by Manfred Rommel.

We are thrilled to include Tobruk 1941, a gripping account of the Siege of Tobruk from celebrated war correspondent Chester Wilmot, as a Text Classic in 2017. This is a landmark Australian war story that celebrates resistance, courage, sacrifice, mateship and sheer grit. The Siege of Tobruk was an eight-month battle between a garrison of Australian troops and Hitler's Afrika Korps—the final frontier between Germany and the vast untapped oil fields of the Middle East. The troops of Tobruk withstood the hellish conditions of the Libyan desert and for their heroism, tenacity and spirit have become enshrined in legend as the ‘Rats of Tobruk’. Chester Wilmot was one of the ABC’s best and most innovative war correspondents. His reportage pioneered Australian war writing. Wilmot was an embedded journalist during the siege, so his reportage is closely observed and insightful. This Text Classic edition is introduced by distinguished Australian historian Peter Cochrane.

The siege of Tobruk was a pivotal battle which influenced the outcome of the Second World War. In this book Robert Lyman describes the 'David versus Goliath' confrontation that ensued when Allied forces took on Rommel's Panzer divisions in the Libyan port.

A transnational history of how Indigenous peoples mobilised en masse to support the war effort on the battlefields and the home fronts.

The initial Australian and British victory over Rommels Afrika Korps on Easter Monday 1941 at Tobruk was Germanys first defeat in World War II. Incongruously the vital actions of Queenslands 2-15 Battalion on that day have been generally ignored. For the first time, this investigation places that lost body of infantrymen nearly four miles from the outer perimeter near El Adem crossroads. There they were dug in around two gallant Royal Horse Artillery batteries, which incurred heavy losses in turning around a concerted Panzer attack. In that battle the 2-15 A Company delivered the final blow to the accompanying German infantry, led by the formerly invincible Lt Colonel Gustav Ponath who was killed in the field. This ably researched and intriguing episode redresses the brave 2-15s subsequent sense of injustice.