An Australian Story - The Remarkable Rats

The story below is a verbatim extract from the Melbourne Herald Sun, Saturday April 14th 2001 for the 60th anniversary written by Journalist Neil Wilson. This story is written from an Australian perspective about the Australian contribution.

The Remarkable Rats

What was intended to be derision became a badge of honour for the Australians.

Berlin propaganda broadcaster Lord Haw Haw told them they were trapped like rats unless they surrendered.

If they burrowed any further into the African desert their trenches would reach Australia. The Nazis never understood the formidable Australians.

Teenager Murray Burles could always tell if his mates were listening to the scathing rhetoric of Radio Berlin traitor William Joyce because they would be falling about laughing.

He’d call us rats and then he’d tell us they had shot down ten aircraft – we didn’t even have ten planes, recalls Murray who was 17.

Lord Haw Haw was a source of hilarity in the heat of the Libyan desert and the rubble of the port of Tobruk, unwittingly playing a part in forming our own wartime legend. Within days Murray and other underage Diggers such as Harry Wright, a 2/23rd Battalion private, who was aged just 16. Like Murray, he lied about his age to join up.

The Australians dug in and were ordered to stay put, looking out on a sea of sand and desolation – flat, stony desert, rolls of barbed wire, minefields and the burnt out trucks through which the big German tanks would advance. The Diggers enlarged a few hundred gunnery posts our 6th division had taken when it captured the town from the Italians in January 1941, forming a 45km- long “red line” perimeter, then dug a secondary “blue line” a few kilometres back.

The Rats shared their trenches with scorpions, fleas, blowflies and biting ants which also sought shelter from the daytime heat which soared above 45C (113F) in the northern summer. Nights were bitterly cold. Murray Berles remembers freezing temperatures when mates would tie their overcoats together to gather dew, which would drip into a dixie (metal cooking pot) so they had water to wash with.

Harry “washed” with the dregs of his nightly cup of tea. He only had one canteen of water each day, with meals of tinned or salted beef except on the nights when both sides had an unofficial truce so trucks could get hot meals through to the lines. Dysentery was a common complaint. To listen for enemy troops at night, they would put a tea chest in a trench and half bury it so it became a sound box.

In late April then again in early May at a fire zone called The Salient the Australians beat back fierce daytime attacks from the Afrika Corps of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.

Sixty years ago today the Germans had launched their first major offensive. New Australian commander Major General Leslie Morshead allowed 38 Panzers three kilometres inside the red line before they were pounded close-up with anti-tank guns and captured Italian artillery. “They (Germans) were bewildered and shocked because they thought they’d roll in and we would surrender, but once those tanks were gone we got up with Bren guns and the infantry behind the tanks were picked off,” Murray Berles said. One hundred men died, 250 were captured, 17 tanks left wrecked.

After losing 46 of his 81 tanks on May 1st, one German officer noted: “Our opponents are not trained attacking troops but men with toughness, tireless, taking punishment with obstinacy, wonderful in defence”.

At night the Rats left their burrows to gnaw at the enemy. “We were told to let them do what they want outside the perimeter at daytime but the night belongs to us,” Murray said. “We would go on reccy (reconnaissance) patrols, fighting patrols, sneak out behind their lines” Raiding parties of defenders would look for stray German soldiers going to the toilet alone, having a smoke or walking between camps. Men were shot, prisoners take on both sides. “If you saw groups you often wouldn’t engage but if you met head-on, and some times that happened, it was an all in brawl,” he said.

Harry described a “madhouse” of shooting and close fighting. “You and a few mates are going one way, then you’re in a weapon pit, there’s individual battles going on. “You kill them. If they look like yielding you yell surrender, then they put down the gun. But they were probably told the same as us, no surrender, so you had to kill or be killed.”

The town itself had its shops, schools, wine bars and most homes destroyed by constant shelling and air bombing, with the wharf also in ruins. There was no cinema, no beer, no women – nothing for anyone off duty. Surgical hospital orderlies such as Trevor Macfarlane quickly learned to be theatre nurses for major operations.

Trevor said 25 hours was the longest period without an air raid in his eight months at Tobruk. “Our theatre dress was shorts and sandals, it was too hot for gowns, but we did have an excellent team of Melbourne’s best surgeons – Littlejohn, Renau, Acland, Ley,” he said. And “beautiful equipment” left by the Italians. One night we did 108 operations in eight hours, the wounded placed on trestle tables, X-rayed, operated on then taken out for evacuation by ship.

The “Tobruk ferry service” was the crucial lifeline which sustained the siege, nine Royal Australian Navy ships repeating the perilous journey from Egyptian ports into Tobruk’s “Bomb Alley”.

HMAS Parramatta and destroyer HMAS Waterhen were lost. Ships were tied up on sunken hulks in the harbour at night, offloading tons of supplies and 29,000 fresh troops. They included British, Poles and South Africans who began to replace Australians from August. The Diggers had been ordered to hold the town for two months – but it was December before the last troops left.

Australia’s casualties topped 3,000 – 832 men killed, 2177 wounded with 900 captured. But the Rats finally left their holes with their tails up.

“We were told the Germans had been defeated, the Poles and other forces would relieve us and there was elation upon leaving the place,” Murray Burles said. The elation turned to disgust three months later when they learned the Germans had finally taken Tobruk. But their resistance had held up Rommel’s advance and given the British crucial time to regroup and save Egypt. It was to prove decisive in 1942 when they helped kick the Germans out of North Africa.

Last year the Rats of Tobruk Association received a letter from Rommel’s son, Manfred, a kinder message than Lord Haw Haw’s. “My father said the Australian infantry belonged to the best troops on both sides he had seen during his military career. It was due to their professional soldiership that the Germans and Italians could not take Tobruk during the summer of 1941.
“God bless you.”

 

A fine account, thanks.

JT

 

spidge,

My father in law, (2/9th Bat, 18th Bde, 7th Div, 2nd AIF) had his 36th birthday in Tobruk. His mates called him "pop". His actual posting was to the 7th Div Supply Column, but all available men not vital at the rear were up the front 'discussing the war' with the krauts.

I was indeed fortunate to have many evenings at 'Rats of Tobruk' functions, and spoke for many hours with Bob and his mates. They would reminisce of events during the Seige, and I would be all ears. They actually seemed to enjoy the experience and had great respect for the germans but little for the Italians. They seemed absolutely determined that Rommel was NOT going to get Tobruk, no matter what.

Bob was later attached to the Carpathian Brigade when they came in to assist in the lead-up to the Australian evacuation. He got on well with them and many spoke good English. He related the times when they were listening to the BBC, and the accounts of battles on the eastern front. The BBC would say "10,000 german dead" and a cheer would go up from the Poles. Then the BBC would say "10,000 Russians dead" and another cheer would go up from the delighted Poles.

If you have 'Google Earth', you can zoom in and still see the weapons pits and anti-tank ditch quite evident, in particular the southern sector near where the 'Easter Battle took place.


John

 

spidge,


"Last year the Rats of Tobruk Association received a letter from Rommel’s son, Manfred, a kinder message than Lord Haw Haw’s. “My father said the Australian infantry belonged to the best troops on both sides he had seen during his military career. It was due to their professional soldiership that the Germans and Italians could not take Tobruk during the summer of 1941.
“God bless you.”



I notice that your original post was October 2006.

Quite a few years ago I remember reading somewhere, that included in 'The Rommel Papers' was the quotation :- "The Australian 9th Division was the finest Infantry Division I ever faced".

I have never been able to actually identify the exact origin of this quotation and I wonder if Manfred Rommel was quoting an extract from that work?

Do you have any further info, if so I would be most grateful to receive it.


John


PS,


My FIL lived in the Mt Eliza area, and usually attended the Frankston RSL.

 

Interesting to read, thanks

 

spidge,

Quite a few years ago I remember reading somewhere, that included in 'The Rommel Papers' was the quotation :- "The Australian 9th Division was the finest Infantry Division I ever faced".

I have never been able to actually identify the exact origin of this quotation and I wonder if Manfred Rommel was quoting an extract from that work?

Do you have any further info, if so I would be most grateful to receive it.


John

It might have been a French general just after D Day when he said that he wished the 9th Div was there.

Or it might have been Montgomery himself. At the Battle of El Alemain he placed the 9th Div on the right as he expected the worst of the fighting to be there. But then again he was, in part an Australian himself.

The same 9th Div was the one that Churchill tried to send to Burma to join the 14th Army against the wishes of the Australian PM John Curtin. Curtain had to insist 3 times before they returned to Australia to face the threat of the Japanese. This they did with great distinction firstly in New Guinea.

 

It might have been a French general just after D Day when he said that he wished the 9th Div was there.

It was this man: Freddie de Guingand:

"My God, I wish we had [the] 9th Australian Division with us this morning."
Maj. Gen. Freddie de Guingand, Chief of Staff, Allied Land-force Headquarters Europe, D-Day, 1944.

Freddie de Guingand

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Major General Sir Francis Wilfred de Guingand KBE, CB, DSO (1900 - 1979), better known as Freddie de Guingand, was a British Army officer who served with Montgomery from El Alamein to the surrender of the Wehrmacht in the West.
De Guingand was educated at Ampleforth College and Sandhurst. He joined the Middlesex Regiment in 1919, was seconded to King's African Rifles, 1926-1931 and was the Officer Commanding Troops, Nyasaland, 1930-1931 before returning to his regiment.
He attended staff college at Camberley and at the outbreak of the Second World War became Military Assistant to the Secretary of State for War, Director of Military Intelligence, Middle East, 1942 before serving as Montgomery's chief of staff. He was responsible for the running of Montgomery's armies on their journey from Egypt to the Rhine.
Montgomery appointed De Guingand as his chief of staff soon after his arrival in the desert to supersede Claude Auchinleck.
De Guingand was to prove indispensable to Montgomery, not only in battle, but also in relations with the Americans. De Guingand seems to have been blessed with considerable diplomatic skills, which proved useful when serving with Montgomery.

 

Spidge -
an amazing story - and all true - as was Freddie De Guingand when he made that famous quotation as the XXX corps which Monty took with him - did not operate after D Day for a while as they did in the desert with the possible exception of the 50th Tyne and Tees Div - the others smartened up after a change of command - both the 6th and 9th Australians never did get the recognition due to them...
cheers

 

That's completely true about the 6th Div Tom.

They served with much distinction and were destroyed in Greece.

 

The 6th was my fathers division. All volunteers, trained in Australia and Egypt and straight into the fray at Bardia then onto Tobruk. My father was a bren gunner with the 2/8th - 19th Brig and was knocked "with the last mortar of the opening day" on the 21st January 1941. He didn't get to walk into Tobruk on the 22nd. He spent many months in El Kantara hospital in Egypt before being sent home.

The 7th Division did not get much Kudos either. Their defeat of the Vichy in Syria although a great victory was not trumpeted at the time for political reasons.

 

The work of the 7th in Syria was outstanding.

Did you know when they crossed the border to attack, they were led by a young Moshe Dyan?

And that were ordered to wear their slouch hats to remind the French of what they did to liberate France in WW1!

Of course their ending was frightful at the surrender on Singapore. All of them - except their commander - Sandshoes Bennett.

 

Of course their ending was frightful at the surrender on Singapore. All of them - except their commander - Sandshoes Bennett.

I think you mean the 8th division which ceased to exist at the end of February 1942.

Yes Bennett had to get back to Australia to impart his knowledge on how to defeat the Japanese.

 

I think you mean the 8th division which ceased to exist at the end of February 1942.

Yes Bennett had to get back to Australia to impart his knowledge on how to defeat the Japanese.

Yes I'm sorry. I did mean the 8th. Seniors moment!

You could say that was what Bennett left early to do.

 

You could say that was what Bennett left early to do.

I was being facetious!

 

...

Yes Bennett had to get back to Australia to impart his knowledge on how to defeat the Japanese.

MacArthur retreated from the Phillipines and left his men holding the bag yet he is seen as a hero and history doesn't paint him with the same indelible stain that Bennett has been brushed with.

A lot of Aussies also retreated from Crete when it was clear it was being overrun and the BEF retreated from Dunkirk... officers, nco's and enlisted men. Bennett did this when he knew Singapore was going to be lost but he is seen as a coward.

- Chris

 

In fact the order was given at Singapore that there was to be no retreat. Bennett disobeyed this. Considering that he was shunned by one and all after his return, it can't be argued his return was for the good of the country.

I can't agree with your comment about a lot of Aussies retreating from Crete. Where were they to go? In fact the Australians had to be ordered to surrender there.

I do accept that there were some disgraceful episodes during the evacuation from the Greek mainland however.

 

In fact the order was given at Singapore that there was to be no retreat. Bennett disobeyed this. Considering that he was shunned by one and all after his return, it can't be argued his return was for the good of the country.

I can't agree with your comment about a lot of Aussies retreating from Crete. Where were they to go? In fact the Australians had to be ordered to surrender there.

I do accept that there were some disgraceful episodes during the evacuation from the Greek mainland however.

I am not disagreeing with you at all... I just thought I would bring up some points in order to stimulate some conversation especially considering MacArthur retreated as Bennett did yet MacArthur was seen as a hero and Bennett was shunned.

- Chris

 

I'm sure you weren't. After all, MacArthur could walk on water!

 

MacArthur retreated from the Phillipines and left his men holding the bag yet he is seen as a hero and history doesn't paint him with the same indelible stain that Bennett has been brushed with.

A lot of Aussies also retreated from Crete when it was clear it was being overrun and the BEF retreated from Dunkirk... officers, nco's and enlisted men. Bennett did this when he knew Singapore was going to be lost but he is seen as a coward.

- Chris

Hi Chippo,

There is quite a difference in being ordered by your Commander in Chief (Roosevelt) to leave the Philippines and set up Pacific HQ in Australia whereas Bennett was ordered to stay and disobeyed a direct order!

And no, I am not sticking up for MacArthur as many of my posts will reveal.