From the Front Lines: The Battle for Tobruk

REPORTER

Six months ago, Tobruk became a fortress, and it's still a fortress. For in these six months, the garrison of Australian, British and Indian troops have triumphed over enemy attacks and physical hardships. Until today, they're in a stronger position than ever before. They've beaten off two large-scale attacks by General Rommel's tanks, infantry and dive-bombers. And they've done this so severely that since May 1st, the enemy has made no serious attack on Tobruk. Except for a small salient a few thousand square yards, which the Germans forced in May, the garrison haven't yielded an inch. On the contrary, they've kept such command of so much territory beyond the defended perimeter, that except in the salient, the enemy's most forward positions are at least a mile, and in places as much as three miles, back from ours. The men of Tobruk has made it dangerous and costly for the enemy to come closer. Our artillery has commanded this extensive no-man's land by day, and our patrols have swept it by night. I'm speaking from Tobruk now, and with me are five members of the garrison which has made Tobruk's name famous. And they can tell you their own story. The enemy have come to respect and fear the Tobruk garrison. They know the daring of the Australians' bayonet charges, and the stubborn way infantry have held their posts in the face of tank attack. They learnt this when they made their first big assault of April 14th. And here is an Australian sergeant who was in the post which the Germans first attacked.

MAN 1

When we got back to Tobruk, we were told that our post must be held at all costs, that even if tanks broke through, we in the post were to hang on and wait for the enemy infantry. We soon had the chance of testing out these tactics. On April 13th, after dark, enemy infantry got through our wire about 100 yards to the left of the post I was in. They opened up on us, and we couldn't silence them by fire. So our platoon commander, Lieutenant Mackell led a fighting patrol which drove them back with a bayonet. He took with him Corporal Edmondson and five others. They charged the enemy in the face of heavy machine-gun fire, and Edmondson was mortally wounded. But he kept on, bayonetted two Germans, and then saved Mr Mackell's life by bayonetting two more who had Mr Mackell at their mercy. Jack Edmondson died, but he was honoured with a VC. That bayonet charge demoralised the enemy, and those who escaped were driven back through the wire. But for this, they would have probably surrounded our post with their superior numbers, and made a wide gap in our defences. As it was, they didn't make another push for several hours. We kept firing all through the night, until about 5:30, when the tanks appeared. Then we sat tight and watched them go by, for we'd been told not to attract attention by firing on them. But you can imagine that it wasn't a very encouraging sight. We had no communications with our other posts, and we didn't know if any had been overrun. But we'd been told to stick there, and we did. About 40 tanks went through, and then we came up again and engaged the infantry and gunners who were trying to bring field guns and anti-tank guns through the gap. These were easy meat — we shot up their crews before they could get into action. And every time their infantry tried to get through the gap, we drove them back with Bren guns and rifles. After the tanks went through, no guns and no infantry got past us. Meantime, the British gunners behind us had broken the tank attack, and soon tanks, trucks and infantry were scrambling back through the gap. Into this traffic jam we fired everything we had, and the Jerries got their worst hiding they'd had up to that time.