Tobruk by peter fitzsimons
edition language : English
- Category : History
In the early days of April 1941, the 14,000 Australian forces garrisoned in the Libyan town of Tobruk were told to expect reinforcements and supplies within eight weeks...
Eight months later these heroic, gallant, determined 'Rats of Tobruk' were rescued by the British Navy having held the fort against the might of Rommel's never-before defeated Afrika Corps.
Like Gallipoli and Kokoda, the siege of Tobruk is an iconic battle in Australia's military history.
Under ceaseless attack from Rommel's men, the Australian defence held strong. In Tobruk, Peter FitzSimons relates the personal histories and stories not only of the men who defended the garrison against the German onslaught but of the Desert Fox, Erwin Rommel, and the powers back in both Berlin and Britain.
Or
PETER FITZSIMONS could arguably be regarded as the everyman and woman's historian. His previous historically based Nancy Wake: A Biography of Our Greatest War Heroine has sold more than 250,000 copies, and his robust Kokoda is hovering about the 150,000 mark.
The reason for his strong sales comes down to the sheer readability of his work. FitzSimons says in the introduction to Tobruk that while maintaining integrity with the facts, he hopes to give a "novel-like feel". He achieves this admirably.
When set against a battalion of recent popular histories - the magisterial Gallipoli by Les Carlyon, Peter Brune's A Bastard of a Place: The Australians in Papua, Cameron Forbes' Hellfire Pass, andKokoda by Paul Ham - Tobruk holds the line on what makes history accessible and engaging for lay readers. FitzSimons has a heightened sense of the power of narrative. He simply tells a story well.
Tobruk will be a welcome read for those comparative few "Rats" who were there, and FitzSimons has effectively resurrected a long and largely overlooked battle for a new Australian generation. Gallipoli has reached saturation point in the national consciousness and the Kokoda trek has become a must-do endurance test. But Tobruk?
It is the broad lack of awareness of Tobruk that goes someway to explaining the substantial background information FitzSimons gives on the reasons for World War II and how Australia became involved.
He exhibits deft skill in bringing to the foreground the two central combatants emerging from the wreckage of World War I, who were later to face off at Tobruk: Lieutenant Erwin Rommel and the Australian Gallipoli veteran, Captain Leslie Morshead.
Stylistically it is an apposite decision to explore Rommel and Morshead's early years as emerging soldiers and later Tobruk opponents. We become intimately acquainted with them as men, husbands and fathers. The use of personal letters enhances reader familiarity and exposes both men as being both resolute and vulnerable.
After a detailed and necessary preamble to the battle, FitzSimons focuses on the significance of Tobruk to the Italians, Germans and Allies.
He assesses its importance in these terms: "The town had long been designated by the Italians as the linchpin of their defensive bulwark in the eastern half of Libya, as well as a key base and safe haven for the Italian Navy to use on the North African coast.".
Readers with a particular interest in the minutiae of military matters will not be disappointed with FitzSimons' almost forensic attention in describing tactical manoeuvres, his provision of maps and banks of photographs.
Whether it be the reorganisation of the Australian 7th and 9th Divisions in North Africa, the type of weaponry or the cool thinking under pressure of Morshead and Rommel, Tobruk is comprehensively researched. Moreover, FitzSimons builds gradually and irresistibly to the fateful battle of Easter, 1941.
The Battle of Tobruk involved 15,000 Australians supported by British artillery, against the might and confidence of the German Afrika Korps under the command of Rommel, "the Desert Fox". For almost eight months the Australians held out against Rommel, until they were finally relieved by the British. In so doing they earned the legendary name, the "Rats of Tobruk", curiously bestowed on them by German propagandist Lord Haw-Haw.
FitzSimons is both a patient and assiduous historian, and when he writes action sequences, he demonstrates considerable versatility and immediacy. He describes the desert war as a "war without hate" and it is easy to see that not only were prisoners from either side treated comparatively well, but there was a deep respect between the Australian and British forces and the Germans. This is further highlighted by Rommel's son Manfred's gracious foreword.
Besides extensive discussion given to the strategic planning by Morshead and Rommel, what is arresting about much of the story of Tobruk is the singular determination of the Australians. What was begun at Gallipoli in 1915 in terms of national spirit, was completed at Tobruk and then repeated at Kokoda. There was extraordinary mateship under fire.
FitzSimons avoids any sense of triumph in his balanced coverage of the battle. He has uncanny empathy for the participants on both sides. Rommel is given both dignity and respect as an adversary who was professional and formidable. The recounting of his death - at the hands of the Nazi regime he was fighting for - is profoundly and enduringly moving.
Morshead and his "Rats" are accorded fitting awe. It is the humanity of Morshead and the selflessness that he showed repeatedly in the heat of battle that won him something close to reverence from his men. Even when, as Divisional Commander of 9th Division, he disagreed with Churchill over relief arrangements, he said he was merely "doing his duty". He was an exemplary soldier.
This is a timely book. As the old diggers and, for that matter, Tobruk "Rats" become fewer and fewer each year, FitzSimons underscores the importance of heroism in public memory.
Tobruk is a pillar of it.
Or
TOBRUK narrates the taking of Tobruk as part of a general thrust in North Africa by Allied forces.A panicked Winston Churchill wrote: "Tobruk seems to be the place to be held to the death without thought of retirement...nothing must hamper the capture of Tobruk".
In the dark heart of World War II, when Hitler turned his attentions to conquering North Africa, a distracted and far-flung Allied force could not give its all to the defence of the key city of Tobruk in Libya.
So the job was left to the roughest, toughest bunch they could muster.
Tobruk is the story of an incredible battle in excruciating desert heat through nine long months, against the might of Adolf Hitler's formidable Afrika Korps.
This force's defence of Tobruk against the Afrika Korps' armoured division is one of the great battles of all time, yet rarely talked about.
Drawing on extensive source material - including diaries and letters, some never published before - this extraordinary book is the definitive account of this remarkable battle.
While Peter Fitzsimons is a celebrated historian, his popularity stems from his fantastic storytelling.
Tobruk is written in a narrative style, putting the reader next to men such as General Leslie Morshead as he decides the fate of his men, next to men such as Jack Harris, as he stands in the blood of an injured mate.
While detailed and well researched, Tobruk reads like a novel.
Or
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