ORIGINS OF THE NAME - RATS OF TOBRUK
ORIGINS OF THE NAME - RATS OF TOBRUK
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The defenders had adopted Tobruk's excellent network of below-groud defensive positions which had been built pre-war by the Italian Army. The propagandist for Germany, William Joyce, better known as "Lord Haw-Haw", began describing the besieged men as living like rats in underground dug-outs and caves. In radio broadcasts, he derisively referred to and addressed the garrison as the "rats of Tobruk". Likewise, the ageing warships that supplied and evacuated Tobruk were denigrated by German propaganda as "scrap iron". The ships became known affectionately to the garrison as the "Scrap Iron Flotilla" and the "Tobruk ferry service".
Australians reclaimed the name as a badge of pride, even going so far as to strike their own unofficial medal bearing the likeness of a rat. This was done by corporal Leslie Harold Dufton (QX1193) over several nights using the metal from a German bomber that the Rats had shot down with captured German guns. Throughout the conflict, the enemy attack had at least twice the manpower and had the advantage of strong air support, while the Tobruk garrison had little air support because of remoteness from friendly air bases. This made the supply of the garrison, necessarily by sea, very difficult with ships having to arrive, unload and depart under the cover of darkness.
(Photo from Australian War Memorial)