Rats of TobrukPrint Page

An etched plaque of soldiers sitting under a tree commemorates those who died in service or were killed in action in the Tobruk campaign.

The famous Tobruk Fig Tree was named because it marked the entrance to an underground network of caves used by the Australians to treat the wounded. This became known as the Fig Tree Hospital. Located inside the Tobruk defences near the Red Line and north of the Derna Road, the fig tree was the only feature in an otherwise barren desert. It was visible from miles away and as a result was an easy target for German artillery. The site was heavily shelled for several hours per day. The caves were a place to stabilise the wounded before transferring them to the Australian General Hospital near the harbour. It is believed that the original tree still marks the spot today. A cutting from the tree was brought back to Australia and planted at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance.

The Siege of Tobruk was a confrontation that lasted 241 days between Axis and Allied forces in North Africa during the Western Desert Campaign of World War Two. The siege started on 10 April 1941, when Tobruk was attacked by an Italo–German force under Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel and continued for 241 days up to 27 November 1941, when it was relieved by the Allied 8th Army during Operation Crusader.

The “Rats of Tobruk” was the name given to the soldiers of the garrison who held the Libyan port of Tobruk against the Afrika Corps during the Siege. 

The garrison, commanded by Lieutenant General Leslie Morshead, consisted of the 9th Australian Division (20th, 24th, and 26th Brigades), the 18th Brigade of the 7th Australian Division, four regiments of British artillery and some Indian troops.

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