IN 1941 ROMMEL WAS sweeping across Libya reconquering the territory lost by Italy in the Second World War. His progress came to a serious halt in a small town with a strategically vital deep-water port—Tobruk. With few other forces available, the town was left to the Australian Imperial forces and a contingent of British artillery, the toughest most determined bunch of mates that could be assembled. The Rats of Tobruk became a legend, not just for Australians but also for everyone involved in the war in Northern Africa.
Peter FitzSimons
Peter FitzSimons is one of the Sydney Morning Herald’s and Sun Herald’s most popular columnists, broadcasts daily on Radio 2UE and is a regular contributor to the International Herald Tribune and the London Daily Telegraph.
He is the author of seventeen books, including biographies of Nancy Wake, Nene King, John Eales and Steve Waugh. His most recent books are Tobruk and this year’s Books Alive free book The Ballad of Les Darcy.
He lives with his family in Sydney.
