Tobruk, After 33 Weeks

"Our task," explained General Leslie James ("Holy Terror'') Morshead, Commander of Tobruk, "is to drive a corridor from the perimeter [of our defenses] to the Axis road, which we hope to cut at El Duda. There we should meet the South Africans."

The Axis road to which the besieged garrison of Tobruk hoped to cut its way was the supply highway the enemy had built during the summer to by-pass Tobruk. Along the path of this projected drive lay four enemy strongholds, nicknamed by Empire forces: Butch, Jack, Jill and Tiger.

At 3 a.m. the roar of a barrage laid down by Tobruk's defenders broke out at the western end of the 30-mile defense perimeter; Polish troops from the garrison started a diversion there. Under its cover and that of darkness, British troops moved to the eastern extremity.

The greatest concentration of artillery Tobruk had ever used opened up on Butch, Jack, Jill and Tiger at 6 a.m. At 6:20 tanks moved forward.

In less than 20 minutes the attackers had taken Butch. In due course Jack fell down and Jill came tumbling after. Tiger, the stiffest of the four, was assigned to a famous Scottish regiment. It went into battle to a sound it loved--its pipe major, who had not been allowed to skirl his bagpipes in Tobruk, played the men on.

Tiger finally fell to a double tank assault, and more than 1,000 prisoners were taken. London News Chronicle's William Forrest, who had been bottled in Tobruk seven months, talked with some of the Germans. They said they had been surprised by the attack. Most of them had come to Africa in July; now they felt the night cold, like their comrades in Russia, and many of them had taken to Italian uniforms which were warmer than their own. One thumped himself on the chest and shouted in English: "I am a German officer." Most of the officers proudly heiled Hitler.

Next day, just after 1 p.m., small specks appeared on the crest of the distant El Adem escarpment. The Tobruk commanders anxiously watched them through field glasses. They were tanks. At last the recognition signal came: red flashes, a 20-second pause, more flashes.

Between the two groups there were seven miles of Axis-held terrain. It took the British, with their Imperial, Polish and Czech allies, five days to drive the enemy from the intervening territory. On the fifth day a British Tommy and a New Zealand infantryman clasped hands at El Duda.

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