Tobruk: The Great Siege 1941-42

The siege of Tobruk was the longest in British military history. The coastal fortress and deep-water port was of crucial importance to the battle for North Africa, and the key that would unlock the way to Egypt and the Suez Canal. For almost a year the isolated garrison held out against all attempts to take it. For both sides it assumed a propaganda role that outweighed even its great strategic value. Goebbels referred to its defenders as `rats,' which, in characteristic British fashion, the whole army proudly adopted as their title, the `Desert Rats,' and the port became a symbol of resistance when the war was going badly for Britain. When it fell and 25,000 men surrendered to an armoured assault on 21 June 1942, Churchill said it was `one of the heaviest blows I can recall during the war'. William F. Buckingham's startling account, drawing extensively on firsthand testimony from veterans on both sides, is a comprehensive history of this epic struggle, and essential reading for anyone with an interest in the Western Desert Campaign.