EA127
King & Country
Three lying-prone Aussies taking cover from enemy artillery and mortar fire.
Origins of the "Desert Rats" Name: The mainly Australian garrison was extremely adept at utilizing captured enemy equipment and would go out of their way, after every enemy assault, to go forward into the battlefield at night to recover as much as they could that might be reusable. At the same time the Tobruk defenders dug an extensive network of tunnels and shelters to supplement their trenches… and used them frequently when under heavy bombardment.
‘Lord Haw-Haw’, the British traitor and German propagandist took up Rommel’s description dismissing the garrison as ‘the miserable desert rats of Tobruk’…
The defenders thereafter adopted the title with pride!!!