General News
15 August, 2026
Veterans' Voices: A Rat of Tobruk
A letter was donated to the Horsham Military History Centre from a local lawyer’s office when they were cleaning up their paper files. This heartfelt letter from Chaplain Rev Frank Murray Peirce of the 2/8th Infantry Battalion, dated February 17, 1941, is written to Mrs O. (Olive) McLachlan, detailing the loss of her son, Lachlan McLachlan.
A letter was donated to the Horsham Military History Centre from a local lawyer’s office when they were cleaning up their paper files.
This heartfelt letter from Chaplain Rev Frank Murray Peirce of the 2/8th Infantry Battalion, dated February 17, 1941, is written to Mrs O. (Olive) McLachlan, detailing the loss of her son, Lachlan McLachlan.
Dear Mrs McLachlan.
Long before you receive this letter, the official notification will have reached you of the death of your son, and I trust you will pardon this intrusion on your grief.
The Campaign, which appears for the time to be over, has been one of such rapid movement that no opportunity has been afforded earlier of carrying out my unhappy duty, as chaplain of the unit, of writing to the relatives of our fallen comrades.
However, Mrs McLachlan, will you please accept as none the less sincere, an expression of the deepest sympathy from the Officers and men of your late son’s unit.
The circumstances under which your boy fell were such as to constitute a unique page in the history of Australian Military achievement.
Under intense fire from artillery, machine gun, mortar and rifle, the battalion made a rapid advance, capturing strongly entrenched and heavily armed enemy posts, for a distance of over 16 miles in one day.
At the point where your son fell, a steady courageous attack was being pressed over a bare stony plateau, devoid of cover, under particularly heavy fire from a concentration of enemy armored tanks, dug in behind breastworks of stone.
It was in this phase of the attack that our battalion lost most heavily, but we have the satisfaction of knowing that, with the capture of these particular strong posts and tanks, the enemy resistance was practically broken, a strong enemy counterattack nipped in the bud, and as a consequence, probable considerably heavier losses saved our troops.
It would be invidious to single out anyone from those engaged in this particular attack, as they all displayed courage and resolution which has won undying glory for our unit.
Your son fell, mortally wounded in this action during the battle of Tobruk on 21/1/41.
He died later in the Main Dressing Station and was buried by the Chaplain attached to the Field Ambulance on 23/1/41 in grave No B4 in the Divisional Cemetery, Area 142, Tobruk, Libya.
I trust that the cause and heroic manner of your son’s death may be a source of pride which may allay to some extent your sense of bitter loss.
May the God of all comfort be very near to you in your grief and sustain you and yours through this hard time.
Yours sincerely
Frank M Peirce C.F (Presby)
Lachlan McLachlan was born in Tooan, on June 26, 1912, to John and Olive McLachlan, and he enlisted on October 20, 1939, in Ballarat in the 2/8th Infantry Battalion as a private.
His record states he was admitted to 2/1st Field Ambulance and died of wounds received in action on January 21, 1941, in Libya.
His brother, Corporal Gordon Victor McLachlan, served in the 43rd Infantry Battalion, and is buried in the Townsville War Cemetery after drowning in Australia on March 30, 1944.
In desert warfare, access to supplies via the coast, such as petrol and water, is crucial to maintaining infantry strength.
Tobruk, with its sheltered natural deep harbour on an important coastal supply route, was invaluable in holding and defending the Suez Canal for access to supplies, and was the main objective of the Allied and Axis powers.
The Australian 6th Division attacked the Italian defence perimeter of Tobruk on the morning of January 22, 1941, and the town fell the next morning.
As a result of capturing Tobruk, approximately 27,000 Italian soldiers were taken prisoner, and 49 Australians were killed.
The 2/8th Infantry Battalion suffered the heaviest casualties of any Australian unit during the battle after having to attack a strong point constructed around a line of dug-in tanks.
The 6th Australian Division’s advance pressed on beyond Tobruk, driving the Italian troops westward, before the division was eventually withdrawn from Libya to be deployed to Greece.
As fighting carried out on the front, Tobruk was being fortified with anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns and reserves of supplies were established.
The German Afrika Korps, under General Erwin Rommel, led a counter-offensive against British Empire Forces, forcing them to retreat back to the Egyptian frontier.
The newly formed 9th Australian Division had replaced the 6th Australian Division, and fell back to Tobruk as planned.
The initial forces defending Tobruk numbered about 24,000 Allied troops, including about 16,000 Australians.
Tobruk was held by the 9th Australian Division for seven gruelling months, surrounded by Rommel’s Italian and German forces, with British naval strength allowing it to be supplied by sea from Egypt.
Tobruk was fortified with three lines of defence to prevent the fortress from being captured by a single breakthrough.
Attacks on the outer red line were frequent, and in May, the Axis made a permanent gain, capturing an area of Allied territory about 5.5km wide and 4km deep.
The Allies never managed to eliminate or push the Axis back from their gain, but they did reduce their captured area size.
Under siege, poor food availability and the shortage of water were constant problems.
Troops were given one bottle of chlorinated water a day for all uses, and often didn’t have enough for washing and cleaning, so they sometimes used sand to clean their cooking and eating utensils, which could cause food poisoning.
Food for the following day was delivered at night, which was mainly stews and similar things with bully beef and very few vegetables and fruits.
The monotonous diet and restricted rations often led to health problems such as dysentery.
To combat the heat, the troops spent most of their time in underground dugouts, granting them the sardonic nickname the ‘Rats of Tobruk’ by British Nazi propagandist Lord Haw-Haw, which the Australians took as a compliment to their persistence and ingenuity, and adopted with pride.
In September and October, the 9th Division was relieved by the British 70th Division, which continued to defend Tobruk until the siege was finally lifted by Operation Crusader in December.
The defence of Tobruk led to the 9th Division losing 749 men, and another 604 becoming prisoners of war.
The siege of Tobruk was a critical turning point in the North African Campaign of WWII in protecting the Suez Canal and proving that Axis powers can be stopped.
A famous quote attributed to German Afrika Korps leader, General Rommel, credits the Anzac troops: “If I had hell, I would use the Australians to take it and the New Zealanders to hold it.”