“With the sun at their backs, our units fought their way forward from south to north as far as the area between the road and railway, where the attack came to a halt. The only question was whether we had enough troops to go on feeding the attack long enough.” All the same, I continued for some time to think that we would be able to maintain our attack and take Tobruk. Enemy resistance was as stubborn as ever and violent actions were being fought at many points. Shortly afterwards a batch of some fifty or sixty Australian prisoners were marched off close beside us - immensely big and powerful men, who without question represented an élite formation of the British Empire, a fact that was also evident in battle. With British artillery fire sweeping the whole area, the Italians crept under their vehicles and resisted all their officer’s attempts to get them out again. He made a great effort, but did not achieve much. I was extremely annoyed and charged Major Appel with the task of getting the Italians forward. “As I stopped at Kirchheim’s H.Q., the Italian force was just halting, unloading its weapons and ammunition and going into position. In a letter dated 25 April 1941 (which, coincidentally, was Anzac Day), he gave high praise for Australian soldiers (the key part has been emphasised in bold): Erwin Rommel was the German field marshal who led the German and Italian forces in North Africa during the Second World War. Erwin RommelFollowing are some excerpts from The Rommel Papers (1953), which reproduces some letters from Rommel to his wife, in three of which he mentions Australian soldiers.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |