Thomas Pritchard, Australia’s last “Rat of Tobruk”, one of that famed garrison who held the eponymous Libyan port against a furious Nazi siege in World War II, has died.
The Rats of Tobruk Association announced Pritchard had died on Saturday aged 102.
“Tommy was a stalwart member of our association and a most humble veteran, having served with the 2/5th field ambulance throughout the Middle East and the South West Pacific,” the association wrote in a post.
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“We as an Association are extremely grateful to have had Tommy for so long yet we mourn his loss and the last direct linkage with some 14,000 Australian servicemen who served in Tobruk.”
The association said that, per Pritchard’s request, he would be farewelled at a private family funeral.
However, a public memorial for all Rats of Tobruk will take place in Melbourne at a date to be advised, they said.
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The Rats of Tobruk were an Allied garrison of about 26,000, including the aforementioned 14,000 Australians, commanded by Australian Lieutenant-General Leslie Morehead.
They were besieged by the Nazi Afrika Korps, comprised of German and Italian troops, from April 10 to November 27, 1941.
Under the leadership of prominent Nazi general Erwin Rommel, the “Desert Fox”, the Africa Korps until now had never known defeat.
But for 231 days, despite repelling two Allied relief efforts and a superiority in equipment, manpower, and weaponry, the Nazis were unable to take Tobruk, denying Rommel a port on the Libyan coast.
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The nickname came from American-born Nazi propagandist William Joyce, who, when he heard the Allied soldiers were taking cover in the pre-existing below-ground defences of the city, derided them as living like “rats”.
The Australians took to the nickname with pride, while another of Joyce’s attempts at derogation resulted in the Allies dubbing the ships that kept the garrison supplied under cover of darkness the “Scrap Iron Flotilla”.
The siege was ultimately relieved in November, with Rommel decided to withdraw. Most Australians had already been withdrawn from the city by then after significant casualties, replaced by Allied European troops.
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