The Rats Of Tobruk (1944)
The Rats of Tobruk is a 1944 Australian film directed by Charles Chauvel. An abridged version was released in the United States in 1951 as The Fighting Rats of Tobruk. The film follows three drover friends who enlist in the Australian Army together during World War II. Their story is based on the siege of the Libyan city of Tobruk in North Africa by Rommel’s Afrika Korps. The partly Australian defenders held the city for 250 days before being relieved by British forces.
Plot
Three friends are droving cattle in Australia in 1939: the restless Bluey Donkin, easy-going Milo Trent and English writer Peter Linton, who is in the country on a working holiday. Kate Carmody, a homesteader’s daughter, is in love with Bluey, but she turned down his marriage proposal two years before because he is wild and restless and a womanizer, even though he admits he loves her too.
When war breaks out, the three men enlist in the Australian army and are assigned to the 9th Division. They ship out to Africa. After early successes against the poorly led Italians, the army is besieged in Tobruk by the Germans. In between attacks, the men have comic encounters with a barber and Peter falls for a nurse, Sister Mary, after being wounded. There are several subsequent attacks in which all three soldiers are wounded. Peter Linton is killed but the others manage to repel the Germans. Bluey and Milo are then transferred to New Guinea, where Bluey is injured and Milo killed by a sniper. Bluey manages to kill the sniper and returns to Australia, where he is reunited with Kate.
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