IMPRESSIONS OF TOBRUK

Southland Times, Issue 24681, 28 February 1942, Page 4

IMPRESSIONS OF TOBRUK

Account By Gunner

J. R. Tocker

A description of a journey to Tobruk with a convoy and his impressions of the town itself after it had been shelled and bombed have been given by Gunner J. R. Tocker, a son of the Rev. C. J. Tocker and Mrs Tocker, Earnslaw street, in a letter to his parents. “It was a unique experience passing through' the ‘ex hotspots,’ once alive with shot and shell and now just rocky expanses, littered with derelict material, guns, trucks, tanks, and occasionally a wrecked aeroplane,” said Gunner Tocker in his letter. “The parts we went through had been strongly-held Jerry positions and were terribly knocked about by artillery fire. We reached what was to be our base for the next few days, about midday of the third day—a spot some 15 miles west of Tobruk, where we were to settle down, and where the guns and tanks we had come for were to be collected.” Each day, said Gunner Tocker, vehicles would go into Tobruk to collect guns and stuff—for some reason unknown to them the gear could not be collected in one lot; it took some eight days before they had all they wanted. VISIT TO TOBRUK “I managed to work in two trips to Tobruk and was glad I did so, as it is really a sight worth seeing,” continued Gunner Tocker. “The approach to the town, down a long hill, affords a wonderful view of the harbour and the stone and plaster buildings clustered on the side of a hill looking as though they might slide into the water at a moment’s notice. The harbour itself is full of sunken Italian ships of all types and sizes, relics of last year’s campaign. I counted 28 from the road as we passed and there appeared to be many more further out. “The town itself bears the scars on every hand of the shelling and bombing it has suffered from both sides,” said Gunner Tocker. “There is not a street without at least one derelict truck. It has been a lovely little town; th"e buildings still standing are of comparatively modem style, all architecture, of course, and now this little town, once a thriving Italian port, is a battered outpost, recently the scene of one of history’s most heroic sieges.” The return trip was uneventful, said Gunner Tocker. They were hoping that Halfaya would fall before they left so that they might return by road through Bardia, Solium and Capuzzo, but it was not to be. They had to return by the old desert route again, striking the bitumen road a few miles south of Sidi Barrani. Gunner Tocker said they were now back in Maadi living like civilized beings.