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During the first unsuccessful attempt to break-out of Tobruk, we were in a small truck reeling in the telecom line between the forward observation post and our gun positions when we suddenly saw the mast of an enemy tank appear over some high ground, at the same time the tank was firing air burst shells around us. Our sergent then yelled 'cut the line', which we did and we went off like a scalded cat - I can still feel the excitement.
Also, the Australians provided some fun at times. For example, when they took a small field gun (probably a 2 pounder) from an Italian unit. They didn't have a clue how to best out of it. It was a case of up a bit and over to the right a bit. Not, 2 more degrees elevation, they were really comic, but they were doing their bit for the war. During the time between the first failure to break-out and the final push out of Tobruk, all the units in Tobruk suffered quite a bit from Stuka dive-bombers. From an observation post you could see the clouds of sand dust as the Stukas prepared to attack by starting their engines. Almost every day some unit would suffer their relentles dive-bombing and we would fire at them with our rifles, even though it was in vain. It just made you feel that you were having a go at them even though nobody ever brought one down, worst luck!

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