Peter Finch enjoyed one of his first major screen successes with this wartime drama from Australia. Milo Trent (Chips Rafferty) and Bluey Donkin (Grant Taylor) are two Aussie infantrymen who are fighting in North Africa during World War II when they meet Peter Linton (Peter Finch), a slightly pretentious British soldier with a fondness for poetry. The three men form an unlikely friendship struggling to fend off Rommel's Afrika Corps as the Australian army battles to retain control of Tobruk, a strategically important city in Libya. Released as The Fighting Rats of Tobruk, this drama was based on actual incidents. Australian forces successfully held Tobruk against heavy fire from Axis troops for 250 days, and the battle has been cited as a turning point in the war in North Africa.
