Richard Burton as Captain 'Tammy' MacRoberts.After a hard-fought 242 days, the Allies have relieved Tobruk. Eventually, the Australians hear bagpipes announcing the arrival of a relief column. Bartlett takes over the forward observation post, where survival is measured in hours. To MacRoberts' surprise, the rest of his men refuse to abandon the hill. Surprisingly, the self-admitted coward, Bartlett, begs him to hang on. Nine days later, after constant attacks and shelling by the Germans, MacRoberts believes his men can take no more and orders a retreat. But an order comes down from the general, asking MacRoberts to take his best company and hold a key position for three days. As a result, MacRoberts fears his men are becoming weary and will need to be relieved from action. The siege of Tobruk carries on for months. Later, MacRoberts escapes capture during an air raid on a German truck convoy, and he makes his way back to Allied lines. Rommel is bemused by his brashness and orders that he be treated well. Although he is respectful to the field marshal, MacRoberts defiantly points out that Tobruk is a thorn in his side. While he is being treated by a German doctor, he meets Rommel, who has been shot by a strafing Spitfire. But during a successful raid on a Nazi ammunition dump, MacRoberts is wounded and captured. MacRoberts' patrols do their part in exacting a toll on the enemy. It is decided to erode the Germans' confidence further by sending out small commando raids every night. As a result, MacRoberts is elevated to battalion command and made a lieutenant colonel. Under cover of a sandstorm, they attack exactly where the general predicted and head directly at MacRoberts' men. The Allied general masses his artillery where he guesses the Germans will strike. Meanwhile, the inexperienced troops are sent directly into the front lines, where they dig foxholes and prepare for Rommel's attack. MacRoberts offers to transfer him to a safer billet, but Bartlett turns him down. Bartlett, an alcoholic, later explains that after being dismissed from his job in Britain due to his drinking, he went to Australia and joined the army while intoxicated. He is surprised to see in their ranks his former schoolmaster, Tom Bartlett ( Robert Newton). The no-nonsense MacRoberts is disliked by the undisciplined Australians. The defending Allied general ( Robert Douglas) chooses British Captain 'Tammy' MacRoberts ( Richard Burton), an experienced field officer, to take command of a company of newly arrived, untried Australian troops. The 9th Australian Division are charged with holding the port for two months, at which time they are to be relieved. Standing in Rommel's way is Tobruk, a constant threat to his supply lines. During mid-April 1941 in North Africa, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel ( James Mason) and his Afrika Korps have driven the British Army into headlong retreat toward Egypt and the vital Suez Canal.

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