Mark Of The Lion—XIX SERIES OF REMARKABLE EXPLOITS SET OUT IN CITATION'

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29952, 13 October 1962, Page 8

Mark Of The Lion—XIX SERIES OF REMARKABLE EXPLOITS SET OUT IN CITATION'

Outstanding Leadership And Tactical Skill

(From -Mark of tM toon." V C “TkURING the operations in Crete, this officer (Second Lieutenant Charles Hazlitt Upham) performed a senes of remarkable exploits, showing outstanding leadership, tactical skill, and utter indifference to danger,” said the citation upon which the King approved the award of the Victoria Cross. “He commanded a forward platoon in the attack on Maleme on May 22, and fought his way forward for over 3000 yards unsupported by any other arms and against a defence strongly organised in depth. During this operation his platoon destroyed numerous enemy posts, but on three occasions sections were temporarily held up.

“In the first case, under a heavy fire from an M.G. nest, he advanced to close quarters with pistol and grenades, so demoralising the occupants that his section was able to ‘map up' with ease

"Another of hia sections was then held up by two MG's in a house. He went in and placed a grenade through a window, destroying the crew of one M.G. and several others, the other M.G. being silenced by the fire of his sections. "In the third case he crawled within 15 yards of an M.M. post and killed the gunners with a grenade

"When his company withdrew from Maleme he helped to carry a wounded man out under fire, and together with another officer rallied more men together to carry other wounded men out. ‘‘He was then sent to bring in a company which had become isolated. With a corporal he went through enemy territory over 600 yards, killing two Germans on the way. found the company, and brought it back to the battalion's new position. But for this action it would have been completely cut off

“During the following two days his platoon occupied an exposed position on forward slopes and was continuously under fire. Second Lieutenant Upham was blown over by one mortar shell and painfully wounded by a piece of shrapnel behind the left shoulder by another. He disregarded this wound and remained on duty. He also received a bullet in the foot which he later removed in Egypt. "At Galatas on May 25 his platoon was heavily engaged when troops in front gave way and came under severe mortar and M.G. fire. While his platoon stopped under cover of a ridge Second Lieutenant Upham went forward, observed the enemy, and brought the platoon forward when the Germans advanced They killed over 40 with fire and grenades and forced the remainder to fall back.

“When his platoon was ordered to retire he sent it back under the platoon sergeant and he went back to warn other troops that they were being cut off. When he came out himself he was fired on by two Germans. He fell and shammed dead. then crawled into a position and having the use of only one arm he rested his rifle in the fork of a tree and as the Germans came forward he killed them both. The second to fall actually hit the muzzle of the rifle as he fell.

“On May 30 at Sfakia his platoon was ordered to deal with a party of the enemy which had advanced down a ravine to near Force Headquarters Though in an exhausted condition, he climbed the steep bill to the west of the ravine, placed his men in positions on the slope overlooking the ravine and himself went to the top with a Bren gun and two riflemen. By clever tactics he induced the enemy party to expose itself and then at a range of 500 yards shot 22 and caused the remainder to disperse in panic. “During the whole of the he suffered

from diarrhoea and was able to eat very little, in addition to being wounded and bruised. “He showed superb coolness. great skill and dash, and complete disregard of danger. His conduct and leadership inspired his whole platoon to fight magnificently throughout, and in fact was an inspiration to the battalion." “A Losing Battle” Back in the desert Charles was fighting a losing battle against the legend growing up about him. Men who had helped dig the defences at Riakia in Greece, or had clung to the ground under the bombs that plastered Hellfire Corner in the Servia Pass, talked about him in the evenings, when there was little to do but commune with one's fellows.

They told the stories of the counter-attack on Maleme drome, the defiant resistance on the hills, the grudging withdrawals, the price the Germans paid for every advance. and the final drama round Sfakia. And throughout the whole division conversation never went far before Upham's name was mentioned. and the stories about him exchanged, to be told again the next night, and the next.

Upham shrank from it all. Notable people came to see him, and he avoided them whenever he could.

New Zealand’s High Commissioner in London, William Jordan, visited the New Zealand forces in the Middle East. He went out to the Western Desert to the 20th Battalion, and then with the C.O. on to C Company.

Upham glimpsed them in the distance. “Oh, look, who's coming!” he exclaimed in dismay, and promptly disappeared. The official party arrived "They want to see Lieutenant Upham,” came the word. Actually Jordan wanted more than that He hoped to arrange to take Upham back with him to England. Platoon Sergeant Bob May paraded 15 Platoon, but with no appearance of the platoon commander himself. May kept an impassive face. He knew Upham had gone to earth in his dug-out, hoping that May eould handle the situation and see the visiters politely off the premises

Warning From Kippenberger

May handled it nicely, telling some persuasive white lies in the process. Later, when Kip discovered that Charles had been close at hand the whole time, he sent a warning to his over-sensitive V.C.: “Next time TH charge you with cowardice.” It was inevitable that Charles would receive congratulations whenever he met new people. At first embarrassed. he soon developed a technique of his own which did not give offence to the well-wisher, but nevertheless indicated that the subject of the V.C. was not welcome. In reply to the congratulations. Upham would give as short a “Thank you" as he could and immediately embark on a rapid discussion of the weather, or the state of farming in New Zealand, or any other topic that would serve to divert attention from the subject of himself. He became expen -it changing the conversation

When nis own V.C. ribbon arrived he made no effort to attach it to his uniform. It lay around his dug-out unused. This didn’t suit Eric Le Gros, who gained a good deal of reflected glory from his boss's distinction. “What’ll I stick this on?" he asked one day. “No good leaving it lying around.” Charles shook his head. “Go on. you’ve got to wear it, boss,” he insisted. “Chaps'll think it funny if you don’t.” "No. Leggy." "You won’t? All right, if you won't, Til wear it myself.” And there is reasonable ground for believing that he might have done so had not Kip taken a hand at this time.

Upham was shy, and he hated being conspicuous. Kip explained later. “He was inclined to be careless about dress and I had to speak to him several times about that. He always seemed surprised to hear that anyone thought he wasn’t properly turned out. Anyway, as soon as 1 ordered him to wear his ribbon he immediately did so.” But it was only half a victory. The V.C. ribbon must be wom on the inner side of all other ribbons, that is. nearest to the centre of the chest. Charles found in this a sufficient excuse for mounting his ribbon so far to the inside that it was mostly covered by the lapel of his jacket. Self-Importance He never wished to give the impression that he was ashamed of his decoration, or that he did not regard it as a great honour. Far from it But his reluctance stemmed from his acute loathing of self-importance, an almost obsessive desire to be inconspicuous.

For Molly McTamney the V.C. was, of course, something that any fiancee might well dream of. Perhaps it gave cause for fear, for men of that kind were liable to .be where the bullets flew thickest and death was close at hand But, along with men who climb great mountains, explore continents, or achieve other pinnacles attainable only by human beings of the greatest resolution, the winner of the Victoria Cross is forever singled out from his fellows But Charles gave her few crumbs from his own plate of memories. Not once in all his war-time letters to her did he refer to the deeds that won him the Cross, and on only one occasion did he ever refer to the V.C. or to the fact that he had won it On that single occasion he wrote to her saying: “Please don’t put V.C. on your envelopes.’’ A man who adopts that attitude through life usually acquires a reputation for being unconventional, even odd. There are so few people who understand what it is to be completely mentally honest Freyberg once chided him for not wearing the ribbon on one of his uniforms. “Put it up immediately!” he ordered. “It is an insult to the King not to weir it.” Upham thought that over, came to see there was some point in it Amuseti Chagrin A week later he was guest at a dinner, where be met the General again. ‘Pleased to see you’ve go

your ribbon up,” Freyberg remarked. Charles looked at him with a rather malicious twinkle. “Yes, sir; and you’ve got yours up too, sir; but mine at least is in the right place.” Freyberg looked down, then laughed as he saw, with amused chagrin, that his batman had mounted his own V.C. ribbon the wrong way. War heroes can be a great inspiration to people on the home front and it was inevitable that plans were mooted for sending Upham back to New Zealand for a tour of duty. One day the Acting-Mili-tary Secretary, Captain Guy Rhodes, received a visit from Upham. They knew each other well. Rhodes was one of the original officers of the 20th, had gone through Greece and Crete with it, had become its Adjutant and was now relieving in a Base appointment while convalescing from a spell in hospital.

To Remain With The Division

He was astonished to see the state Charles was in. The man looked worried to death and thoroughly nervy and upset

“They tell me the Military Secretary is arranging to send me back to New Zealand,” Charles said miserably, coming straight to the point of his visit Rhodes nodded. He understood that was in the wind.

Tears actually came to Upham’s eyes. Almost like a frightened boy, he pleaded with Rhodes that they shouldn’t do it to him, that he be left in peace with his platoon in the desert. He was appalled at the thought of missing the next campaign. Rhodes explained that it was out of his hands, but Upham pleaded his case in other ears also, and it wasn't long before Rhodes received official word that Second-Lieu-tenant Upham would remain with the division after all.

His platoon were glad to keep him, not only for his example and his toughness, but also for his kindness. Upharn was always an easy “touch" for any hard-luck story.

He scrounged hard for his men, intent on getting them the best of everything. He gave them presents that he received from home, rushed hotly to the defence of any of his men in trouble. One man who injured his knee during training had cause to appreciate his officer’s loyalty. It was a hospital injury, and a man back in hospital, away from the desert, quickly loses touch with his friends. Circumstances suggested to a suspicious mind back in Base that the injury was selfinflicted, and the ominous Army routine went into action Held in what amounted to a state of arrest, the poor chap, seeing medical evidence being prepared against him. wrote a letter out to Upham, hoping that it might reach him in time.

It fortunately did. Upham leapt to pen and paper, and, with his own distinctive brand of strong language, dashed off a hot. furious letter. He never spared the feelings of superior officers and. strangely enough, they never seemed to mind.

Bth Army Ready For

Offensive

By November, 1941, the newly named Bth Army was ready for another offensive in the desert While Wavell’s forces had been engaged in the fruitless campaigns in Greece and Crete, Rommel had become well established in North Africa: But now it was the Allies’ turn to take the offensive.

Every unit organised its men for the campaign. As always happens, a group of men had to be left out of battle so that if disaster occurred there would be a kernel of experienced men around which the unit could be re-formed. It is never a happy occasion for a commander to name the officers who must remain behind, and tor the officers in turn to tell of the men who must stay with them.

Kippenberger of the 20th chose his officers to be L. 0.8. —six of them. Amongst them were Maxwell, prominent for his performance in Crete, and —to the surprise of manyCharles Upham himself. “I left him out,” Kip explained later, "because of the mood he was in. From his experiences in Greece and Crete he had developed a hatred for the enemy. He was bitter about Army shortcomings and about the two miserable withdrawals. Yet he believed that his men were superior to the Germans in fighting ability. He was fretting for more action. He was really too anxious to get it the enemy again. I thought its mood was too dangerous. I left him out because I hought he would get himself killed too quickly." Upham’s reception of this tews was unbelieving, then utterly hostile. When he finally knew it vas true, his face flamed, he grabbed his equipment and threw it on to the ground, exclaiming: “What the hell am 1 doing here anyway?” He could not understand that Kippenberger was doihg it not only for his own good, but for the good of the men he would lead into action.

“Judged His Man Right”

But Howard Kippehberger. one of the most thoughtful and able military leaders New Zealand ever had. judged his man right. He knew Upham’s courage, his ruthless singleness of purpose He wanted him to have time to add a life-saving share of sober cunning to his other attributes. But at this point at time Upham was not temperamentally ripe for acting soberly. Kippenberger’s

wisdom was manifested in fighting that came later, when Charles emerged as a leader of-shrewdness as well as fiery courage. But at the time it made Upham thoroughly sore and bad-tempered. He was moody and unapproachable. However, when the first disappointment wore off, bis disposition improved. He set to work preparing tor the return of the battalion, improving the dug-outs, making sure that when his boys came out of the battle they would find as much comfort as reasonable ingenuity could provide for them. , On November 11, the division moved forward to battle. “We felt like runners, tense for the pistol.” wrote Kippenberger. Sidi Azeiz. Fort Capuzzo, Solium—it was all success at first. But then, against wellprepared opposition, Point 175, Sidi Rezegh, Belhamed —names that still ring in chill memory—were taken by the New Zealanders only after heavy fighting. These battles opened up one of the main objectives of the campaign—the relief of Tobruk —and on November 27, 1941, the 19th Battalion found its way through, joining up with men from the Essex Regiment patrolling out , from the town. Attack By German Tanks The relief of Tobruk is now merely an incident of history. And hardly had it been accomplished before Rommel’s tanks, returning from a useless foray towards the Nile, threw themselves at the Allied infantry standing on those desert ridges. One by one the New Zealand battalions were engulfed, the corridor to Tobruk was broken again, and all the successes of the previous few weeks seemed lost. Out of the battle zone the New Zealanders withdrew, proud, it seemed, of their successes, bewildered by the turn of events that bad reduced sev* eral battalions to mere shells, bitter at the thought that so much sacrifice had been suffered for so little gain. There were hard criticisms of Allied command. whose policy had committed the infantry to battle in isolated groups. without adequate tank support. But in the end it seemed that Rommel lost most. While cutting deep into our infantry, he nevertheless saw score upon score of his own precious tanks succumb to pointblank artillery fire, saw them fight with less than equal success against the British armour until, at the end, he had a bare 40 tanks left. He couldn’t hold Cyrenaica with that; so back from Belhamed, from Sidi Rezegh, from Tobruk, he retreated, and left the field to the battered opposition, who hardly realised they had won a victory. Upham’s long, restless wait with the other L.0.8.'s came to an end. He saw the pitifully few remnants of the 20th come back, looked almost in vain for any men of his precious 15 Platoon and of C Company. Those that returned Charles met warmly, showed them to their quarters like the manager of a hotel He had worked hard to have the dug-outs in good order, to have all . possible comforts laid on ready for them. He moved several of the men in the ranks into the comparative grandeur of the former sergeants' mess—and that was luxury. I i Pride And Anger They told him the story of the campaign as they sat in the cool evening air. He sympathised, and he scowled, and he shared their pride and their anger. And, with an almost dog-like affection and respect for his leadership, some went away saying: “It wouldn't have happened if Charlie had been there.” Great as Upham’s mana might have been, it was expecting a bit too much to imagine that his presence would have altered the fate of the 2nd Libyan Campaign. But expressions like that were, and were meant to be. merely symbolic. Upham’s own platoon had been led into action by Sergeant Bob May, and it is doubtful if Charles himself could have done better. May was a first-class soldier. Thousands of reinforcements came up from the Nile Delta to fill the ranks of the division. Seven out of the 10 battalions required new commanding officers. Upham became Company Commander of C Company. Amongst the new officers was Pat Barton. This is his story: “I had had a commission for about 18 months while serving in Fiji and had never seen a shell fired, so 1 was viewing with considerable trepidation joining a line battalion with many old hands from Greece, Crete, and Libya. When I heard I was posted to the 20th my fervent wish was that I would not be allocated to Charlie Upham's company that would be the last straw and my greenness shown up to the full. Imagine my feelings when I stepped out of the tram at Baggush to be told I was posted to C Company. I had hardly time to gulp in dismay when a small wity man with a pipe jutting from his mouth came over eagerly, thrust out his hand, afid said: ‘T'm Upham; how are yon? By jove, we’re damned pleased to see you. We need you badly.’ I need "not have worried over my reception." That was Upham all over. Warm, generous, and trusting towards the other man; curt and impatient with him if he failed to measure up to standard.

But between Charles and his batman, Erie Le Grot, things were always the same. It was pure vaudeville. Sturdily independent, Le

Gros treated Upham as something less than an edual, but with a sort of irreverent respect. He wheedled, and he wangled, with a skill that bordered on the unscrupulous —highly desirable attributes in a batman.

Sometimes Upham showed his appreciation by leaving an extra pound note in a pair of boots put out for cleaning. But if Leggy didn't feel like cleaning the boots that day he would quietly trade them tor some other officer's boots, and Upham never seemed to know the difference

Leggy, moreover, had a peculiar appreciation of the Army system. Unreliable at times, an expert dodger if he felt like it. nevertheless bis loyalty to Upham was so .idtense as to be almost an embarrassment. In the Company Officers’ Mess the batmen took turns acting as mess orderly. Whenever it was Leggy's turn the attention he paid to the other officers was so scant that they might just as well have got their own meals. But behind Upham’s shoulder Leggy hovered like an alert bodyguard, pressing on his boss second helpings of any delicacies before the others even set eyes on the dish, flipping the jam or the beer from their reaching hands on the mere suspicion that "his” officer might be needing it •„ 7 . . . “My Only Boss” He took orders from noone; no-one, that is, except Upham. “He's my only boss," Leggy declared categorically, in amiable defiance of all other Army discipline. When: ever anyone else tried to give him orders, Leggy became hard of hearing in a most exasperating way. And to all the other officers of the Commonwealth Forces he displayed a lack of respect and an acid tongue that somehow never got him into trouble. It Was nothing to accost a group of visiting officers who might have arrived in the lines with the words: "What do you bastards think you’re doing here? There’s no-one around Get to hell out of it!’’ Upham took Leggy with him everywhere: and if that meant going into places reserved for officers Leggy was taken in, too. Upham turned his icy-blue eyes very coldly on anyone who sugges'ed that this was not a proper thing to do. Vast Mine-Fields The Baggush Box was surrounded by mine-fields, measured by the square mile and by tens of thousands. One mine-field lay close to C Company, necessitating a long detour to Battalion HQ. and to the main supply road. Upham asked the new Battalion Commander. Colonel Burrows, for permission to open up a route through the minefield to gain better access. Kippenberger had now become a brigadier. Burrows said: “It's a dangerous job Get the engineers."

“No,” Charles replied. 'We can do it. There are a few experienced miners in my company.” “All right. But be careful You haven’t any mine detectors. What'll you use?” “We'll prod for them with bayonets.” Upham said. Burrows went over later to see how Upham's miners were getting on with the job. He found the rest of the company keeping a safe distance away Working on the mines was Charles himself, assisted by two men. It made Burrows think back to the day at Maleme when he wanted Upham to send someone through the German fire to warn D and B Companies Upham went himself Here again be chose to do the dangerous work himself That was his nature Upham and Dave Kirk were finishing the lane a few days later. A cajl came through for Charles to go to Battalion to pick up three new junior officers. So he left Kirk to finish off, jumped in the company pick-up, and drove himself over to meet the new men. Lifting The Mines Coming back with them, instead of travelling round by the road, he drove straight across the desert to where Kirk was finishing lifting the mines. “Finished the track, Dave?" he called out “Yea. but we’d better have another check." “I'll soon check it" Upham said. He promptly installed one

of the new officers in the drivers seat, pointed out the supposedly cleared lane, and told him to drive the pick-up through it to Company H.Q. beyond. The truck moved off gingerly, the three new officers facing the realities of war rather earlier than they had expected.

“You're a bit tough on them, aren’t you?" Kirk suggested. ’They’re so new they might blow themselves up." “If you say the track's cleared, Dave, that’s good enough for me,” Upham replied. Then he added tartly: .“They’ve had it safe long enough. This won’t be the only mine-field they’ll have t- drive through.”

“A Hard Streak” Kirk shrugged. He knew his officer well, but there was a hard streak that he could never penetrate.

With his obstinacy, Charles would never let up once be started on anything. One evening near Christmas, 1941. he set out with a friend to walk to another unit about half a mile away, ft was very dark They walked for 20 minutes, then for an hour. Two hours passed—and still the destination eluded them. With a persistent dogged fury at his own failure, Charles insisted on walking and walking; and it was not till 3 a.m. that his friend persuaded him to rest till daylight. Then he got pneumonia and jaundice Feltham, the Battalion M.O. found him lying in his dug-out with all the right symptoms. “I'll get an ambulance over,” he said. “I’ll go by truck,” Upham said, with complete absence of logic. And he refused to be evacuated unless he went by truck. Perhaps he regarded the ambulance as a symbol of defeat.

Jaundice victims have to avoid anything fatty and greasy. Doc Feltham warned him clearly about that. He called on his patient a few days later. He found Upham sitting up in bed devouring a New Zealand mutton-bird—and it is doubtful if there is a fattier greasier dish in the whole world of gastronomy. Upham would never acknowledge weakness, or accept the symbols of it.

Upham Joins His Company

In January, 1942, the New Zealanders were having more amphibious training at Kabrit, in the Suez Canal area. There Upham rejoined his company after his sojourn in hospital.

One thing he had to straighten out immediately. Some transport drivers, pas', masters at this sort of thing, were living in a cave. Headquarters Company, to whom they really belonged, thought they were under control of C Company. C Company thought they were back where they belonged. But Upham soon put that right. “We knew all good things come to an end when we heard you were back," they said ruefully. Next, an Army film unit wanted to make a propaganda film showing the slickness and efficiency of our Middle East infantry in rapid debussing. The way a welltrained section could leap from its truck and dash into battle positions would make a good film. It was not unexpected when Upnam's C Company at Kabrit was called upon to provide the men for the fllm. He had moved cautiously into the job of Company Commander. At Kabrit the Company Orderly Room consisted of a small tent in which the company clerk, Terry Madsen, slept. There was just room, in addition, for a primus, a tin or two of coffee, and the telephone. One day, soon after arriving at Kabrit Charles happened to be in B Company lines. He returned to his own headquarters looking rather worried. “Actions Pending” “Terry,” he said, Tve just been to B Company. You know, for Company Headquarters they’ve got a ruddy big E.P.LP tent with tables and chairs. They've got trays marked In’ and *Out’: and they’ve got papers clipoed together hanging on nails with names on them like ’Returns’ and Action Pending.* We don’t seem to have any of that Do you keep any flies. Terry? If you do, where the hell are they?’ Madsen grinned cheerily-

"Right here. Mr Upham," he said, and dived under the pillow on his bed. Everything was neatly filed inside a rubber band. "What about 'lns’ and 'Outs,' and ‘Action Pending,’ and that sort of thing? Don’t you need a bit of a system?" “It’s all here." Madsen said blandly, tapping the rubber band.

"Well, look, Terry. Don’t say what you're going for, but make some excuse to wander over to B Company. Have a look round their orderly room —make sure there’s nothing you’re overlooking.” Madsen shook his head patiently, but went over and had a look nevertheless. When he returned he reported that B Company didn’t do anything he didn’t do. "Ask yourself who’ll be ready first to move in a htarry,” he pointed out to Upham. “You see, it all gets bunged into this old ammo box and shoved on the truck: and then 1 wait around for you others to get packed up." Upham’s face suddenly cleared. "Well, that’s just how it should be, Terry. You just carry on the way you like it To hell with ‘Actions Pending'!’’ That suited Terry. (To Be Continued)

(Copyright, 1962, Kenneth Sandford.]