Charles Upham
Maleme, Crete, May 1941, and Ruweisat Ridge, Egypt, July 1942 saw the heroic actions of a man who lived to receive an unprecedented Victoria Cross and Bar – the only combat soldier to achieve the honour
This New Zealander is the only combat soldier to win a Victoria Cross and Bar
Just before his 31st birthday in September 1939, Charles Upham volunteered as a private in the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He had been in the territorials but refused to join at any higher rank. He was soon singled out for his qualities and made temporary lance corporal, but refused to attend the Officer Cadet Training Unit because he feared that such training would delay his departure for Europe. He was determined to learn everything he could and excelled in the use of the bayonet, machine gun and hand grenade. He once complained at the futility of having to miss bayonet practice in order to lay a lawn at camp headquarters. By the end of training his clear leadership abilities had been recognised and he had been made sergeant. Upham sailed with the first New Zealand troops for Egypt in December 1939.
In July 1940 Upham was finally persuaded to attend officer training (despite his known lack of respect for army conventions and rank, as well as a blunt and outspoken nature). There, he was insubordinate, questioned everything and was immensely unpopular with his British training officers. He was critical of the tactics taught, especially against tanks and aircraft. Placed last in his course in November 1941 he was nonetheless commissioned as a second lieutenant and given command of a platoon in the 20th Battalion, made up of rugged and tough farm men like himself from the Canterbury and West Coast regions of New Zealand. With his platoon, he served with the New Zealand Division in Greece in March 1941 before being evacuated to Crete.
The 20th Battalion, along with the 28th (Maori) Battalion, was stationed at Maleme airfield in preparation for the German invasion. The New Zealanders, under the command of Lieutenant General Freyberg, had roughly a month to prepare their defences but possessed few resources other than manpower. Maleme, the keystone to the German airborne invasion, fell on 21 May. A counterattack was organised quickly, and at 4am Upham led a platoon of C Company to the village of Pirgos near the
Lieutenant Colonel Howard Kippenberger
aerodrome and reported back that the Germans were “in ditches, behind hedges, in the top and bottom storeys of village buildings, fields and gardens”. Unfortunately, the battalion counterattack was not pressed home and attention was instead shifted to taking the high ground overlooking the airfield.
Upham, despite being ill with dysentery, led his platoon forward 2,750 metres (3,000 yards) to the edge of the airfield, fighting all the way “unsupported and against a defence strongly organised in depth”. The platoon reached men from B Company and extracted them. “During this operation his platoon destroyed numerous enemy posts but on three occasions sections were temporarily held up”, it was reported. On the first occasion Upham himself went forward and “under heavy fire from a machine gun nest he advanced to close quarters with pistol and grenades”. When a second section was held up by two machine guns positioned in a house, Upham “went and placed a grenade through the window, destroying the crew of one machine gun and several others”. On the third occasion a section of his was held up, he “crawled within 15 yards [14 metres] of a machine gun post and killed the gunners with a grenade”.
Despite being described as a “walking skeleton” himself because of his dysentery, he carried a wounded man out and rallied troops to collect other wounded men. With a corporal, Upham then went forward 550 metres (600 yards) through enemy territory to bring in a company that had become isolated. He killed two enemies during this action and brought the
“EVERY MAN IN THE COMPANY AND EVERY MAN IN THE BATTALION IS SATISFIED THAT THE AWARD WAS MADE TO THE RIGHT MAN. HE WAS… UNQUESTIONABLY THE FINEST FIGHTING SOLDIER THAT IT HAD THROUGHOUT THE OPERATION”
company to the battalion’s new position. In all this time Upham refused to go to the hospital, determined to stay on duty.
On 23 May Upham held an exposed position overlooking the airfield until the battalion withdrew towards Canea at dawn. Upham was wounded at the Platanias bridge, but after he had his wound dressed insisted he return to battle. On 25 May the 20th Battalion was part of the counterattack at Galatas to allow time for more units to withdraw to Canea.
Upham was heavily involved in this action, being wounded in the leg. Still he led his men, killing 40 Germans with rifle and grenade. When ordered to retire, he left his platoon under the command of a sergeant and personally went to inform others to fall back. Watched by his men, he was fired on by two Germans, played dead and 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.”
The decision was taken to retreat to Sphakia on the south coast of Crete, a 65-kilometre (40-mile) trek over mountainous terrain.
Despite his illness and injuries, Upham made the trek and then, on 30 May with his platoon, climbed a steep hill to place his men in defence of the retreat. A unit of 50 Germans was spotted advancing and, climbing to the top of the hill with a Bren gunner and two men, the four succeeded to take out 22 of the enemy. Upham, exhausted, ill and severely wounded, was evacuated to Egypt that night. He had not eaten for the entire nine days save for condensed milk, which his men found for him.
As the quotes from his Victoria Cross citation show, he was awarded the highest honour for a series of heroic actions spanning nine days. Upham recuperated in Egypt, learning of his award in October 1941. His commander, Lieutenant Colonel Howard Kippenberger, spoke of Upham’s distress at being singled out for recognition, but also that every man in the battalion agreed that he was thoroughly deserving. Upham was convinced to accept the medal in recognition for all the brave actions of the men around him.
Interviewed for New Zealand radio, Upham took no credit for his own actions but thanked his commanders as well as the NCOS and men in his platoon, battalion and division, stating, “It is very easy to do any job under those circumstances.” He even went so far as to name all the men in his company who had been left in Greece and Crete as prisoners or casualties, asking the New Zealand public to send them care packages. Other than his bravery, it was Upham’s care for his men’s wellbeing that most endeared them to him.
After evacuation from Crete, the New Zealand Division served on garrison duty in northern Syria until summoned to the Western Desert on 14 June 1942. Upham had re-joined the division by this point, having suffered jaundice and pneumonia in the meantime.
The division was assigned to Minqar Qaim. On 24 June the German 21st Panzer Division and 90th Light Division broke through the 29th Indian Infantry Brigade and surrounded the New Zealanders. Lieutenant General Freyberg had been wounded and command fell to Brigadier Inglis, who decided that they had to break out.
The breakout was set for 28 June and, led by the Fourth Brigade, the New Zealanders drove through the lines of the 21st Panzer Division. During this action Upham, now a captain, commanded C Company and mounted grenade attacks on gun positions, tanks and transports.
Upham led, as always, from the front, and his attacks were carried out at such close quarters that his hands and face were lacerated by the shrapnel of his own grenades. He also ran out,
exposing himself to fire, so that the Germans would give their positions away and could be taken down by the men of C Company.
After the breakout, the Germans could not arrive at El Alamein for some days. There, the New Zealand Fourth and Fifth Brigades were placed to attack Ruweisat Ridge, some 60 metres (200 feet) high, 23 kilometres (14 miles) south of El Alamein.
The attack on 14 July did not go to plan, with the New Zealanders coming into contact with the enemy much earlier than expected and well short of the ridge itself. The commander of the Fourth Brigade needed a clear picture of what was going on and asked 20th Battalion to send someone forward. The commander of 20th Battalion detailed that task to Captain Upham’s C Company. Rather than assigning anyone else, Upham went forward in a jeep himself and soon came under fire. He criss-crossed the battlefield and reported back to the commander of the brigade that the main German positions were on the flat in front of the ridge rather than the ridge itself. There was no choice but to press the attack.
Upham’s company was then ordered to distract a force of German infantry, armoured cars and tanks that had taken up position in a depression. The citation for his Bar stated that Upham “without hesitation at once led his company in a determined attack on the two nearest strong points on the left of the sector. His voice could be heard above the din of the battle cheering his men.”
Upham had his elbow shattered by an enemy bullet but continued to lead the frontal attack, which swept everything before it. The ridge was taken, but the New Zealand forces were exposed to artillery and machine gun fire and were without tank support. Upham had just made his way back to C Company when a mortar shell exploded and killed most of the company and left Upham badly wounded in the leg. The German counterattack, led by heavy tanks, overwhelmed the New Zealanders, who had only a few anti-tank guns. Upham was found near the six surviving members of his company and they were taken into captivity.
A bedridden Upham was a terrible prisoner for his Italian captors. When he had recovered, Upham attempted to escape from his POW camp, which led to him being sent to Germany in September 1943. He again attempted to escape and was interred at Colditz Castle – the place for habitual escapees – in October 1944. One of his fellow Colditz captives described Upham the prisoner in terms that sum him up in all things: “Determination and singleness of purpose personified – loyal, constructive, quiet, unassuming and friendly.” It’s unsurprising that his nickname was ‘Pug’.
Almost as soon as he was captured in
Egypt, Kippenberger had begun to gather the evidence to support a Bar to Upham’s VC. It was considered so unlikely that a Bar would be awarded that the question was put off until his release at the end of the war. Five acts of conspicuous bravery were attributed to Upham in the Egyptian desert and would have been enough to earn two Victoria Crosses.
Upham was released from Colditz on 15
April 1945 and awarded his Victoria Cross on 11 May by King George VI. Upham himself was unaware that there was a movement, led by General Bernard Freyberg, the commander of the New Zealand Division, to award him a Bar. When the evidence was gathered, however, it was clear he deserved it. His commander, Kippenberger, told King George in person that he thought Upham had earned the VC several times over. By the time the Bar was granted, Upham was back in Christchurch, New Zealand. His response when it was announced was typical: “Hundreds of others have done more than I did.” Upham maintained that he had only done his duty.
At the conclusion of the war, Upham returned to Canterbury. He shunned the spotlight and turned down a knighthood. He founded a farm despite the ongoing difficulties with his injuries. There he maintained his modest life with his wife Molly and three daughters although, legend has it, he never allowed a piece of German machinery onto his property.
“AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN – DETERMINATION AND SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE PERSONIFIED – LOYAL, CONSTRUCTIVE, QUIET, UNASSUMING AND FRIENDLY” Lieutentant J.E.R. Wood, M.C.