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Thursday <strong>August</strong> <strong>20</strong> <strong>20</strong><strong>20</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz 13 ‘He took aim, waited . . . then CRACK!’ • From page 10 Charlie emerged out of an olive grove on the run. Somewhere behind him were two Germans armed with machine guns. Ahead of him was a hundred metres of exposed ground sprinkled with a few trees. He was halfway across when the Germans appeared out of the grove, guns chattering. One of Charlie’s men saw him jerk and twist as he fell from view into long grass. He was convinced Charlie had been killed. So were the Germans, but taking no chances, they crept forward cautiously. Kippenberger: “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 as the Germans came forward.” Charlie had just tripped over an exposed root. He squirmed through the grass to a small tree that stood between him and his stalkers. <strong>The</strong> first branch was low. Charlie used his right hand to lift the heavy rifle into the fork. <strong>The</strong> Jerries were close, looking for a body. Charlie let them creep closer. He took aim, waited until they were just 2 metres away, then squeezed the trigger — CRACK! <strong>The</strong> first German toppled to the ground. <strong>The</strong> second German paused in disbelief over his fallen comrade. It was time enough for Charlie to shift his good hand to the bolt, draw it back and bring another round into the chamber. Pushing it home, he squeezed the trigger again — CRACK! Blood spouting from the middle of his forehead, the second German fell face forward against the muzzle of Charlie’s rifle. Further up the slopes, Colonel Kippenberger was charged with holding Galatas against the German breakthrough with a makeshift force of drivers without trucks, gunners without artillery, the Kiwi Concert Party, plus Cretan irregulars and mainland Greek soldiers armed with ancient rifles. Some of his men broke and ran. Horrified that it might become contagious, the slightly built, undemonstrative small-town lawyer stood RESEARCH: Tom Scott retraced Upham’s World War 2 footsteps in Egypt, Crete, Italy and Germany. PHOTO: NZ HERALD in the middle of the maelstrom shouting, “Stand for New Zealand! Stand, every man who is a soldier!” He sheepishly admitted later that he couldn’t think of anything else to say. It was hardly “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers!” like Henry V before the battle of Agincourt, but it was enough. It stopped a trickling retreat from becoming a complete gushing rout and made him a legend in the New Zealand Division. Kippenberger waited until dusk before launching a counterattack. With reinforcements from the 28th Battalion, Charlie’s platoon, and two British tanks, they charged back into the village with all guns blazing and Maori war chants electrifying the air. Unbidden, locals, including mothers and grandmothers, armed with knives, reap hooks, pitchforks, hoes and axes joined in, screaming like banshees. Kippenberger: “<strong>The</strong>re was a tremendous amount of bayonet work in Galatas. For 15 minutes there was perfect pandemonium in the village, an indescribable uproar, screams, grenade bursts and the deafening rattle of rifles, Brens and Tommy guns. <strong>The</strong> narrow cobbled street was carpeted with the dead, nearly all Germans. Every door and window had been smashed in, and dead Germans sprawled in every room by the street, with wounded on both sides walking, crawling or propped against the walls everywhere.’ Chased down streets, over walls and across backyards, Germans fled in terror. But everyone knew that once they had gotten over their shock and called for reinforcements they would be back. A large painting depicting a scene of the fighting hangs on the wall of the antechamber attached to the church at Galatas. Holding a rock aloft, a bearded Cretan wearing a beret, sleeveless jerkin, breeches and knee-high leather boots stands over a cowering German. Trapped in his harness, as helpless as a bug on its back, the paratrooper is about to get his head stoved in. Beneath this violent image, sweet old ladies in black shawls eyed me suspiciously when I entered asking for directions to Stelios Tripalitakis’ war museum. Recognising my accent, an old man beamed and ushered me back into the square where I rang Stelios again. “Stay put!” he yelled. “STAY PUT!” “Sniper!” yelled the old man when I got off the phone, pointing with boyish glee to the church tower above us. For just a moment I caught glimpses of the gleeful boy who MONUMENT: <strong>The</strong> Charles Upham statue stands tall in Amberley. PHOTO: WIKIMEDIA witnessed the battle. He told me how his mother baked bread for Kiwi soldiers and he delivered it to their barricades. A belching car lurched up and Stelios leapt out. He had his book with him that featured a large collection of black-and- white photographs taken during the invasion. Included were shots of charred, rubble-strewn Galatas streets alongside shots of the same streets today, leafy and quiet. Stelios walked me to the spot where a dead Maori soldier lay in one of the photos. Despite the captions being in Greek, I purchased two copies. It was the least I could do. Stelios spends every spare moment scouring lofts, combing old battlefields with metal detectors and diving coastal waters searching for military relics and, with a bit of luck, the Crown Jewels of Greece. His bigger relics, rusting engine cowlings, chassis, motorbikes and the like, have taken over his lawn, garage and basement. Upstairs the living room is filled floor to ceiling with badges, buckles, helmets, guns and dressmakers’ dummies clothed in German and British uniforms. He knows his swelling collection tests his family’s patience, but with a passion bordering on fever he wants young Cretans and young New Zealanders to never forget what happened here. You get the impression that if his wife were ever to say, “Stelios, either this s*** goes, or I do!” he would call her a cab. – NZ Herald • Searching for Charlie by Tom Scott, RRP $49.99 (Upstart Press), is available now. 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