The Star: August 20, 2020

Thursday August 20 2020 The Star
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. The first branch was low.
Charlie used his right hand to lift
the heavy rifle into the fork. The
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!
The first German toppled to the
ground. The 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: “There 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.
The 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: The 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
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