Posted on 04/21/2009 4:37:15 PM PDT by naturalman1975
This coming Saturday, 25th April 2009, is ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand - the day that these nations remember their men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice in time of war. It is the anniversary of the day in 1915 when troops of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps went ashore at Gallipoli, Turkey - the first time substantial bodies of troops from those two young nations (Australia 1901, New Zealand 1907) had gone into battle as soldiers of their nations, rather than purely and soley as troops of the British Empire (although they still retained that status).
It is the day our nations were baptised in blood and it is a sacred day.
This coming ANZAC Day will see approximately 3500 Australian soldiers, sailors, and airmen deployed on twelve overseas operations and to the protection of our own borders. Australian troops are currently operationally deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, and other areas of the Middle East, the Sudan, East Timor, and the Solomon Islands. Approximately 600 troops of the New Zealand Defence Force (Te Ope Kaatua o Aotearoa) are operationally deployed to various operational areas in the Middle East, South Pacfic, Asia, and the Pacific.
In some of these cases, these troops are serving in support of United States lead operations.
Over the next week, I intend to post a daily message in honour of these troops and those who came before them, highlighting some areas of ANZAC history. As an Australian, I know Australia's military history better than New Zealands, so I may not do theirs justice - but I invite any Kiwis here to add anything they wish to. To some extent, I especially hope to address some areas of operations that involved Americans - I understand my audience, but I think people here do respect the contributions of those of all nations who have fought for freedom, and sometimes died for it.
Courtesy of YouTube
The following two men are generally regarded as the most highly decorated New Zealand and Australian soldiers, as well as often being regarded as the most decorated British Empire combat soldiers of their respective World Wars. Captain Charles Upham arguably bears the distinction of the being the most decorated war hero of all wars of the British Empire and Commonwealth - one of only three men to receive the Victoria Cross twice, and the only combat soldier to do so (the other two were Medical Officers).
Second Lieutenant Charles Hazlitt Upham (8077), New Zealand Military Forces.
During the operations in Crete this officer performed a series of remarkable exploits, showing outstanding leadership, tactical skill and utter indifference to danger. He commanded a forward platoon in the attack on Maleme on 22nd May and fought his way forward for over 3,000 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 a machine gun nest he advanced to close quarters with pistol and grenades, so demoralizing the occupants that his section was able to "mop up" with ease.
Another of his sections was then held up by two machine guns in a house. He went in and placed a grenade through a window, destroying the crew of one machine gun and several others, the other machine gun being silenced by the fire of his sections.
In the third case he crawled to within 15 yards of an M.G. 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 Galatos on 25th May his platoon was heavily engaged and came under severe mortar and machine-gun 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 Serjeant 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 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 30th May at Sphakia 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 hill 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 operations he suffered from dysentry 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.
Captain Charles Hazlitt UPHAM, V.C. (8077), New Zealand Military Forces.
Captain C. H. Upham, V.C., was commanding a Company of New Zealand troops in the Western Desert during the operations which culminated in the attack on El Ruweisat Ridge on the night of 14th-15th July, 1942.
In spite of being twice wounded, once when crossing open ground swept by enemy fire to inspect his forward sections guarding our mine-fields and again when he completely destroyed an entire truck load of German soldiers with hand grenades, Captain Upham insisted on remaining with his men to take part in the final assault. During the opening stages of the attack on the ridge Captain Upham's Company formed part of the reserve battalion, but, when communications with the forward troops broke down and he was instructed to send up an officer to report on the progress of the attack, he went out himself armed with a Spandau gun and, after several sharp encounters with enemy machine gun posts, succeeded in bringing back the required information.
Just before dawn the reserve battalion was ordered forward, but, when it had almost reached its objective, very heavy fire was encountered from a strongly defended enemy locality, consisting of four machine gun posts and a number of tanks.
Captain Upham, without hesitation, at once led his Company in a determined attack on the two nearest strongpoints on the left flank of the sector. His voice could be heard above the din of battle cheering on his men and, in spite of the fierce resistance of the enemy and the heavy casualties on both sides, the objective was captured.
Captain Upham, during the engagement, himself destroyed a German tank and several guns and vehicles with grenades and although he was shot through the elbow by a machine gun bullet and had his arm broken, he went on again to a forward position and brought back some of his men who had become isolated. He continued to dominate the situation until his men had beaten off a violent enemy counter-attack and consolidated the vital position which they had won under his inspiring leadership. Exhausted by pain from his wound and weak from loss of blood Captain Upham was then removed to the Regimental Aid Post but immediately his wound had been dressed he returned to his men, remaining with them all day long under heavy enemy artillery and mortar fire, until he was again severely wounded and being now unable to move fell into the hands of the enemy when, his gallant Company having been reduced to only six survivors, his position was finally over-run by superior enemy forces, in spite of the outstanding gallantry and magnificent leadership shown by Captain Upham.
The Victoria Cross was conferred on Captain Upham for conspicuous bravery during the operations in Crete in May, 1941, and the award was announced in the London Gazette dated 14th October, 1941.
On 29th August 1916 during the attack at Mouquet Farm, this officer commanded the left flank Company of the 13th Battalion front line which was heavily shelled from daylight until dark. By his personal example he inspired confidence and resolution into his men throughout the day so that at 11pm when the assault was delivered they moved steadily forward to the attack. Despite extremely heavy rifle and machine gun fire and bombing the objective was taken but the Company was then so weakened by the losses that there was a tendency to give way before the strong counter attack which the enemy immediately made. By the fine example set by Captain Murray they beat off this attack and three subsequent attacks. Rifles were useless owing to the mud but Captain Murray extemporised a system of bombs supply and the fight continued for one hour during which he was twice wounded (since evacuated) but continued fighting. At one period an enemy bullet started a man's equipment exploding whereupon Captain Murray rushed to the man and tore his equipment off him thus saving the man's life at great personal risk. Realising that it was useless to remain longer in the German trenches Captain Murray then arranged the retirement of the remains of his Company in the coolest possible manner although he had just previously shot two Germans in the hand-to-hand encounter. He continued on duty until all was safe on the morning of the 30th when, fainting from loss of blood he was compelled to hand over his Company. For coolness, bravery and soldierlike qualities this officer ranks among the best in the Australian Forces and is recommended for very high distinction.
Captain Murray commanded the Right flank Company in the attack by the 13th Battalion on Stormy Trench, N.E. of Guedecourt on night of 4th and 5th of February 1917. I placed him on the Right flank because it was the most dangerous and critical. He led his Company to the assault with great skill and courage and the position was quickly captured. Then followed the severest fighting in the history of the 13th Battalion and I am sure that the position could not have been held and our efforts crowned by victory but for the wonderful work of this Officer.
His Company beat off one counter attack after another, three big attacks in all, although one of these consisted of no less than five separate bombing attacks. All through the night the enemy concentrated the fire of many 4.2s and 5.9s on the sector of trench held by this Company, and in 24 hours the fighting strength dwindled steadily from 140 to 48, 92 casualties including 1 Officer killed and 2 Officers wounded. On one occasion the men gave ground for 20 yards but Capt Murray rushed to the front and rallied them by sheer valour, with his revolver in one hand and a bomb in the other he was ubiquitous, cheering his men heading bombing parties leading bayonet charges or carrying wounded from the dangerously shelled areas, with unequalled bravery. So great was his power of inspiration, so great was his example that not a single man in his Company reported himself shell shocked although the shelling was frightful and the trench at times was a shambles that beggars description.
His Company would follow him anywhere and die for him to a man. He won the DCM. at Anzac and the DSO at Mouquet Farm in France. I most strongly recommend Captain Murray for the Victoria Cross.
courtesy of Wikipedia
The First Australian Task Force arrived in Vietnam in May 1966 and was based at the Nui Dat base, in Phuoc Tuy Province. 6th Batallion Royal Australian Regiment was composed mainly of national servicemen. The Australians faced formidable enemy forces, which were operating on home soil.
For several weeks prior to the battle, Australian field intelligence had tracked a VC 275 Regiment radio transmitter moving south to just north of Long Tan. Aggressive patrolling failed to find this unit.
On the night of 16-17 August, the Viet Cong 275th Regiment fired over 100 mortar rounds into the 103 Battery area and 24 Australian soldiers were wounded, one later dying from his wounds. B Company 6RAR was sent out early on the morning of the 17th to find the VC heavy weapons. D Company (to which were attached three New Zealand Army personnel) relieved B Company at midday on the 18th. The commander of B Company, Major Noel Ford, briefed the D Company commander, Major Harry Smith, and B Company returned to base. After discussing the situation with the 6 RAR battalion commander, Lt Col. Colin Townsend, D Company moved to the east towards the limit of their covering artillery's range.
At 15:40, a small group of VC soldiers walked into the middle of 11 Platoon on the right flank of D Company. One was killed in the action, the area was cleared and 11 Platoon moved forward again.
Several light mortar rounds were fired towards the company position landing to the east, not the 82mm mortars that had fired at the base on the night of 16 August. The accompanying Forward Observation Officer (FO), New Zealand Captain Morrie Stanley, organised counter battery fire, probably silenced them although they may have fired at the B Company later. No further mortars fire was reported during the battle. This diversion separated the main company slightly from 11 Platoon, putting the main body behind a slight rise.
As 11 Platoon continued to advance they were attacked by heavy machine gun fire and immediately sustained six casualties. Following normal contact procedures, the platoon went into a defensive position. The VC formed an assault and attacked 11 Platoon around 20 minutes after initial contact with support from their heavy machine guns.
Stanley called in all available artillery support from the 1ATF artillery units, and 10 Platoon moved up to the left of 11 Platoon to try and relieve pressure on them and allow them to withdraw to the company defensive position. The commander of 11 Platoon, national serviceman 2nd Lt Gordon Sharp, was killed and Sergeant Bob Buick assumed command of the platoon. During this engagement both platoons' radios went out but one was sent forward to 1o Platoon and the 11 Platoon aerial was repaired.
Heavy monsoon rain began falling on the battlefield reducing visibility considerably, probably saving many lives on both sides.
10 Platoon, under 2nd Lt Geoff Kendall, also came under fire and went into a defensive position. 12 Platoon, commanded by 2nd Lt Dave Sabben, had been the reserve platoon, and it was ordered to the right to support 11 Platoon. 12 Platoon left one section behind to support Company HQ.
. The company called for close air support but when it arrived it was unable to identify targets due to the weather and rubber plantation. The US aircraft dropped their bombs to the east disrupting the VC rear areas.
Smith requested helicopter reinforcements from 6RAR. B Company HQ with its one platoon had not yet got back to Nui Dat and was ordered back to Long Tan but was then stopped.
The Australian soldiers were carrying a light load, approximately five magazines, and after nearly three hours of combat ran low on ammunition. At 5:00pm Smith called for an ammunition resupply. By coincidence, two Iroquois helicopters from 9 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force were available at the Nui Dat base, having just been used as transport for a Col Joye and Little Pattie concert. One of the Iroquois pilots, Flt Lt Bob Grandin, disobeyed orders by dropping supplies to D Company.
The survivors of 11 Platoon withdrew to 12 Platoon and back to the Company area under the cover provided by the artillery and torrential rain.
At Nui Dat, A Company had been ordered to ready itself and the M-113 armoured personnel carriers of the 1st Armoured Personnel Carrier Squadron to transport them. However there was a delay of more than an hour from the time 1 APC Squadron was ordered to 6RAR lines at Nui Dat to pick up A Company. Smith pressed Townsend to send reinforcements and even though Townsend had given the warning order to A Company to be prepared to go and assist D Company, Jackson would not release the APCs to take them. Jackson considered that the attack on D Company was a possible feint and did not want to reduce the defences at Nui Dat.
The VC continually formed assault waves and moved forward, but were broken up by artillery fire. Those who got through the gunfire were mown down by D Company men. Fortunately for the attackers, the soft boggy ground reduced the effect of the shell bursts, but there were a large number of wounded. The rain was so intense it kicked up a mist that gave the Australian soldiers some cover from the onslaught. Dave Sabben remembers the mist rising from the ground to about chest level. "All that's poking out of that is the diggers' hats and their eyes, not even their rifles," he said in a television interview with 60 Minutes. The soldiers of D Company held their line and repulsed any VC that got through the artillery barrage. D Company were supported by 24 105 mm and 155 mm guns from the Australian 1st Field Regiment, the 161st Battery, Royal New Zealand Artillery and the U.S. 2nd Battalion, 35th Artillery Regiment. Over 3,000 rounds of artillery were fired throughout the remainder of the battle, at likely Communists forming-up positions and withdrawal routes. "A" Battery, 1st Field Regiment fired rounds every 15 seconds for three hours. The U.S. gunners were in the same base as "A" Battery and assisted the exhausted Australian gunners by carrying artillery rounds to their guns.
The reverse slope that D Company used to defend their position meant that the VC found it difficult to use their heavy calibre weapons effectively; the VC could only engage the Australians at close range. The VC repeatedly tried to find the Australian flanks but the wide dispersal and excellent defensive position combined with the artillery support led to many VC casualties. Furthermore as the Australian defence was not entirely static with some limited patrolling and contacts arising it caused the VC great difficulty in determining the exact perimeter and led the VC commanders to conclude they were facing a much larger force.
A driver of one of the 1 APC Squadron vehicles, Corporal Peter Clements, was fatally wounded as 1APC Squadron fought its way into the rubber plantation. An unnecesasry dispute between the acting commander of A Company and the 3 Troop APC Squadron commander regarding who was in command of the relief force, the commander of the APCs or the commander of the infantry mounted in the APCs, also caused a delay. (In response to this ambiguity, the command structure of combined units was later more clearly defined by the Australian Army.)
At last light, A Company, in ten APCs from 1 APC Squadron, arrived under the command of Lt Col. Colin Townsend who had finally arrived in three carriers sent back to Base, and assaulted the last withdrawing enemy. In teeming rain 3 Troop APC under Lt Adrian Roberts and eleven men of 2 Platoon A Company under Lt Peter Dinham had earlier attacked the forward elements of D445 Battalion, taking them by surprise. B Company also fired on enemy which were withdrawing to the east. An Australian soldier from B Company, Private Johnson, was slightly wounded as they approached D Company from friendly fire off the top of one APC, believing them to be enemy in the gloom.
The fresh reinforcements formed a screen in front of D Company allowing them to treat the wounded and rest. During the night the artillery fired on likely forming-up points of the VC and the force withdrew with most of the 24 wounded evacuated by helicopter. This was a strong force and should have been able to repulse any night attack. As it happened, there was no further contact that night or for the next three days.
Lt Col. Bob Breen wrote later: "the battle discipline and bravery of the Australians, the cover provided by the torrential rain and the effects of hundreds of artillery and mortar rounds falling among the Viet Cong attackers resulted in a stunning victory for the Australians and a further enhancement for the fighting tradition of Australian infantry.
Why does it say 22nd in the headline and 25th in the article?
And don’t forget the Anzac Biscuits! The recipe was in my daughter’s 3rd grade math book as an exercise in multiplying and dividing fractions.
http://goaustralia.about.com/od/practicalinformation/r/anzacrecipe.htm
Because from the 21st till the 27th (one week) I am posting a daily ‘Spirit of ANZAC’ message. ANZAC Day is itself the 25th of April. This is the second of the daily messages and in Australia, it’s already 22nd April.
Oh, I see. Good idea!
I’ll be eating far too many of those this week :)
I’ll make some on Saturday. I don’t like coconut, but the children will eat them. My mother makes a type of oatmeal cookies with coconut, too, and peanut-butter morsels.
ping
Checking in, nm. Great biographies, thanks!
ANZAC day is always on the 25 April, which this year falls on as Saturday. Today (Wednesday DownUnder) is the 22nd.
Great thread, Mate!
It is fitting and appropriate that we share ANZAC day in good company with our FRiends in the US and elsewhere.
Mark of the Lion by Kenneth Sandford is a must-have biography for any self-respecting military library, for it documents the life and times of Charles Upham VC and Bar, the only combat soldier ever to have been awarded the Victoria Cross twice.
The story of my copy of the book has a peculiar American twist to it, which I'd like to share with you on the FRee Republic.
You see, in September 2006 I was traveling to Honolulu from Auckland to attend the Guardian Angels conference there. It is a long, long flight, and I needed a good book to read. And so it was that I went into the airport bookstore and bought a copy of "The Mark of The Lion" -- it looked interesting, and I had never read it before.
Upon my arrival in Honolulu the book was half-read, so I put it into my flight bag to be finished on the way home.
It was a great conference, held over a weekend. I stayed an extra day, then caught one of the many shuttle buses from the hotel I was staying at to the airport, early in the morning.
A few stops into the ride, an American soldier got onto the bus and sat down beside me. He was in uniform, and he had a good look at me with some amusement, as I was in our gleaming crimson Guardian Angels uniform (we always wear our uniforms when we fly). And so we got into a conversation. He was a very well-presented soldier, a young man of his mid-twenties, and he was heading back to Iraq to rejoin his unit.
As we neared the airport I offered to drop him an e-mail if he'd give me his address. He agreed and, as I didn't have anything else to write on, I got him to write his details into the back of my copy of "The Mark of The Lion".
It seemed like an appropriate place for this soldier to write.
About a month later I wrote to him, thanking him for his service and wishing him good luck. By now he was in Iraq with his unit, and my e-mail came as a pleasant surprise. He passed it around his unit, and then wrote back.
We've exchanged e-mails a few times since. He's been honorably discharged and has now married the girl that he had proposed to in Honolulu, during that trip where we had met. They are expecting their first child.
And for as long as "The Mark of the Lion" remains in my library, his contact details will be there, too.
Cool story! Looks like a good book, too - I’ll have to check my local library.
(grin!) Published by Penguin, ISBN 0 14 301864 7, or click on the photo of Charles Upham VC in post #13
Thanks! It doesn’t look like something I’d find in my local airport ;-).
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