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Table of Contents
Introduction
Conclusion
Introduction
Thank you for downloading this book, Hero Soldiers of WWII.
This e-book is a collection of stories about some of the most highly awarded Allied
soldiers of the Second World War. These stories have been selected to give you a brief
introduction to the valor that took place on every battlefield of the Second World War, and
it is our hope that in reading these accounts, you will be moved to find out more about
other brave soldiers from the past and the present who put aside their personal interests,
and many times their lives, in the defense of others.
The stories in this e-book contain both well-known and not so well-known stories of
heroism and bravery, but as each of these medal winners would likely tell you if he (or
she) could, they were only doing their duty, and many other of their comrades deserved
the same recognition, or more.
The war was fought in many different countries under many different circumstances by
many different people from many different cultures. It is hoped that the representation of
Allied soldiers presented here represents a wide enough survey for all.
Please feel free to share this book with your friends and family. Please also take
the time to write a short review on Amazon to share your thoughts.
However, before we tell you about the rest of Joe Beyrles amazing story, understand
that Beyrles wartime experiences, while they may have shaped the rest of his life, were
only a segment of a long life.
Beyrle was raised in Muskegon, Michigan, and was a star pupil at St. Josephs High
School. When he graduated in June of 1942, the United States had been at war for exactly
six months. Joe had a full scholarship for the prestigious Notre Dame, but did not accept
it. Like many others of his generation, he felt it was his duty to serve his country in time of
crisis.
Not waiting to be drafted, Beyrle enlisted in the army and volunteered for the newly
established Parachute Infantry. This division was to be part of the revolution in warfare
that took place during the Second World War: massed airborne drops behind enemy lines.
Like his more well-known (in 21st century America) comrades of Easy Company of the
506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne (the famed Band of Brothers), Beyrle
was sent to Camp Toccoa, Georgia, for his basic, advanced and parachute infantry
training.
For those who are familiar with the Band of Brothers story, the training regimen at
Camp Toccoa is well known. In the humid Georgia heat, Beyrle and thousands of other
recruits underwent some of the toughest training in the world at that time, the most notable
being the forced runs up and down Toccoa Mountain in full gear. To get his parachute
wings, Beyrle and his comrades marched from Toccoa to Ft. Benning completing the
162-mile march in 72 hours, a feat mentioned in Ambroses book. At Ft. Benning, trainees
had to complete five successful jumps to get their wings and be called a paratrooper,
which he did in the winter of 1942 and spring of 1943.
In June of 1943, the 506th PIR (Parachute Infantry Regiment), which had been an
independent formation, became part of the newly formed 101st Airborne, the Screaming
Eagles. In September 1943, Beyrle arrived in England as a sergeant. There he was
selected as part of a type of military cross-cultural program, and trained with the British
Airborne and earned his British jump wings. Beyrle, who as we have seen (and will see)
was more than a little adventurous, volunteered for a mission in April 1944 with the
British to drop behind enemy lines in France and give currency in the form of gold to
members of the French Resistance. Laying low in France for a week with the Resistance,
Beyrle was picked up by a British plane on a remote airfield. In May, he repeated the
adventure, but was never told the reason for it.
By that time, the Normandy invasion was in its final stages of preparation, and Beyrle
rejoined his unit. When the invasion came, Beyrles C-47 transport was one of many
planes that came under fire by German guns, and was hit. Beyrle jumped from the plane at
the low level of 400 feet, and separated from the rest of the men in his stick near the
village of St. Come du Mont behind the invasion beaches.
Beyrle, a demolitions expert, managed to blow up a small power sub-station on his
own, and while attempting to find the rest of his unit, engaged in a short action with a
group of Germans. As he was trying to find his unit in the dark, he climbed over a
hedgerow and into a German machine gun nest, where he was taken prisoner.
After much interrogation, Beyrle and other American prisoners were marched back
toward the German rear when they came under American shelling. After patching up two
comrades and being slightly wounded himself, Beyrle took advantage of the confusion to
escape. After 12 or so hours on his own, he again stumbled into another German unit and
was recaptured.
He then began a journey to POW camps deep inside Germany throughout the fall of
1944, facing hunger, being attacked by Allied planes, being shot through the arm during a
camp riot over potatoes, and being in charge of the escape and security committee in the
camp. When a suspected German spy was planted in the barracks, Beyrle and others put
him on trial for espionage. His body was never found.
Joe escaped twice from German captivity and was re-captured. Barely escaping
execution by the Gestapo, he was held in inhumane conditions for days at a time.
In January 1945 came a third attempt at escape. Beyrle, with two comrades, hid in
barrels on a wagon that was used by an old man to bring supplies into the camp. Shortly
after passing through the camp gate, the wagon hit a rock and overturned, spilling Beyrle
and his two comrades out of their hiding places. Coming up running, Joe and his two
partners came under machine gun fire from the camp, and his two comrades were killed.
Beyrle managed to make it to a nearby wood and avoid detection.
For two days, Beyrle headed east towards the sounds of artillery fire. He travelled at
night to avoid German troops and civilians. On the morning of the third day, Beyrle was
hiding in the hayloft of a barn when he heard the sounds of tank engines pulling into the
farmyard below him. Peering out of his hiding place, he saw that they were Soviet troops!
Holding a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes in his upraised hands, Beyrle came out of
hiding yelling Americans tovarisch! (American comrade!). To Joes surprise, the
commander of the tank battalion that had stopped at his farm was a woman. She was
Alexandra Samusenko, the only woman to rise to the rank of battalion commander in the
Red Army during WWII. Unlike Western armies, the Red Army did allow, encourage, and
sometimes dragoon women soldiers into combat in the struggle for existence which was
the Eastern Front of WWII. Samusenko had fought from Kursk, where she was a private
in a tank crew, to here in Germany, by which time she had attained the rank of captain.
She had also received the USSRs highest honor, Hero of the Soviet Union. She was
killed in action on March 3rd, 1945.
Beyrle told Samusenko and her battalions political commissar that he was an
American POW, and that he wanted to join them to fight and kill Nazis. After much
debate, the Soviets decided that Joe was who he said he was, gave him a machine pistol,
and told him that he could join them. The next morning, riding on the back of
Samusenkos tank, Joe Beyrle joined the Red Army in fighting the Germans. He became
the only man known to have fought in both armies (plus the British!) in WWII.
Over the next few weeks, Joe engaged in several firefights with the Germans alongside
his Soviet comrades, at one point liberating some US POWs who were then sent eastward
to be repatriated after the war. Marching on, they came to the very same camp from which
Beyrle had escaped! In the office of the POW camps commandant, the Russians had
found a safe, but did not know how to use their US supplied explosives to get it open.
Beyrle blew the safe for them, which was filled with currency of all kinds, including US
dollars and gold. This made the Russians very happy.
During the next week, while riding on the back of a Russian tank, Beyrle was wounded
in one of the last Luftwaffe attacks on the Eastern Front. When he came to, he was in a
Red Army hospital. While on a tour of Soviet medical facilities, the most famous
commander of the Red Army in WWII, Georgi Zhukov, met with Beyrle. In their short
conversation, Zhukov promised Beyrle that he would aid him in getting to Moscow and
then repatriated to America.
In late March, this is exactly what happened. While in Moscow, Joe was told that
Joseph Beyrle of the 101st had been reported killed in action on June 10th, 1944, and that
his funeral had taken place in his hometown of Muskegon, and until his identity was
verified, he was under Marine guard. Not one to be suspected of being a traitor after all he
had been through, and not being a person who resigned himself to captivity, Beyrle
jumped his Marine guard and tried to escape. This time, however, in his condition, Beyrle
did not make it out of his room.
Within days, his identity was confirmed, and he began a long, circuitous trip with other
former POWs back home to the United States. On April 21st, 1945, Joe Beyrle was back in
Muskegon. Five months later, he married his childhood sweetheart in the same church
where his funeral had been held in 1944.
Joe spent the rest of his life working for the Brunswick Corporation and had three
children, one of whom, John, became the US Ambassador to Russia from 2008-12. Joe
was honored by Presidents of both countries, and in 1994, on the 50th anniversary of DDay, was awarded citations by both President Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin of Russia. He
died amazingly enough (or not, considering his amazing life) while on a visit to the
101st Airbornes old training ground at Toccoa, Georgia, in 2004.
in Germany 1944
nearly every day, aimed at recapturing or neutralizing the building and the surrounding
area.
After a couple of days, Lieutenant Afanasiev and twenty-five additional soldiers
reinforced the house and brought with them supplies, weapons, and ammunition. These
included mines, mortars, heavy machine guns, and the uniquely Soviet PTRS anti-tank
rifle. This weapon, which could not pierce the German front, rear, or side armor unless it
was a very lucky hit, could penetrate the top turret armor, and after much experience,
Pavlov had the gun stationed in the top floors of the building. He himself was credited
with the destruction of twelve German tanks in this manner.
By the second week, German assaults were regular and at times accompanied by tanks.
The repeated assaults on the house told Pavlov and his men exactly how important their
position was.
After the siege had gone on for three weeks, the defenders had dug through basement
walls and tunnelled to another Russian position. Through this perilous connection,
supplies trickled through. It must be remembered that though the Soviets staged a massive
counter-attack in November, this attack came to the north and south of the city. Part of the
Soviet strategy at Stalingrad was to feed just enough troops into the city proper to keep the
Germans engaged in bitter fighting, so it was supplies and not men that came through the
tunnel to Pavlovs House.
At times, famed Soviet sniper Anatoly Chekhov[*] would come to the house and find
targets. By the end of the Stalingrad battle, Chekhov had killed 256 German soldiers and
officers. An estimated 3,000 Germans were killed by Red Army snipers (male and female)
during the battle.
When one wall of the building was mostly blown down and the Germans called for
their surrender, the Soviets replied, A house is a house even with three walls and a
little ventilation! The fighting continued.
At times, the piles of German dead were so high that Pavlov and others had to go out
during lulls in the battle at night and kick them over, as they had begun to block the
Soviets field of fire. On captured German maps, the house was referred to as a fortress.
Fighting continued around the house until November 25th, when the massive Soviet
counter-attack to the north and south, as well as inside the city, came and the defenders
were relieved.
For his actions, Pavlov was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union and other citations
for bravery. He fought to the end of the war, and ended the campaign in Germany on the
Baltic Sea. He retired from the army in 1946 and became a Communist Party member. He
was elected to be a deputy to the Communist Party Council of his home area three times.
He died in 1981.
Pavlovs House
Pavlov 1945
exploded just yards in front of his face, blowing Cain off his feet and blinding him. The
men around him dragged him out of danger with the major yelling all the time for the
outfits sole anti-tank gun to deal with the tank, which it did, destroying it.
Cains sight returned a short time later, and rejecting morphine for the shell splinters in
his face and neck and his doctors advice to remain with the wounded, he returned himself
to duty, grabbing another PIAT and going off on his own to look for tanks.
Seeing another anti-tank gun and rounding up two other men, Cain disabled another
Tiger, but as he went to fire another shot, he realized that his gun had misfired and was
now out of action.
Two days later on the 22nd, he was still in action. By this time, his eardrums had burst
from all of the gunfire, and he had rags shoved into his bleeding ears. All the while, he
encouraged his men to continue fighting.
According to the original plan, XXX Corps was to have relieved the British forces at
Arnhem, but that was not to be. The bridge at Eindhoven had been blown by the Germans,
and it had taken almost a full day to get a temporary bridge across the river. Each delay
caused another further up the line. At Nijmegen, the paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne
were facing tough resistance, and the tanks were needed to capture the bridge there. When
they finally arrived, a joint amphibious and bridge crossing was planned. The men of the
82nds 504 Regiment were to go across the wide Waal River on canvas boats supplied by
the British. Delay after delay occurred but finally, in the late afternoon of Wednesday 20th,
the Americans began to cross the river. Only half of the 26 boats made it across, the rest
being sunk by mortar and machine gun fire. Once across, the remaining troopers ran
across 200 yards of open beach before they assaulted the far end of the bridge. In the
history of the 82nd, this crossing is called Little Omaha for the casualty rate approached
that of the troops, which landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day three months before. After the
British tanks rumbled across the bridge at 1830 hours, they halted. They had not been
authorized to advance at night. Many years after the war, the German commander at
Nijmegen stated that this was the gravest mistake the Allies made during the battle, for his
defenses at this point were almost non-existent.
All of these delays meant that the almost 4,000 remaining survivors of the Arnhem drop
were likely on their own. A small force under Col. John Frost had seized the north end of
Arnhem Bridge and was holding out, but their time was limited. By Thursday the 21st,
supplies of all kinds were beginning to run out. To make matters worse, the zones where
supplies were to be dropped had been overrun by the Germans. Ordered to ignore signals
from the ground, the supply pilots dropped many of their supplies to the enemy.
By the 25th, the operation, which was supposed to last two or three days, had lasted
nine. Runners had been sent all over the Arnhem and Oosterbeek areas to organize a
retreat for those still able to walk. Allied troops who had made it to the river downstream
from Arnhem on the opposite side of the river would bring assault boats over to rescue the
remaining men of the British First Airborne. While this was being organized, the Germans
still had to be held off. A pocket of British troops, some led by Cain, stopped repeated
attacks by tanks, self-propelled guns, flamethrower tanks, and infantry.
By this time, there was no more PIAT ammunition with which to hold off the German
tanks. Cain took over a two-inch mortar and rained down such fire on the Germans that
after three hours of attack, they withdrew, leaving guns destroyed and tanks disabled
behind them.
Finally given the order to withdraw across the river, Cain and his handful of men
realized there were no boats for them, so they swam the Rhine, making it to a damaged
assault craft, which they paddled across the river with rifle butts.
His actions all through the failed Arnhem campaign won Major Cain the Victoria Cross,
the highest award for valor given by the British Military. Included in his citation were the
words: His coolness and courage under incessant fire could not be surpassed.
Cain died on May 2nd, 1974.
Bocage describes the system of farm fields found in Normandy in northern France.
Hedges, walls, trees, rubble, or sometimes all together were used to delineate farm fields
and prevent erosion. These are not hedges as they are known in North America, but tall,
thick, almost impenetrable obstacles that not only afford cover, but hiding places as well.
When the planning of the Normandy invasion was progressing, the attention to detail
was stunning. Beaches were mapped out exactly. Houses were identified and re-created in
models used by soldiers to rehearse their roles and to familiarize themselves with their
goals and surroundings. Gun emplacements were identified, and much more.
However, it seems that the hedgerows of the bocage were somehow overlooked, for
when the invasion did take place and the assault troops and reinforcements moved off the
beaches inland, they stalled in the hedgerows, stymied by the stiff German resistance there
and the lack of space in which to manoeuvre their tanks. Indeed, the hedgerows gave ideal
cover to German anti-tank guns, German soldiers with the feared Panzerfaust anti-tank
weapon, snipers, and machine gun nests. Though the Germans were numerically inferior
in the Normandy area after the first day or so of the invasion, the terrain favored the
defense, and almost every field became a battleground.
From the 6th of June until the 25th of July, the Allied forces were bogged down in the
bocage. The British and Canadian forces faced a special challenge. This was the siege of
the Norman city of Caen, where they faced the brunt of German armor in Normandy.
Caen served as a road hub for the region, and a possible pivot point for the Allies to use
in the shift of their troops towards Paris and Flanders further to the west and north. For
this reason, Field Marshal Montgomerys estimate of taking Caen by the end of D-Day
was a pipe dream. The Germans invested themselves in the city, and hard fighting began
which was to last for a month, claiming the lives of thousands of civilians in the process.
While the British and Canadians fought in front and around Caen, the Americans
further to the west made deeper penetrations into the German lines, but they, too, were
behind their self-imposed schedule. General Omar Bradley, the commander of American
troops in Normandy, frustrated by the lack of progress, developed a plan to break out of
the beachhead area: Operation Cobra.
Bradleys plan was straightforward. Two relatively narrow areas in the St. Lo area of
Normandy would be saturation bombed, and shortly after the bombing was finished,
American tank and infantry divisions would charge through, getting behind German lines
and into the more open country away from the coast. The plan was to pour eight infantry
divisions and three armored divisions with a total of over 2,000 tanks through this narrow
gap defended by the remains of three German infantry (one Parachute), four understrength
Panzer divisions (most no bigger than a regiment), one motorized division, and 190 tanks
and assault guns.
On the morning of July 25th, an incredible bombardment began. Three waves of Allied
planes bombed the narrow corridors around St. Lo: 600 fighter-bombers, 1,000 heavy
bombers, and finally hundreds of medium bombers absolutely pulverized everything in
their path. Unfortunately, this included some Allied troops the bombers strayed from
their ordered flight plan. German resistance in the bombed area fell apart, and in the area
behind it, disarray ensued.
At the same time, a series of attacks by the British and Canadians around Caen was
designed to hold the stronger German Panzer divisions there. What ensued were a series of
tough, bloody battles between tanks and infantry, which also included a number of
atrocities by SS troops, which were avenged in turn.
In late July and early August, the Allies had begun to pick up momentum. At the end of
July, the 2nd Alberta Regiment (armored), of which Major (later Lt. Colonel) David Vivian
Currie was a part, was deployed to Normandy. There he took part in Operation Totalize,
the purpose of which was to make a breakthrough south of Caen which had been captured
on July 9th.
On the 12th of August, German troops, whose units were a shell of their former selves,
were ordered by Hitler to counter-attack. The tactical situation made this a virtual suicide
order, and some of his commanders pleaded with Hitler to call off the assault. A pocket of
German controlled territory, approximately thirty miles long and ten miles wide, was
sandwiched between the Americans to the south and southwest and the British and
Canadians to the north. The city of Falaise, in the center of this area, gave the battle its
name: the Battle of the Falaise Pocket. If they did not retreat, they would be annihilated.
Instead, Hitler told them to attack. Their annihilation was sure.
The attack, which initially retrieved a couple of miles from the Allies, was savagely
beaten back. A brave but foolhardy charge by the Panzers at Mortain helped to ensure
defeat and resulted in what General Eisenhower called a scene from Dantes Inferno.
Allied tanks and fighter-bombers had decimated columns of German tanks attempting to
retreat. For months afterwards, bodies of soldiers, civilians, and animals were still being
buried or burnt.
This was the scene on August 18th, 1944, when Major Currie led a detachment of the 2nd
Alberta Regiment to the small village of St. Lambert sur Dives, on the northeast shoulder
of the pocket. Here, the 2nd Alberta was part of the effort to close the pocket behind the
Germans cutting them off and forcing their surrender.
Two of the 2nd Albertas tanks were disabled by 88mm anti-tank guns as they made their
way through the village. At twilight, Major Currie went into the village alone to spy on the
German defenses and see if he could find survivors of the disabled tanks, which he did,
Currie on
th
August 20 , 1944
ambushed by Japanese forces on their first mission, taking heavy casualties and being
forced to withdraw back into India after some months in the Burmese jungle.
After several months of rest, training, and re-equipping, Gurungs unit, the 3rd Battalion
of the 2nd King Edward VIIs Own Gurkha Rifles, was briefly absorbed into the 25th Indian
Division for an Allied offensive in the Mayu Mountains of Burma. Here, Gurung was
promoted to Corporal, but was soon demoted for disobeying orders and taking the wrong
Japanese position (it later was discovered that it was not Gurung that had been wrong, but
his platoon commander who had given him the wrong order).
In February 1945, near Tamandu, Burma, in the eastern part of the country near the
coast, the Chindits aided the assault of the key Japanese base there. Two hills overlooking
the base were taken by the unit, and as Gurung and his unit were approaching one of the
hills, they came under accurate Japanese sniper fire. As his men were being hit, Gurung
stood up in full view of the enemy and killed the sniper.
Advancing again they soon came under heavy fire once more, this time from a complex
of enemy foxholes and bunkers. Gurung rushed the closest foxhole immediately, killing its
two occupants with two grenades. Without pause, he moved to the next foxhole and killed
its occupants with his bayonet. Two more foxholes were then attacked by Gurung with his
bayonet and grenades, with the same result.
Throughout his assault, Bhanbhagta Gurung was under fire from a Japanese bunker
some distance from the foxholes. Crouching over after attacking the foxholes, Gurung
advanced on the bunker and jumped on its roof. Having no more explosive grenades, he
used two smoke grenades to blind the bunkers occupants. Two choking Japanese came
stumbling out of the bunker, where they were killed by Gurung with the traditional
Gurkha combat knife. The deadly kukri is a curved blade that is sometimes a foot or more
in length. He then jumped into the bunker and killed the third Japanese occupant.
Telling three of his men to take up the Japanese position in the bunker, Gurung directed
their fire when the Japanese mounted a fierce counter-attack, which was defeated by the
men under Gurungs command.
It was for this action that Gurung was awarded the Victoria Cross. When the war ended,
his commanding officer wanted him to make a career of the military, but Gurung went
back home to Nepal, where he took care of an aged mother and young family.
He passed away in Nepal in 2008.
forward slopes and under steady enemy fire. Second Lieutenant Upham suffered painful
wounds in his left shoulder as he was blown over by a mortar shell and got a piece of
shrapnel stuck in his shoulder. He was shot in the foot, too. Disregarding all of this,
however, Upham remained on duty.
His platoon came under heavy mortar and machine gun firing on May 25th when they
were at Galatas. Upham remained focused and quick on his feet, going forward when his
platoon stopped to take cover under a ridge. His observation of the German troops helped
his platoon kill over 40 of them with grenades and heavy firing, forcing the rest to retreat.
Later, his platoon was ordered to fall back, so he sent his men back with the Sergeant
of the platoon, but he continued to move forward so he could warn the other troops that
they were going to be cut off. On his way, he was attacked by two Germans and was shot
multiple times. Yet again, he kept his cool and faked death so the Germans would leave
him alone. When they were not paying attention, he crawled into a position and adjusted
his rifle in a tree, as he had only one functioning arm at that moment. He fired at them
both as soon as they came forward and eliminated them. The second one even hit the
rifles muzzle when he fell.
An enemy party had advanced down a ravine on the 30th of May at Sphakia, nearing
Force HQ, and Uphams men were ordered to deal with the enemy party. He climbed a
steep hill, even though he was fatigued by the continuous battle from the past days, and
placed his men in strategic positions along the slope that overlooked the ravine. Then he
took a Bren gun, and proceeded to go to the top of the hill with two riflemen. He made the
enemy party expose itself by using clever tactics and then opened fire at them from a
distance of about 500 yards. Twenty-two of the enemy troops were shot dead and the rest
of them fled in panic.
Upham had been suffering from dysentery throughout the operation and as a result, he
had been eating very little. He was bruised and severely wounded but he didnt let all of
that affect his actions. He remained thoroughly calm during the entire operation, leading
his men with great skill and strength of character. His cool conduct and firm resolve
inspired not only his platoon but also his whole Battalion.
Charles Upham was then promoted to the rank of captain after being evacuated to
Egypt. Later, in 1942, he again proved his mettle in the battlefield during the First Battle
of El Alamein. He was the commanding officer of a company of troops from New Zealand
during the attack on El Ruweisat Ridge, which took place on the night of July 14th, 1942.
Upham had already been wounded twice. The first time was when he was crossing
open ground under heavy fire to check on his forward sections that guarded the
minefields. The second time was when he completely decimated a truckload of German
troops using hand grenades. Despite his injuries, Captain Upham decided to stay with his
men and be a part of the final assault.
Uphams company was on reserve during the opening stages of the final attack on the
ridge, but soon, the communications with the forward troops went dead, and he was
ordered to send an officer to assess the situation and report the progress of the attack.
Upham picked up a Spandau gun and went himself. On his way, he was met with firing
from the enemy machine gun posts, but he succeeded in bringing back the information
required.
Uphams men soon got to see action when the reserve battalion was ordered to go
forward just before dawn. Before reaching its objective, however, the battalion
encountered heavy firing from a strongly fortified enemy position that consisted of four
machine gun posts and several tanks. Upham didnt hesitate and attacked the nearest
strongpoints on the left flank with his company. The din of the battle was not enough to
suppress his roaring voice as he cheered his men forward, and despite the strong defense
of the enemy, the battalion succeeded in capturing its objective.
During the operation, Captain Upham destroyed numerous enemy guns, vehicles, and
armored vehicles with grenades. He got shot in the elbow by a machine gun bullet which
broke his arm, but he ignored it and proceeded to bring back some of his men from an
isolated forward position. Upham completely dominated the whole situation, standing his
ground with his men until they had beaten off a brutal counter-attack from the enemy
forces. They were able to consolidate their position, which they had secured under his
direction.
As he had lost a lot of blood and had suffered excruciating wounds, he was sent to the
Regimental Aid Post to recover from his exhaustion. But Charles Upham was one tough
soldier. As soon as he got his wound dressed, he returned to his mens side, determined to
stay with them until the bitter end. They sustained heavy fire throughout the day, and
Captain Upham was once again severely wounded. This time, he couldnt move at all, and
fell in the hands of the enemy. His company had been reduced to merely six soldiers, and
after brave resistance, it was overrun by the enemy forces.
Upham was taken as a prisoner of war and was transported to an Italian hospital
where he was supposed to recuperate. Upham, however, had other plans. He was eager to
escape, and attempted to do so several times. After one too many escape attempts, the
Germans branded him dangerous.
His first escape attempt occurred when he was being transported in an open truck
along with other POWs. As the truck approached a bend, Upham jumped out of the
moving vehicle without any regard to safety, and managed to go 400 yards before he was
recaptured. He had broken his ankle when he had jumped from the moving truck.
When he was being moved from one prison camp to another on a civilian train, he
made another attempt to escape. Two German guards were with him on the train journey,
and he was only permitted to go to the toilet when the train was running at a high speed.
This was meant to deter him from jumping out of the window, but the Germans shouldve
known better. Upham opened the toilet window nevertheless and jumped outside. This
attempt failed, too, because the train was moving really fast, and he knocked himself
unconscious as soon as he hit the tracks.
On yet another occasion, Upham didnt even bother to let the sun set as he tried to
escape by climbing the fences of a prisoner camp in broad daylight. He couldnt manage
to escape because he got stuck in the barbed wire after falling down between two fences.
A prison guard rushed to his position and threatened to shoot him in his head with a pistol.
Upham wasnt even the least bit rattled. He calmly lit a cigarette and ignored the prison
guard. The Germans photographed this scene as evidence and it was printed in his
biography, Mark of the Lion written by Kenneth Sandford.
Upham was placed in solitary confinement after this incident, as he was considered
extremely dangerous by the German authorities. The security on him was increased. He
was only permitted to exercise alone, with two armed guards keeping watch over him and
a machine gun tower covering him. Even after all these precautions, they still couldnt
keep Upham contained. He ran away from his little courtyard through the barracks and
managed to get out of the camps front gate. The machine gun tower guard ought to have
shot him, but he refrained to do so out of sheer respect for Upham. He had seen some
German soldiers on the other side, coming up the road, and he had expected them to
recapture him, which they did.
On October 14th, 1944, Upham was sent to the notorious Colditz Castle, also known
as Oflag IV-C. He spent the rest of his time as a POW there before the Castle was liberated
by the American forces. Most of the inmates went home immediately, but Upham joined
the army again as he wanted to fight the Germans. One of the American units took him in
and armed him.
Upham wanted to see some action, but he didnt get his wish. He was sent to Britain
where he got reunited with his fiance, Molly McTamney. She had been serving there as a
nurse, and soon afterwards, they got married to each other at New Milton, Hampshire.
Upham went back to New Zealand in September, and Molly followed in December.
For Captain Uphams role during the operations in Crete in May 1941, the Victoria
Cross was conferred on him for his noticeable bravery throughout the operation. He was
awarded the Cross by King George VI himself at Buckingham Palace on May 11th, 1945.
The King was surprised when the recommendation for a second VC was made for Charles
Upham. The King enquired from Major-General Kippenberger whether Upham really
deserved the bar to his Cross or not, as it was a very unusual occurrence. Kippenberger
promptly told him that Upham had, in his respectful opinion, not only won the VC twice
but several times over.
After Captain Arthur Leake and Captain Noel Chavasse, Captain Upham became the
third person to receive a bar to his Victoria Cross. Both of the previous awardees had been
military doctors, which makes Upham the only fighting soldier to have ever received a VC
and Bar.
After the war, Upham became a successful farmer and also served as a member of Christ
Colleges board of governors for almost 20 years. He lived with his wife and three
daughters on his farm until January 1994, when his health started deteriorating badly. He
passed away on November 22nd, 1994 in Canterbury, surrounded by his wife and
daughters.
Captain Charles Upham was one of the bravest men in the entire World War II, and
even though he liked to be quiet about his bravery, he had many honors bestowed upon
him, which he deserved. He always lived for his fellow comrades, and always insisted that
hundreds of other soldiers had done far more than he ever did. Captain Upham was, in
every sense, a brave and inspiring soul.
Aubrey Cosens was the son of a World War I veteran, born on 21st May 1921 in the
town of Latchford, Ontario. He attended school in Porquis Junction after his family
moved, and after graduation, went on to work for the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario
Railroad. In 1940, he joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada Regiment
in Hamilton. Later, he was assigned to the Queens Own Rifles and got promoted to the
rank of sergeant.
The story of our Canadian hero starts in February 1945. After beginning the attack in
northwest Germany with Operation Veritable, another operation called Operation
Blockbuster had begun, shifting the focus to the Canadians.
The date was 25th February 1945. The Queens Own Rifles of Canada were preparing
to begin an attack on the hamlet of Mooshof, Germany. They were going to face heavy
fire from the isolated hamlets and villages of Mooshof, because the German parachute
troops had prepared them well for the assault. But the Queens Own Rifles were no
pushovers. They had suffered heavy casualties since the D-Day landing in June 1944,
losing more than three-fourths of their men. This had made them battle hardened veterans.
The D Company comprised of 115 men in total, and they were ready for anything that
came their way.
The Queens Own Rifles were to attack and capture ground as quickly as possible,
starting on the night of February 25th. This was essential to organize any large-scale
operations in the near future. The D Company made the first attack, comprising of two
platoons. Number 16 Platoon was being commanded by Sergeant Aubrey Cosens. They
had two tanks from the 6th Canadian Armoured Regiment with them, and they were to
capture the hamlet.
The platoon made their way towards the start line, aiming to reach there by 0430
hours, but they came under heavy firing from the enemy before they reached there. The
objective was about half a mile away from the start line, and Number 16 Platoon kept
going forward, even under intense shellfire from the enemy.
Upon reaching Mooshof, the platoon was again met with heavy resistance. The enemy
was prepared, holding sway throughout the area, and had three strongholds in farm
buildings. The platoon launched attacks on the aforementioned buildings multiple times,
but each time, it was beaten back due to fierce resistance by the enemy.
The enemy troops had better knowledge of the ground, and the darkness played to
their advantage. The Germans knew they had the upper hand, so they launched a strong
counter-attack quickly, infiltrating the positions that had been hastily taken up by Number
16 platoon. This counter-attack was somehow beaten back by the platoon, but in bitter and
confused fighting, they suffered many casualties. The platoon commander was seriously
wounded, and was no longer able to command the platoon.
The situation seemed hopeless. The Number 16 platoon had lost most of its men, with
only 5 of them left (including Cosens) after beating back the counter-attack. The enemy
forces were powerful and their attack was unrelenting. To make matters worse, the platoon
had also lost one of its two tanks, which got separated from them during the fighting. The
whole area was under attack on all sides by heavy enemy fire. In this grave situation,
Sergeant Cosens took charge over the platoon.
Cosens was not intimidated in the least, and he was determined to face any odds while
continuing the attack. He regrouped with his four men and organized them in a cover fire
position. After this, he ran towards his single available tank, crossing twenty-five yards of
open, bullet-swept ground. As soon as he reached the tank, he took up a position in front
of the turret, exposing himself to enemy fire. He was already aware of many of the enemy
positions, as they had been pinpointed in the previous attack. With great calmness, he
directed the tanks firepower to these positions and any others that disclosed themselves.
The enemy had superiority in numbers, and the counter-attack was savage, but Cosens
completely disregarded his own safety and remained on the tank, inspiring the others to
stay strong and put up a solid defense. He led the tank inside enemy lines and attacked
them right in the middle of their own territory in complete blackness. This made the
enemy force break into chaos. The enemy troops sustained heavy casualties because of
this bold move, and they fled the scene after being completely disorganized.
After this, Cosens promptly turned to the offensive, paying no regard to the concealed
enemy sniper posts and sustained fire in the darkness, and determined that they needed to
clear the three buildings the enemy was using as strongpoints. His plan was to ram the first
building with the tank he was riding on and ordered his men to cover him. It was a singlestorey farmhouse, so it went down easily. Cosens entered the farmhouse alone while his
men cover fired, and overpowered the enemy by killing or capturing all of the defenders.
Sergeant Cosens kept pressing forward relentlessly under heavy fire, directing the
tank towards the second building. He came across the body of one of his comrades, which
he noticed in the flash of shellfire, who had died in this position during the first abortive
attacks. It was lying in the path of the tank, so he calmly removed it from there after
halting the tank. After this respectful gesture towards his dead comrade, he continued
towards the second building. He directed the tank to fire at the building and then entered
inside, alone yet again. The occupants had already fled the building and this boosted the
morale of Cosens platoon.
Sergeant Cosens and his men advanced forward with great tenacity towards the
third building, a two-story farmhouse that was held by enemy troops. He ordered his little
group of four men and a tank to cover him, and then entered the building alone once again.
He single-handedly killed many of its occupants, taking the rest as prisoners.
This broke the strong core of German resistance in the surrounding area. Sergeant
Cosens ordered his men to consolidate the position and then left to report to his superior.
Unfortunately, an enemy sniper got him before he had even travelled twenty feet. The
bullet had gone through his head, and he died instantly. This proved futile for the German
force in the immediate area, however, as their spirit had been utterly shattered and crushed
by that time. The enemy had taken so many casualties that they didnt launch another
counter-attack afterwards.
The actions of Sergeant Aubrey Cosens helped the Queens Own Rifles of Canada
pass through to the next objective without further delay. The rest of the attacks proceeded
according to plan.
Sergeant Aubrey Cosens showed unrivaled leadership and devotion to duty. In the
face of the enemy, a force much larger and with far superior firepower than his own, he
held his ground. Even though the enemy had far greater strength in numbers and every
possible ground advantage, Cosens didnt hesitate for a single moment under the difficult
conditions. He responded with the utmost determination and skill, never once flinching in
the face of danger. His courage in battle was of the highest order. He took initiative
whenever needed, always staying at the forefront. He killed at least 20 enemy soldiers on
his own, and took just as many prisoners.
Sergeant Aubrey Cosens was awarded with the Victoria Cross posthumously. He
was laid to rest in Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery at Nijmegen, Netherlands at the
mere age of twenty-three. In his remembrance, two plaques were erected, one at the
aforementioned cemetery, and one later on Highway 11 near Porquis Junction.
Sergeant Aubrey Cosens valor and his excellent conduct during the mission will
remain an inspiration to his regiment and the Canadian Army for all time.
Conduct Medal. Major, however, refused to be decorated, because he felt that his
commanding officer, General Bernard Montgomery, was incompetent. General
Montgomery was infamous for his lack of discipline and tact, and Major felt that the
General was in no position to be handing out medals.
In the February of 1945, in the aftermath of destruction caused by a Tiger tank,
Major was helping a chaplain load some corpses into a Bren Carrier. Once they were
finished loading the dead bodies, the chaplain took the front seat in the truck alongside the
driver while Major went to sit in the back of the truck. On their way, the truck went over a
land mine and the explosion threw him in the air. He landed hard on his back and lost
consciousness. When he regained his senses, two concerned medical officers were
assessing his condition. Major asked them if the chaplain was fine to which they didnt
respond. They transported him to a field hospital 48 kilometers away from the site in a
truck, giving him morphine every 15 minutes to relieve his back pain.
At the hospital, he was informed by a doctor that his back had been broken in three
places. He also had broken both his ankles along with four ribs. This was the second time
he was told that his career in the army was over, but Major wouldnt accept that. He fled
the hospital a week later and got a ride from a passing jeep. The jeep dropped him at
Nijmegen where he knew a family. After staying with that family for about one month, he
returned to his unit in March. It is uncertain how he avoided punishment from his
superiors, since technically, he had been AWOL, but he retained his position in the unit.
Continuing with our story, the Regiment de la Chaudire was approaching the city
of Zwolle in April 1945. The city of Zwolle had a population of around 50,000 and
German resistance was strong there. The regiments commanding officer asked for two
volunteers who would go into the city for a reconnaissance mission to ascertain the
number of German troops in the city. They were also supposed to contact the Dutch
resistance if possible before artillery firing began in the city the following day. Private Leo
Major and his friend Willy Arsenault teamed up again to volunteer for this mission. They
wanted to keep the city intact, so they decided to take the city alone to minimize collateral
damages.
Arsenault was killed in firing around midnight when a group of German soldiers
fired at the two of them. He managed to kill his attacker, but Major was enraged by the
death of his friend, so he took his friends machine gun and killed two of the German
soldiers. The rest of them fled the scene in a vehicle. Major knew the stakes were high, so
he proceeded to complete his mission alone. He ambushed the driver of a German staff car
after entering Zwolle near Sassenport, and led him to a tavern. An officer was drinking
there, and Major found out that both of them could speak French. At this point, Major
decided to make a risky move that could possibly save a lot of lives. He warned the officer
about the attack of Canadian artillery that was supposed to start at 6:00 am and would kill
a lot of German troops and civilians. He gave the officer his gun back as a sign of good
faith.
Major had dropped this little seed of information so that it would spread quickly
throughout the enemy force and would scare them. He went out and started causing
mayhem in the streets by firing his machine gun and throwing grenades. The Germans
were fooled into thinking that it was the Canadian Army that was storming the city streets
because of the ruckus Major was creating.
The terrified German army became disorganized, and Major took great advantage
of it. He came across little groups of 8-10 German soldiers multiple times during the night,
killing and capturing as many of them as he could. He escorted the captives out of the city
and led them to the waiting French-Canadian soldiers. He stopped at civilians houses a
number of times to take rest during the night and continued his assault.
Later during the night, he found the location of Gestapo HQ in the city and burned
it down. He also stumbled upon the SS HQ and got into a deadly struggle with 8 Nazi
officers, killing four of them while the other four fled. When he noticed that two of those
dead SS officers were disguised as members of the Dutch resistance, he immediately knew
that the resistance in Zwolle was either already compromised or was soon going to be
because of the Nazi infiltration.
He kept up his reign of terror throughout the night and made the German soldiers
flee the city of Zwolle. All the German forces had retreated by 4:30 am, and the resistance
contacted and Major told four Dutch Resistance members that the city had been liberated.
Now, the Regiment de la Chaudire would face no opposition from the German forces and
could enter the city without the planned shell firing. Major proceeded to secure the body
of his dead friend and waited in Van Gerner farm until the reinforcements arrived.
Major went back to report to his commanding officer that the city was clear. This
one-eyed man had sent hundreds of German soldiers packing with nothing more than his
wits and courage in the field, thereby saving the lives of countless soldiers and citizens.
The Canadian Army marched into the city unopposed, cheering and celebrating instead of
firing gunshots. For his brilliant conduct in Zwolle, Leo Major was decorated with the
Distinguished Conduct Medal.
If this wasnt enough to prove Leo Majors gallantry, he even took part in the
Korean War and fought off the Chinese forces for more than three days with just a small
team of eighteen snipers with him. He took back a key hill (Hill 355) from the Chinese
forces and held it under deadly conditions until reinforcements arrived.
For his actions, Major was awarded the bar to the Distinguished Conduct Medal. He was
the only Canadian soldier to ever receive the Distinguished Conduct Medal twice in two
different wars. He was also one of only three soldiers from British Commonwealth to do
so.
Majors style of waging war was very different and bold (perhaps too bold) for
people to believe that he wouldve lived long, but youll be surprised to know that he did.
He had a happy life with his wife for 57 years, fathered four children, and even lived to
see his five grandchildren, passing away on October 12th, 2008 at the age of 87. He was
laid to rest at the Last Post Fund National Field of Honour in Pointe-Claire, Quebec.
would have dominated the whole reverse slope position and changed the course of the
battle. Repeated attempts were made by the Japanese to take the area, but the 4th Battalion
held its ground until May 15th when the reinforcements arrived.
This Rifleman had shown indomitable courage in the face of overwhelming odds,
inspiring his fellow men to fight and resist the enemy no matter what. They defended their
position for three days and two nights even when they were cut off and surrounded by the
enemy forces. Gurungs calm and fearless attitude, along with his unmatched devotion to
duty, was a key factor in the enemys defeat.
On December 19th the same year, Lachhiman Gurung received the Victoria Cross
from Lord Mountbatten during a parade at the Red Fort in New Delhi, India. He had lost
his right hand and his vision in the right eye, but he continued to serve in the Gurkha
Rifles. After the Independence of India in 1947, Gurung was transferred from the 8th
Gurkha Rifles to the Indian Army.
When asked about how he managed to keep his cool and fight back so valiantly
even after losing his right hand, Gurung said that there was no other option. He felt that if
he were going to die, hed rather go down fighting. He wanted to hold off the enemy at
any cost. He further said that any of his comrades would have done the same thing in his
situation.
Retiring at the rank of Havaldar (Sergeant Equivalent), Lachhiman Gurung soon
got married and fathered two sons and a daughter. After the death of his first wife, he
married again and had two sons with his second wife.
Gurung was awarded many medals and honors in his lifetime, the Burma Star, War
Medal and Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medals being some of them. He was closely
associated with the campaign against the British governments policy of refusing Gurkhas
to settle in Britain. He passed away on December 12th, 2010.
Brunt is said to have commented about having his eyes set on the Victoria Cross now that
he had won the Military Cross.
Brunt was promoted to Captain when he returned to Italy on July 3rd, 1944. He had
rested in Syria and Egypt, and was ready for some more action. His regiment was near
Ravenna during December, sending the German troops retreating northward. The regiment
had secured a defensive position in Faenza by the evening of December 6th and was
holding a crucial sector.
The German 90 Panzer Grenadier Division attacked on the dawn of December 9th,
crushing the forward positions with their Mark IV tanks. They subjected the whole area to
intense mortar firing, destroying the house around which the platoon was settled and the
anti-tank defenses.
Captain Brunt moved to an alternate position and held off the enemy even though
they were heavily outnumbered. He killed at least fourteen enemy troops and covered for
his men as they withdrew to a nearby companys location. He took up a PIAT and 2 inch
Mortar when he ran out of Bren ammunition, and aggressively defended his position,
making the enemy hesitate. Taking advantage, he carried his wounded comrades back with
the help of a small party.
He rallied his men yet again against a counter-attack by the enemy later during the
day. He sat on the turret of a Sherman tank and guided its Besa fire at the approaching
enemy, disregarding the small arms fire. As he saw some of them armed with bazookas, he
quickly dismounted the tank and killed them with his Bren gun, wreaking so much havoc
that the enemy forces retreated hastily.
He risked his life again and again, going wherever it was the most dangerous and
holding off the enemy forces single-handedly. His composure, fortitude, and devotion to
duty were beyond praise.
After having won the battle, Captain Brunt was standing at the doorway of their platoon
HQ the next morning, waiting for breakfast. He was killed by a German mortar bomb that
landed right at his feet. At the tender age of 22, he had made the ultimate sacrifice. His
actions in the field earned him the Victoria Cross posthumously.
Conclusion
We hope that you have enjoyed reading our e-book, Hero Soldiers of WWII. We hope
that in our selection of stories, we have given you an idea of both the diversity and
similarity of the experience of soldiers in WWII. The terrain might have been different,
but from the Western Front to the jungles of Burma and the Eastern Front, the heroism
was the same extraordinary.
It is our hope that this brief exposure to the tales of heroism in this book will inspire
you to continue your reading on this and the other fascinating and inspiring stories of the
Second World War.
Below youll find some of my other popular books that are listed on Amazon and Kindle
as well. Simply click on the links below to check them out. Alternatively, you can look for
my author name Ryan Jenkins on Amazon to see other work done by me.
World War 2: A Brief History of the European Theatre
World War 2 Pacific Theatre: A Brief History of the Pacific Theatre
World War 2 Nazi Germany: The Secrets of Nazi Germany in World War II
The Third Reich: The Rise & Fall of Hitlers Germany in World War 2
World War 2 Soldier Stories: The Untold Stories of the Soldiers on the Battlefields of
WWII
World War 2 Soldier Stories Part II: More Untold Tales of the Soldiers on the Battlefields
of WWII
Surviving the Holocaust: The Tales of Survivors and Victims
World War 2 Heroes: Medal of Honor Recipients in WWII & Their Heroic Stories of
Bravery
World War 2 Heroes: WWII UKs SAS hero Robert Blair Paddy Mayne
World War 2 Heroes: Jean Moulin & the French Resistance Forces
World War 2 Snipers: WWII Famous Snipers & Sniper Battles Revealed
World War 2 Spies & Espionage: The Secret Missions of Spies & Espionage in WWII
World War 2 Air Battles: The Famous Air Combat that Defined WWII
World War 2 Tank Battles: The Famous Tank Battles that Defined WWII
World War 2 Famous Battles: D-Day and the Invasion of Normandy
If these links do not work for whatever reason, you can simply search for these titles on
the Amazon website to find them.
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link below:
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[*] Though many Soviet civilians were evacuated from Stalingrad, it was not completely encouraged by
Stalin, who believed his soldiers would fight harder if civilian lives were at stake.
[*] Though many believe that Vasili Zaitsev, the other famous Soviet sniper and subject of the book and
movie Enemy at the Gates, was the leading Soviet sniper, it was Chekhov, with 256 kills to Zaitsevs 225.
[*] To give the reader an idea of the scale of the fighting, the population of St. Lambert in 2014 is
approximately 200 people. More Germans died in the town and surrounding area than the entire population.