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WW2 History: Following is an article on a Canadian serviceman who won the Victoria Cross for an action in Italy during WW2. The author is a member of the NWHA and a Commonwealth reenactor and living historian currently living in Saskatchewan. He was recently asked to participate in the movie "Men of Valour: Heroes of the Victoria Cross" as an historical advisor as well as the actor portraying Pte. Smokey Smith. In doing so he was afforded a rare opportunity to meet a winner of the Commonwealth's highest military honor. |
Smokey Smith, VC
By: Russ Benneweis
On July 14, 2000 Lt. Colonel Cecil Merritt of Vancouver B.C. died at the age of 91 years. Cec Merritt commanded my hometown unit, the South Saskatchewan Regiment, at Dieppe and on that day his actions earned him the Commonwealth's highest award, the Victoria Cross. Sadly, with the passing of Mr. Merritt, of the 94 Canadian V.C. recipients only one remains alive. His name is Ernest "Smokey" Smith.
Cap Badge Seaforth Highlanders
Smokey was born in New Westminster, British Columbia, and as such, should probably have enlisted in the Westminster Regiment. Upon careful consideration he decided instead to join the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, due solely to the fact that most of the officers in the Westies were former teachers of his. He earned his nickname early on in school, not on account of any bad habits, but because of his athletic ability, and in particular his running speed. He enlisted in Canada's entirely volunteer army in 1939, thinking it was the only way he was ever going to see Europe. It would take six years to see his homeland again.
Fellow soldiers call Smokey "A soldier's soldier". He built up a reputation as a bit of a free spirit, evidenced by the fact that nine times he was promoted to Corporal, only to be busted back to Private all nine times. Smokey landed on the south coast of Sicily on D-day of Operation Husky as a member of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade, 1st Canadian Infantry Division. He was seriously wounded in the chest by shrapnel from a rifle grenade later on in the Sicilian campaign, and was not expected to survive. But as he says "I fooled them, I lived."
Smokey spent the rest of the Sicilian campaign convalescing in a hospital and returned to his Seaforth comrades for the tough slug up the Italian boot. As mentioned earlier Smokey had a hard time retaining any kind of rank. He was, however, older, at 28, than most of the men in his company. Because of his age, his personality, and horrific casualties to officers and NCOs, Smokey was in charge of a section of Seaforths in the deadly fight for Ortona. Despite casualties exceeding 50%, Smokey survived the week long battle that took place late in December of 1943.
Christmas time is an awful time to fight a war, but there was no break in the brutal street-to-street, house-to-house and hand-to-hand fighting that took place in the sleepy Italian port town on the Adriatic coast. The Canadians' fight in Ortona was the first large scale battle in an urban area by the western allies, and would be used as a valuable lesson to train troops for upcoming fights in towns and cities in France, Holland and Germany.
There are many famous photos of the Ortona fighting but none of the pictures are more poignant than the picture of dozens of Seaforths seated on both sides of tables, arranged in a square in a similarly shaped bombed out room eating a quick Christmas meal. The fighting component of the Seaforths was down to approximately 120 men and it was decided by Padre Roy Durnford that the men should be pulled from the line, a platoon at a time, for a chance to eat a warm meal and to remind them that there are still some good things to life.
Italian Mountain Pass
Of the 120 Seaforths, all but six were fed. These six men were at the time under the guidance of Pte. Smokey Smith, who wouldn't allow them to venture from their forward positions. He wasn't extremely popular with his section at the time, but his decision undoubtedly saved casualties among the six. Many Seaforths that did venture back to the safe area were wounded or killed leaving their positions or returning from the rear area.
Amazingly Smokey survived the battle and spent the winter on the static Adriatic front near Pescara. There were several winter skirmishes and constant patrolling to survive, before the newly formed 1st Canadian Corps shifted west across Italy as part of an elaborate ruse to confuse the Germans. The intention was to lead the German headquarters into thinking that the Canadians, who the Germans considered Allied shock troops, would spearhead an amphibious assault north of Rome. The Corps, including Smith's Seaforths, were, however, secretly positioned near Cassino in the Liri Valley and following the breaching of the Gustov Line, by U.S. and Commonwealth troops, led the charge though the seemingly impregnable Adolf Hitler Line. Savage fighting ensued with horrible casualties on both sides, with Smith once again fighting and surviving.
One cannot imagine designing terrain more suitable for defense than the countryside of Italy afforded the German commanders. And their troops used these advantages in their typical Teutonic efficiency, retreating across gorges and rivers before blowing bridges in the attacker faces, all the while conducting a slow fighting withdrawal which inflicted heavy casualties on the allies. Conventional military wisdom dictates that the attacker should have a numerical advantage of at least 5:1 over the defender. The allies in Churchill's so called "Soft underbelly", had no such advantage and in fact troop numbers were very evenly matched between defender and attacker.
Smokey's life changed forever on the night of 21 October 1944 at the Savio River in Northern Italy. His regiments orders were to cross the river, establish a bridgehead, allow reinforcements to cross, and to eventually push the enemy back sufficiently to allow the engineers to build a bridge capable of supporting armour. Smith's actions that night most definitely saved the bridgehead, and according to General Leese, commander of the 8th Army, saved the entire front from disintegrating.
Smith's Seaforths crossed the river in the early evening in a surprise attack at a spot that confounded the enemy. They waded across with water up to their chest. Unfortunately for the attacking Canadians a torrential downpour occurred causing the river to rise a staggering six feet in two hours, which effectively halted any hopes of reinforcing those already across until bridges could be assembled. The Seaforths pushed ahead as ordered against a rapidly organizing enemy but soon were in trouble.
Smokey Smith with author
As expected, a combination of tanks and infantry counter attacked the small bridgehead force. Smith and his men spotted two Mk V Panthers and several SP guns supported by approximately 30 troops. Smith quickly organized PIAT teams and placed them in the path of the oncoming enemy. Smith and one other man moved over open ground directly in the path of a Panther and positioned themselves in a ditch alongside the road. The bow machine gun wounded Smith's comrade in the shoulder. This left Smith alone to stop the 54-ton monster.
At a range of 10 yards Smith, in full view of the tank, fired one round from the PIAT which fortunately disabled the tank and killed or wounded the entire crew. Ten infantry dismounted the tank and proceeded to attack Smith's position. Flames from the burning tank lit up the Germans, while also effectively hiding the courageous Canadian. Smokey jumped onto the road and opened up with a Thompson submachine gun (he later stated that the Tommy gun saved his life, as if he'd had a bolt action rifle, there's no way he could have fired quickly enough). Four Germans fell dead and the remainder retreated momentarily as they couldn't see who they were fighting, thinking there must be many Canadian troops.
In a few short minutes, another section of German troops attacked, this time supported by the other Panther firing from long range. Smokey dove into a ditch, retrieved several abandoned magazines of .45 ammunition and engaged the attacking infantry from the middle of the road. Again Smith's action halted the attack and forced those remaining alive to retreat. At this point other Seaforth PIAT teams had destroyed the SP guns. Ignoring direct fire from the remaining Panther, Smith was able to assist his wounded comrade to an aid station, whereupon he returned to his post to await further counterattacks. They never materialized.
Commonwealth Troops move through Italy.
Smokey fought on for a few weeks before being told to report to battalion headquarters. High-ranking officers were gathered to escort the private to Naples, where he was locked in jail for his own good. The brass had heard of Smokey's reputation, and in doing so decided that he may not show up for the plane that was to transport him to England for the investiture at Buckingham Palace. The process was repeated in England where Smokey was released with just enough time to rush to the Palace to meet his King. Smith later lamented that he was very "frustrated", as he put it, "There's a town full of women out there and here I am in a jail. It's only because I was good looking", he added.
In December 1944, King George VI decorated Ernest Smith with the V.C., the only Canadian private to win the award in WWII. When he left the King's private apartment at the palace, Smith was told to remove the award and not to "put it up" until told to do so to allow the Canadian press to break the story. A couple of days later, while sitting in a pub, a Sergeant Major popped his head in the door and said for Smokey to go ahead and wear the cross. As Smokey remembers, "I didn't have to buy another drink all day".
Later when asked of the significance of winning the VC, Smokey answered quietly, "It's a nice Christmas present to take home to Mom". Smith now resides in Vancouver, where he ran a travel agency until his retirement in 1975. He is very active in the Canadian Legion and as an ambassador of the V.C. A film titled "Men of Valour: Heroes of the Victoria Cross" was recently released covering the exploits of six Canadian VC winners. Smokey's story was one of the six. I met Smokey last Remembrance Day and was amazed at his modesty. His words to me were "I was only doing my job, my heroes are still in Italy, buried there."
Special thanks to the Canuck website for the picture of the Seaforth Highlanders cap badge used in this article. Following is the official citation for Pte. Smith.
Official Citation - "For Valour"
In Italy on the night of 21st-22nd October 1944, a Canadian Infantry Brigade was ordered to establish a bridgehead across the Savio River. The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada were selected as the spearhead of the attack, and in weather most unfavourable to the operation they crossed the river and captured their objective in spite of strong opposition from the enemy.Torrential rain had caused the Savio River to rise six feet in five hours, and as the soft vertical banks made it impossible to bridge the river no tanks or anti-tank guns could be taken across the raging stream to the support of the rifle companies. As the right forward company was consolidating its objective it was suddenly counter-attacked by a troop of three Mark V Panther tanks supported by two self-propelled guns and about thirty infantry and the situation appeared hopeless. Under heavy fire from the approaching enemy tanks, Private Smith, showing great initiative and inspiring leadership, led his P.I.A.T. Group of two men across an open field to a position from which the P.I.A.T. could best be employed. Leaving one man on the weapon, Private Smith crossed the road with a companion and obtained another P.I.A.T. Almost immediately an enemy tank came down the road firing its machine-guns along the line of the ditches. Private Smith’s comrade was wounded. At a range of thirty feet and having to expose himself to the full view of the enemy, Private Smith fired the P.I.A.T. and hit the tank, putting it out of action. Ten German infantry immediately jumped off the back of the tank and charged him with Schmeissers and grenades. Without hesitation Private Smith moved out on the road and with his Tommy gun at point-blank range, killed four Germans and drove the remainder back. Almost immediately another tank opened fire and more enemy infantry closed in on Smith’s position. Obtaining some abandoned Tommy gun magazines from a ditch, he steadfastly held his position, protecting his comrade and fighting the enemy with his Tommy gun until they finally gave up and withdrew in disorder. One tank and both self-propelled guns had been destroyed by this time, but yet another tank swept the area with fire from a longer range. Private Smith, still showing utter contempt for enemy fire, helped his wounded friend to cover and obtained medical aid for him behind a nearby building. He then returned to his position beside the road to await the possibility of a further enemy attack. No further immediate attack developed, and as a result the battalion was able to consolidate the bridgehead position so vital to the success of the whole operation, which led to the capture of San Giorgio Di Cesena and a further advance to the Ronco River. Thus, by the dogged determination, outstanding devotion to duty and superb gallantry of this private soldier, his comrades were so inspired that the bridgehead was held firm against all enemy attacks, pending the arrival of tanks and anti-tank guns some hours later. |
