The Smith brothers of Tudhoe

Working in the south of England in 1939, they enlisted into the 1st Buckinghamshire Battalion of the Oxford and Buckingham Light Infantry.

Posted to France at the outbreak of war, the battalion war diaries recount how on May 24, 1940, the battalion was retreating from Lille, bound for Calais.

At Balliol their orders were changed and the battalion was sent to Hazebrouck. They were to guard the rear and flank of the British Expeditionary Force.

The defence force at Hazebrouck consisted of about 500 men from various units, including the Buckinghamshire battalion, with a limited supply of artillery and ammunition, under the command of Major Hayworth. On May 27, the town was under attack from the Germans. By nightfall many of the defence positions had been over-run.

On May 28, the remnants of the British defence force came under further attacks, so by late afternoon the decision to retreat, under cover of darkness, was taken. Only ten officers and 200 men made the journey back to England. Captured survivors went to PoW camps in Germany, but many more, including the Smith brothers, never saw England again.

In 2012, my wife and I visited the grave in Hazebrouck Town cemetery of L/Cpl William Allen Smith. In the grave next him was 2nd Lt. EW Harrison of the DLI.

Pte Albert Eric Smith has no known grave, so his name is on the Dunkirk Memorial in Dunkirk Military cemetery. All them died on May 28, 1940 – they were just three of the many soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice which enabled VJ Connor’s father to survive.

“We will remember them.”

Name supplied, Ferryhill