Smith | Leslie Joseph
Biography
Leslie Joseph Smith was killed in action on 12 October 1944 in the vicinity of Overloon. He was aged 22 at the time. He was a Private in the 1st Battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment (Service No. 11408425). He was initially buried on the premises of Widow Goemans, Overloon and re-interred on 27 May 1947 in grave IV.B.6 in the Overloon CWG Cemetery. The inscription on his grave reads “eternal rest give unto him o lord and let perpetual light shine upon him.”
Family background
Leslie was the second son born to William Henry (Bill) Smith and his wife Lena Smith in Halifax, West Yorkshire. He had an older brother Wilfred, two younger brothers, William (Bill) and George and a sister, Sheila. Another brother, John, died in infancy.
They were all born in Halifax, attended St Mary’s school and when they left school, the older brothers Wilfred, Leslie & Bill, worked in a local mill, again in Halifax. All his brothers worked at the mill after the war too. Their siblings stayed in Halifax, marrying & having their children there too.
From what is told by sister Sheila, Leslie was always able to make people laugh. He had a great sense of humor. He was a very kind, gentle man who was loved by all who knew him.
During the war, three of the brothers were in the air force and it was only Leslie who was in the army. Apparently, Leslie’s mother was very unhappy about this as she would have liked her sons to be together and it always upset her that for whatever reason, Leslie was, in her words, “cannon fodder”, in a different branch of the forces. It was a constant worry for her.
Unfortunately, Leslie’s mother never fully recovered from his death and Wilfred struggled too as the eldest brother. They both died just a few years after Leslie. His father who served in the First World War and was awarded the military medal, died in the mid 1960s and Leslie’s other two brothers and his sister all died in their early 60s within 12 months of each other in the late 1980s.
The Smith family received a letter after Leslie’s death from a family in the Netherlands. The family knew beforehand about this family as Leslie had written to let them know that he had met a lovely family who looked after him. The family doesn’t know how long he was there before he was killed, but it must have been long enough to meet the family and to send a letter home.
In 1946 a letter was sent by Harry van Daal from the municipality of Vierlingsbeek to inform the family about the temporary burial place of Leslie. Harrie van Daal, after the war was the initiator of the War Museum in Overloon.
Military Career
It is not known when Leslie enlisted in the 1st Battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment. Given his age, it is unlikely that he took part in the invasion and retreat from France in 1939/40.
The South Lancashire regiment was based in Preston, Lancashire, which is a town approximately 40 miles from Halifax, his hometown. Leslie visited his home since a photo of him in uniform and with one of his brothers is taken outside their home. The portrait photo in uniform which was taken in Blackpool (this was printed on the back) which is the next town to Preston, also suggests he was based at Preston.
1st Bn South Lancashire Regiment
Dunkirk 1940
At the onset of the war with Germany, the 1st South Lancashire Regiment deployed to France with the 4th and 1st Divisions of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), respectively. By early October 1939, the battalion had taken up positions along the Belgian frontier.
On 10 May 1940, the situation changed dramatically when Germany launched its invasion of Belgium and the Netherlands. The British Expeditionary Force advanced into Belgium, but the German ‘blitzkrieg’ rapidly overwhelmed the Allied front. The British were forced into a series of strategic withdrawals and evacuation from Dunkirk back to the United Kingdom.
Churchill and his advisers had expected that it would be possible to rescue only 20,000 to 30,000 men, but in all 338,000 troops were rescued from Dunkirk, a third of them French. 90.000 remained to be taken prisoner and the BEF left behind the bulk of its tanks and heavy guns. All resistance in Dunkirk ended on 4 June 1940.
Trainings
After returning to the United Kingdom, the 1st Battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment was transferred to the 8th Infantry Brigade (which included the 1st Suffolk Regiment and 2nd East Yorkshire Regiment) attached to the 3rd Infantry Division, nicknamed Monty’s Ironsides.
In mid-1943, the regiment takes part in trainings in the south-east of Scotland. They are also in Scotland in early 1944, practicing attack landings.
With this division, it landed at Sword Beach on D-Day (6 June 1944).
Normandy Landings
On D-Day, 6 June 1944, the 1st South Lancashires, as one of 3rd Division’s leading assault battalions, landed on Sword Beach at 7:20 a.m. Despite heavy losses, including their Commanding Officer, they advanced through German defenses, capturing Hermanville by 9 a.m.
In the following days, they secured Plumetot, Cresserons, La Deliverande, the ‘Trout’ strongpoint, and secured the famous Pegasus Bridge across the Orne.
Caen
The battalion played a key role in the British advance toward Caen, facing intense fighting and significant casualties, particularly on 22–23 and 26 June, near Le Londel.
In July the batallion was involved in Operation Goodwood, a British offensive, conducted from 18 to 20 July 1944 during the larger battle for Caen in Normandy. The operation aimed to advance southward from the Orne bridgehead to secure the remaining parts of Caen and the Bourguébus Ridge.
Falaise
The offensive was underway, trapping a large part of the German army west of Falaise. On 11 August, the 1st South Lancashires led an advance into this pocket along the Vire-Tinchebray road. Meanwhile, the 1st East Lancashires captured Bois Halbout on 12 August and pushed west of Falaise. By 19 August, the encirclement was complete, marking the effective end of the battle for Normandy.
Belgium and the Netherlands
From 16 September to 18 September, they moved in three stages through Belgium to reach Lille St Hubert, just south of the Dutch border south of Eindhoven. Here they were to assist the East Yorkshire Regiment and the Suffolk Regiments to make a bridgehead over the Escaut Canal which they crossed on 20 September to reach Hamont, just west of the Dutch border and then reaching Weert in the Netherlands by the 22nd, despite the Allied forces facing difficulties from bridges which had been destroyed.
They remained in this vicinity until 25 September when C Company moved eastward towards Schoor as part of a plan to clear the west bank of a canal which lay further east. The whole Battalion were expected to take part in this the following day, but it had been decided that they were to move to Maarheeze that day, so only C Company took part in this. Their progress was slow, so they were ordered to disengage and continue after the rest of the Battalion to Maarheeze. On 27 September they moved on again to reach Bakel which is just northeast of Eindhoven. The following day they moved again slightly further north to Mortel to allow the American 7th Armoured Division to occupy the area at Bakel. The Americans were moving through to St Anthonis. The Battalion remained at Mortel until 1 October when they moved further north to Heumen which is just south of Nijmegen and north of Cuijk and then to nearby Mook on 3 October.
By this time, Operation Market Garden further to the north had failed to take the bridge at Arnhem. This left the Allies in a narrow corridor through the Netherlands. An attempt was made by the American 7th Armoured Division on 30 September to widen this by attacking Overloon from their position at St Anthonis to try to widen this corridor east to the River Meuse, but this attack failed.
The 1st Battalion of the South Lancashire Regiment remained at Mook until 8 October when they moved south to Wanroij. It had been decided that the Americans were to withdraw and leave widening the corridor through Overloon, Venray and Venlo to the British. Initially, it was intended that the attack on Overloon would begin on 11 October. However, this was postponed until 12 October due to the very wet weather and ground conditions.
On 12 October the attack started at noon with a very heavy artillery barrage. The 2nd East Yorkshire Regiment led the attack on what was described as Dog Wood to the west of Overloon while the 1st Suffolks Regiment targeted Overloon itself. Both achieved their objectives by 15.00 hours, but with some mopping up still to do. The 1st South Lancashire Regiment were initially held in reserve but at 17.00 hours A and D Companies were ordered to advance to clear a remaining area with one troop of the 3rd Grenadier Guards in support of each forward Company. B and C Companies and one further troop of the Grenadier Guards were in reserve. They met very little opposition and by dusk were in position on the forward edge of a clearing. However, it was on this day that Leslie Joseph Smith sadly was killed in action along with four others from his battalion who were killed that day and are now buried alongside each other.
John Walker, George Vickers, Dennis Roberts, Edward Roberts and Sydney Williamson.
