Name
William Leslie Smith (MC)
16 May 1893
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
15/04/1918
23
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Captain
Worcestershire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Military Cross
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
PLOEGSTEERT MEMORIAL
Panel 5.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
No Report
UK & Other Memorials
Aldenham School Memorial, Aldenham, All Saints Church, Harston, Cambs Harston Cross, Harston, Cambs Men of Cambs & Isle of Ely, Ely, Cambs
Pre War
William Leslie Smith was born on 16 May 1893, at the Mill House, Harston; he was the youngest son of Thomas Smith, Miller & Farmer, and Mary E. (nee Swann).
He enlisted as Private 1222 in the London Regiment, Artists Rifle Battalion prior to the outbreak of war.
Wartime Service
After the outbreak of war he soon disembarked in France 26 Oct 1914. He gained a 2nd Lieutenant commission with the Worcestershire Regiment and was killed on 15 April 1918 near the village of Neuve Eglise.
He was part of a ‘Battle Reserve’ of the 2nd Battalion, a detachment of 130 men & six officers, who were deployed to assist the 4th Battalion who were under attack. There was intense fighting in and around the village and the detachment suffered such heavy losses and were so exposed that the decision was taken to withdraw to hold a railway embankment. The men were sent back one group at a time, covered by the fire of the remainder. During this withdrawal Captain Smith was mortally wounded and only 40 men reached the embankment. However German troops had managed to outflank them and brought machine-guns into action from the road behind. They swept the embankment with a hail of bullets. and the Battle Reserve had ceased to exist.
His Military Cross was gazetted 3 Jun 1918. He is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial, Comines-Warneton, Hainault, Belgium.
Additional Information
The award of his Military Cross was reported in the London Gazette Birthday Honours List on 3 Jun 1918 and in the Cambridge Independent Press on 14 June 1918
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper
