BALLYMENA 1914-1918
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Words to Reflect On
Captain Robert Stewart Smylie
Captain
Robert Stewart Smylie, Royal Scots Fusiliers, killed in action, was a
son of the late Mrs. R. Smylie, Bridge End, Ballymena. He was educated
at Ballymena Model School and Mr. T. Ferguson's Intermediate School,
Ballymena, and he took his degree at the University of London. Before
the war he was head master of the County Grammar School, Sudbury,
Suffolk. His wife and three children reside at Sudbury.
Ballymena Observer, July 1916.
© IWM Q 4417
Bazentin Ridge, July 1916
It was there in Sudbury that, having served as a Lieutenant in the Cadet Force at Chelmsford, he volunteered in 1914 for military service. By 1915 he was in France with the 7th Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers; by September that year he was attached to the 1st Battalion and on the front line.
Robert Stewart Smylie was killed in action during the Battle of the Somme in an action near Longueval Ridge on 14 July 1916, reportedly by a single wound in the chest - some reports refer to shrapnel, others to a bullet.
His C.O. wrote to his widow and told her that, Acting Captain (hence his headstone says Lieutenant) Robert Stewart Smylie ‘was killed instantaneously while charging at the head of his company and setting a fine example to his men. His loss is very greatly deplored by all of us; he was one of the best company commanders in the battalion and endeared us all by his cheerful endurance of hardships and his kindly disposition'. It was the same lines he no doubt wrote to many wives, but there was truth in what he said. An NCO also wrote to Mrs Smylie and said his death was 'painless and sudden'. He told her further that 'He made me promise that if I returned home I would write to you stating that his last thoughts were of you. He died happy and doing his duty'.
Another letter gave an even better insight into the man. The soldier said she had the sympathy of the whole regiment because ‘nobody was more popular than ‘Old Smylie’, as he was affectionately called …’ and the men had ‘spent many days discussing and lamenting over old Stewart’s (sic) little eccentricities and innumerable acts of kindness’.
Chaplain F J Rae, 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers, also wrote to the family and his letter gives us additional information about the man. He knew her husband well he said and admitted that ‘there was no man in the army out here for whom I had higher respect and regard. He was a gallant gentleman’. He relayed that the men had said in conversation amongst themselves before the attack that ‘if that ridge over there had to be taken, and Smylie knew it meant his death he would go straight for it.’ Smylie, in earlier conversation with his Colonel, had confirmed their view when he said, ‘I would rather be here now, Sir, than on any spot on God’s earth’. The Chaplain marvelled that Smylie ‘went to face danger like a bridegroom to his wedding’.
To capitalise on the most successful part of the Somme battle's opening phase after the 1st July, an advance was ordered on the German positions between Bazentin and Longueval. The objective was to capture the low ridge line that ran from the village of Bazentin le Petit to Bazentin Le Grand and ended at Longueval, this latter close to Delville Wood. The assaulting troops would then continue from the ridge uphill to High Wood.
The troops were to move up during the night and attack at dawn, commanders being told that assaulting battalions should into no man's land, some 1,200 yards wide in places, during the darkness and be ready to rush the enemy trenches when the barrage lifted.
A short hurricane bombardment was used, and the artillery opened fire as planned at 3:20, five minutes before the men went ‘over the top’. Neil Fraser-Tytler, a Royal Artillery observer, described the moment his guns opened up: “It was a stupendous spectacle! The darkness lit up by thousands of gun flashes. The flicker of countless bursting shells along the northern skyline, [was] followed by a few minutes later by a succession of frantic SOS rockets and the glare of burning Hun ammunition dumps”.
The initial action was in the main a success, gaining ground and taking the Germans by surprise. The 3rd Division, deployed in a sunken road, had the 8th Brigade in the front line, i.e. the 8th East Yorks, the 7th Shropshire Light Infantry. Smylie had taken his 'C' Company of the 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers into a position near a quarry to the north of Montauban during the night; they were in support and did not advance until around 7am.
The attack was described by Philip Gibb in his book entitled The Battles of the Somme (Published by George H Doran Company, New York, 1917). He described it thus: Before the light of dawn came, and when our guns lifted forward, they rose from the ground just north of Montauban and went forward across No Man's Land towards the German trenches. They had to make a distance of 1,200 yards over open ground and came at once under heavy shell-fire and an enfilade fire from machine-guns.
The enemy also used smoke bombs, and the ground was ploughed with high explosives. A number of men fell, but the others went forward shouting and reached the German line. In some parts the wire had not been cut by our bombardment, but the Highlanders hurled themselves upon it and beat their way. Machine-guns were pattering bullets upon their ranks, but not for long. The men poured through and surged in waves into and across the German trenches.
Every man among them was a grenadier, provided with bombs and with supplies coming up behind. It was with the bomb, the most deadly weapon of this murderous war for close combat, that the men fought their way through.
The German soldiers defended themselves with their own hand grenades when their machine-guns had been knocked out in the first line trenches, but as they sprang out of their dug-outs when the bombardment lifted and our men were upon them they had but a poor chance of life unless they were quick to surrender. I hear that these trenches in the second German line were not deeply dug, and that the dugouts themselves were hardly bomb-proof.
It is not an entirely accurate account but it does convey something of the intensity of the opening action of the three day battle which began on July 14th.
Smylie’s advance with the 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers in the centre section of the 3rd Division advance had not gone well – these men were attacking from Montauban towards Bazentin le Grand. The German wire was not cut by the barrage at this point and the defenders were vigilant and ready to respond, not trapped in bunkers or buried in trenches as they were elsewhere. Moreover, the German counter-barrage laid down on no man's land missed the leading units but caught the supporting waves. The Royal Scots Fusiliers lost five officers killed, one being Smylie.
The dead were buried initially close to the nearby road but the graves were later moved to Flatiron Copse Cemetery.
IWM: © Paul Goodwin (WMR-80686)
This large wooden cross was erected by the Royal Scots Fusiliers on the site of the battle and was later moved to Auld Kirk, Blackfriars Walk, Ayr, Kyle And Carrick, Strathclyde, Scotland. The text on the brass reads:
ROYAL SCOTS FUSILIERS
No. 10 Casualty Clearing Station
A bed at last, in a long low-roofed hall,
Full of soft footfalls, moans and sharper cries.
At intervals now I can see it all -
White beds, red nurses, khaki orderlies.
Then nightmare: dying, crushed by the victor Hun;
Or struggling madly, shoulder-deep in mire,
Or straining demon horses until one
Rolls over me with breath and eyes of fire.
I waken from these horrors and thank heaven.
Finding myself all safe in bed, but then
The real grows more clear and fearful,
Even equals the dream.
Beside me lie two men
One young and fragile, with the bubbling cough
Of men shot through the lungs and dying slow;
A nurse is bending over to wipe off
The red foam from the quivering lips below.
The other, huge, grim, silent save for rare
Expostulation: "Why the hell can't he keep quiet like the rest of us."
And there I almost break in to reprove him too
But just refrain, and later in the night
Someone steals gently to the strong man's bed
And peers into his face in the dim light
And brings the bearers to remove the dead.
Lieutenant (Acting Captain) Robert Stewart Smylie, Royal Scots Fusiliers
'Believed to be Buried in this Cemetery'
Smylie's Effects were kept after the Great War
I am writing this tonight, My three kids
By a little candle-light, My three kids
And the candlestick's a tin
With some dry tobacco in
And so that's how I begin, To three kids
Now I wonder what you're at, My three kids
Moll and Bids and little Pat, My three kids
Why of course there's two asleep
But perhaps Moll's thinking deep
Watching little stars that peep, At my kids
Since I left you long ago, My three kids
There's a lot you'd like to know, My three kids
That has happened to your dad
In the varied luck he's had
In adventures good and bad, My three kids
I have soldiered in a trench, My three kids
Serving under Marshall French, My three kids
Once a shell dropped with a thud
Quite close, covered me with mud
And its lucky 'twas a dud, For my kids
And I've crossed the ground outside, My three kids
It's at night that's chiefly tried, My three kids
And the bullets sang all round
Overhead, or struck the ground
But your daddy none has found, No my kids
I have mapped our trenches new, My three kids
And some German trenches too, My three kids
I have sprinted past a wood
Counting steps, for so I could
Judge the distance, as I should, My three kids
I have placed our snipers where, My three kids
On the Germans they could stare, My three kids
And they killed their share of men
Quite a lot for snipers ten
From their little hidden den, My three kids
And I've slept in bed quite warm, My three kids
But I haven't taken harm, My three kids
When upon the ground I lay
Without even straw or hay
In the same clothes night and day, My three kids
When they sent us back to rest, My three kids
Then they seemed to think it best, My three kids
To send on your dad ahead
To discover where a bed
Could be found, or some old shed, My three kids
And new officers were trained, My three kids
And the men we've lately gained, My three kids
And while that work was in hand
I was second in command
of 'B' Coy and that was grand, My three kids
But it didn't last all through, My three kids
There was other work to do, My three kids
When they made me adjutant
I was busy as an ant
And its not much catch, I grant, My three kids
I have ridden on a horse, My three kids
Captured from a German force, My three kids
And I've marched and crawled and run Night and day in rain and sun
And shall do it till we've won, My three kids
And I'd rather be with you, My three kids
Yet you know I'm lucky too, My three kids
Lots of men I used to know
Now are killed or wounded, though
I remain, and back I'll go, To my kids
And I hope you'll all keep well, My three kids
Just as sound as any bell, My three kids
And when this long war is done
We shall have some glorious fun
Moll and Bids and little son,
My three kids