Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

#4785 SMITH Leonard (Len)                          26th / 31st Battalion
 
Len Smith was one of eight children born to David and Sarah Smith of Esk. Len attended Esk State School. At some stage, the family relocated to Toogoolawah, perhaps so that David could gain employment at the Nestle and Anglo Swiss Condensed Milk Factory on Crestbrook Creek, Toogoolawah. Young Len when he was old enough also worked at the condensed milk factory as a labourer.
 
Len attended the Brisbane Recruiting Centre on 28th September 1915. He told the officer he was 22 years old and had three years’ experience with the Toogoolawah Troop of the Australian Light Horse. Len named his mother as his next of kin. He proceeded to Enoggera Camp where he was placed in a depot battalion before being added to the 12threinforcements of the 26th Battalion. The reinforcements travelled to Sydney by train where they embarked on the “Mooltan” on 12th April 1916. The embarkation roll shows that Len had set aside 4/- of his daily pay of 5/- for his mother.
 
The 12th reinforcements went directly to England, proceeding to the 7th Brigade Training Battalion at Sutton Veney. On 22nd September, Len was part of a draft of reinforcements sent to the 2nd Division Training Base at Etaples on the French coast. Soon after his arrival, Len was transferred to the 31st Battalion which he joined on 9th October. The 31stBattalion was part of the 8th Infantry brigade of the 5th Australian Division. The 5th Division had suffered terribly at Fromelles in July of that year and the 31st Battalion, after only having been in the trenches for three days, incurred 572 casualties; more than half its strength. The entire 5th Division was taken out of any offensive actions for the next ten months while the division’s numbers were replaced and morale was rebuilt.
 
In the lull in fighting of the winter oh 1916/17, the Germans constructed a 150 kilometre long defensive barrier, which the British labelled the Hindenburg Line, some distance to the east of their previous positions astride the Somme. Once the spring thaw made roads passable, the German forces began a strategic withdrawal to this new position. The British forces, which included the AIF, cautiously followed. By the first week in April, elements of the 5th British Army under General Gough, which included two Australian divisions, came up against the Hindenburg defences. The 31st Battalion was in the front line supporting a frontal attack by other battalions at Beaumetz south of Bullecourt where the main battle would be fought. On 2nd April 1917, Len Smith received a shrapnel wound to his right arm during a German counterattack supported by artillery.
 
Len was initially taken to the 15th Field Ambulance and then on to the 9th Casualty Clearing Station. At the CCS, Len was loaded on to an Ambulance Train which took him to hospital at Boulogne where surgeons determined that Len’s wound required specialist treatment. Len was loaded onto the Hospital Ship “Jan Brey” for evacuation to England. By the 6th April, Len was in the Norwich War Hospital. On 11th May, He was discharged to a two week furlough (probably with his arm still in a sling) after which he reported to the convalescent camp at the Australian Base at Hurdcott. By 26th June, Len reported back to his battalion in France.
 
The failure of operations against the Hindenburg Line in April and May of 1917 heralded the end of the British campaign on the Somme. The British Commander, Field Marshall Haig, turned his attention to Belgian Flanders and the Ypres salient. Len rejoined his battalion performing fatigue duties in support of two AIF divisions involved in the Battle of Messines and its aftermath. Success at Messines allowed the British to move eastwards along the line of the Menin Road which ran from Ypres across the flat land towards the Broodseinde Ridge and the village of Passchendaele. After the success of the battle of Menin Road on 20th September, the 5th Division re-entered the fighting at Polygon Wood.
 
The plan called for the 4th and 5th Divisions to advance side by side with British brigades advancing beside them to cover the flanks. The battle began on 25th September with the 8th Brigade of the 5th Division in reserve. When the advance was stalled by machine gun pillboxes, a second attempt was made at dawn the following day. The 31stBattalion along with two other battalions had been added to the attacking force and once the initial resistance was cleared had a fairly straight forward line to the final objective. Two days later, the 31st Battalion was relieved and took no further part in the fighting that was to follow in October and November which is usually referred to as the battle of Passchendaele. During the winter, the Australians spent time in billets at Poperinghe in Belgium.
 
The latter part of 1917 produced a change in the strategic situation as far as the German command was concerned. The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia brought about the end to fighting on the Eastern Front. A peace treaty between Germany and Russia released up to sixty German divisions which, once re-equipped and re-trained, could be used to press home a distinct advantage on the Western Front. The window for exploiting this advantage was however rather small as the entry of the United States into the war and an expected surge in troop numbers from July 1918 onwards would swing the advantage back to the Entente.
 
The British Commander, Haig, was fully expecting a German assault in the spring of 1918 but he guessed incorrectly that the main thrust would be aimed at the Ypres salient in Belgium. When Operation Michael began on 21st March, the main assault was aimed along the line of the Somme River, the scene of so much fighting and hard won victories in 1916.
The British 5th Army, which was holding the line astride the Somme was unable to hold the German onslaught which in some places amounted to a five time numerical advantage. As the British retreated, often in disarray, the German Stormtroopers retook all of the gains made by the British in the Somme campaign of 1916 and were within a few days of capturing the vital communication city of Amiens. If Amiens fell, Haig might well have lost the war; the situation was deadly serious. Haig ordered his most successful and battle hardened troops, the AIF in Belgium to race south to establish a defensive line in front of Amiens. The 31st Battalion boarded trains at Godewaersvelde to be transported to Doullens in France. The Australians established a defensive line in front of Amiens anchored on Villers Bretonneux and which stretched across both banks of the Somme.
 
On 25th April, two AIF brigades mounted a daring pincer movement in the dark to retake Villers Bretonneux and to thwart any further German advances. The Australian Commander Lieutenant General John Monash urged his troops to harass the enemy through what he called peaceful penetration. The 31st Battalion was occupying the line at Corbie on the confluence of the Somme and Ancre Rivers. Patrols went out into no mans land each night to scout the enemy positions, take hostages and disrupt communications. The 8th Machine Gun Battalion strafed the enemy positions with concentrated fire and British and Australian aircraft patrolled above the front occasionally attacking headquarters positions.
 
By July, the 31st had progressed a few kilometres east to the village of Ville sur Ancre where outposts had been established in front of the Australian line. On 19th July 191, It was reported that Len Smith was struck in the head, chest and neck by shell fragments when a high explosive shell landed in an outpost. Len, aged 25, died instantly.
 
Len was carried to the rear and buried in a cemetery that would become Mericourt L’Abbe Military Cemetery. His mother received a parcel of her son’s personal belongings which included a wallet, photos, a stainless steel mirror, corkscrew, nail file and a shoulder bone.
 
When permanent headstones were being erected, the Smith family chose not to provide any family details or inscription for Len’s headstone to the War Graves Commission. His mother did not record any details of Len’s life in the Roll of Honour Circular Card that was sent to her in 1922. David Smith received Len’s medals.