No.15754, Lance Corporal, Leonard Ormonde SMITH
Aged 19
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Leonard Ormonde Smith was born in Withersfield (Risbridge Q2-1898 4A:758), baptised in St Mary's at Withersfield on Christmas Day 1898, son of Thomas and
Rosa SMITH (née METCALF).
1901 census...Aged 2, he was at The Street, The Square, Little Thurlow with his father Thomas SMITH [26], hay trusser born Little Thurlow; his mother Rosa [24] born Withersfield and brother Reginald [1] born Little Thurlow. 1911 census...Aged 12, he was still at The Street, Little Thurlow with his parents, brothers Reginald, Frank [9], Basil [5] and Fred [3];sister Eva [7]. The new siblings were born in Little Thurlow. The family address when his mother applied for an inscription on his headstone was 144 The Green, Little Thurlow. His younger brother Fred was killed in France in 1940.. see here |
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He enlisted in Newmarket in October 1914 according to CWGC, which would make him just 16, but the Army did keep him in England at least until 1st January 1916. His date of death is in doubt, CWGC have 21st March but their
original forms show 23rd and "Soldiers Died" has 22nd March, and "Soldiers Personal Effects" has 21/22 March.
Early in the war the recruiting campaign was so successful that the facilities at Bury St Edmunds could not cope, so a camp was set up in Cambridge. This catered for those volunteers from the Fens and quickly became known as the "Cambridgeshires" despite there being an actual Cambridgeshire Regiment. This was quickly rectified by instituting the 11th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment. Taking it as 21st, and the actual war diary not yet found, Lt Murphy's "History of the Suffolk Regiment" gives us this picture:- 21st March 1918 was the opening day of the Kaiserschlacht, the German Spring Offensive which came so close to defeating the Allies. Using storm troops the Germans made great advances before being held long enough for Allied reserves to be brought forward, reserves being something the Germans no longer had. The 11th Suffolks were in the Sensee valley and by nightfall on the 21st the Germans had broken through to St Leger. The enemy continued to advance and the battalion were ordered to withdraw from the Croiselles front line which had been the old Hindenburg support line. The battalion received orders to retire to a second position with an outpost line abreast of Croiselles and the withdrawal began about 8:30 that night. The engineers saturating the woodwork of their tunnel in the old Hindenburg line with petrol and firing it. All through the night they were subjected to the heaviest and most concentrated bombardment they had ever experienced. Remarkably the battalion only had 12 killed, but 50 more died the following day. Given the confused state at the time, exact dates were the least of anyone's worries.
photo:Rodney Gibson This special memorial is a headstone inscribed at the top with "Believed to be buried in this cemetery" click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details |
