Merton Beckwith-Smith

Major General Merton Beckwith-Smith, DSO, MC (11 July 1890 – 11 November 1942) was a senior British Army officer during both the First and Second World Wars.

Merton Beckwith-Smith
Major General Merton Beckwith-Smith, c. 1940
Nickname(s)	"Becky"
Born	11 July 1890 Chelsea, London, England
Died	11 November 1942 (aged 52) Karenko Concentration Camp, Taiwan
Buried	Sai Wan War Cemetery, Hong Kong
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1910–1942
Rank	Major General
Service number	18095
Unit	Coldstream Guards Welsh Guards
Commands held	18th Infantry Division (1940–42) 1st Guards Brigade (1939–40) 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards (1932–34)
Battles/wars	First World War Second World War
Awards	Distinguished Service Order Military Cross Mentioned in Despatches (2) Croix de guerre (France)

Early life and military career

Beckwith-Smith was born on 11 July 1890 at 24 Walton Street, Chelsea to stockbroker Beckwith Smith and Georgina Butler Moore.[1]

His education took in Warren Hill School at Eastbourne, Eton and Christ Church, Oxford.[1]

In 1910 he was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards. He served with the Guards throughout the First World War, eventually becoming a staff officer in the Guards Division. On 4 October 1914, whilst 1st Guards' Brigade was holding trenches opposite the German line at the River Aisne, Beckwith-Smith was ordered by Brigadier General Charles FitzClarence to carry out a nighttime raid against a German position known as 'Fish Hook Trench'. This was the first British trench raid of the First World War. Beckwith-Smith was still just a lieutenant at the time and the raid was considered to be a striking success. On the front of the 1/Coldstream, just east of the Troyon factory road, the Germans had run out a sap, and it was decided to fill it in. At 8 P.M. a platoon of the battalion, led by Beckwith-Smith (who was wounded and subsequently received the Distinguished Service Order), crossing the hundred yards of No Man's Land, rushed the trench with the bayonet. The award of the DSO was reported in the Edinburgh Gazette on 13 November 1914,[2]

Second Lieutenant Merton Beckwith Smith, 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards. On the night of October the 4th, near Vendresse, with a party of 50 men, he attacked and carried with the bayonet the advanced. German trenches, disabling 20 of the enemy, and displayed great enterprise and coolness in this operation, in which he was wounded.

Now a Captain, Beckwith-Smith was awarded the French Croix de Guerre in 1917.[3] In the same year Captain Beckwith-Smith was awarded the Military Cross.[4]

Between the wars

After the war Beckwith-Smith commanded the University Training Corp at Oxford University.[5] While commanding the Officer Training Corp the university conferred an honorary MA on him.[6]

The Times recorded his appointment as 'Officer Commanding the Welsh Guards Regiment and Regimental District' from 1 October 1934.[7]

In his capacity as Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the Welsh Guards he participated in the Royal Procession at the 1936 Trooping the Colour and again the following year.[8][9]

He spent 14 months serving in India in command of the Lahore Brigade.[5]

Second World War

France

In 1940, during the Second World War, he was given command of the 1st Guards Brigade, part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) sent to France in 1939/1940.[10]

When Lord Gort was ordered home and was replaced by Harold Alexander, Beckwith-Smith succeeded him in command of the 1st Division.[5]

He took part in the defence of the Dunkirk Perimeter, telling his officers,[1]

We have been given the supreme honour of being the rearguard at Dunkirk. Go and tell your platoons the good news!

During the battle he also spoke to his men about how to deal with the Luftwaffe Stuka dive bombers, ‘Stand up to them. Shoot at them with a Bren gun from the shoulder. Take them like a high pheasant. Give them plenty of lead. £5 to any man who brings one down.’[1]

For his service in the Battle of France he was mentioned in dispatches.[11]

After he was evacuated to England, Beckwith-Smith was given command of the Territorial 18th Infantry Division, which he trained in preparation for duty overseas.[12]

Singapore

In early 1942, after many weeks at sea, Beckwith-Smith's division was landed at Singapore. Japanese forces invaded Singapore Island on 8 February. Because of the defensive strategy implemented by the Allied commander, Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, most of the British 18th Division saw little or no action. Percival surrendered all British and Commonwealth troops at Singapore on 15 February, including Beckwith-Smith and his division.[13]

He was reported just prior to capture as being 'quite undisturbed by the calamity, continuing his duties even when the roof of his headquarters was burning over his head.[5]

Prior to his being sent to Formosa in August 1942, Beckwith-Smith sent a message to his men:[1]

On my departure for Japan I wish to take what may be my last chance to thank all ranks of the 18th Division for their cheerful service and loyal support on many shores and seas during the two years I have had the honour to command the Division.

I regret I have been unable to lead you to the success in battle to which your cause and sacrifice is entitled, and although I leave you with a heavy heart, I carry with me many precious memories and a sense of comradeship such as could only have been inspired by the trials and disappointments which we have shared in the last few months.

Difficult days may still be ahead, but I know that the spirit which today animates all ranks of the Division will prevail and will form the corner-stone on which one day a just and lasting peace will be found.

God grant that day may not be long delayed and that we may soon meet again.

Meanwhile GOOD LUCK, HEADS UP, KEEP SMILING.

— (Sgd.) M. BECKWITH-SMITH Major General. 18th August 1942

On 11 November 1942 Merton Beckwith-Smith died at Karenko Camp of diphtheria as a prisoner of war.[14] A report in The Times reported that the official Japanese news agency said Colonel Robert Hoffman of the US Army was with him, along with other British generals, when he died.[15] In 1946 the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) exhumed all the Taiwan prisoner of war remains and reburied them in the Sai Wan War Cemetery in Hong Kong. Many years later his grave was identified by Jack Edwards on the request of Diana, Princess of Wales.[16][17]

Personal life

Beckwith-Smith married Honor Dorothy Leigh on 14 March 1918 at St. George’s Church, Hanover Square in London. He lived at The Manor House, Stratton Audley (which he inherited from his father-in-law in 1931) and Aberarder, Inverness. He had four children: Peter, Rosemary, Sarah and John. His grandchildren include the British racehorse trainer Nicky Henderson,[18] and Anne Beckwith-Smith, Princess Diana's Lady-in-Waiting.[19][1]

Sources

• Colin Smith (2005). Singapore Burning. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-670-91341-1.
• Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnesley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 1844150496.

References

1. "Major General Merton Beckwith-Smith | Christ Church, Oxford University". chch.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
2. "WAR OFFICE, November 9, 1914". The Edinburgh Gazette (12739). 13 November 1914. p. 1335.
3. "Croix de Guerre". The London Gazette (30306). 25 September 1917. p. 9946.
4. "Army Honours". The Times (41496). 5 June 1917. p. 4.
5. "Obituary". The Times (49398). 20 November 1942. p. 7.
6. "University News". The Times (45114). p. 19.
7. "The Army". The Times (46784). 19 June 1934. p. 25.
8. "Trooping The Colour". The Times (47408). 23 June 1936. p. 13.
9. "Trooping The Colour". The Times (47706). 9 June 1937. p. 13.
10. "Merton Beckwith-Smith". British Army Officers 1939−1945. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
11. Recommendation for Award for Beckwith-Smith.
12. Joslen 2003, p. 60.
13. Keogh 1962, p. 171. sfn error: no target: CITEREFKeogh1962 (help)
14. Goodman, Eric W. "War Diary of Brigadier Goodman". Britain at War.org. Retrieved 11 September 2009.
15. "General Beckwith-Smith". The Times (49398). 20 November 1942. p. 4.
16. Staff Jack Edwards 1918 – 2006, The Times obituary 15 August 2006
17. CWGC entry
18. "Person Page". Thepeerage.com. 17 August 2005. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
19. "Person Page". Thepeerage.com. 21 August 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2020.

Sources

• Joslen, H. F. (2003) [1990]. Orders of Battle: Second World War, 1939–1945. Uckfield: Naval and Military Press. ISBN 978-1-84342-474-1.
• Keogh, Eustace (1965). South West Pacific 1941–45. Melbourne: Grayflower Publications. OCLC 7185705.

External links

• Merton Beckwith-Smith at Orders of Battle