Sir John Smyth, 1st Baronet

He dragged bombs through the fire to men who could not hold.

John George Smyth was born at Teignmouth in October 1893, the son of an Indian Civil Service officer. He prepared for an Indian Army career at Sandhurst, where he distinguished himself in military history and sport. After an initial attachment to the Yorkshire Regiment, he joined the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs in 1913. The battalion went to France after the First World War began.

On 18 May 1915, near Richebourg l'Avoué, Sikh troops holding a captured position urgently needed grenades. Earlier attempts to get supplies forward had failed. Lieutenant Smyth took ten volunteers and ninety-six bombs across ground swept by artillery, machine guns and rifles. Their task demanded that they move ammunition through the very fire that had stopped the previous parties.

The official Victoria Cross citation records that eight volunteers became casualties. With the remaining two, Smyth brought the grenades to the required position, within twenty yards of the enemy, swimming a stream on the way. It was a collective act of endurance by an officer and the soldiers who volunteered to follow him (London Gazette, 29 June 1915; citation transcription: https://www.teignheritageworldwar.org.uk/index.php/brigadier-sir-john-george-smyth). George V presented his VC in July.

Smyth subsequently served in Egypt and on India's North-West Frontier. At Khajuri in the Tochi Valley on 22 October 1919, his assessment and leadership helped save a convoy under attack, earning the Military Cross. Staff College and training appointments followed, alongside further frontier service and command of a Sikh battalion.

During the Second World War he commanded the 127th Infantry Brigade in France and withdrew through Dunkirk. Sent back to India, he eventually took command of the 17th Indian Division in Burma. In February 1942, facing Japanese forces at the Sittang, he ordered the bridge destroyed while much of his division remained beyond it. The decision and the orders that had placed his men there became a lasting military controversy. He lost his command and retired on medical grounds with the honorary rank of brigadier.

Smyth built a second career as a journalist, author and broadcaster, writing about war and lawn tennis. His eldest son was killed at Kohima in 1944. He represented Norwood in Parliament from 1950 to 1966, became a baronet and Privy Counsellor, and helped establish the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association. He died in London on 26 April 1983.