234577 L/Cpl. Robert Howard "Smudge" Smith British Army 2nd Btn. Cheshire Regiment from:Daveyhulme My dad, Robert Smith, enlisted in the British Army on 29th December 1929 at Seaforth for seven years with the Colours and five years with the Reserve. He was born the 31st December 1911 in Ainsdale, Lancashire. He was two days short of his 19th birthday when he enlisted.
Dad did his training at Chester, then was posted out with his Regiment to India where he spent seven years, returning home to the UK. As he then had completed his Colour Service, he went into civvy street and worked for Cheshire Lines Railways. Not long after, he was recalled for war service, going to France with his battalion the 2nd Cheshires. He was a machine gunner. Eventually, like many others, he was harried to Dunkirk. His first try at escaping from Dunkirk was thwarted by the ship he was on being bombed, but eventually he made the return back to Blighty in a small craft.
Dad then served in North Africa, before being caught in the bag at the fall of Tobruk. He was shipped to Italy as a PoW to a place called Bars. When the Italians surrendered, he and others made a break for it, but later were given away by a young fascist lad. The Germans then imprisoned Dad and he was sent to POW Camp Stalag IVF located at Hartmannsdorf Chemnitz.
Whilst Dad was there he was put on work details in the fields, and he also did some boot repair work.
He and another lad had some Red Cross rations issued and decided to make a cake with some of the items. The German cook let them bake it in some of the hot ashes in the cook house but they couldn't wait so decided to eat the mixture as it was. Shortly afterwards they were both very sick, their stomach had shrunk so much they could not hold it down.
My dad spoke of an old German sergeant who had lost four sons on the Russian Eastern Front, and who had only one son left who was serving in France.
My dad got gangrene in his right hand. A German doctor saved it by scraping it out with scissors whilst dad was held down by two medical orderlies. The doctor poured pure iodine into the wound - it saved his hand, but he said he cursed that doctor while he worked on that wound.
My dad made it back to Blighty after the Americans freed them. He was discharged from the Army as being B1 Ref fitness. My father weighed less than 5 stone when he got back home, he was only 5ft 3 inches in height. My mum had to buy him youth's clothes, he was so light.
Dad passed away in September 1990. The doctor said Dad did not want to go and fought all the way until his heart stopped.
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