Medal Society of Ireland

The life of a Cavan solicitor in the middle years of the 2Oth century was far removed ftom that of a young army officer serving in the trenches of northern France ftom 1916 to 1918 and later in prisoner of war camps under the control of the German army. But the career of my uncle, Philip N. Smith (always referred to by family and friends as ‘P.N.’) , embraced all of that. 

Philip Smith was born on 4th June 1896, the first son of Louis C.P. Smith, Crown So1icitor for Cavan, and the former Susan Henrietta Fay, daughter of Charles Fay, M. P. Following school at Clongowes Wood College he entered Trinity College, Dublin in the autumn of 1914. Britain had, on 4th August of that year, declared war on Germany, and, like many other University students, Philip enrolled in the College's Officer Training Corps. John Redmond, the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons, had exhorted Irishmen to answer the call to arms in the expectation that Home Rule would be granted on the conclusion of hostilities. My uncle was granted a Commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the South Irish Horse (7th Royal Irish Regiment) on 2Oth November 1915, his recommendation for a commission in the Special Reserve of Officers having been signed on 8th November of that year by Lieut Colonel The Earl of Wicklow. 

The young officer's first posting was to Victoria Barracks, Cahir, Co. Tipperary and on 28th July 1916 the Adjutant there forwarded his Commission for safekeeping to his father pending his return from the British Expeditionary Force. I hold the original letter and Commission document. By the time that letter was written Philip Smith and his regiment had already reached France having disembarked at Le Havre on 2Oth Apnt 1916. This was a significant month in Irish history as the Easter Rising commenced on 24th April

My uncle was attached to ‘S’ Squadron of the 7th (South Irish Horse) Battalion Royal Irish Regiment which was part of the 49th Brigade, 16th Division. Much of his first year in France was taken up with training for service in the field and with eventual tours of duty at the front and in reserve. On 27th May 1916 ‘S’ Squadron together with ‘C’ and ‘E’ Squadrons were united as 1st Corps Cavalry. In the course of the month of March 1917 my uncle was attached as an instructor to the 3rd Cavalry Division School and in June of that year he was promoted to Lieutenant. 

On 1st September 1917 the regiment was formed into an Infantry Battalion with the title given at the start of the preceding paragraph. September, and the first half of October were spent in training and then the Battalion joined the 49th Brigade and alternated between reserve, support and front line assignments in the Somme area until the end of December. On 2nd December Lieutenant Smith had been promoted to be a/Captain. 

The three months from January to March 1918 was a quiet period at the front as Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg built up his forces for the last great German offensive. The plan was to attack in advance of the arrival of reinforcements from the United States. General Erich Ludendorff, who was the general officer in command of the advance, which was code-named ‘Michael’, led his 17th and 2nd German armies on the 21st March in an attack on a front between Arras and Saint- Quentin. The British were taken completely by surprise and many thousands of troops were either killed or taken prisoner on that day. In fact, the offensive netted so many prisoners that it put a huge strain on the resources the Germans had available for dealing with them. 

The men of the South Irish Horse had been at the front line, some 15 miles north of Saint-Quentin on the River Somme, since the beginning of March. On the 20th March ‘S’ Company was in support at the village of Rhonssoy. On the morning of 21st March, as part of that operation, Captain Smith was at Basse Boulogne South in command of two platoons’ of twenty men each, led by Lieutenant Harris, who were manning Red Line, and of a further two platoons led by Lieutenant Eaves in the Yellow Line which was behind it. At 4.30 a.m. a German bombardment commenced and continued until 10 a.m. This also involved a gas attack along Captain Smith's line and gas helmets had to be donned. Due to heavy fog. smoke and gas and a 'breakdown in telephone communications to Battalion H.Q. there was little contact with other troops. During an early morning inspection of Red Line he found that Lieut Harris and his C.S.M. had been wounded and that there had been other casualties. As there was now no officer in Red Line, Capt. Smith moved his C.H.Q., which had, up to this, been further back, to Red Line and stayed there with his men for the remainder of the engagement. At 8.30 the German troops broke through to Rhonssoy, placing Red Line under pressure. The German barrage of the trench was accurate and movement was difficult. At 9.45 he ordered removal of gas masks and at 10.00 the bombardment ceased. At this stage there were under 30 men fit for duty. As Capt. Smith was about to order Lieut Harris and a party of wounded to be sent back there was a sudden attack by the enemy. They were held off with rapid fire and grenades and there were casualties on both sides. Platoons on either side of his position were pushed back, leaving his line vulnerable. Only twenty men remained of whom eight were wounded. They had two Lewis Guns with only 10 magazines but at 10.45 they drove off another attack. However, at 11.45, when two parties of fifty Germans attacked on two flanks they were overwhelmed. Only eight of the twelve survivors of the morning's attack remained uninjured when Captain Smith was forced to give the order to cease fire and surrendered in face of a vastly superior enemy force. 

This was a disastrous day for the South Irish Horse. In his report on the action. the commanding officer, Colonel Call, wrote ‘Although the situation had obviously been desperate since 1 p.m. and some of the stragglers who joined us were very demoralised; yet the men of the South Irish Horse and 2nd Battalion continued to fight as long as it was possible to do so and maintained to the last the best traditions O;f the Regiment’ 

The 16th Division, made up of Irish Nationalist recruits, and which bore the brunt of the assault, ceased to exist after 21st March. On the following day, the remnants of the Battalion were constituted a company of the 49th Brigade Battalion. I have records covering forty eight officers who were colleagues of my uncle in the South Irish Horse. Between October 1917 and March 1918 thirty of them had been either killed, wounded or taken prisoner. 

Following capture and interrogation by the Germans Philip Smith eventually reached Kriegsgefangenenlager in Karlsruhe in the province of Baden. This was a clearing camp for officers where they were held prior to a move to permanent prisoner of war camp. From there, on 15th April 1918, Capt. Rev. W Fitzmaurice R.C. Chaplain, who was also captured on 21st March, wrote by post card to my grandmother, Philip Smith's mother, stating ‘Son well & prisoner’. This card bears a photograph taken at Karlsruhe, of a group of prisoners, including my uncle. 

By the end of April Captain Smith and about 100 other officers, who had been captured in the German offensive in March, arrived at Holzminden Officer Prisoner of War Camp in the province of Hanover in west Germany. This camp had been established in the previous September and held up to 550 officers and 100 orderlies all of whom were either British or Colonial soldiers. In the early months of its use the camp held approximately one quarter of the English officers at that time prisoners of war in Germany. Holzminden was under the control of the German Xth Army Corps and had as its Commandant the notorious Hauptmann Karl Niemeyer, a man who had spent 17 years in the United States and had a good command of the English language. He went out of his way to antagonise his charges and inflicted extreme punishment, including solitary confinement, for seemingly minor offences and infringements of his rules. He pilfered the prisoners' food parcels and exploited the food supply to the extent that what was given to the men was below subsistence level. 

The first thought in the mind of many of the prisoners was of escape. The Commandant prided himself on the fact that he had so secured the camp that escape was, to his mind. an impossibility. However, he had underestimated the ingenuity of the British officers and within a month of the camp' s establishment no less than 17 prisoners had got out. They were, however, very quickly recaptured. Other clever and audacious attempts at escape were made but all resulted in the officers being returned to prison. 

However, in October 1917, a small group devised a plan for the digging of a tunnel. This eventually reached a length of 60 yards and took nine months to complete The project was conducted in considerable secrecy not alone from the German 
authorities but also from the majority of the other prisoners. The digging team, or ‘working party’ as it was called, comprised no more than 13 officers who worked in teams of three on a daily basis. The working party changed at an early stage in the project when the exchange of prisoners of war to Holland began to operate. Some of the planners availed of the opportunity for repatriation and only three of the original conspirators remained .The project continued with other willing diggers. 

The main buildings of the camp consisted of two barracks designated A and B. The tunnel ran from the basement of Barrack B which was about 10 yards from the outer wall of the camp. Because of morning and evening roll-calls work could be carried out in day time only, between the hours of 12 noon and 4.00 p.m. From its commencement in mid-October until mid-December the tunnel had been excavated to a length of 15 yards and was beyond the surrounding wall. The labour involved was back-breaking. One officer worked at the tunnel face, which was about six feet below ground level, using improvised tools to dig away the stones and soil .He then had to fill this material into pans or sacks that were dragged back by rope along the length of the tunnel by a second man who was at the opening. Here the clay and stones were transferred to sacks and these were stacked in the basement space. By the time the tunnel was completed all available space had been used. The third man in the team operated a makeshift bellows which provided a fresh air system for the tunnel and particularly for the digger at the tunnel face. These duties were alternated during the work period. 

Despite the air of secrecy the plan gradually leaked out, but it was a credit to all prisoners - officers and orderlies alike - that the German staff never knew of it. The entrance to the tunnel was in the basement of Barrack B which housed the orderlies and this was out of bounds to officers. To get to their assignment the team of three officers had to change into orderlies uniforms and other officers and orderlies involved acted as observers so as to ensure that no German would pass as the men made their way into the building. On a number of occasions the German staff were very close to learning of the plans. At the end of April 1918, after the arrival of the 100 officers, including Philip Smith, who bad been captured in the March push by the German Army, a chaplain - one of the new arrivals - when attending a camp concert, said, more loudly than was necessary, to the officer sitting beside him, ‘Are you in the tunnel ?’. He was unaware that seated within two yards of him were two German interpreters. 

Beyond the perimeter of the camp there was a field of rye and the digging plan was to exit the tunnel in this field where the officers would be hidden from the view of the German sentries. However, at the end of June it was found that the end of the tunnel was still 8 or 9 yards short of the rye. It was estimated that it would take three weeks of hard work to excavate the tunnel to a point within the field and as harvest time was approaching, which forecasters said would be early that year, there was the danger that the crop would be cut and the shelter lost before the tunnel was completed. Luckily, about 3 or 4 yards nearer than the rye field, there was a row of beans and it was decided to make a last effort to reach this and use it as a screen. 

The escape took place on the night of23rd/24th July 1918. The ‘working party’ of 13 officers were given priority over all others and and would have a one hour clear start. They were to be followed by Lieut Col Rathboume, the Senior Officer of the camp and by two other officers who were closely involved in the project and who were to travel together. Then came a ‘supplementary working party’ of six, who, though not actually employed in the digging of the tunnel, had contributed valuable assistance in acting as scouts and observers and who bad made themselves generally useful in other ways. After the last of these had gone through the tunnel one hour was to elapse before ‘the ruck’, that is, anyone else who wanted to escape, would start exiting. The number in this category bad reached 60 names and these were arranged in order of priority and it was agreed that those selected to go would not be told until after the evening roll-calI on the day of the escape. 

The principal participants bad been making plans for their escape for some months and were well supplied with clothes, counterfeit documents, disguises and items of equipment which might prove useful. Most of those hopeful of joining in the escape bad also made appropriate arrangements. 

The British Adjutant of the camp, Captain H.G.Dumford (the author of the book ‘The Tunnellers of Holzminden’ which was published in 1920) , though not directly involved in the project, was in overall charge of the escape from inside, with Lieutenant Louis Grieve acting as traffic controller. Lieutenant Butler, the first man out - who bad to dig through the last few feet to the surface - left his room 10.15 p.m. He commenced the dig at 10.30 and was through to the surface at 11.40. 

All of the men who bad been granted priority were through by 1.15 a. m. and then the task of assembling those on the waiting list was taken in band. Of these, only seven more officers got through. While a further six were crawling up the tunnel they discovered that it had collapsed at a point about three quarters way through. As the tunnel was little wider than a man's body and as each of the soldiers had a pack containing civilian clothes and items of equipment there was considerable difficulty in getting them out. In fact, this was not achieved until almost six in the morning of the 24th July. 

This was the most successful escape in the history of prisoner of war camps in WWI. In all, 29 officers escaped from the camp and of these Captain Smith and Major J.D. Morrogh, both of the South Irish Horse, were understood to have been the 22nd and 23rd to exit. 

The first two to be recaptured were Captain Sharp and Captain Luscombe who had been the last two out and had been at liberty for just two and half days. Before six days had passed a number of others bad been rounded up. Four remained at large for 10 days and Captain Smith was recaptured after 14 days within three miles of the Dutch border. The real success of the venture was that 10 of the officers got out of Germany and eventually returned to England. They were, Capt. D.B. Gray, Lieut Blaine, Lieut Kennard, Lieut Bousfield, and Lieut L.J. Bennett all of the ‘working party’ and Lieut S.S.B. Purves, Lieut J.H. Tullis, Lieut Campbell-Martin , Capt. Leggatt and the Senior British Officer Lt Col C.H. Rathbourne. He bad crossed the Dutch border in three days and addressed a post card from The Hague to his former mess-mate confirming that he bad reached there. 

All those recaptured were kept in solitary confinement until early September and were then released to await court-martial. This trial took place on 27th September.

The officers, who were charged as a group, were represented by a lawyer and a representative of the Netherlands Minister in Berlin also came to act in their interests. The finding of the court was that the men be sentenced to six months imprisonment, to be served in a fortress, on a combined charge of mutiny and damage to property. As matters transpired the sentence was never carried out. This was because the military situation had deteriorated, from the German point of view, and it was becoming obvious that the war was in its closing stages. 

Following the ignominy of allowing so many prisoners escape from his camp and with the British advance into Germany continuing without respite, Hauptmann Niemeyer, who had ruled over his prisoners with a rod of iron since the previous September, changed his tactics. He rarely came within the precincts of the camp in the period up to the Armistice on 11th November 1918, when he was allowed to disappear unmolested.

After the ending of hostilities the repatriation of liberated prisoners of war took some time and it was not until 14th December 1918 that Philip Smith disembarked at Hull from the ‘S.S. Takado’, thus ending his wartime military service. 

On his return he was required to submit to the War Office a report giving the circumstances of his capture and accounting for his actions on that day. This was required of all officers taken prisoner. I have a copy, obtained from the Public Record Office, of his handwritten report dated 15th January 1919 which details the engagement as already recorded earlier in this article. I also have the communication, dated 16th June 1919, from the Secretary of the War Office confirming to my uncle that the Committee of Enquiry had ruled ‘that his statement regarding the circumstances of his capture by the enemy having been investigated the Council considers that no blame attaches to him in the matter’ .He had, in fact, been mentioned in Sir Douglas Haig's Dispatch of 7th April 1918 for ‘gallant and distinguished service in the Field’ in respect of the events of 21st March. He was also mentioned in the London Gazette of 30th January 1920 in recognition of the escape from Holzminden. 

The War Medal Roll of the South Irish Horse lists Philip Smith as being awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal under date 30th June 1923. These medals are held by the family. 

My uncle (Prisoner No.1080) brought back with him some interesting souvenirs of his time in Holzminden. I have his Drinks Ration Card for the period 1/7/1918 to 31/7/1918, also a Bread Ration Card for October 1918 and, a similar card, the property of Lieutenant Perry (No.1090). There is also a Drinks Ration Card in the name of Lieutenant Louis Grieve, who, though not directly involved in the escape, is mentioned earlier in this article as being the traffic controller on the night of the escape. There are also several post cards relating to food parcels sent to Captain Smith by the Red Cross and The Ladies Emergency Committee of the Navy League. In addition I have a post card addressed on 15th October 1918 to his mother in Cavan saying ‘You can easily guess what we are all thinking about here. I think that I will see you all again much sooner than we ever expected ‘. As already related, even with the Armistice taking effect on 11th November, it was two months before he got home. 

On returning to civilian life my uncle completed his law studies at Trinity and became a barrister. He was later admitted as a solicitor and in 1923, following the unexpected death of his father, he returned to Cavan and took over the practice of Louis C.P. Smith & Co. He carried on that practice until his death in January 1965. During the Emergency, because of his military experience, he was appointed District Leader of the Local Defence Force, the former title of the F.C.A. 

In July 1938 and again in 1943 and 1948 the survivors of the 29 who escaped from Holzminden and some of their assistants met in reunion in London. By the time of the 20th Anniversary in 1938 five of the original twenty nine had died -one of these had been killed towards the end of WWI having returned to active service almost immediately after his escape. Twenty of the remaining twenty four attended the function. The event and the escape received quite an amount of publicity in the newspapers of the time. 

After Philip Smith's death the following tribute was paid to him in an Obituary in a Cavan newspaper ‘It will be seen that, as well as running an extensive law practice, "P.N ", as he was affectionately known throughout the county, devoted his 'considerable talents to many spheres of activity. He could always be relied upon to back any worth-while project which would benefit his native town and county. An expert historian and economist, his advice on many matters was widely sought and respected, given as it often was, with a touch of wry humour’.