A fascinating WWII collection with a film-worthy story behind it
06 Apr, 2018
One of the most interesting lots in our 15th June
Medals & Militaria Auction is a George VI Military Cross medal
group awarded to Captain Kenneth Hewison-Smith 220277. To include;
Military Cross dated 1944 and in original Royal Mint case of issue,
1939-45 Star, Africa Star, Italy Star, War, Territorial Efficient
Service, and E.R. II. Civil Defence Long Service Medal in case of
issue; together with miniature MC, 1939-45, Africa, Italy, France
& Germany Stars, Defence, War and Territorial Efficient
Service. Also included in this lot is a quantity of personal and
official letters (many relating to Hewison-Smith's time travelling
through Italy after escaping from transportation between POW
camps), press cuttings, and a manuscript describing Hewison-Smith's
Italian experiences.
There are scant details publicly available about Captain
Kenneth Hewison-Smith, but what we do know from the contents of
this lot would make an amazing film filled with heart-rending
details, close encounters with danger, comedic moments, historical
scope, and plenty of derring-do and stiff upper lips.
Kenneth Hewison-Smith was born on 2nd June
1914, just a few weeks before the Assassination of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand of Austria would trigger what would become known as the
'War to end all Wars'. Kenneth's father, Herbert
George Smith, was one of the many millions enlisted in that global
war and is recorded as being a Gunner for the Honourable Artillery
Company (TE) 2.A. The earliest record amongst this lot is a letter
to Mrs Smith from the Chaplain Corps informing her of her husband's
death at Valenciennes from influenza. The First World War
ended on 11th November 1918, and this letter is dated
22nd November; thereby dashing any hopes which Mrs Smith
may have had that her 31 year old husband would return from the
front. We do not know what kind of support Mrs Smith received
raising her son alone, she was certainly not the only woman in that
situation at the time, but by 1928 Kenneth was a pupil at Clifton
College in Bristol. This lot includes letters from the
school, academic certificates and press cuttings where
Hewison-Smith is applauded for his prowess at rugby. He is
described in one school-masters' letter as "a boy of exceptional
ability, as is shown by the fact that, though primarily a
mathematician, he was able to get a credit in the School
Certificate in Greek, within a year of beginning the language" -
displaying language skills which would be very useful just a few
years later. Kenneth left Clifton College in 1933 and appears to
have taken up a position at Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd
(ICI).
"There can be few disappointments more crushing than
that of the prisoner who loses his hope of deliverance at the very
hour that he sees the gate of the prison opening to
him."
By 1939, the World was at war again. Lieutenant
Kenneth Hewison-Smith was reported missing whilst in the Western
Desert on 21st June 1942. The following month he
was confirmed as a Prisoner of War at the notorious Chieti PG21
camp in the Abruzzo region of Central Italy, as recorded by the
official letter within this lot. Chieti was overcrowded, with
poor sanitation, little running water and great deprivation.
Conditions were so bad at this particular camp that it was raised
for debate in the House of Commons. Prisoners' hopes must
have been lifted when Italy signed the Armistice in September 1943,
unfortunately a fateful blunder by British military intelligence
meant that the Nazis were able to seize approximately 50,000 Allied
prisoners and transport them to camps in Germany and Poland.
Through coded messages and radio reports British intelligence had
instructed POWs in Italian camps to stay put until the Allies
arrived. The Italian guards dutifully abandoned their posts as
arranged, but the German Army wasted no time in taking over the
camps - imagine their surprise at finding thousands of prisoners
waiting patiently within the camp, under threat of Court Martial
from their own superiors…
The prisoners were soon rounded up and transported to camps
still within the Nazi held areas of the theatre of war. It
was during one of these transports that Hewison-Smith decided to
escape. His story and the subsequent year he spent trying to
get to Allied lines through the Italian countryside is detailed in
the manuscript included in this lot. From the intrepid escape
through a hole in the roof of the moving train carriage (badly
injuring his leg in the process), to the kindness of Italian
peasant families only too willing to help an Allied soldier helping
to liberate their country from the Fascists; Hewison-Smith's
manuscript details everything from the dire camp conditions, his
close encounters with German officers while travelling, the people
who helped and their living conditions (he definitely did not
develop a taste for Italian food...), and the other escapees he
meets on his journey (British, Belgian, Indian, American, South
African etc - in fact the Italian countryside appears to have been
over-run with Allied POWs), right through to his eventual meeting
with a French Moroccan battalion (the famous Goum) and safety
within Allied held ground.
His story is funny, fascinating and devastating at
points. Accompanying the manuscript, this lot includes the
forged identity paper Smith mentions having made up with the name
Morelli Ugo (whilst severely hungover), a telegram from his wife
who was based at Bletchley begging him to 'RETURN QUICKLY - I LOVE
YOU', and post-war letters from the Italian families who supported
him describing their awful situation after the war and asking for
support themselves. Smith clearly intended to publish; there
is a letter with notes from an interested publisher, but it appears
that the manuscript 'Capistrello' (named after the village
where Hewison-Smith stayed the longest) never made it print.
Once back in Britain, Hewison-Smith (now promoted to
Captain) appears on the list for employees at Bletchley Park in
Block F; but we do not know in what capacity. He then appears
to have returned to ICI and been based at their plant in Dumfries
during the 1950s. Very little more is known about Kenneth
Hewison-Smith and he appears to have lived a quiet later life -
although I imagine that he welcomed this after his astounding
wartime adventures.
