Electronic Telegraph | etcetera | Obituaries
Saturday 24 August 1996
Issue 459

Obituary: Brigadier Roy Smith-Hill

BRIGADIER ROY SMITH-HILL, who has died aged 99, was the oldest surviving Royal Marine officer and the last surviving officer of the disgraced 6th Battalion, Royal Marine Light Infantry, which served in Russia in 1919.

The seeds of potential unrest in the battalion were already there when it was formed in the summer of 1919, ostensibly to police the plebiscite being held in Schleswig-Holstein. Instead, the battalion was sent at short notice to Murmansk to join the Allied forces aiding the White Russians against the Bolsheviks.

The 6th Battalion included men who had already served for some time in France and were disgruntled by the unequal form of demobilisation being practised at home. There were also many young raw recruits who had expected to come home after the plebiscite, and a number of recently released PoWs who had just returned from Germany and had had no leave.

The battalion as a whole knew little and cared less about the war in Russia, and the situation was exacerbated by a vacillating British Government, unable to make up its mind on policy. The men serving in the field were never sure whether they were formally at war or not. Eventually it was decided that the 6th Battalion would assist in holding the Lake Onega region, some 500 miles south of Murmansk, until the White Russians had been trained to defend the area themselves. But, from the moment the battalion arrived by train from Murmansk to join other already restive American, Italian and Finnish units, everything went wrong.

In the very first engagement, on June 24, one company fired on another in an unfortunate "blue on blue" incident. Two other companies were ambushed by the Bolsheviks and severely mauled. An attack on a village held by the Bolsheviks was repulsed with losses. When Smith-Hill's company attacked the same village a week later, their Russian guide led them into a vulnerable position and then vanished. This left them exposed to machine gun fire which caused several casualties, including the company's senior officers. Smith-Hill, who found himself in command, was ordered to retire.

This setback was too much for men who were already demoralised. When Smith-Hill's company was ordered to attack the same village the next morning, they refused to obey their platoon commanders and retired to a friendly village nearby. Smith-Hill went after them and told them that if they did not fall in they would be court-martialled.

In the event, courts- martial of 93 of the battalion were held, the proceedings and results of which have still not been released. Thirteen men were sentenced to death; others received sentences of up to five years' hard labour.

In the Second World War, Smith-Hill served on both naval and army staffs in Combined Operations

The death sentences were later commuted and the other sentences reviewed, and all were reduced after angry questions in Parliament and a furore in the British Press. The battalion continued to serve in the region until all British troops were withdrawn in 1919. Since then, there has never been another 6th Battalion.

Although Smith-Hill had behaved entirely correctly, and had done his duty in trying to maintain discipline, his CO later told him that he had incurred the displeasure of the Lords of the Admiralty. His request for a court-martial was refused. He was, though, also told that Their Lordships' displeasure was not such a bad thing for a young officer - at least it meant he had been noticed. Certainly, it had no ill effect on his 35-year career in the Royal Marines.

Philip Royal Smith-Hill was born on May 5 1897 and educated at St Bees, Seascale. He joined the marines as a probationary subaltern in 1915 and during the First World War served in the battleships Vanguard and Erin in the Grand Fleet. In the Chanak crisis of 1922, when British and Turkish armies faced each other across the Dardenelles, once again on the brink of war, Smith-Hill was serving in the light cruiser Carysfort and, unusually for a Royal Marine officer, regularly kept watch on the bridge at sea.

From 1924 to 1926 he served on the battle cruiser Hood as Captain of Royal Marines and in charge of the 4-inch anti-aircraft gun batteries. After a two year course at the Army Staff College, Camberley, Smith-Hill was seconded to the Army for four years, first on the staff at HQ Southern Command, and then as brigade major of the Devon and Cornwall Light Infantry Brigade (TA).

In the Second World War, Smith-Hill served on both naval and army staffs in Combined Operations. He was GSO1 to General Irwin for the ill-fated attack on Dakar in September 1940. For the assault on Algiers (Operation Torch) in November 1942, he was Staff Officer Assault Planning to the naval commander Admiral Burroughs.

In July 1943 he was Staff Officer Liaison to the naval and military forces for the invasion of Sicily. In 1944 he was on the staff of the Director of Combined Operations for the D-Day landings, and was later Brigadier, General Staff, to the Commandant General RM at the Admiralty. Smith-Hill was appointed CBE in 1946. After the war he commanded the Infantry Training Centre at Lympstone, the RM School of Music and the RM depot at Deal.

He retired in 1950 and returned to his native Cumberland, where he was for four years County Cadet Commander. He became a Deputy Lieutenant for Cumberland in 1954, and was Area Civil Defence Officer of West Cumberland from 1957 to 1963.

He married Sybil Knight, who died in 1974. They had two sons and two daughters.

This article is reproduced from the Electronic Telegraph, 24 August, 1996. Please visit the Electronic Telegraph site at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ and register to read the original edition.

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