York and Lancaster Regiment, 2nd Battalion, Service no. 4746732
Born: 1918. Killed in action: 25th May 1941, Greece, aged 22
Story
John was the son of Thomas Smart (1884-1950) and Clara Bleasby (1890-1941). John’s younger sister Betsy Smart also served during the war. The family lived at 5 Gibson Lane.
At the outbreak of the Second World War, the 2nd Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment was based in Khartoum in the Sudan on garrison duties. In July 1940, they were moved to Egypt and then to Palestine where they became part of the 14th Infantry Brigade. In May 1940, the Brigade moved to Cairo and was then broken up. The 2nd Battalion went to Alexandria, and on 28 October, Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, commanding the British Eastern Mediterranean Fleet, ordered the battalion to go on loan to the Royal Navy and move to Crete as soon as possible in the cruiser HMS Ajax. On 1st November 1940, the battalion sailed for Crete, arriving at Suda Bay on the 2nd November. Their arrival was met by an attack from the Italian Air Force. The brigade spent its time building limited defences on Crete. Little happened until April 1941 when the Allied forces in Greece were evacuated, after the surrender of Greece. The 2nd Battalion, Yorks and Lancs, as part of the 14th Brigade, was tasked with the defence of Heraklion airfield.
From the middle of May 1941 air attacks against Heraklion increased to four or five a day until 20th May when troop carriers dropped German paratroopers at Maleme airfield on the west of the island, and German troop transports were spotted arriving at Heraklion (pictured below). This was the largest of the German parachute formations made up of the 1st Fallschirmjager Regiment, 2nd Battalion from the 2nd Fallschirmjager Regiment and an AA Machine Gun Battalion.
Three battalions of the 14th Brigade managed to kill or wound nearly all the German parachute troops that landed at Heraklion in this first wave, apart from a small pocket. Intense small-arms fire caused very heavy casualties among the enemy. Of those who escaped death in the air, the majority were killed on the ground, before they had time to get clear of their harness, by small parties of men rushing from their slit trenches with bayonets and bombs. The tanks and carriers also came out of their hiding-places and massacred all those who landed in the open. Of about 1,000 enemy troops who had come down, over 900 of them had been buried by noon the next day. Small parties and odd individuals escaped, but these were mopped up during the next few days. After this attempt the Germans did not try to land any more paratroopers at Heraklion instead they built up their forces, until the Germans in Maleme landed four more companies of troops in the vicinity of Heraklion which successfully linked up with the survivors of the first landings and launched counterattacks on the British positions, during which time Private Smart was killed. The fighting at this time was extremely fierce. By 28th May, the position on the island as a whole had been lost and General Freyberg ordered the evacuation (2nd Battalion pictured disembarking below).
Private Smart’s mother Clara passed away in June 1941, and a cablegram was sent to John to advise him. However, he had already been killed, and communication was sent back to the family to advise them of the fact.
Kippax Roll of Honour 