SMART, Samuel

Samuel Smart lived at 36 Angel Street, Stourbridge. He enlisted in the Worcester Territorials and joined the 2/7th Battalion. This battalion went to France in the middle of 1916 and saw its first actions on the Somme in August and October. During the Third Battle of Ypres the Worcesters were involved on the Steenbeeck in August and moved to Arras in October. After the remarkable initial success of the Battle of Cambrai on November 20th in breaching the Hindenburg Line the Worcesters were moved to the front line to meet a very powerful German counter attack. The enemy were determined not to lose this vital part of their defences and brought up huge reserves. The Worcesters faced the massive attack from the 30th November to the 4th December and their brave defence was focused on a farm known as La Vacquerie. The Germans saved their Line but the British kept some of the original gains. The losses for the Worcesters were high and among them was Private Samuel Smart who was killed in action on the 4th December. He is commemorated on the Cambrai, Stourbridge and St. John's church Memorials. His brother, Ebenezer, died on the 16th January 1917.