Page 114 - They Also Served

Smyth was presented with his VC by the king in July before deploying with his regiment to Egypt. Promoted to captain in 1916, he was awarded the MC for gallantry during the Third Afghan War of 1919. Indeed, apart from a spell as a student at the Staff College, Camberley, in the early 1920s and a spell on the directing staff a decade later, he was almost continuously on operations in Iraq and India until 1935 when he took command of the 11th Sikh Regiment. He did, however, find time to play in two first-class cricket matches in India, with
a top score of 51. Returning to the UK at the start of World War Two, he commanded the 127th (Manchester) Brigade with the BEF in France, returning to the UK during the Dunkirk evacuation. In May 1941, he travelled to India to take command of the 36th Infantry Brigade, followed by the 17th Indian Division in Burma in December.
It was during the early stages of the Burma campaign that Smyth’s meteoric career came to a sudden end. In February 1942, during the retreat across the Sittang River, his failure to organise a strong bridgehead resulted in the blowing of the bridge with two-thirds of the division on the enemy side. Not only was the division lost, but the enemy advanced to capture the capital, Rangoon. A furious commander-in-chief, India, General Archibald Wavell, sacked Smyth on the spot. It has since emerged, however, that Smyth wanted to establish a strong defensive line behind the river, but this was refused by the corps commander, General Hutton. His career over, Smyth was invalided from the army with the substantive rank of colonel and honorary brigadier and returned to the UK.
Smyth entered politics and stood unsuccessfully against the future foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, in the 1945 general election before winning the seat of Norwood, South London, in 1950. Made a baronet in 1955 and a member of the Privy Council in 1962, Smyth retired from politics in 1966. In 1956, he became the first chairman of the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association. As well as working as a journalist and broadcaster well into retirement, he found the time to write ten books on subjects as diverse as an autobiography, military history, lawn tennis, and pony club novels for children. Brigadier Sir Jackie Smyth, the last VC winner to sit in the House of Commons, died in 1983.
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