In the Trenches – brothers at the Western Front

One hundred and twelve years have passed since the start of The Great War in 1914, and I marvel at the opportunity to research and write about the war exploits of two OR brothers who attended Rossall, joined the Royal Field Artillery and saw action at the Western Front.

Brothers Sir Allan C. Smith (1893-1980) and Donald C. Smith (1894-1980) shared much in common. Both hailed from Bermuda, were educated at Rossall, were Rhodes Scholars and attended St. John’s College, Oxford. Their ambition was to earn their law degrees. Beyond that, the world was their oyster. All this changed in the summer of 1914. Their education was halted abruptly. Their lives changed. Driven by allegiance and patriotism they volunteered for military service, along with hundreds of thousands of others. Suddenly, they faced decisions on how weapons worked and how to kill; a far cry from Latin, conveyancing and torts. But, their capacity to write continued. Letters. Hundreds of them. They never knew which letter might be their last.

I knew both men in my lifetime – they were my great-uncles - who died shortly after I left Rossall. In 2023 I learned that their war-era letters existed. Their letters contained vivid descriptions of life at Rossall; life in the Cadet Corps; digging trenches and participating in skirmishes, two years before the war. The cold Irish Sea wind, Rossall hockey, shooting on the range, football games (Rossall was not yet a rugby school) and Fin, the Rose Housemaster featured throughout. Their letters revealed deeply personal thoughts and vulnerabilities. Words weaved the wonderful, contextualised narrative of the world as it existed then – whether they wrote of a visit to a colliery in the Midlands, visiting family in Bloxwich, life in the trenches or of a West End show in London during military leave. Buried in the letters were aspirations, fears and some prejudices, not surprising given the recency of the Victorian dynasty. Their war-time narrative reverberates today.

Allan and Donald wrote of the many near misses as German mortars reigned down around them. Allan’s partner stretcher-bearer was gunned down by a German sniper. It so nearly cost him his own life. He gave detailed accounts of training for war in England and Scotland, the drudgery and danger of life in the trenches and being at key battles including the Battle of Ypres and later, fighting the Austrians on the Italian Front. Donald, at the Somme in July 1916 wrote: “That day, one hundred Light Brigades marched into our valley of death without a falter. Through our battery position and forming into line in the trenches came a Battalion of Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, those ‘Ladies from Hell’ with their swinging kilts, and bayonets glistening like the sheen on the sea. We could not see them going ‘over the top’ or being mowed down (by German machine guns) - those rugged, brave men.”  They were among the 57,000 British casualties on that single day.

Among their most moving words were when they wrote of the deaths of soldiers. Friends and former school and University colleagues from Rossall and St. John’s – lives cut drastically short. When they finally resumed their studies in 1919 the atmosphere at St. John’s was very different. Donald wrote, “Dear Dad, My friends are all dead.” For the next sixty-two years they never forgot them or the carnage of war.          

In the Trenches – brothers at the Western Front is scheduled for publication in late 2027.

Jonathan D. Smith (R 1972-1977) is a former Commissioner of Police from Bermuda. He now works in the private sector with business interests in the commercial real estate and storage sectors. He holds a BSc. in Management Studies from the University of Maryland and a diploma in Criminology and Police Studies from Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge. He writes non-fiction in his spare time. His work includes: In the Hour of Victory (2011), a WWII story – the documentary film version of which won International Film Festival awards in the UK and USA; Island Flames (2015), winner of the Bermuda Government Literary Award for Non-Fiction; and Island Fever was released in 2025.  He can be contacted at jonathandavidsmith@outlook.com