SMITH, Wellan Anthony

NAME             SMITH                  Wellan Anthony
RANK             Lance Corporal     37868                                                                                                                                             1st Canadian Army - II Canadian Corps - 3rd Canadian Infantry Division - 9th Infantry Brigade        UNIT               Highland Light Infantry of Canada
                       “defence not defiance”
                       Royal Canadian Infantry Corps                                                                                                          Born                April 2, 1921 - Zurich - Township of Hay - County of Huron - Ontario                                        Residence       Alviston - Ontario                                                                                                                                Died                July 8, 1944          23 years   3 months                                                                                Cemetery        Beny-Sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery - Reviers - Calvados - France
                        XIII   G   5
Parents           Mr. John and Clarissa Smith - Zurich / Windsor.                                                                                  Brothers          Mr. Orval and Donald Smith - Windsor - Ontario   Mr. Wilfred and Hebert - serving overseas with                            the Canadian forces.                                                                                                                                                  Mr. Roy Smith - Kingston - Ontario                                                                                                                              Mr. Leonard Smith - Cornwall - Ontario                                                                                                                      Mr. Clarence Smith - serving with the RCAF - Centralia - Ontario.

Wellan left school at the age of 17 after his second year of high school. He was employed by his father on the family farm and was working at Alviston Chemical  prior to enlistment as a factory worker making fly paper. He and his family would have attended  St Boniface Catholic Church. The family came to Zurich in Huron County then moved to Alliston in Simcoe County and then to Windsor. 

Canada  

Wellan traveled to Stratford on November 18, 1940 and he enlisted into the Canadian Army.  At enlistment he was 5'  6" and he weighed 138 pounds. He had a sallow complexion with blue eyes and fair hair.  received the rank of Private and was Taken on Strength with the Highland Light Infantry of Canada.                                            January 4, 1941 was when he was posted to Cove Barracks at Cove Field in Quebec City. He received embarkation leave from July 5-10.

Overseas

Private Smith was Struck off Strength of the Canadian Army in Canada and sailed from Canada for overseas on July 20. The following day at sea he was Taken on Strength with the Canadian Army overseas. He disembarked in the United Kingdom on July 29 at Gourock - Scotland and then went by train to Teravera Barracks in Aldershot - Hampshire.                                                                                                                                              Throughout the remainder of 1941 and into the summer of 1944 his training continued. My research tells me the HLI was based at Bognar Regis - West Sussex and from 1941 until May 1942 were tasked with defending Great Britain. Invasion training began on September 2, 1943. On June 4, 1944 Private Smith and the Highland Light Infantry of Canada embarked from the United Kingdom and on June 6 walked ashore in Normandy at Juneau Beach..                                                                                                          In the Battle of Normandy, as the Allied forces tried to break out, they were hampered by the German
fortifications that they had constructed in the towns of Tilly-la-Campagne and Tilly-sur-Seulles, and
because of these fortifications the infantry faced a near impossible objective. Breakfast on this fateful day was at 04:30 hours. The objective was for the capture of Caen and the surrounding area and was considered important so airfields could be built and the capture of the river crossing over the Orne River would provide a foothold
across it.
Operation “Charnwood” and the battle for Caen began with a barrage from 656 guns of all sizes. This was
so dense that the sun was obscured. The Canadian objective was to capture Chateau de St Louet, Authie and
high ground south of Buron. As well the Canadian objective was to attack parts of the Carpiquet Airfield
which was still in German hands. They had to move up to the Caen, Orne and Canel de Orne areas.
The German defences included minefields, dug in tanks, anti-aircraft defences and 88s along with elite
troops. The Germans were very aware of the route that the HLI would have to follow and had built up their
defences for this very thing.
The HLI objective was to take Galmachie and then clear out the town of Buron. “A” Company was in the
east of the town, “D” Company was in the west, “C” Company was to assist and then be in reserve and “A”
Company was to pass through to Aythie after the forward companies had cleared the town. “B and D” Companies moved forward until they came to an anti-tank ditch and here they came under heavy machine gun fire. The ditch was 12 feet wide and 15 feet deep and was cleared. As they moved forward again they were at the edge of the town and again they came under machine gun, artillery and mortar fire and during this period the casualties were extremely heavy. The Germans that were opposing them seemed to be fanatical and it was learned later that they were part of the 12th SS Panzer Grenadiers. The village was strongly defended by machine gun and it was very difficult to pass through and “D” Company was the first into the town after smashing their way in and cleaned out the Germans. Only 50% of the HLI now remained. “B” company broke through and was able to clear out enemy guns one by one but only after having to advance right up to the enemy gun emplacements.
In the afternoon of July 8th the Germans continued to shell and the HLI casualties grew and by now there were too many casualties for the stretcher bearers to deal with and not enough vehicles to transport them.                “B” Company was attacked by 8 Tiger tanks but were successful in repelling them and destroying 6. In the evening, the HLI attacked toward Grunchy and Buron, but they came under intense and heavy artillery / mortar / machine gun fire, but they were successful in clearing out the enemy positions from the front of the town. Again they had lost heavily in the process. They now had to fight their way across built up areas and were now backed by tanks. They also had to deal with a very wide anti-tank ditch to the north of Buron and up until this point the support armour had not been able to cross the ditch.
When night fell on July 8th one of the most fierce battles to date was over. The HLI were totally devastated
with the ranks too thin to fend off any counter attacks should the Germans mount any.
During this assault, the HLI lost 62 men and had 200 wounded casualties. This was 2/3 of the strength that
they started with, but even with those losses they took their objective and they held that ground. Most of the men killed and wounded were hit as they lay in a field without any protection from the German mortars and it was here that our Canadians were dying from exploding landmines, shrapnel wounds and bullet wounds. One of those who fell was Lance Corporal Smith.

During the month of October 1944 his mother received the Memorial Cross. His parents received the medals that were awarded to their son and these were the 1939-45 Star, the France & Germany Star, the Defence Medal, the War Medal and the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal.

Lance Corporal Smith is not honoured or remembered on any cenotaph in Huron County and the Huron Remembers Committee he should be. He is however honoured and remembered on the Alvinston - Ontario cenotaph. He is honoured in the Books of Remembrance located in the Centre Block of Parliament Hill and on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.