Private William George Smith (missing since September 7th but now reported dead) was 22 years of age, and the second son of Mr and Mrs William Smith, of Stirling, Otago. He left for Egypt as a mounted man in the 14th Otago and Southland Company with the Main Expeditionary Force. With his cousins, Privates Anderson, sons of Mr Crawford Anderson, late member for Bruce County, they were the first, to volunteer in their district. Private Smith, after a year of the Egyptian campaign, left for Gallipoli. He stayed there till just before the evacuation, when he received orders to go to France. Soon after arrival he contracted measles, and was for six weeks confined to hospital. When convalescent he went on furlough to visit his relatives in Glasgow and Edinburgh. He was born and educated in Stirling, and after leaving school assisted his father in the management of his Silvermere estate, which adjoins the Clutha river. -Press, 6/1/1917.
William Smith was in the 1st Battalion of the Otago Infantry Regiment. It is not revealed in his Army record which Company he was with on the day of his death. The Otagos' Official History records actions of the 1st Battalion on that day under the title "A Bitter Experience."
"The attack for the 27th, to which the 1st Infantry Brigade was committed, was timed to commence at 2.15 p.m., and at 7 a.m. the preliminary bombardment opened. The 1st Battalion of Otago was again on the left of the attack, and when the barrage came down deployed in the following order: 14th Company on the right; 4th Company on the left; 8th Company in support; and 10th Company moving north along the line of Goose Alley on the left of the attack.
"Punctually to time and in good order the Battalion advanced to the attack, and with only a moderate number of casualties crossed the line of Factory Corner-Eaucourt L'Abbaye Road. From this stage the ground fell away abruptly and the attacking troops almost immediately came under a withering blast of fire from enemy rifles and machine guns posted along Gird Trench and Gird Support. The two leading Companies, 14th and 4th, valiantly endeavoured to press on against this hail of fire; but it was only a question of distance when they were literally swept away by it. Every officer and almost every man became a casualty. The 8th Company, following in rear, now advanced into the breach. With equal gallantry the endeavour to reach Gird Trench was renewed, only to find that the protecting wire in the low lying ground was uncut. Here the attack withered away, and the few survivors, the remnant of three shattered Companies, took refuge in the shell-holes. A few of our men, joining up with the 1st Battalion of Auckland on the right, had succeeded in reaching Gird Trench.
"The 1st Battalion's attack against the Gird system of PAGE 133trenches and along Goose Alley on September 27th unquestionably represented the Regiment's most bitter and costly experience on the Somme. When the Battalion marched out of the line on the night of the 28th it was reduced to a strength of 113, which was considerably below that of a company. The fire encountered by the leading companies almost immediately after crossing the line of the Factory Corner-Eaucourt L'Abbaye Road was of a nature such as only those who had gallantly, though vainly, endeavoured to struggle through it could realise; and the line which the attack reached was only gained because of the extraordinary spirit of self-sacrifice of officers and men in face of overwhelming odds; Gird Trench, and Gird Support in particular having been densely packed with an enemy liberally supplied with machine guns. The problem presented by having to handle such a number of wounded called for the greatest exertions of the stretcher parties, who worked unceasingly throughout the night under almost insuperable difficulties of mud and distance. Many of the wounded succeeded in staggering back unaided, but there were others who were so sorely wounded as to be beyond the aid of the bearers when their turn came."
George William Smith was found, by a Court of Enquiry, to have died on September 27. He has no known grave.
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