[October 24, 2023] This is a true hero from South Africa. Sgt Quentin Smythe won the Victoria Cross in the Western Desert. This is the highest military decoration awarded for valor “in the face of the enemy” to members of the British Armed Forces and various Commonwealth countries (of which South Africa is one).
Upon the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, South Africans were deeply divided as to where their loyalties should lie. With memories of the Boer Wars still fresh in many minds, a sizeable minority felt no allegiance to the Allies. Others, however, sympathized with their wartime Prime Minister – then General Jan Smuts – who, though once a prominent Boer fighter himself, urged his citizens to enlist in defense of the British Empire.
Among the more than 300,000 men who volunteered was 23-year-old Quentin Smythe – a farmer by profession but, as he stated later, “a soldier by passion.” Deployed with the 1st Battalion Royal Natal Carbineers to Italian East Africa, it was there, in the summer of 1940, Quentin became part of the spearhead that broke Mussolini’s East African Italian Army and compelled “Il Duce” to surrender all of his East African colonies.
From there, he was sent to North Africa, where, not long after General Erwin Rommel struck the British-held “Gazala Line” in Libya, Quentin and his fellow Carbineers were ordered to “stand fast” in Gazala’s northern sector. When the “Desert Fox” attacked on June 5th, 1942, Quentin was knocked nearly unconscious by a blast of shrapnel, and, as the fighting intensified, so too, his commanding officer was seriously wounded by a hail of gunfire.
And yet, both he and his surviving compatriots didn’t just hold their own in the face of Rommel’s infantry and panzers but, in his capacity as their sergeant, he assumed command from his stricken superior and rallied his comrades to launch a devastatingly effective counterattack.
On reaching a German strong point, Quentin and his unit succeeded in overrunning it, only then to find themselves pinned down by a machine gunner and his crew. Although weak from blood loss caused by his earlier wound, the farmer-turned-soldier not only infiltrated the machine gun nest and captured its occupants single-handed but, on then encountering a well-entrenched band of anti-tank men, he even initiated a one-man ambush against them and forced the men to capitulate.
As the remaining Germans turned on their heels and withdrew, he signaled to his platoon to move up and join him, and, giving the order to affix bayonets, he led them in hot pursuit.
In so doing, he made it impossible for the enemy to regroup and, thus, thwarted any hopes of a German breakthrough.
For his “conspicuous gallantry,” Quentin became the first of just five South Africans to be awarded the Victoria Cross during WWII, and, for his “courage and leadership,” went on to win a rare battlefield commission to the rank of captain.
Not long after his passing, aged 81 in 1997, one of his former Carbineers paid tribute to him by saying:
“Quentin was a quiet, modest man who lived a humble yet fulfilling life. Fishing, farming, and shooting were his recreations. Needless for me to say, he was particularly good at the last.”
I believe in telling stories of heroes. Sgt Quentin Smythe, we salute you!
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NOTE: See more at SA Military History and on Quentin Smythe here.
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Please read my books:
Great man, SGT Smythe.
Great channel, Gen. Satterfield.
A hero indeed. A person who is willing to give life to save other are hero. We need more Quentin. David killed the Philistines gaint Gailth, Samson killed more men at death by calling o God to give him his strength back that he lost by telling where his strength came from: Daniel in the lions refused not to stop praying; 3 Hebrews boys thrown in the fiery furnace for refused to bowing down to wishop the king. Ester going before the king before she was call to be in his present.”if I perish let me perish “, Jesus dead on the cross for humanity.
Great comment, Eddie. 👍👍👍👍👍
Gen. Satterfield occasionally gets back to his roots on what made his blog so popular, and that is show us what heroes do and what we value in heroes.
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His two part series on “Why we have heroes” is worth another read to remind us of what it means.
https://www.theleadermaker.com/why-do-we-have-heroes-part-1/
https://www.theleadermaker.com/why-do-we-have-heroes-part-2/
Indeed, and one of the reasons I’ve read this blog so often. ❤
Real men, that’s the reason. Not the pussies we see today. Call them Chad or Tyrone or whatever, they are only sissy men.
Ha Ha, American girl, you got that right.
Many great comments today. I believe, like Gen. Satterfield, that stories of heroes MUST be told. It shows us what is good and proper and acceptable. It also shows what we should aspire to in our good lives. You can read a book on this all day long but having a real example of a REAL MAN makes a great deal of difference. Keep these heroes series going and never drop it. Cheers.
Tell stories of Heroes.
And I thought I knew lots about WW2. This I didn’t know:
“Upon the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, South Africans were deeply divided as to where their loyalties should lie. With memories of the Boer Wars still fresh in many minds, a sizeable minority felt no allegiance to the Allies. Others, however, sympathized with their wartime Prime Minister – then General Jan Smuts – who, though once a prominent Boer fighter himself, urged his citizens to enlist in defense of the British Empire.”
Nailed it, General Satterfield and thanks. My grandparents were from SA and I get a whole host of family stories from that era.
Veronica, consider yourself lucky.
Indeed!!!!
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All of us who have had relatives in war, should be proud, unless they were cowards and deserted. If you served, then you had better come out with an Honorable Discharge or you are not with it. Except medical discharges, of course.
It’s been a long time since you highlighted a WWII soldier in your hero feed. Thank you for it. It is also great to know that it was also the South African’s who helped the Allies, despite being under political pressure to abandon the allies. That takes courage.
We need more men like this in the West. Men are becoming women and women are becoming men. How disgusting that is. And it is celebrated to a bunch of wennie politivcans.
Stacey and Guns, don’t be too surprised, this is what happens when you get Marxists in your mist and are unwilling to do anything about them…. you know, freedom of speech and all. But if they are talking so should you talk to show the ignorance they are spewing.
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The Holodomor: Marxism in Action
https://www.theleadermaker.com/the-holodomor-marxism-in-action/
Good comments. And all of us should be getting Gen. Satterfield’s latest book “55 Rules for a Good Life” 2022 and learn it now. That is how you avoid all this Marxist claptrap. 👀
Yes, Stacey, I agree …. bout time.