the two officers. Fortunately it was a German "egg" grenade, which was not very powerful in open, unconfined spaces, and left Smith with only some minor cuts. Smith asked a nearby Canadian tank to knock a hole through the wall, which he then rushed through looking for the enemy who had thrown the grenade. A German soldier, armed with a "Schmeisser" submachine gun, suddenly appeared and fired a short burst at Smith, with two bullets hitting Smith in his chest. Smith however was wearing body armour – plates of dense moulded plastic that shielded the most vital areas of his torso – which the Canadian Army had issued to infantrymen and forward artillery personnel who were going into Normandy. The bullets left two indentations in Smith's chest plate, each about an inch deep, but he suffered only bruising. During the remainder of that day and night and the following day, enemy armour and infantry (including elements of the tough, fanatical 12th SS Panzer Division) mounted no fewer than four counter-attacks on the farm. Smith coolly and effectively directed artillery fire that broke up each of these counter-attacks. To accurately direct the guns, he several times had to move to exposed positions in the face of heavy enemy fire. On one occasion, he and the few soldiers in his Observation Post, killed and repulsed several enemy troops who had got within 20 yards of their position. In a final German counter-attack on the farm, the FMR company – now critically low on ammunition and its strength significantly depleted by casualties – was overrun. On this occasion too, Smith by his effective direction of artillery fire inflicted severe casualties on the enemy. He then withdrew under heavy fire and avoided being captured. For his conduct in this action, Smith was awarded the Military Cross. (Postscript: a few days later, on July 24, 1944, another company from the FMR, under Major J.A. Dextraze, again seized Troteval Farm and held it.) On the morning of July 25, Smith was a FOO with the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry during an attack on Verriéres village. As he advanced through a grain field, in dim pre-dawn light, his Universal Carrier – a small, light tracked armoured vehicle, commonly called a "Bren gun carrier" – detonated a German anti-tank mine. Smith's driver was instantly killed. Despite a lining of sandbags in the bottom of the Carrier, Smith's right