SMYTH, Sir Nevill Maskelyne (1868-1941). Army officer and recipient of the Victoria Cross.
Five Autograph Letters Signed (two in pencil) to his sister-in-law, Annabel Warington Smyth, and his nephew Bevil, 7 pages 4to etc., with one envelope, 9-20 April 1918. All written from the British Expeditionary Force, commenting on the progress of the war and the morale of the Australian forces under his command.

'... Tonight we expect sleet and snow as well as gas shells and massed attacks but nothing discourages the equanimity of the islanders. ...'

'... The Australians have had a good steadying effect on the situation, and are full of confidence.Our men are all full of the idea of what they call a fight to the finish. ...'

'... I think the Kaiser will go on driving his serfs to attack until he has lost 10 millions in his effort to attain a decision. He will conceal the number of casualties. The islanders with me have given such a good account of themselves and so keen on attacking that the Germans shear off them and prefer to go and attack somewhere else. It is the same with the Canadians on Vimy ridge. The personal factor comes in and the German avoids us. ...'

Smyth also gives advice on how to cope with shortages, discusses the children's education and life at Tremayne, and offers avuncular advice ('... There is a time when each of us must decide whether he will be a Christian, a super man and a hero or whether he will be a weakling morally ...').

Before the outbreak of the First World War, Smyth had already distinguished himself as an officer, having served in India, South Africa and Egypt, and having received an aviator's licence in 1913. He was awarded the Victoria Cross after the Battle of Omdurman in September 1898, where he received a spear wound to his arm after preventing a dervish from killing two war correspondents. He commanded the 1st Australian Infantry Brigade during the Gallipoli campaign, and by the time he wrote these letters was Major General in command of the Second Australian Division on the Western Front, where he was known for borrowing aircraft to survey enemy lines. During his career he was Mentioned in Dispatches a total of eleven times. After his retirement in 1925 he emigrated with his family to Balmoral in Australia.
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