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Cranston Fine Arts  Military Art and Artists More Military Artists Q to S  Smith, Simon |
| More Pages : Original Paintings |
| Simon Smith |
Simon Smith was born in 1960 into a military family and quickly developed an interest in history and the armed forces. He has worked continually as an illustrator in the historical field since leaving art college in 1982, having graduated with a First in Fine Art and Illustration.. He has work on permanent display in London and countries as far afield as Taiwan and Israel. Simon owes his lifelong interest in military subjects to his family connections with the services. |
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| Text for the above items : |
Commando by Simon Smith. No text for this item |
Southern Steel by Simon Smith. Confederate cavalry with the battle flag of the Confederacy gallop into battle. The battle flag was also known as the Southern Cross. |
The Spoils of War by Simon Smith. Thrown into a baptism of fire on D-Day the men of the 101st Airborne Division had quickly shown their mettle in the killing fields of Normandy. By the time they were called upon to jump into Holland during Operation Market Garden they had become one of the toughest and most formidable units of the entire US Army. After fighting alongside the British in Holland it was on 5th October 1944, along the muddy banks of a dyke, that the men of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, under the leadership of Lt Dick Winters once again ran into a large group of Germans. It wasn't the first time they'd been outnumbered and, with scant regard for the odds against them, Easy Company attacked. After a brief fire-fight that drove the enemy back, Dick Winters gathered half of his reserve platoon and proceeded to wipe out an enemy machine-gun position and bringing up the rest of his men, charged with fixed bayonets. The Germans - two companies of battle-hardened Waffen-SS troops, several hundred men - were too stunned to respond and were quickly overpowered by Winters' small band. A few days later Colonel Robert Sink, the battalion commander, issued a citation praising them for their daring and aggressive spirit, and sound tactical ability. Shortly after their success, Dick Winters was promoted to become the battalion Executive Officer. This painting portrays the men of Easy Company moments after the action was over, standing easy but, as ever, alert for trouble. |
Arnhem Bridge by Simon Smith. Men of Colonel Frosts 2 Para retake the bridge after a German attempt lead by Captain Viktor Graebner of the 9th SS panzer Division (armoured reconnaissance Troops) had failed. |
We Treated Them All The Same by Simon Smith. IN HONOUR AND IN RECOGNITION OF ROBERT E.WRIGHT, KENNETH J. MOORE, MEDICS 2nd Bn 501 PIR, 101st AIRBORNE DIVISION FOR HUMANE AND LIFE-SAVING CARE RENDERED TO 80 COMBATANTS AND A CHILD IN THIS CHURCH IN JUNE 1944. These simple words, carved into a stone memorial outside the ancient church at Angouville-au-Plain, a small hamlet six miles south-west of Utah Beach in Normandy, recall the heroic actions that took place. In the early hours of 6 June 1944 two medics from the 101st Airborne - Kenneth Moore and Robert Wright - arrived to find themselves in the middle of a confused and savage firefight. Undeterred by the fighting around them the two men immediately set up a field dressing-station in the little village church to treat the growing numbers of wounded. In an act of true humanity within the brutality of war, the two medics insisted on treating every wounded soldier brought here equally, regardless of the uniform they wore. There was, however, one simple rule. No guns were to be brought inside the church. When two German paratroopers burst through the doors, machine-guns raised, the medics simply stared them straight in the eye and nodded down to the young German soldier they were treating. The two enemy paratroopers immediately understood. Both saluted and withdrew. By the time the fighting was over, all but three of the 80 wounded had survived. |
The Winged Dagger by Simon Smith. 22 SAS Squadron in the Gulf, having been dropped by Chinook of the 7th Squadron RAF |
Irrepressible Para by Simon Smith. No text for this item |
The Storm and the Sabre by Simon Smith. British infantry supported by Warrior armoured vehicles advance into Iraq, February 1991. |
Last Stand of the 24th Regiment at the Battle of Isandhlwana by Simon Smith Battle of Isandhlwana. Zulu victory over the British forces on 22nd January 1879 about 100km north of Durban. Lord Chelmsford led a column of forces to seek out the Zulu army camped at Isandhlwana, while patrols searched the district. After receiving a report, Chelmsford set forth at half strength, leaving six companies of the 24th Regiment, two guns, some Colonial Volunteers and a native contingent (in all about 1,800 troops) at the camp. Later that morning an advanced post warned of an approaching Zulu army. Shortly after this, thousands of Zulus were found hidden in a ravine by a mounted patrol but as the patrol set off to warn the camp, the Zulus followed. At the orders of the Camp Commander, troops spread out around the perimeter of the camp, but the Zulu army broke through their defences. The native contingent who fled during the attack were hunted down and killed. The remaining troops of the 24th Regiment, 534 soldiers and 21 officers, were killed where they fought. The Zulus left no one alive, taking no prisoners and leaving no wounded or missing. About 300 Africans and 50 Europeans escaped the attack. Consequently, the invasion of Zulu country was delayed while reinforcements arrived from Britain. |
Sainte-Mère-Église by Simon Smith. Captured by the US 82nd Airborne in the early hours of D-Day, Sainte-MèreÉglise would become the first town in France to be liberated by the Allies. The small town of Sainte-MèreÉglise, at the foot of the Cotentin peninsula, is just five miles inland from Utah Beach, the most westerly of the five assault beaches for D-Day and critical to the Allies' right flank. The town lay beside the main highway from Paris that ran north from Carentan to the port of Cherbourg, and which provided a vital link to any German forces engaged in the defence of the area. Vital to ensuring a successful landing on Utah, the task of securing the town and road together with the nearby railway line and bridges over the River Merderet, was given to one of the best units in the US Army - the battle-hardened paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division. In the early hours of 6 June 1944, after a widely scattered drop, some in the Division's 505th PIR found themselves landing right in the heart of the town, caught in the glowing light cast by a burning building. With the white silk of their parachutes clearly visible, many of the men hanging defencelessly beneath them were easy targets. The casualty rate was high but, after regrouping with other units, the men of the 82nd attacked in a ferocious assault and a fierce firefight with the German defenders soon erupted. By dawn it was over and with the capture of the town the Stars and Stripes now flew over Sainte-Mère-Église. |
Act of Valor by Simon Smith. After single-handedly destroying a German Mark V Panther tank that had pinned down his unit, First Lieutenant James Maggie Megellas leads his platoon from the 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne towards the Belgian town of Herresbach, 28 January 1945, as the Battle of the Bulge draws to its conclusion. Minutes before, despite being vastly outnumbered in heavy snow and freezing conditions, the platoon had overwhelmed and completely defeated a large force of German infantry in a ferocious frontal assault, without losing a single man. Simon Smith's dramatic image picks up the story as, with the Panther rendered harmless, Megellas readies his men for their final advance into Herresbach. |
Challenger by Simon Smith. Tanks of the Queens Royal Irish Hussars in action during the Gulf War, February 1991. |
D-Day Gold Beach, 6th June 1944 by Simon Smith. Troops of the 1st Hampshires assaulting Gold Beach during the Normandy Landings. Gold beach was one of the British beaches on D-Day. Gold beach was the western most beach of the British beaches, on D-Day. Gold beach was between two twenty metre high cliffs where German fortifications had been built. The beach had been protected by concrete casemates which took some time to break through. This happened with support form British tanks in the afternoon of D-day 6th June. The British tanks and reinforcements moved off the beaches towards Saint-Come-de-Fresene and Arromanches which were both liberated by 9pm. |
Arnhem Drop 17th September 1944 by Simon Smith. No text for this item |
Stand Easy by Simon Smith. During a short respite from the heavy fighting on D-Day, paratroopers from the 101st Airborne stand easy outside a recently liberated cafe as they await orders for their next objective. |
Dead Man's Corner by Simon Smith. Men of the US 101st Airborne launch a lighting patrol across the bitterly contested road junction just outside the village of St Come-du-Mont on 8th June 1944. |
The Liberation of Bayeux by Simon Smith. On the morning of 7th June 1944 British armoured units enter the centre of Bayeux, the first city in France to be liberated by the Allies following the D-Day landings. |
Advance from Arromanches by Simon Smith. Following the successful D-Day landings on the adjacent Gold Beach, a vast pre-fabricated artificial Mulberry Harbour was quickly assembled at nearby Arromanches, allowing British and Canadian reinforcements to pour ashore. Towed piece by piece across the Channel, assembled and ready for use within days of the invasion, the harbour - nicknamed Port Winston - would enable more than two and half million men, half a million vehicles and vast quantities of supplies to be landed before it was finally decommissioned at the end of the year, by which time the ports along the Channel and North Sea had been liberated. The new 'Mulberry' is working flat out with reinforcements pouring ashore and one of the floating roadways being used to evacuate the wounded onto ships soon bound for England. In the foreground recently-arrived Sherman Firefly tanks from the 13th /18th Hussars climb away from the area as they move out towards the front line alongside infantry from The Devonshire Regiment. In the days to follow both regiments would fight with great distinction. Easily identified by the long barrel of its British 17-pounder gun whose bright muzzle flash inspired its nickname, the 'Firefly' was considered the most deadly version of the iconic Sherman tank and, being the only Allied tank in Normandy with a gun powerful enough to penetrate the thick armour of the German Panther and Tiger tanks, it was greatly feared by the enemy. |
Advance from Utah by Simon Smith. It had been a rough ride for the men of 101st Airborne's Easy Company. With heavy flak tearing into the C-47s carrying the paratroopers inland, the original drop plans had gone horribly awry and the men found themselves scattered, many lost without weapons or supplies. They knew that the largest amphibious force in history would be landing on Utah Beach in only a few hours, and was counting on them to secure the area behind the beach. As the Allied landing approached, First Lieutenant Dick Winters and the small force of the dozen men he had managed to gather were ordered to take a battery of four German 105mm Howitzers at Brecourt Manor, which were zeroed in on Utah Beach. In a remarkable feat of tactics that would be studied and emulated for decades to come, Dick Winters and his tiny force destroyed not only the battery, but also the deadly machine-gun positions nearby. The latest composition from celebrated military artist Simon Smith, Advance from Utah, captures both the triumph and foreboding of the moment following this brilliant move: With the German positions smoldering behind them, Winters and his men gaze thoughtfully into the horizon and their next objective, realizing that for them the war is only beginning. |
The Road From Utah - Ste Marie du Mont, June 1944 by Simon Smith. Paratroopers of the 101st Airborne lead American armored units through the recently liberated village of Sainte Marie du Mont during the advance from Utah Beach, shortly after D-Day. |
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