Eric Brabazon “Smitty” Smith

Trooper · NZ #1065 · HQ Patrol

What this roll records

Online Cenotaph record found in August 2026 by searching the service number. A CIVIL SERVANT in civilian life. CAPTURED 13 DECEMBER 1941, and held at DULAG VIII-A at Gorlitz, Germany, and at P.G. 75 at BARI, Italy. The Dulag at Gorlitz and the Stalag VIII-A already recorded on this card from the Imperial prisoner-of-war list are most likely two stages of one captivity — a transit camp and a permanent one at the same place — rather than a conflict, and both are left as their sources give them. The record also points to a 1941 recording of him in the Nga Taonga Sound & Vision catalogue, U-series, “The Long Range Desert Group”, Pts 1-8, item 11719 — the same series of broadcasts that appears on Browne’s and Garland’s cards. Source: Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph, record C141527.

On original LRP Roll (5 Dec 1940): T — Gnr T Patrol & clerk HQ; returned Div Cav; PW. Source: LRP Roll (Original LRP Nominal Roll as at 5 Dec 1940, Capt L H Browne).

Prisoner-of-war camp: Stalag VIII-A (code 8A), POW No. 32693. Source: Germany & German-Occupied Territories Imperial POW Alphabetical List, Section 4 (N.Z.), 2NZEF. Transcription via Zenodo (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.3632116, CC BY 4.0).

Confirmed prisoner of war (LRDG). Unit: 2 NZ Div.Cav.. Source: List of 2NZEF Prisoners of War (Imperial POW Alphabetical List). Compiled by Victoria Passau, Auckland War Memorial Museum; Zenodo (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.3860962, CC BY 4.0).

The prefix NZ has been added to his service number, on the authority of the Auckland War Memorial Museum Online Cenotaph record already linked on this card — the Museum holds him as a New Zealand service person. The digits are unchanged. This roll formerly left the number unmarked, which made it look like a British number to anyone reading the field rather than the card.

See him in the full roll →

Where this comes from

• AKA added from the LRDG Preservation Society’s Troopers roll (missing information).
• Murzuk Raid roll (courtesy Tarek el Mahdy)
• Listed in the LRDG Preservation Society’s Troopers roll.

In collaboration withThe Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) Preservation SocietyTo add information about this man, or note a correction, please post in the Society’s Facebook Group →

This page is part of the Long Range Desert Group roll of members at lrdgarchive.org. If you hold rights to anything on it and would like it credited differently, or taken down, please see Sources and Copyright. It will be dealt with promptly.

Not By Strength But By Guile