Smith and Jetley – Special Forces
At the conclusion of the desert campaign, the LRDG began training for a new role in another theatre of operations. Consequently in mid-1943 it re-located to the mountains of Lebanon then later Palestine.
It was here that Cyril Smith, recently arrived in the region with the 97th (KY) Field Regiment Royal Artillery, joined ‘Y’ Patrol.
For the next six months the patrol was engaged in a variety of training which would allow it to ‘insert’ behind enemy lines by land, sea or air, in readiness for deployment to the Balkans. During this time Cyril became a close friend of Gilbert Jetley.
In August 1944 the pair became part of a small patrol sent to the enemy-occupied Croatian mainland. They stayed behind enemy lines for two months reporting on enemy dispositions.