[5] The 19th Hussars' role on the mobilisation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was to provide squadrons to the 4th, 5th and 6th Divisions.
Because Bowden-Smith's war service was recorded as starting on 9 September, he must have been with C Squadron, which landed with the 6th Division at St Nazaire on that day.
At various times he found himself attached to the Signal Service and as a temporary instructor at the Cavalry School at Netheravon.
His fourth place in the individual jumping, on Billy Boy, equalled Great Britain's best result to date in the equestrian events.
This achievement was noteworthy, given the total dominance of the German team with their superior local knowledge of the tricky course.
[12] After the Berlin Olympics, Bowden-Smith, now a lieutenant colonel, became Commanding Officer of the 16th/5th Lancers at Secunderabad in India, but when the regiment began to convert to a light tank regiment, he returned to the UK in 1938 to take up a newly created post of Superintendent of the Army Equitation Centre and Remount Depot at Weedon.
[17] Based at Barnard Castle, the brigade consisted of three battalions of the Lancashire Fusiliers (1/5th, 1/6th and 9th), which became 108th, 109th and 143rd Regiment Royal Armoured Corps respectively.
[23] When rumours began to circulate in August 1943 that 10th Tank Brigade was scheduled for disbandment, Members of Parliament for the Lancashire towns complained about the loss of their TA battalions.
[25] Bowden-Smith was now posted to Delhi to join the staff of the new South East Asia Command (SEAC) under Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten.
[3] Bowden-Smith was an ADC to the King 1944–46, was awarded a CBE (Military) in 1946[3][26] and was appointed Colonel of the 16th/5th Lancers in 1950.