In the spirit of commemoration, this non-commercial website replicates research conducted by Mr T. A. D. Truswell, while adding up-to-date digitized data - (c) 2015 Charles Henry Davis (contact chaz7159@hotmail.com)
BACKGROUND
The January 2015 Stand To! (a publication of The Western Front Association) included the article:
“Red, White and Blue in North Russia – US Military Medical Care During the Murmansk Intervention, 1918-1919” (Dr William Hanigan).
Whilst from an American-perspective (regarding the “North Russian Expeditionary Force which included French, British Dominion, Italian, Serbian and Polish contingents under British command”) Australian forces were noted (p48 “a last futile gesture occurred when a riot broke out between departing Americans and British and Australian volunteers on their way to relieve the Elope force”; p49 “this dismal performance culminated in July, 1919 when a salvage unit mutinied and killed a British, Australian, and five Russian officers.”)
A search for Australian involvement located the Australian War Memorial collection (MSS2333):
“From Anzac to Archangel. Nominal roll of Australians who fought in the Russian War of intervention 1918 - 19 / Terry Truswell”.
Subsequent emails regarding copyright status was resolved with the AWM stating no connection – the handwritten manuscript was lodged twenty-five years ago and details the author’s phone number: contact proved futile (with no follow-up on an address (a post office box) on the assumption this too would no longer be of relevance.)
Mr Truswell stated his motivation as an “idea to compile this roll nurtured after reading an article by Peter Burness which appeared in the journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia in August 1976” - while this article can be found at http://www.adfjournal.adc.edu.au/UserFiles/issues/22%201980%20May_Jun.pdf selected extracts follow:
The Australian involvement in North Russia commenced on 17 June 1918 when three A.I.F.officers and six sergeants embarked on the troopship "City of Newcastle" bound for Russia. The following year these A.I.F. volunteers were joined in North Russia by over one hundred Australians serving with the British Army. In early 1918 a small Allied detachment was landed at Murmansk in North Russia. This was followed in August by larger landings at Archangel of British, Canadian, and U.S. Battalions supported by French, Poles, Serbs and Italian troops. The Australian volunteers were formed into part of a force known as "Elope Force" which was first landed at Murmansk. One of the Australians, Sergeant A. Van Duve [Von Duve] MM, later wrote: "On arrival at Murmansk in June 1918 five of us were sent inland on patrol . . . it was six weeks before we arrived back at Murmansk, then we sailed for Archangel. There was another Australian (Sgt. B. Perry MM) in that patrol."
[Members of the Elope Force were - Allan Brown, Robert Louis Graham, Paul Francis Lohan, John Robert Cowan Kelly, Richard Thomas Tarrant, Bertram Harold Perry, Claude Howard Wyatt, Charles John Hickey, Arthur Frederick Von Duve]
In the early spring news was received in Archangel of important White Russian Army successes in the East and in Southern Russia. It was therefore decided that the Allied force in North Russia should be strengthened to allow a local offensive to drive south and link up with the Siberian Army. The North Russia Relief Force was to consist of two Brigades, the 45th and 46th Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers, and the 201st Battalion M.G. Corps, with the 55th Bty R.F.A., 250 Signal Coy. R.E., and the 385 Field Coy. R.E., attached.
Among the Australians was Warrant Officer Charles Oliver who had settled in Australia in 1910 after an extensive career in the British Army. Before the war he had been appointed to the new Duntroon Military College as an instructor. In 1917 he joined the A.I.F. and in April 1918 joined the 21st Battalion in France. Oliver was responsible for enlisting a great many fellow members of the A.I.F. into the Relief Force. Unlike the earlier A.I.F. Volunteers already in Russia these men, numbering possibly 150, had to be discharged from the A.I.F. and enlisted into the British Army. However, Charles Oliver was able to get permission for the Australians to be enlisted as special companies. They were also allowed to retain A.I.F. uniform and received an assurance that they would be repatriated to Australia after the campaign.
Lieutenant H. Gipps of the 5th Australian Division Artillery enlisted and served in North Russia as a Corporal. Sergeant Robinson and Private Francis were both Anzacs and carried wounds received in 1915. Corporal Pearce wore the ribbon of his Military Medal won at Ypres in 1917. Private H. Spies also had an M.M., and Warrant Officer Jenkyn wore the Distinguished Conduct Medal awarded for his repeated acts of bravery in France during 1918.
Following the arrival of the Relief Force it was possible for most of the original 1918 Expeditionary Force to be evacuated. Most of the A.I.F. volunteers were among the first to leave. By July only two of the original nine Australians were still in North Russia.
Private W. J. Robinson later wrote: "Our O.C., to identify himself with us, obtained an Australian hat and wore it during our service. He was Major May of the Royal Fusiliers, and wore his Aussie hat until he was wounded in the attack on Emptsa in August 1919". Private Robinson recalled this period in a recent letter to the Australian War Memorial. "Our role in this area was mainly to patrol the slashing in the huge pine forests and to attack the Bolsheviks wherever they attempted to establish positions. One such position, a large machine gun post, was attacked by us and a number of the enemy killed. The Bolsheviks did not bother to bury their dead but left them to rot where they lay. There were no casualties on our side".
On the Onega River the Russians staged their mutiny prematurely on the 20th. Among the few British troops in that area was Captain A. Brown, one of the original A.I.F. officers in North Russia. The Australian was taken by surprise, although he managed to shoot two mutineers with his revolver before he himself was shot and bayoneted to death.
Corporal A. P. Sullivan won the Victoria Cross for his bravery on the 10th August. Existing records do not provide many details of his actions. However, it appears that he may have been part of the column which had been cut off. His citation says: "The platoon to which he belonged, after fighting a rearguard covering action, had to cross the river by means of a narrow plank, and during the passage an officer and three men fell into a deep swamp. Without hesitation, under intense fire, Corporal Sullivan jumped into the river and rescued all four, bringing them out singly. But for this gallant action his comrades would undoubtedly have drowned. It was a splendid example of heroism, as all ranks were on the point of exhaustion and the enemy less than 100 yards distant."
Before the British evacuated North Russia there was one final offensive action in which the Australians played a very important part. This action took place at Emptsa along the railway in late August. During this action Sergeant Samuel Pearce a Victorian, cut his way through the enemy barbed wire under heavy fire. He then, single handed, attacked a blockhouse and knocked it out with hand grenades. A few minutes later Pearce was cut down by an enemy machine gun. He was later awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. In the same attack with Pearce, Sergeant Hill was badly wounded attacking a blockhouse. Hill's leg was so badly shattered that it had to be amputated. Private Ben Parry-Williams, Hill's mate, then silenced an enemy post with his Lewis Gun. Private Robinson was also wounded in this action and his life was only saved by the Bible he carried in his top pocket deflecting a bullet. The evacuation was completed by 27 September 1919.
The Australians in the North Russia Relief Force returned to England to take their leave and obtain their discharges from the British Army. They then joined over 8000 other troops still awaiting repatriation to Australia. They also managed to get two captured machine guns sent home for display in the proposed "Australian War Museum".
In Australia itself the North Russia "diggers" attracted little attention. Newspaper reports of their activities went little beyond reporting the award of the two Victoria Crosses. However, there was one article published in the Melbourne "Truth" on 24 May 1919 which had a lot to say about the political implications of the campaign. It concluded by saying: "The Commonwealth Parliament ought to be called together at once to condemn the sending of Australian troops (to North Russia) from London or anywhere else".
In early 1920, only a few months after the evacuation of the Relief Force, Archangel was in Bolshevik hands. The British seem to have determined that the campaign should be quickly forgotten. No Official History of the Campaign was ever written nor did the troops involved ever receive a special medal (eligibility for the British War Medal was later extended to cover North Russia). The Communists, however, did not forget. Many years later Mr Krushchev said: "We remember the grim days when . . . all the capitalist countries of Europe and America marched on our country to strangle the new revolution"
Only two Australians were killed in North Russia (Captain Brown and Sergeant Pearce VC). However, there were several men wounded including Sergeant Hill and Privates Kevin [Kevan], Purdue, Robinson, Lutherborrow and Gaffey. During the brief campaign the Australians maintained the high reputation achieved by the A.I.F. during the war. The Victoria Crosses of Sergeant Pearce and Corporal Sullivan were the only two awarded for service in North Russia. In addition other decorations were awarded including Distinguished Conduct Medals to Sergeant Gascoigne-Roy, Lance-Corporal Lutherborrow, and Privates Brooke, Purdue and Quarrell. Privates Hodson and Sutton received the Military Medal, and Captain Brown was Mentioned in Despatches.
Mr Truswell's summary:
“The British Government was calling for Australian volunteers to enlist in the British Army for the North Russian Relief Force. Nine Australians were already in Russia, still in the A.I.F. as advisers, part of Elope Force. The Australians who joined first had to take their discharge from the A.I.F. before being posted to the 45th and 46th Battalions Royal Fusiliers and the 201 Battalion Machine Gun Company. It was agreed [they] could retain their A.I.F. uniforms and were guaranteed to be repatriated to Australia. One can see that some had been in the A.I.F. since 1914."
Further Australian War Memorial reading: https://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/north_russia/journal.asp
and North Russian Relief Force (AWM)
WEBSITE SOURCES
National Archives Australia; National Archives United Kingdom; Australian War Memorial; National Library Australia (Trove)
The AIF Project (UNSW/ADFA); We Who Proudly Served (Peter Francis Kenny eBook); russiananzacs.net; ACT Memorial
100 Years Honouring Anzacs; State Library NSW (Crowne Studio Portraits); australiarussia.com (Vladimir Kroupnik)
Monument Australia; RSL Virtual War Memorial; University Sydney 'Beyond 1914'; Flinders Shire Historical Photograph Project
www.thegazette.co.uk; Australian Light Horse Research; www.anzacday.org.au; Australian Dictionary of Biography