Casemate UK Churchill's Secret War with Lenin - Russian Civil War

[Julien]

Churchill's Secret War with Lenin

British And Commonwealth Military Intervention In The Russian Civil War, 1918-20

ISBN : 9781911512103

Helion and Company Casemate UK

 

 

Before getting this book I was aware of some British involvement in the Russian civil war which followed the revolution in 1917. I had seen a little on it mainly the fact that there still are WWI on display in Russia and former USSR countries which were captured at this time. It would seem that the UK Government and in particular Churchill were keen to firstly open another front to WWI, and then later help the White Russian cause as the anti revolutionary forces became to be called. 

 

 

In 1917 with the Russian revolution in full swing the Russian Army ceased hostilities with Germany on the Eastern Front. The allies considered this a great betrayal as it freed up those German forces to engage on the Western Front. The German Spring offensive of 1918 would not have been possible without these troops. The allies had had military missions in Russia as early as 1915.  The first foray into Russia was a 5000 strong Naval & Marine force which was deployed to the Murmansk area primarily to stop the Germans establishing a U-Boat base in the region. U-Boats had to transition the North Sea to the Atlantic and it was feared that a northern base would enable them much easier access to the Atlantic. There was also a suggestion of protecting equipment already sent to aid the Russians in WWI.

 

 

Suffice to say this was only the beginning and many more troops, Naval units and Air Force units would be dispatched over the next year to locations as diverse as The Baltic, North Russia, Siberia and the Crimea. Not only were these units British but would include commonwealth units from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. All form so modern warfare form Aircraft, through Tanks, and even Poison Gas were deployed; in the end to no avail. The different factions fighting for the White cause were disorganised, badly led, and under equipped. Often whole divisions would mutiny and change sides killing their own, and British Officers before doing so.  In the end though these and other reasons the Western Powers left.

 

 

The book looks at the initial deployment to Murmansk, and the later deployments through 1918 to 1920. It looks at the units deployed, where and what they did. Included is a full roll or honour, a list of Allied prisoners of the Soviets, list of Commonwealth forces involved, and lists of Warships deployed. The book is slightly larger than A5 in hardback format with 576 pages. As well as the excellent text there are maps and numerous black & white photographs. 

 

Conclusion

Until this book there has been no English language publication dedicated to this "small" war. Indeed it has been hushed up in our history, with not even a campaign medal awarded to those who took part. This book should be required reading for politicians before committing troops to any further conflict. From mission creep, to inadequate resources, to no real understanding of the conflict, the problems from 1918 would still seem to permeate through to today's conflicts. I really cant recommend this book highly enough if you are interested in military history in general, or Britain's smaller and forgotten conflicts.  The author spent 15 years researching the book and this shines through into an incredibly detailed account of the actions in Russia during this period.

 

Highly Recommended.

 

Review sample courtesy of

 

 

[Aardvark]

Interestingly, but just today, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation has opened the special website where have for the first time published scans of some declassified historical documents from funds of the Central archive of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation.
http://rkka100.mil.ru
Namely:
The draft of the Decree of Council of People's Commissars of January, 1918 about the organization of Workers' and Peasants' Army. 
With changes of the Chairman of the board of National Commissioners V.I. Ulyanov (Lenin)

Leaflet of the Irkutsk Provincial Committee of RCP(b) and Provincial Military Komissariat 
"As the Soviet power builds the army"
In the leaflet the mission, tasks of the Red Army organized under the decree of February 23, 1918 speaks.
At the time of the edition of the leaflet in army there were about six hundred thousand people.

The website is open on the eve of the celebration of 100 years from the date of creation of the Red Army which will be noted on February 23, 2018.

 

B.R.

Serge

 

P.S.

And as bonus my mini walkaround Mark V from Kharkov museum:

http://scalemodels.ru/news/7573-Walkaround-tjazhelyjj-tank-Mark-V-kharkovskijj-istoricheskijj-muzejj-kharkov-ukraina.html

Edited February 22, 2018 by Aardvark

[Mike]

Blimey!   Good timing   Judging by the way Julien's been going on about this book, it is really good

[czechnavy]

Interesting to see this book which ties in with a bit of family folklore.

 

We have been researching my wife's grandfather who in the autumn of 1914 enlisted as a Sapper with The Royal Engineers a few days before her mother was born on 22 October 1914.  He served throughout the War in France but, like many, spoke little about his experiences to his family.  In the midst of his serving his country his wife died in November 1915 in of pneumonia and his four children were cared for by his parents until he was discharged from the Army in 1922.

 

In 1918 he was posted to Vladivostok on the Pacific coast of Siberia as part of the British Army contingent tasked with protecting the Trans-Siberian Railway and supporting the White faction against the Red or Communist forces.   The only mention he made of his time in Siberia was of the problems of maintaining the railway in the face of the extreme weather and lack of parts which allowed him to make use of his skills as a qualified turner.  The British forces were withdrawn from Siberia in late 1920.

 

The only documentary evidence we can find of his time in Siberia is in shipping records which show him travelling on

 SS Empress of Russia, Canadian Pacific Line, left Hong Kong 11 March 1920, arrived Vancouver 29 March 1920 

SS Grampian, Canadian Pacific Line, arrived London 22 April 1920 from St John, New Brunswick, Canada.

 

On both ships he was listed with many other soldiers and we assume he travelled across Canada by railway from Vancouver to St John.

 

When he returned to Birmingham on leave in Spring 1920 after arriving back in Britain it was the first time my wife's mother remembered meeting him as a six year old.  Her memories of him were as a stern man who ‘stood no nonsense’ with close cropped hair and a gruff voice!  She remembered that he continued to serve in the Army rising to the rank of Sergeant until at least 1922 when he became a tax officer with the Inland Revenue based in Birmingham.

[Julien]

Do you know what unit he was with in Russia?

[stevehnz]

I'm pleased to see this book out. My only other reading on this era, apart from Wikipedia, has been "A Splendid Little War" by Derek Robinson, highly fictionalised but enough to make me want more. I've never heard of Kiwi forces being committed to this so will be keen to get my hands on a copy.

Steve.

[Julien]

16 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

 I've never heard of Kiwi forces being committed to this so will be keen to get my hands on a copy.

Steve.

Yes there is a New Zealand Roll of Honour in the book.

[czechnavy]

Julien

 

All we know is that he was in the Royal Engineers.  After he returned to the UK and left the Army he remarried and started a second family with his new wife. 

 

He grew more distant from his first family and in the end only one of his original four children kept in touch with him mainly because she was as stubborn as he was!! 

 

My wife's cousin who is 10 years older than her and lived in Birmingham knew him vaguely but always says he dismissed any talk of his army service as 'it was expected of us to do it, not that we wanted to do it'.

 

His official records seem to be some of those lost in WW2 bombing (about 60% of all army records were destroyed in a bombing raid).  The children of his second marriage never married and all paper records seem to have been lost when their estates were wound up.

[Duncan B]

I was asking for recommendations for a book on this period in the WW1 Aircraft section just last week, great timing. I'll be buying this one, thanks for the review.

 

Duncan B

 

ordered one from Amazon at a good price

[Julien]

1 hour ago, czechnavy said:

Julien

 

All we know is that he was in the Royal Engineers.  After he returned to the UK and left the Army he remarried and started a second family with his new wife. 

 

He grew more distant from his first family and in the end only one of his original four children kept in touch with him mainly because she was as stubborn as he was!! 

 

My wife's cousin who is 10 years older than her and lived in Birmingham knew him vaguely but always says he dismissed any talk of his army service as 'it was expected of us to do it, not that we wanted to do it'.

 

His official records seem to be some of those lost in WW2 bombing (about 60% of all army records were destroyed in a bombing raid).  The children of his second marriage never married and all paper records seem to have been lost when their estates were wound up.

There are a fair few Engineers units listed in the book. Have you tried the RE museum for help?

 

Julien