ANZACs in Arkhangel Page 23
26 The Sherwood Kelly affair is covered in Ch. 13 of Kinvig, Churchill’s Crusade, and Ch. 14 of Dobson & Miller, The Day They Almost Bombed Moscow.
27 Ironside, report to War Office, contained in British National Archives, WO 339/13469, PRO, quoted by Kinvig, Churchill’s Crusade, p. 245.
28 Attiwill Memoir, p. 239. He deals with the Sherwood Kelly affair on pp. 238–41.
29 Sherwood Kelly, letter to the Daily Express, 6 September 1919.
Chapter 10 The feeling back home
1 Bernard Pares, quoted in R Pethybridge, Witnesses to the Russian Revolution, George Allen & Unwin, London, 1964, p. 168.
2 Walter Lippmann & C Merz, ‘A test of the news’, New Republic, 4 August 1920, p. 10. Quoted in Knightley, The First Casualty, p. 138.
3 From John Reed, Ten Days that Shook the World, quoted in Knightley, The First Casualty, p. 149.
4 Amanda Gordon, ‘The conservative press and the Russian Revolution’, in Cameron Hazlehurst (ed.), Australian Conservatism: Essays in Twentieth Century Political History, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1979, pp. 30–41. Gordon argues that much Australian reporting on the Revolution was moderate and analytical, but she mainly examines editorial opinion in selected ‘quality’ newspapers, not news stories in the popular press.
5 September 1918. I have used the examples given in Muirden, The Diggers Who Signed On for More, p. 82. Similar headlines can be found in the dailies of any state capital.
6 I draw on Raymond Evans, ‘Agitation, ceaseless agitation’, in John McNair &Thomas Poole (eds), Russia and the Fifth Continent, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1992, pp. 126–71.
7 Ernest Scott, The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, vol. 11, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1937, pp. 144–8. The regulation was Statutory Rule 27B. In 1918 there had been thirty-seven prosecutions under it.
8 Daily Mail, 24 March 1919.
9 Evans, ‘Agitation, ceaseless agitation’, p. 151.
10 For example, the Brisbane Courier, quoted in Evans, ‘Agitation, ceaseless agitation’, p. 138: ‘Bolshevik Atrocities—Women and Children Killed— Chinese Executioners Used’.
11 River Temporary Memorandum No. 31A, of Captain E Altham, Royal Navy, dated 2 August 1919, quoted on www.naval-history.net. The press echoed views such as these.
12 Quoted in Evans, ‘Agitation, ceaseless agitation’, p. 139.
13 The Times, 3 April 1919. The manifesto is even reported in George William Smith, ‘North Russian Expeditionary Force’, www.naval-history.net, coming this time from ‘Savator’, an obvious misspelling for ‘Saratov’.
14 Truth, 24 May 1919, p. 7.
15 Argus, 9 August 1919, p. 19.
16 Constance Larmour, Labor Judge, Hale & Iremonger, Sydney, 1985. Quoted in Muirden, The Diggers Who Signed On for More, p. 84.
17 Brisbane Worker, 10 July 1919, p. 15.
18 Hansard, House of Representatives, 7th Parliament, 2nd session, vol. 89, pp. 11,438; 11,798.
Chapter 11 On the Dvina
1 Kettle, Churchill and the Archangel Fiasco, p. 542.
2 Attiwill Memoir, p. 244.
3 ibid., p. 235.
4 Quinlivian, Forgotten Valour, pp. 176–7. The officer was the eccentric young Lieutenant Edward Sutro who, back in London, became known for his white Rolls-Royce and his mania for attending first nights at the theatre.
5 Attiwill, ‘In Red Russia’, Part 3, Geelong Times, 12 June 1920.
6 Heathcote, ‘Aussies in North Russia’, third unnumbered page following p. 3.
7 Heathcote, in the same passage, says the enemy numbered twenty-two on this occasion, but his figures need to be treated with caution as they are usually overstated.
8 Quoted in Hudson, Intervention in Russia 1918–1920, p. 74.
9 Attiwill, p. 235.
10 Basil Brewster, ‘Russian Relief Force and the Evacuation of North Russia, May–November 1919’, AWM PR 90/147, pp. 8–11.
11 Brigadier General JD Crosbie, memorandum, dated 19 July 1919. Quoted by Quinlivian, Forgotten Valour, p. 147.
12 Quoted in Kinvig, Churchill’s Crusade, p. 239.
13 ibid., pp. 238–9.
14 Ironside, Archangel 1918–1919, pp. 169–73.
15 Bean, The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, vol. 5, pp. 26–9. Of 182 convictions in December 1916 in Rawlinson’s whole army, 130 were recorded against Australians. Arguing for the death penalty, Rawlinson wrote: ‘I cannot be responsible for the maintenance of discipline among the Australian forces under my command unless the required alteration of the law is made forthwith’ (p. 26). The Australian government refused to oblige.
16 Kettle convincingly argues this thesis in Chs 15 & 16, Churchill and the Archangel Fiasco.
17 Private Norman Brooke, quoted in Grey, ‘Australian involvement in the North Russia campaign’, p. 15.
18 Quoted in Kinvig, Churchill’s Crusade, p. 242.
19 AA Samoylo & MI Sboychakov, Pouchitelniy Urok [An Instructive Lesson], Military Publications, USSR Ministry of Defence, Moscow, 1962, pp. 121–6.
20 Singleton-Gates, Bolos and Barishynas, p. 90.
21 Kelly Memoir, pp. 37–9.
22 Steve Hanke, Lars Jonung & Kurt Schuler, Russian Currency and Finance: A Currency Board Approach to Reform, Routledge, New York, 1994, Ch. 9. See also Strakhovsky, Intervention at Arkhangel, pp. 127–31.
23 Kelly Memoir, p. 40.
Chapter 12 The Dvina Offensive—August 1919
1 Singleton-Gates, Bolos and Barishynas, pp. 135–6.
2 This account relies on the War Diaries of 45th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, and 201 Company Machine Gun Corps, WO 95/ 5430, PRO.
3 Lieutenant Colonel Charles Davies, ‘Narrative of operations carried out by No 1 Sector Columns’, final page, Appendix to War Diary of 45th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers.
4 Heathcote, ‘Aussies in North Russia’, p. 6.
5 The diaries of men at Gallipoli and in France sometimes did enter into details. See, for example, Gammage, The Broken Years, p. 259. Patrick Lindsay’s Fromelles, Hardie Grant Books, Prahran, Vic., 2008, p. 45, contains gruesome instructions on the use of bayonets, quoted from a British army training manual.
6 Singleton-Gates, Bolos and Barishynas, pp. 105–6.
7 Allfrey Diary, quoted in Quinlivian, Forgotten Valour, p. 152.
8 War Diary of 45th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers: Report by Sadleir-Jackson, entry for 10 August 1919, 17.20 hours.
9 Jackson, At War with the Bolsheviks, p. 165.
10 ibid., pp. 165–6.
11 Heathcote, ‘Aussies in North Russia’, p. 6.
12 ibid., p. 8.
13 ibid., pp. 9–12.
14 Singleton-Gates, Bolos and Barishynas, pp. 112–16.
15 ibid., p. 124.
16 Quinlivian, Forgotten Valour, p. 155.
17 ibid., p.156.
18 Letter dated 5 October 1919, quoted in Quinlivian, Forgotten Valour, p. 171.
19 Clifford Kinvig, Scapegoat: General Percival of Singapore, Brassey’s, London, 1996, Ch. 6.
Chapter 13 The Railway Offensive—August 1919
1 Yeaman Diary, 22 August 1919.
2 ibid., 9 August 1919; 6 August 1919.
3 ibid., 19 August 1919.
4 Fraser, The House by the Dvina, p. 312.
5 Yeaman Diary, 25 August 1919.
6 The 1920 Command Paper No. 818 to the British Parliament speaks of ‘two British companies’, but seems to mean the ‘Australian company’ of the 45th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, plus the detachment of Australian machine-gunners.
7 Yeaman Diary, 29 August 1919.
8 Quoted in Irwin, Victoria’s Cross, p. 62.
9 ibid., p. 63.
10 Yeaman Diary, 29 August 1919.
11 Ironside, Archangel 1918–1919, p. 180.
12 Quoted in Kinvig, Churchill’s Crusade, p. 250.
13 Goldhurst, The Midnight War, p. 226.
14 Moore, Stamping Out the Virus, p. 101.
>
15 Rawlinson Diary, 27 August & 7 September 1919, quoted in Kinvig, Churchill’s Crusade, p. 246.
16 Quoted in Dobson & Miller, The Day They Almost Bombed Moscow, pp. 217–18.
17 Yeaman Diary, 14 & 15 September 1919.
18 ibid., 4 September 1919.
Chapter 14 Withdrawal—September 1919
1 Ironside, Archangel 1918–1919, p. 175.
2 Ironside, memorandum to the War Office, dated 18 July 1919, quoted in Rhodes, The Anglo-American Winter War with Russia, 1918–1919, p. 114.
3 Kinvig, Churchill’s Crusade, pp. 251–2.
4 Moore, Mead & Jahns, The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki, p. 91.
5 Kettle, Churchill and the Archangel Fiasco, p. 549.
6 Brewster, ‘Russian Relief Force …’, p. 7.
7 Singleton-Gates, Bolos and Barishynas, pp. 154 ff.
8 ibid., p. 160.
9 Quoted in Quinlivian, Forgotten Valour, p. 171.
10 Brewster, Addendum to ‘Russian Relief Force …’, pp. 1–2.
11 Jackson, At War with the Bolsheviks, pp. 170–1; Quinlivian, Forgotten Valour, pp. 162–4.
12 Jackson, At War with the Bolsheviks, p. 170.
13 Ironside, Archangel 1918–1919, p. 184.
14 Rhodes, The Anglo-American Winter War with Russia, 1918–1919, p. 120.
15 Ironside, Archangel 1918–1919, p. 177.
16 This total is from Rhodes, The Anglo-American Winter War with Russia, 1918– 1919, p. 121. Hudson, Intervention in Russia 1918–1920, p. 77, says 911 military and 4685 Russian civilians. Command Paper No. 818 gives a breakdown by ship, but does not distinguish clearly between troops and civilians.
17 Quoted in Kinvig, Churchill’s Crusade, p. 252.
18 Ironside, Archangel 1918–1919, p. 179.
19 Dobson & Miller, The Day They Almost Bombed Moscow, p. 219.
20 Ironside, Archangel 1918–1919, p. 186.
21 Fraser, The House by the Dvina, p. 262.
Chapter 15 The loose ends
1 Fraser, The House by the Dvina, p. 283.
2 William Barr, ‘General Miller’s flight from Arkhangel’sk, February 1920’, Polar Record, vol. 20, no. 125, 1980, pp. 119–25.
3 Rhodes, The Anglo-American Winter War with Russia, 1918–1919, p. 124, says 222 Americans and 317 British.
4 Attiwill Memoir, p. 180.
5 The three Command Papers are No. 307 of August 1919, Operation in Russia— Cost of the Naval and Military Operations from the date of the Armistice to July 31, 1919; No. 395 of November 1919, Cost of Naval and Military Operations in Russia from the date of the Armistice to Oct. 31, 1919; and No. 772 of July 1920, Naval and Military Operations in Russia—Statement of Expenditure on, from the date of the Armistice to Mar. 31, 1920. A comparative table of the figures is given in the Appendix to Ullman, Britain and the Russian Civil War, p. 365. See also Kettle, Churchill and the Archangel Fiasco, pp. 382–3.
6 Kelly Memoir, p. 34.
7 Quoted in Halliday, The Ignorant Armies, p. 218.
8 Quoted in Dobson & Miller, The Day They Almost Bombed Moscow, p. 200.
9 John Cudahy, Archangel: The American War with Russia, AC McLurg, Chicago, 1924. Quoted in Rhodes, The Anglo-American Winter War with Russia, 1918– 1919, pp. 121–2.
10 The Times, 10 October 1919, p. 11.
11 Yeaman Diary, 15 October – 27 November 1919.
12 Personal service records, NAA.
13 Attiwill, ‘In Red Russia’, Part 4, Geelong Times, 19 June 1920.
14 Kelly Memoir, p. 21.
15 Quoted in Frank Canu, ‘The Diggers who fought the Bolsheviks’, Sydney Morning Herald, 28 April 1979, p. 13.
16 Attiwill Memoir, p. 150.
17 AG Butler, Official History of the Australian Army Medical Service in the War of 1914–1918, Australian War Memorial, Melbourne, 1938–43, Ch. 3.
18 Stanley Yeaman, Yeaman’s eldest son, conversation with the author, May 2009.
19 Barbara Skein, Heathcote’s third daughter, conversation with the author, May 2009.
20 Butler, Official History of the Australian Army Medical Service in the War of 1914–1918, pp. 142–5.
21 Mike Irwin, conversation with the author, May 2009.
22 John Gerard Guinea, personal service record, NAA, under his World War II service number NX 41955.
23 Wimmera Mail-Times, 7 November 1984, p. 2.
24 Michael Greatorex, personal service record, p. 45, NAA.
Chapter 16 The medals
1 The first ninety-six were imperial awards; the most recent, to Trooper Mark Donaldson in 2009, was the Victoria Cross for Australia, created in 1991.
2 Quinlivian, Forgotten Valour, Ch. 6.
3 Maitland Watch, 7 June 1918.
4 Order of 29 August 1916, quoted in Quinlivian, Forgotten Valour, p. 200.
5 Letter from the Australian War Memorial to Victoria Christen, dated 7 June 1985. Quoted by Irwin, Victoria’s Cross, p. 129.
6 ibid., p. 32.
7 Pearse, letter to his wife, in the possession of Vicky Christen, reproduced in Irwin, Victoria’s Cross, pp. 54–5.
8 Telegram, dated 24 October 1919, in the possession of Vicky Christen, reproduced in Irwin, Victoria’s Cross, p. 68.
9 The Pearse family insist on this version, though the shipping records indicate that Kitty and Rose left Britain on different ships. Kitty spent some time in Durban on the way out and possibly joined Rose’s ship on the Durban–Australia leg.
10 Vicky Christen, conversation with the author, April 2005.
11 This account relies on Quinlivian, Forgotten Valour, Chs 23–26.
12 Arthur Sullivan, Charge Report, personal service record, p. 67, NAA.
13 Australian-born Kiwi Allan Burke, of Elope Force, earned the first MM. The others went to Joseph Michael Collins, William Hodson, John Francis Roche and James Norman Sutton.
14 Bars to the MM were awarded to Walter Jones, Harold John Spies and New Zealand-born Peter Smith.
15 Jones, An Air Fighter’s Scrapbook, p. 96.
16 The other Allies were more generous to the Americans. The British awarded them 11 DCMs, 17 Military Crosses (MCs) and 33 MMs; the French awarded the Croix de Guerre to 49 American soldiers with one to an American civilian with the YMCA.
17 Ironside, Archangel 1918–1919, p. 159. He seems to have envisaged a white ribbon.
18 Major Ambrose Sturdy, quoted in Dobson & Miller, The Day They Almost Bombed Moscow, p. 190.
19 Allan Brown, personal service record, p. 77, NAA.
Chapter 17 That which remains
1 Halliday, The Ignorant Armies, pp. 215–17.
2 Ironside, Archangel 1918–1919, p. 174.
3 Moore, Mead & Jahns, The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki, Ch. 2.
4 John Laffin, Digging Up the Diggers’ War, Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst, NSW, 1993, p. 96.
5 Moore, Mead & Jahns, The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki, p. 183.
Bibliography
AWM Australian War Museum, Canberra
IWM Imperial War Museum, London
NAA National Archives of Australia, Canberra
PRO Public Records Office, London
WO War Office, London
Primary sources
AIF, Records of discharges overseas, AWM 41 9 1357411.
Allfrey, EM, Diary: ‘Five Months with the 45th Battalion Royal Fusiliers in North Russia’, IWM 3450 86/86/1 Allfrey.
Attiwill, Keith, Memoir, unpublished, in the possession of the Attiwill family.
Australian Red Cross Society Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau files 1914–18 War, AWM 1DLR/0428.
Baverstock, William Bosville, Papers, AWM 3DRL/6371.
Brewster, Basil, ‘Russian Relief Force and the Evacuation of North Russia, May– November 1919’, AWM PR 90/147.
Brown, Allan, Letters and papers, AWM DRL/0158.
Heathcote, Ernest, ‘Aussies in North Russia’
, AWM PR 89/140.
Kelly, John, Memoir, AWM PR 85/324.
North Russia Relief Force: Sadleir-Jackson’s Brigade, War Diaries of 45th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, and 201 Battalion [sic] Machine Gun Corps; maps, narrative and reports of Dvina Offensive of August 1919, WO 95/ 5430, PRO.
Pearse, Samuel George, Letters to Kitty Pearse, unpublished, in the possession of the Pearse family.
Perry, Bertram Harold, Diary and papers, AWM 3DRL/7709.
Personal service records of Australian servicemen and women, Series B2455, NAA. Available online at www.naa.gov.au Pond, Major BA, Memoir, IWM 78/27/1.
Robinson, Wilfred John, Letters, AWM 3DRL/7086.
Sinclair, Alan RC, Diary, AWM PR 82/046.
Von Duve, Arthur Frederick, Letters, unpublished, in the possession of the Von Duve family.
Yeaman, Wilfred Charles, Diary, AWM PR 91/126.
Books
Baron, Nick 2007, The King of Karelia: Col. P.J. Woods and the British Intervention in North Russia 1918–1919, Francis Boutle Publishers, London.
Bean, CEW 1921–1942, The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, vols 1, 5, 6, Angus & Robertson, Sydney.
Butler, AG 1938–1943, The Official History of the Australian Army Medical Service in the War of 1914–1918, Australian War Memorial, Melbourne.
Carey, Neil G (ed.) 1997, Fighting the Bolsheviks: The Russian War Memoir of Donald E. Carey, US Army, Presidio, Novato, CA.
Churchill, Winston S 1929, The Aftermath, Thornton Butterworth, London.
Coates, John 2001, An Atlas of Australia’s Wars, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
Command Paper No. 8 (Russia no. 1) 1919, A Collection of Reports on Bolshevism in Russia, His Majesty’s Stationery Office, London.
Command Paper No. 818 1920, The Evacuation of North Russia, 1919, His Majesty’s Stationery Office, London.
Dobson, Christopher & Miller, John 1986, The Day They Almost Bombed Moscow, Atheneum, New York.
Dunsterville, LC 1932, The Adventures of Dunsterforce, Edward Arnold, London.
Evans, Raymond 1992, ‘Agitation, ceaseless agitation’, in John McNair & Thomas Poole (eds), Russia and the Fifth Continent, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, pp. 126–71.
Fay, Sidney Bradshaw 1930, The Origins of the World War, vol. 2, 2nd edn, Macmillan, New York.