Current Information:

Age-20

12, Amwell Street, Islington

The second Russian revolution of 1917 in Russia brought the Bolsheviks to power and Lenin, the new leader, pulled Russia out of the war, allowing German troops who had been fighting there to be transferred to the Western Front. The British and French governments sought to change this situation by sending troops to Northern Russia where the intention was for them to join up with the pro-Tsarist White Russians, defeat the Bolsheviks and bring Russia back into the war. A number of units, including the 2/10th Royal Scots battalion, were sent to Archangel in Northern Russia from where it was intended that they would advance the 500 miles to Moscow, down the railway track or along the River Dvina. Things did not go to plan. The Allied force, which also included American troops, got no further than 100 miles from Archangel, after which the Bolshevik forces became stronger and more organised and steadily pushed them back towards Archangel. After the armistice in November 1918, there was no longer any need for the force except to overthrow the communists, but this was a policy that had little support back in Britain and by 1920 the Archangel force had been withdrawn.

2/10th Royal Scots, that despite its name had men from all over the country, including London, in its ranks, arrived in Archangel in August, 1918. On 26 August three companies embarked on barges at Archangel and five days later reached the village of Bereznik near the confluence of the Dvina and Vaga rivers. The area of operations was in the lower Dvina and extended some 60 miles south east of Bereznik. The advance up the river line continued sporadically for the next two months. Progress was slow, largely due to the terrain, and there were frequent lively engagements with Bolshevik forces. By late October the deteriorating weather forced the troops to retire to more easily defensible positions along the Kurgomin-Tulgas line. On 11 November, Armistice day on the Western Front, , the Russians, supported by gunboats, mounted a major attack on the positions held by 2/10th Royal Scots on the river. The attack on the right bank was checked without difficulty but, throughout the day, there was fierce fighting on the left bank during which the outcome was never certain. The resistance was desperate but by nightfall the surviving Bolsheviks began to withdraw and 2/10th Royal Scots moved back into those buildings from which they had been driven during the day. The Battalion’s losses were 19 killed and 34 wounded. One of those killed was Thomas French.