North Russian intervention 1918

[Heid the Ba]

There were a number of units of Russians equipped by the British, like the Slavo-British Legion and the North Russian Rifles.  Does anyone know if they were issued Brodies or caps?

 

Thnaks.

[cmf]

Hi,

 

Soft Service Dress Caps, as well as other items of uniform, were supplied in vast quantities. See Men-at-Arms no. 305, 'The Russian Civil War (2): White Armies', by Mikhail Khvostov. Also illustrated in the colour plates is a Signaller of the White Army in south Russia, wearing British uniform, including a 'Helmet, Steel, Mark I' . . .

 

Chris

Edited 14 January , 2020 by cmf

[Heid the Ba]

Thanks cmf.

[wrightdw]

White Russian troops (i.e. troops of the 'Northern Rifle Regiments' of the 'Northern Provisional Government' in Archangel) were not issued Brodie's however Russian volunteers of the Slavo-British Legion (who were 'British' troops in the British Order of Battle and held King's Colours) were issued with Brodie's with a white Cross of St. Andrew (the unit badge) painted on the front for the purpose of presentation of King's Colours at Archangel on the King's Birthday, 1st June 1919.

 

It is doubtful that S-BL wore Brodie's at the front, 'tin hats' were rarely worn in North Russia, soft dress caps being the standard headdress for all British units.

 

1st Bn., S-BL mutinied in July 1919 and murdered five of their British officers only weeks after they were presented with King's Colours so not a happy end to the story.

[Heid the Ba]

Thanks, that's just what I was after.

[FROGSMILE]

On 14/01/2020 at 23:57, wrightdw said:

White Russian troops (i.e. troops of the 'Northern Rifle Regiments' of the 'Northern Provisional Government' in Archangel) were not issued Brodie's however Russian volunteers of the Slavo-British Legion (who were 'British' troops in the British Order of Battle and held King's Colours) were issued with Brodie's with a white Cross of St. Andrew (the unit badge) painted on the front for the purpose of presentation of King's Colours at Archangel on the King's Birthday, 1st June 1919.

 

It is doubtful that S-BL wore Brodie's at the front, 'tin hats' were rarely worn in North Russia, soft dress caps being the standard headdress for all British units.

 

1st Bn., S-BL mutinied in July 1919 and murdered five of their British officers only weeks after they were presented with King's Colours so not a happy end to the story.

What Nationalities made up the Slavo/British Legion, were they all, ethnic Russians?

[wrightdw]

Slavo-British Legion was established along the lines of the French Foreign Legion, British officers and NCO's training locally recruited volunteers whom they would take into battle.

 

The recruits were a mix of slavic nationalities but mostly Russians, Finns, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Poles but also a sprinkling of released German, Czech, Slovak and Austro-Hunagrian's POW's.

 

There were two battalions formed, 1st (Dyers') and 2nd (Burke's).

 

1st Bn. (named after Canadian who had first commanded them) mutinied and murdered their British officers before going over to the Reds.

 

2nd Bn. was named their CO, an Australian who had served with the New Zealand forces in WW1 and came to Russia with the ELOPE Force training mission in 1918.

 

Their hat badge was a brass Cross of St. Andrew, their shoulder title a brass 'SBL'.

 

After the mutiny of July 1919 the SB-L was disarmed and relegated to labour troops. Gen. Ironside's scheme to train and equip local volunteers along British lines had failed terribly.

 

There was also a Slavo-British Aviation Corps made up of former Imperial Russian Aviation Service volunteers under Imperial Russia's greatest ace Alexander Kazakov which served with distinction 1918-19.

 

Plenty more on Slavo-British Legion in my book on the campaign if you are interested, too much to type up here.

 

 

 

[FROGSMILE]

4 minutes ago, wrightdw said:

Slavo-British Legion was established along the lines of the French Foreign Legion, British officers and NCO's training locally recruited volunteers whom they would take into battle.

 

The recruits were a mix of slavic nationalities but mostly Russians, Finns, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Poles but also a sprinkling of released German, Czech, Slovak and Austro-Hunagrian's POW's.

 

There were two battalions formed, 1st (Dyers') and 2nd (Burke's).

 

1st Bn. (named after Canadian who had first commanded them) mutinied and murdered their British officers before going over to the Reds.

 

2nd Bn. was named their CO, an Australian who had served with the New Zealand forces in WW1 and came to Russia with the ELOPE Force training mission in 1918.

 

Their hat badge was a brass Cross of St. Andrew, their shoulder title a brass 'SBL'.

 

After the mutiny of July 1919 the SB-L was disarmed and relegated to labour troops. Gen. Ironside's scheme to train and equip local volunteers along British lines had failed terribly.

 

There was also a Slavo-British Aviation Corps made up of former Imperial Russian Aviation Service volunteers under Imperial Russia's greatest ace Alexander Kazakov which served with distinction 1918-19.

 

Plenty more on Slavo-British Legion in my book on the campaign if you are interested, too much to type up here.

 

 

 

Thank you.  Very interesting and it’s certainly whetted my appetite to learn more.

[wrightdw]

Example of brass Cross of St. Andrew hat badge of the Slavo-British Legion and SBL shoulder titles.

[Dragoon]

On 17/01/2020 at 01:53, wrightdw said:

Slavo-British Legion was established along the lines of the French Foreign Legion, British officers and NCO's training locally recruited volunteers whom they would take into battle.

 

The recruits were a mix of slavic nationalities but mostly Russians, Finns, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Poles but also a sprinkling of released German, Czech, Slovak and Austro-Hunagrian's POW's.

 

There were two battalions formed, 1st (Dyers') and 2nd (Burke's).

 

1st Bn. (named after Canadian who had first commanded them) mutinied and murdered their British officers before going over to the Reds.

 

2nd Bn. was named their CO, an Australian who had served with the New Zealand forces in WW1 and came to Russia with the ELOPE Force training mission in 1918.

 

Their hat badge was a brass Cross of St. Andrew, their shoulder title a brass 'SBL'.

 

After the mutiny of July 1919 the SB-L was disarmed and relegated to labour troops. Gen. Ironside's scheme to train and equip local volunteers along British lines had failed terribly.

 

There was also a Slavo-British Aviation Corps made up of former Imperial Russian Aviation Service volunteers under Imperial Russia's greatest ace Alexander Kazakov which served with distinction 1918-19.

 

Plenty more on Slavo-British Legion in my book on the campaign if you are interested, too much to type up here.

 

 

 

Fascinating, I knew nothing of this unit, great thread.

 

Chris

[FROGSMILE]

Thank you for posting.  There’s always something new to learn about WW1.

[Guest]

Slavic-British Legion badge

[headgardener]

With regard to the S-BL mutiny in 1919, 31 officers and men were arrested and tried by FGCM, of which 1 officer and 27 men were tried for mutiny, 2 for sedition and 1 for desertion. Of the 28 tried for mutiny, at least 19 were sentenced to death (12 were executed by firing squad, 7 were sentenced to death but had their sentences commuted to 10 years imprisonment), while the outcome of 1 further sentence was not recorded but the man was recorded as having died on the same day as those men who were executed. The officer and 7 men were acquitted. Of the 2 men tried for sedition, 1 was sentenced to death but had his sentence commuted to 10 years imprisonment, while the other man was acquitted. The 1 man who was tried for desertion was sentenced to death, but had his sentence commuted to 10 years imprisonment.