RAF & the North Russian Campaign

[MelPack]

There are nineteen RAF personnel either buried or commemorated in the Archangel Allied Cemetery, eleven of whom are officer pilots.

 

My attention was drawn to a group of five Air Mechanics who were interred in the Obozerskaya Burial Ground who are now commemorated with Special Memorials ie their burial place was known but could not be maintained:

 

Obozerskaya is about 120km south west of Archangel and into territory being fought over by the Red Army and the counter-revolutionary Whites. What is the story behind the unit to which these men belonged and the reasons for such a high level of fatalities for ground crew?

[James A Pratt III]

In looking through the Cross & Cockade Vol 47 "The RAF in Northern Russia 1918-1919"  I can't tell

 

The book "Churchill's Secret war against Lenin"  whose author frequents this site might be able to help you go to the books section and make a post there

[charlie2]

Have you tried their service records? Ancestry only re-directs to Fold 3 which I don‘t have access to. Perhaps another pal can access the records on FMP.

 

Charlie

[MelPack]

Thank you both for your suggestions.

 

I managed to access the relevant section of Damien Wright's Churchill's Secret War with Lenin (exceptionally well researched and documented) and the unit appears to be the No.4 (Oberzerskaya) Squadron that operated from an airstrip cut out in the forest next to the railway sidings at Oberzerskaya.

 

The unit's specialism was dropping improvised gas bombs on Russian villages - a true vindication of the inscription on the Victory Medal: The Great War For Civilisation !

[KizmeRD]

Full story of the Oberskaya gas bombs here...

https://simonjoneshistorian.com/2019/08/27/first-air-dropped-cw/

MB

[MelPack]

Many thanks for the link to Simon's excellent article.