Cruiser "Sentinel" at Mykolaiv / Nikolajew (Ukraine) January 1919?

[bierast]

Evening all - I'm currently researching the Saxon 212. Infanterie-Division in Ukraine 1918-1919, and have come across mention in a German source (specifically the regimental history of IR 415) of a Captain Strange from a British cruiser named Sentinel. This officer is said to have negotiated an end to a Ukrainian railway workers' strike at Mykolaiv / Nikolajew in late January 1919 (sadly in vain according to the Saxons, who allege that the railwaymen only returned to 'work' in order to sell off railway materiel on the black market and purposefully paralyse the railway network...again!).

NB: by this time most of the Saxon division had extricated itself from Ukraine, but IR 415 was stuck in Mykolaiv / Nikolajew attached to 15. Landwehr-Division until 16th March 1919...

Are any R.N. experts able to verify the German identification of Captain Strange and his vessel? 

[travers61]

The Royal Navy Scout Cruiser HMS Sentinel was in the Black Sea from late 1918 to early 1919 as part of the British attempt to intervene in the Russian Civil War.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sentinel_(1904)

 

Captain Andrew Lumsden Strange was commander of HMS Sentinel in 1918. Medals he was awarded were up for auction in 2011.

https://www.noonans.co.uk/auctions/archive/lot-archive/results/203425/

He died while serving as an inspector in HM Coastguard in WW2.

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2361572/andrew-lumisden-strange/

 

Obituary from The Times 3rd July 1942

Travers

Edited 4 July , 2023 by travers61

[bierast]

Thankyou @travers61 - here for (possible) interest is his brief appearance in the history of IR 415. Reading between the lines, it seems to me that the Germans in Mykolaiv may have asked the Royal Navy (as a neutral third party) to chair their negotiations with the Ukrainian railwaymen! It was a bizarre situation all round...

[charlie2]

Unrelated to your request but if you are not already aware of it, I can recommend Vol 1 of the Official History; Darstellungen aus den Nachkriegskämpfen deutscher Truppen und Freikorps -  „Die Rückführung des Ostheeres“. 
A forgotten episode on a forgotten front

Charlie

[bierast]

On 05/07/2023 at 08:04, charlie2 said:

Unrelated to your request but if you are not already aware of it, I can recommend Vol 1 of the Official History; Darstellungen aus den Nachkriegskämpfen deutscher Truppen und Freikorps -  „Die Rückführung des Ostheeres“. 
A forgotten episode on a forgotten front

Thankyou! Sadly it doesn't appear to be digitised (at least I've not been able to find it so far) and I doubt I'll have time to hunt it down before I write this article, but it'll certainly go on the research reading list as and when I get hold of it.

Fortunately the regimental histories for 212.ID are very good, and often remarkably frank about the severe disciplinary problems... even including crimes (though guilty parties are not named). I've also found some sources for units they encountered, some material from the Black Sea German communities they struggled to protect and a bit from the Entente interventionist, White Russian and Ukrainian pro-independence perspectives. The Austro-Hungarian side also needs looking at a bit if I have time, as units of 212.ID were deployed in the k.u.k. Interessengebiet (which included Odessa). As for the Bolsheviks and the Makhno faction... frankly I've encountered only turgid propaganda (anarchists are still obsessed with Makhno it seems) which made me feel the need for a bath!  Naja, I'll state that I'm specifically presenting the German (indeed, the Saxon) perspective and encourage the reader to investigate further. It's not as if I'm writing a book this time...

[bierast]

I am told that my finished piece on 212.ID in Ukraine has been published in the latest Stand To! (my own copy should hopefully arrive shortly). There is another photo of Stamboul from the same series in there, plus one of the General delivering Saxon troops to Ukraine in spring 1918.

[bierast]

Additional material now available on our website here: https://www.royalsaxonarmy.co.uk/index.php/articles/index.php/articles/48-212-infanterie-division-in-southern-ukraine-april-1918-march-1919