Abstract
In April 1919, a recruitment poster was issued by the British War Office requesting volunteers to join the North Russia relief Force. The overt purpose of this force was to rescue Allied troops who had been in North Russia since April 1918. They had been sent there in order to stop the Germans and the ‘White Finns’, under Marshal Mannerheim, establishing a submarine base in Murmansk and disrupting the North Atlantic convoy system. Archangel was also to be occupied in order to stem the flow of German forces heading west to France after the German-Russian peace treaty of Brest-Litovsk. In addition, there were approximately 70,000 Czech troops, the Czech Legion, in Siberia at that time – recruited from both indigenous communities and captured Austrian conscripts – heading for Vladivostok in order to return to Europe. If the Allies occupied Archangel, however, they could use Archangel as their port of departure and be redeployed in France where their effect would be felt immediately on the Western Front. Finally, there were vast quantities of military stores lying on the harbour quays which could not be allowed to fall into enemy hands.These aims became completely redundant once the Armistice was signed in November 1918, but by this time it was too late in the winter to evacuate the two forces in Murmansk and Archangel. So two brigades totally 8,000 men were to be recruited, one comprising ex-civilian volunteers and one comprising Regular Army volunteers. These were to keep the Bolsheviks at bay while the men were evacuated, but Churchill also had in mind the more covert mission of using his volunteers to move south to join up with the advancing White Russians under Admiral Kolchak in Siberia.
This thesis is concerned with the motives of these volunteers, particularly those of the eleven Victoria Cross holders who went on fighting after the Armistice, when the majority of the fellow medal holders stayed at home. It therefore looks at the various influences on them: those generated by the international situation, economic factors, ideology, love of war and nostalgia for the camaraderie of the trenches, upbringing, education and family circumstances, as well as the special obligation ‘heroism’ imposed on the V.C. holders. These motives were different for the two brigades but the morale of both brigades deteriorated in a similar fashion once the mission objectives changed and disillusion set in, despite the success of their original overt task.
| Date of Award | 2016 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Paul Readman (Supervisor) & William Philpott (Supervisor) |