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View Full Version : 69th Murmansk wrote a book: "Churchill's Secret War with Lenin"



RAF_Murmansk
Jun-30-2017, 10:26
I am the author of this new release, some ATAG'ers might find it of interest. For the RAF bods there is quite a bit on RAF operations in North Russia, Eastern Baltic, Caspian and Canadian ace Raymond Collishaw's No. 47 Squadron over the Crimea 1919-20. South African ace Samuel Kinkead also served with Collishaw over the Crimea flying Sopwith Camels.

Why should such a remarkable event as the two-year campaign by the British Government to militarily defeat the Bolsheviks (later known as the ‘Soviets’) on Russian soil be virtually forgotten today?


“From August 1918-July 1920 – initially in an attempt to restore a ‘White Russian’ Government to power, which would recommence hostilities on the Eastern Front after Lenin’s Revolutionary Bolsheviks signed a peace agreement with the Central Powers (considered a great betrayal by Britain and France) – the British Government sent troops, ships and the most modern planes and tanks in the British arsenal to fight the Red Army on the ground in Russia.

When I first developed an interest in the campaign some years ago, asking around British military history circles, few knew anything at all about the British campaign in Russia after the First World War, which seemed bizarre, given the significance of the Secretary of State for War – Winston Churchill – pursuing an undeclared war against the first leader of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin. The ultimate victory of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War – and the establishment of the Soviet Union – would shape most of the 20th century, so why should this fascinating and important period of British military history be so neglected and forgotten?

Churchill’s Secret War with Lenin: British and Commonwealth Military Intervention in the Russian Civil War, 1918-20 is the culmination of more than 15 years of research, including trawling through many thousands of pages from National Archives in the UK, Australia and Canada, as well as many diaries, photographs, letters and unpublished private papers generously donated by families of servicemen from across the Commonwealth (particularly the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand). Without the generous contributions of family members whose relatives served in Russia, the book would not have been possible.

The highlight of my research into the campaign was meeting with Mrs Victoria Christen (née Pearse) – the daughter of Sergeant Samuel George Pearse VC MM, an Australian ‘North Russia Relief Force’ volunteer killed in action in August 1919 and awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. Victoria was born after her father’s death and, at the private presentation of the VC to Pearse’s widow in 1920, Queen Mary nursed baby Victoria – remarking how sad it was that the little girl should have to grow up without her father.

Readers may be surprised to learn that the last British servicemen to be killed by the German Army during the First World War met their fate in the Baltic in October 1919 – almost a year after the Armistice. In fact they were not soldiers at all, but nine Royal Navy sailors of the cruiser HMS Dragon struck by shells fired by German ‘Iron Division’ troops ashore in Latvia, who considered the Armistice to apply to the Western Front only and not themselves in the Baltic.

Readers may also be surprised to learn that the first Soviet submarine kill in history was a Royal Navy destroyer – HMS Vittoria – which was sunk by torpedoes fired from the Soviet submarine Pantera in the Baltic Sea in 1919, or that the RAF and Red Air Force fought each other in the skies over Russia, or that the last Canadian and Australian soldiers to be killed in action in the First World War met their fate in North Russia in 1919 (many months after the Armistice). It is likely that readers will never have heard that the first tanks to capture Stalingrad were British crewed Tank Corps Mark V’s albeit it was June 1919 and the city was still named ‘Tsaritsyn’ or of the more than a hundred British and Commonwealth servicemen from all three services (including a VC recipient) who were held as POWs by the Soviets in Moscow. It is also a little-known fact that the bodies of nearly a thousand British and Commonwealth servicemen who died fighting the Soviets remain buried in Russian soil.

Immediately after withdrawal in mid-1920, the British Government attempted to cover up their involvement in Russia by classifying all official documents relating to the campaign under the ‘50 year’ rule. By the time the files were quietly released decades later, there was very little public interest.

Churchill’s Secret War with Lenin fills a huge gap in the knowledge of modern British and Commonwealth military history. Imagine if the British attempt to overthrow the Bolsheviks had been successful and there had never been a Soviet Union… the ramifications would have been enormous, and the world we live in today would be very different indeed.”

Foreword written by the grandson of Sgt. S.G. Pearse, VC, MM, 45th Royal Fusiliers late AIF, Killed in Action (posthumous Victoria Cross), 29th August 1919, North Russia, himself a two-tour Vietnam veteran.

Hardcover, 576 pages.


UK/Europe: available direct from publisher: http://www.helion.co.uk/churchill-s-secret-war-with-lenin-british-and-commonwealth-military-intervention-in-the-russian-civil-war-1918-20.html

Depending on your location if you search online you might find the best price + postage for you.

I would be pleased to respond to any enquiries.

DOWNEAST
Jun-30-2017, 12:11
“From August 1918-July 1920 – initially in an attempt to restore a ‘White Russian’ Government to power, which would recommence hostilities on the Eastern Front after Lenin’s Revolutionary Bolsheviks signed a peace agreement with the Central Powers (considered a great betrayal by Britain and France) – the British Government sent troops, ships and the most modern planes and tanks in the British arsenal to fight the Red Army on the ground in Russia."



The USA as well !

29060

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tEDIErbrzg

ATAG_Lewis
Jun-30-2017, 12:38
Brilliant job Murms....I hope it sells like hotcakes...


Great work...~S~

ATAG_Vampire
Jun-30-2017, 13:04
Well done Murmansk I like the look of this.

An interesting and forgotten part of our military history.

Good stuff and I wish you all success with the book. :thumbsup:

o7 :salute:

ATAG_Ezzie
Jun-30-2017, 18:40
Very nice Mumansk. Will try and get a copy. Is it being sold at the AWM?

Ezzie

BOO
Jul-01-2017, 09:02
Great Subject and the best of luck!!

Ordering a copy on payday!!

RAF_Murmansk
Jul-01-2017, 22:02
Thanks for the comments, it has been a labour of love over many years.

Ezzie, I am not sure if it will be stocked in the AWM shop but if it ever is it will invariably be more expensive than an online purchase.

ATAG_Ezzie
Jul-02-2017, 20:04
Yeah agree Murmansk.

Currently reading 'Fire in the Sky' about the AFC in WW1 - will read yours next hopefully.

Ezzie

SIA_Sp00k
Jul-03-2017, 03:38
If it finds its way into the AWM it's guaranteed to be expensive. The only thing cheap in there is me when I'm visiting.

Great work on the book. Must be a huge feeling of accomplishment to be published.

One day I will start my book on Yeti's in the Namatjira state forest.....one day.

ATAG_Flare
Jul-08-2017, 01:16
Looks very interesting however it's awfully expensive to buy here in Canada - will put it on my list though!

ATAG_kiwiflieger
Jul-08-2017, 03:17
This sounds a very interesting topic, and I wouldn't have known anything about it whatsoever if not for another book, "A Splendid Little War" by Derek Robinson (other works include Piece of Cake, Goshawk Squadron etc.)
It's fictionalised, but gives an account of the adventures of a Sopwith Camel / DH9 squadron sent over to the Crimea in that very campaign.

I'll have to watch out for your book, and will make sure to buy it if I do see it. Good work:salute: