CWGC

Additional = Information:	Son of Lancelot and Jane Ann = Graham, of=20 Townfoot, Newcastleton, Roxburghshire.
Cemetery:	ARCHANGEL MEMORIALRussian = Federation=20
Location:	Archangel, in the north of = the Russian=20 Federation, is a town on the eastern side of the Divina = Estuary on=20 the White Sea. The Archangel Memorial is at the far end of = Archangel=20 Allied Cemetery, which is on the north-west outskirts of the = town of=20 Archangel, adjoining the Lutheran and Russian cemeteries and = memorials to those who died in more recent actions. From the = railway=20 station, travel along the main road towards the River Dvina. = Halfway=20 along this road take the turning on the right hand side = called=20 Obvodnyi Kanal Avenue. The cemetery will be found on the = right hand=20 side of this road. The Archangel Memorial commemorates = British=20 officers and men who died during the 1914-1918 World War. =
Historical Information:	The War Graves and Memorials = in the=20 Soviet Republics of Eastern Europe are a result of the = campaigns of=20 1918-1920 in several parts of European Russia. These = campaigns,=20 which were the outcome of the Russian Revolution of = November, 1917,=20 are closely connected both with events in Asia (particularly = in=20 Persia and in Siberia) and with the general course of the = War in the=20 West. The continued German and Turkish threats to India by = way of=20 Persia and Afghanistan, and the crisis of 1918 in France = caused by=20 the withdrawal of Russia from the Entente, form the = background to=20 the North Russian Expedition and the Allied intervention in = South=20 Russia, which are summarised in the following narrative. In = the=20 spring of 1918 the main Russian Government, neutral towards = Germany=20 and Austria, was surrounded by various hostile regional = Governments=20 on the fringes of the former Russian Empire. Its Western = front was=20 open, and German troops had been transferred in very large = numbers=20 to France. Finland, independent since December, 1917, was = torn by=20 the struggle between "White" and "Red", and strong German = forces=20 entered the country and secured, in May, 1918, the = ascendency of the=20 "White" Government. The North Russian ports, through which = the=20 Allies had assisted Russia with supplies and munitions, were = now=20 open to German occupation. The Black Sea, the Caucasus and = the=20 Caspian Sea were as yet beyond the reach of Allied forces, = and the=20 Russian half of the barrier between the Central Powers and = India had=20 failed. Lastly, there had emerged from the late Russian = armies the=20 two Czechoslovak Divisions, formed of ex-Austrian prisoners, = which=20 were known to be making for Archangel or Vladivostok in = order to=20 join the Allies. All these facts suggested intervention; it = took the=20 form of landings in the North and Military and Naval = Missions,=20 armaments and stores in the South and East. The Northern = expedition=20 lasted from 1918 to 1919, and was a separate military = operation. The=20 intervention in the South was linked with the advance of = detachments=20 from the Allied armies in Greece and Mesopotamia, and it = lasted from=20 1919 to 1920. In April, 1918, a force of 150 Royal Marines = landed at=20 Murmansk, off which a British battleship had for some time = been=20 stationed. By the end of May 500 British Marines and = sailors, 300=20 French soldiers, 1,400 Serbian soldiers and 500 Finnish "Red = Guards"=20 (the Finnish Legion) were holding the Kola Peninsula and=20 Kandalaksha. The danger at present lay in Finland, and the = Murman=20 force, gradually strengthened, occupied the line of the = Murmansk=20 railway as far South as Soroka by the end of June. These = operations=20 were begun with the consent of the main Russian Government. = On the=20 1st-2nd August, 1918, another Allied force occupied = Archangel. It=20 advanced in August and September Westward to Onega and South = and=20 South-East, along the Vologda railway and the Dvina, to = Yemtsa and=20 beyond Bereznik (Semenovka). Behind these two forces were = the=20 friendly local Soviets, but already both had become engaged = in=20 hostilities with the Russian Bolshevik troops. On the 18th = September=20 Admiral Kolchak announced the formation of an anti-Bolshevik = Government and "assumed power" over all the Russias, basing = himself=20 on Siberia and the South. By October, 1918, nearly 20,000 = British,=20 French, American, Italian, Polish and Russian troops were on = the=20 Archangel front, and nearly 15,000 British, French, Italian, = Serbian=20 and Russian on the Murmansk front. The danger from Finland=20 disappeared in December, with the withdrawal of the German = troops=20 and the establishment of a friendly Coalition Government; = the hope=20 of junction with the Czechs was disappointed. The winter was = spent=20 in repelling determined Bolshevik attacks on the Archangel = force and=20 in advancing the forward positions of the Murmansk force = beyond=20 Segeja. With the early spring of 1919 news arrived of = considerable=20 successes won by Admiral Kolchak in the East and by General = Denikin,=20 the "White Russian" commander in the South; but in March and = April=20 the Allied Governments decided on an early evacuation of = North=20 Russia. War against the Bolshevik Government had not been = one of=20 their objects. The two North Russian forces were to be = strengthened,=20 disengaged by local offensives, and withdrawn; the friendly=20 Governments were to be helped to establish themselves, if = possible,=20 on a firm military basis; and the Siberian army of Admiral = Kolchak=20 might perhaps be linked, before the Allied soldiers left, = with the=20 troops of the Archangel Soviet. General Lord Rawlinson was = sent to=20 co-ordinate the operations. Only the first of these aims = could be=20 realised. The Murmansk force reached Lake Onega by the 18th = May and=20 fought small actions on or near the lake through the summer; = it=20 captured Lijma on the 14th-16th September, and within = another month=20 it had successfully evacuated Murmansk. The Archangel force, = fighting on a wider front and more severely attacked, won = the Battle=20 of Troitsa on the 10th August, and evacuated Archangel = without=20 further difficulty on the 27th September. The friendly = Governments=20 held out for some months, but the Bolsheviks entered = Archangel on=20 the 20th February, 1920. On the Finnish border fighting = between=20 Soviet forces and Finnish troops or Karelian insurgents = continued at=20 intervals until the end of 1921. Kolchak's Siberian forces = were=20 decisively defeated in the summer of 1919. Denikin, after a=20 successful summer campaign which reached as far as Kiev in=20 September, was driven back throughout the winter of 1919-20 = until=20 his last position, at Novorossisk, was lost in March. In = November,=20 1920, General Wrangel, who still held the Crimea, was forced = out of=20 Sevastopol, and organised resistance to the Russian Soviet=20 Government ended.
Display Record of=20 Commemoration

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