George Robertson on return from Moscow
The image, courtesy of Ruth Robertson, shows her father George (Dod) Robertson shortly after his return to UK following two years as a Prisoner of War in Moscow.
As with many former military men George took up employment with the Forestry Commission although not immediately as he went back to his former role of shepherding for a few years. In 1919 when the Forestry Commission was formed the government of the day was also trying to find employment for war weary veterans who returned to a very changed country. The Forestry Commission gave many their first job back in civvies street although the military style organisation of those days must have had had some familiarities. It is fitting that both Borgie Forest in the very north of Scotland and Glentress in the south both provided land for houses and small holdings as well as employment from the very early dates of 1919 and 1922 although it should be noted in the case of Glentress the land was made available from the Board of Agriculture for Scotland. This may actually be the case in Borgie as well.
The website is very privileged to have received from Ruth the following information and images describing some of her father’s part in the Archangel campaign and subsequent treatment as a POW in Russia.
George’s war as a young newly enlisted 18 year old Royal Scot has been forgotten by many today. It was in terms of lives a costly one that mainly took place in the Archangel area and in locations up the Dvina River beyond the formal end on Armistice Day of WWI. More details can be found in the link http://scottishmilitarydisasters.com/index.php/titles-sp-26803/26-smd/53-archangel
This describes some of the heroic fighting by allied forces in which the Royal Scots suffered severe casualties and some as in George’s case were taken prisoner of war.
George’s small collection of photographs and documents from this period (in the attached PDF) are a privileged and remarkable insight into what is to many of us are just words in a history book and brings home the personal traumas of the family and the experiences of a young man as a prisoner of war in a Russia after the Bolshevik revolution.
The first image is of a letter from Mr D Macdonald of Kilbucho House on 11 Apr 1918 indicating that he had been unsuccessful in getting George off from his training in the army for the spring lambing. He also wished George well as it seems he was about to be transferred to France and asking him to keep in touch and hoped to meet again shortly in more peaceful conditions.
This second is of a historic image of a defensive position possibly similar as described at Tuglas in the linked report above.
The third is the functional information note sent on 25 Nov 1918 to George’s mother to inform her that George was missing in action at Topsa on 27 Oct 1918. How many mothers received this heart rending news over the war period? Topsa can be located on internet maps and is a small river which runs into a Northern Dvina about 250 miles upriver from Archangel.
The forth image is of a notification to his mother about 26 Feb 1919 of information that her son was a Prisoner of War at Vologda on 29 Dec 2017. Quite a time lag for this family to hear the joyous news that George was alive but no word of his condition.
The fifth image is of a letter to George’s mother from the British Consulate dated 25 Apr 1919 with the news that her son on 7th April was a prisoner of war in Moscow and that his health was good.
The sixth is of a letter from the Young Men’s Christian Association dates 31 May 1919 indicating that a representative had seen George in Moscow and his health was good albeit he was depending on food parcels to sustain him as a top up to the meagre Russian soldier food allocation.
The seventh is a report by a soldier who was guarding the British Embassy in Moscow when it was overrun by the ‘Bolshevists’ put in prisons for nine months then released.
The eighth image is a pass issued by the Moscow Authorities allowing prisoners of war (in this case George Robertson) the freedom to go out and work around Moscow under certain time restrictions. In George’s case he worked in factories, helped clear snow and even worked in the regimes Foreign Office meeting some of the well known senior staff of the time.
The next (Image 9) is a remarkable image of most of the prisoners at a Christmas event in the English Vicarage in Moscow. Over 60 people are included (George is at left back under a pen mark) but some will be Vicarage staff and family.
Image 10 is of a group portrait taken in Moscow. Only George is recognised as middle front but he has annotated the photograph ‘Moscow 1919. Man on left was first man taken prisoner on the Archangel front’.
Images 11 -13 is of an envelope, and two fragile sheets of a letter dictated by Maxim Litvinov who a senior person in the Moscow Foreign ministry. Here he is arguing the case against release of the allied prisoners while the allies are engaged in hostilities against Russia and poor treatment of Bolshevik POWs in Britain. Maxim Litvinov lived for a time in Ireland and also London where he married Ivy Low and was in 1920 instrumental in securing the multilateral peace agreement between the new Russian Government, Britain and France as well as the successful prisoner exchange. He featured prominently in later Russian governments.
Image 14 is a group photograph taken on the Russian Finnish border on March 1920 when the men of the 2nd 10th Royal Scots and others were released from Russia. Again George is marked with pen.
Image 15 is a military letter to George Robertson’s mother informing her that her son was a released prisoner of war and at Terijoki in Finland on 11 March 1920. The record office stamp is 8 days after the release and indicates the slower communication systems – no smart phones!
Image 16 is his Certificate of Identity dated 7th April 1920 followed by Images 17 which is his formal discharge paper signed on 6 June 1920 and also shows George having been called up on 13 Dec 1917 (newly age 18) but signed up (attested) on 11 Jan 1917 age 17.
18, 19 and 20 which are excerpts from a transcript of a radio interview by Archie Lee for Radio Scotland in 1973 in which George describes his time in Russia. (The full transcript is shown under Record No ???)