OLD STORY REVIVED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 50, Issue 249, 4 August 1930, Page 8

OLD STORY REVIVED

RUSSIAN TROOPS IN ENGLAND. NAVAL OFFICER'S STATEMENT. Did some Russian troops pass through England and go to France in the early days of the war, after all? The people of England will, apparently, never hear the last of this controversy, and a startling turn is provided by a story given to the "Sunday Dispatch" by Captain Quentin C. A. Crawtord, a retired naval officer, of Lydd, Kent. He writes:— Just after the outbreak of war, while I was the officer in command of a division of destroyers, I suddenly received orders to report for secret service with my division up at Peterhead. Directly I arrived the admiral invited me to dinner ashore, and it was during the meal that the whole scheme was discussed. After dinner, instead of smoking at our leisure, we retired to the admiral s office, where I assisted in making arrangements for the transport of these Russians by rail. My own particular duty . was to escort the five Russian ships in which their equipment still remained —heavy guns and other ponderous stuff—and hand them over to the Dover Patrol. I shall never forget that lovely autumn morning when I came alongside the Russian ships and hailed them. ... The sailor who answered my call spoke a language I could not understand. I was asking where he had come from. Finallv a stoker who was standing near said, "What that bloke means is Archangel, sir." _ I tohml that my stoker spoke Russian, and 1 used him as interpreter. I actually saw these troops lined up in their grey coats on deck. I remember, too, the elaborate secrecy we preserved in thenlanding. They were to join the rail about a mile outside Peterhead station, so as to attract no attention, and all the windows of the carriages were to be obscured—with whitewash, I think it was. I myself assisted the admiral in these arrangements; the work was so intense that the staff had little sleep and telephones were ringing all night. „ , It was later that I heard the reason for the arrival of the Russians. Some politician had conceived the idea of reinforcing our western front by Russian troops. We were being very hard pressed. Unfortunately, the scheme did not appeal at all to the military authorities. . ' „,, . From the inspection of their equipment left in the boats I think the Russians must have been cavalryCossacks, perhaps—as there seemed to be many saddles. The troopships were of about 10,000 tons, and capable, I think, of transporting about a division.

Sir George Aston, in a previous article in the same newspaper, told how the "Russian troops" rumour, which caused such excitement and controversy in England at the time, was used to strengthen Mr Churchill s Ostend ruse. Karl Lody, one of the German snies shot at the Tower, sent the story to his chiefs in Berlin.