Norman Winfield's WW1 service
December 1915: signed up with the The Derbyshire Yeomanry 2/1st
Formed as a Second-Line regiment in September 1914 and remained at home. July 1916 : converted into a Cyclist unit.
14th September 1918: transferred to: Liverpool Regiment 17th (Service) Battalion (1st City)
Formed in Liverpool on 29 August 1914 by Lord Derby, in the old watch factory at Prescot. Has the distinction of being the first of the 'pals' battalions to be formed.
30 April 1915: came under orders of 89th Brigade, 30th Division. Landed at Boulogne on 7 November 1915.
14 May 1918: reduced to cadre strength.
16 June 1918: attached to 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division.
30 June 1918: returned to England with 75th Brigade, 25th Division.
9 Sept 1918: Brigade retitled 236th Brigade.
11 Oct 1918: sailed from Glasgow for service in North Russia. Remained there until September 1919.
Notes by Norman Winfield in his own words of his experience when serving in Northern Russia with the 17th (Service)Battalion (1st City) Liverpool Regiment
On the 6th October 1918 we left England and arrived in Glasgow on the following day at a station called Partick West. We were billeted there until 10th October 1918 and then went aboard HMS Keerman and set sail the same day. We had a very good voyage, arriving at Murmansk on the 17th October 1918. We stayed aboard the Keerman for 3 days and then went aboard HMS Goinboer and sailed up the White Sea, the passage being, again, good and lasting 2 days passing Archangel on our way to Baccarita, staying on the ship again for 4 days after which we went into Huts in Baccarita on the 23rd after staying there 7 days having good weather and mild for the time of year in Russia.
We embarked again on the Asturian on 4th November 1918 setting sail the same day and landing again the same day at Economia, again being billeted in huts and apparently settled for the winter months. We received our first mail on 9th November 1918. The river Dwina is frozen over already and this is only 21st November and the second day of winter, so I suppose it will be cold as the winter proceeds. All washing and drinking water is got from this river, our water cart has to be thawed each day using fire buckets for that purpose.
I have received my 2nd mail today, 2nd December but find you had not received news of my landing. Our rear party came over on the transport (Steven) on 1st Dcember having been 8 weeks coming from Bundec. Having had a very bad voyage their boiler having burst on the first ship before reaching the Orkneys. On setting sail again the steering gear got out of order causing further delay. They reached here no worse for their adventures. We received orders for moving from Economia on 17th March 1919 moving on the next day to do guards and Isaka-Gorka and wireless station at Tamba. All sorts of rumours about going home have been in circulation for some time. The most likely time seems to be early June.
It is now 27th May and there is a March past of relief troops in Archangel. We all feel confident of a move towards home in the course of a week or so.
We left Isaka-Gorka on 1st July arriving At ????? the same day. We are billeted in a building which was previously a school. This is certainly a step towards home but the date of my departure is clouded by age and service reasons. Otherwise I should think this the happiest day I have had in Russia.
We started for home on the 16th July leaving the barracks at 9.00am (Solombola). We were conveyed down the river to Archangel on a large barge. We went aboard the Czar about 3 pm and set sail the next day (17th July at 8.30am). We were delayed in the White Sea owing to the tide and fog on the 18th for 6 hours, starting again at 11.00am (good voyage so far).
Extract from Norman Winfield's writings re his time in Russia
Then the 1914 War came and I was called up and did my training around Canterbury from 1916-1917. Being a bandsman I was attached to the RAMC. We went to camp at “Bridge” near Canterbury. We were there in the summer of 1917 when there was a flu epidemic, although I was only a private I had charge of “sick parades”. Doctors were scarce, quinine and aspirin were scarce. I only had a jar full of “salicylic acid” tablets which were for rheumatism; they were white like aspirins. Those with temperatures I gave them tablets for rheumatism and they all said they felt better the next day. We were still in the camp when I was given leave.
On my return to camp the first thing I heard was we were going to Northern Russia. We embarked on a ship call the “Gorinteur” landing at Murmansk about 7 days later. After unloading certain materials we carried on to a place called “Economiet” where we were in big log huts, mostly doing dock guards. Ernest Shackleton came to inspect our winter equipment. Up to this time I had not seen any bread. We had hard biscuits which were almost impossible to chew with false teeth. I could relate lots of incidents, such as scrambling across the “Dvina” on ice which had been broken up and frozen again, it being difficult to get a foothold. In our spare time we were sawing trees into logs and splitting them to feed the fires that fed the boilers for the electric station. This place was evidently a logging station to which the tree trunks were floated down the “Dwina” and stacked for various uses. We eventually moved from here to Isaka-gorka, where it seemed to me we were more or less killing time, waiting for the winter to pass, about now it was very cold. I was nearly caught “off guard” it was snowing a blizzard, the snow stung the face like pins and needles. It was midnight, I was sheltering inside a railway shed when the officer gave us a visit. I should have been on the outside post. Whilst the officer was looking round elsewhere, I made a bolt to the extent of my beat and decided to meet him as he returned. I saw him coming in the distance, he shouted “Alright Sentry?” I said “Yes Sir”, he said “goodnight”. I felt very relieved. I shall never forget trying to run over those rails covered with snow. I remember being on “dock guard”, a ship was alongside on which “Bolshevik labour” was unloading all kinds of goods, rum in large barrels. I hadn't been on guard long when I could hear a rabble down in the “hold”. The labourers had been making holes in the barrels and sucking the rum through straws, they were pretty well all drunk. A Russian sailor came along the deck and pointing down the hold said “Piani” meaning they were drunk. One of them was climbing the “hold” ladder, nearing the top he stepped backward down the hold. Next day I heard and saw he was dead. Being partially my responsibility I kept quiet about it. A very much more pleasant guard, it being terribly cold and feeling miserable when a sailor said “cocoa”, I said “dad a spasibo” and he was soon back with a lovely mug of hot cocoa. I have never had anything more appreciable. I believe it was that same night I saw a wonderful display of the “aurora borealis”. In the pitch black sky, it developed like diffused search lights and gradually developed into “rainbow” colours. It being in the dark sky the colours were all darker but more striking. They don't last long as the effect is caused by the sun's rays on the polar ice which acts as a prism and creates the “spectrum” and as the earth moves the effect fades. Another night, about that time, we were called up to make a raid on a ship in the frozen-up Dwina. I never knew for what reason but the experience was anything but pleasant. Crossing the river on the jagged ice which had been broken up several times.
We were at “Economiab” when news of the armistice came through, there was hardly a cheer as we knew we were not going home until May or June. We went to “Solombolo” at the beginning of 1918. There was a travelling circus in the town at that time and I had the experience of playing in the circus band. I had a shock when I met the Russian bandsman they were like “scruffy tramps”. From May onward it was very hot. I remember waiting on the dock at “Archangel” to embark for home, it being too hot to sit on any exposed place. Just prior to this we were at “Isaka-Gorka” doing guards at a wireless station. It was still cold so I thought I'd go inside our “cooking kitchen” which was a “luggage van”. Our sleeping quarters were “passenger trucks”. The wireless station was in the compound, as also was our sleeping quarters. Whilst I was warming in the kitchen, our officers came along and said I was “off guard”. I said I thought anywhere in the compound was on guard. Anyway I was put under arrest and taken back to “Isaka-gorka” to await my trial. He said if it occurs again I will do my damndist to get you 5 years. I just said it won't occur again.
Tony Wainwright from the Liverpool Pals Memorial Fund explained the reason why the battalion was sent to Russia:
“The reason they went to Russia was that Britain had thousands of tons of supplies which had been sent to support the Russian army on the Eastern Front. They did not want any of that falling into the Germans ownership. Even as late as Sept 1918 there was no evidence of a German surrender.
Once the Armistice was signed they remained in Russia and endured the perils of a Russian winter. This was to ensure that the Bolsheviks didn't seize it. To this end 20 Pals lost their lives during fighting with the Bolsheviks. They didn't return home until Sept 1919.
I hope this gives you a brief background to the campaign.”