When Brian Horrocks and his fellow prisoners-of-war arrived in Irkutsk after their ordeal in Krasnoyarsk, they collectively breathed a huge sigh of relief. They knew a treaty had been signed recently between the Governments of Lloyd George and Lenin in Copenhagen, which made provision for the repatriation of all PoWs. Much to their relief a train carrying a Union Jack appeared a few days later with Captain Rex Carthew, who had been assigned the task of bringing them to Vladivostok.
Unfortunately, the Bolshevik Commissioners, who had recently executed Admiral Kolchak, only allowed Carthew to take the last British civilians and informed the soldiers that they were being transported to Moscow as hostages. Carthew, who earned the Military Cross at the Battle of Arras in 1917 was one of the last British soldiers to serve on military operations in Siberia and waited patiently with provisions for the prisoners in Chita for two months until he knew they were not coming east before travelling home.
I found a fascinating telegram about Carthew when I was researching the prisoners’ story. It confirms his movement from Manchuria to Chita prior to arriving in Irkutsk. What makes it so interesting is that the cypher has been decoded by the recipient and it is clear that the headquarters in “Wladivostock” only deployed two officers, so they too were deceived by the Russian authorities, which reneged on the Copenhagen Treaty.
Rupert Wieloch 