BWM. Tank Corps. McCaugherty. County Down, Northern Ireland. Served Russia 1919 with NRRF.

Correctly named 317911 Pte J McCaugherty Tank Corps

John was born to William and Margharet in 1899 in Lisburn, County Down, Northern Ireland.

In 1901 we find the fqamily living at 4 Lisnatruk Small, Blaris, Co Down.

In 1911, we find them living at 51 Tullynacross, Drumbeg, Co Down.

He was to enlist in 1916 and is entitled to the WWI Pair.

He was attached to the 44 Agricultural Company, Labour Corps but retained his service number.

He was serving with the 19th Battalion Tank Corps when in July 1919, they proceed to North Russia as a part of the NRRF, Northern Russia Relief Force.

The British Army organized the North Russia Relief Force (NRRF) in the spring of 1919 to replace the departing American troops and bolster their own forces while covering their eventual withdrawal later that autumn. The NRRF began arriving in Archangel, North Russia during the last week of May 1919 and additional troops and supplies continued to arrive throughout the summer. On August 29, 1919, the SS Kildonan Castle arrived in Archangel, carrying the British North Russian Tank detachment of 9 officers and 60 men, all commanded by a Major Bryan. They were equipped with four Mark V and two Whippet Type B battle tanks. The tank detachment had been sent to North Russia without the knowledge of Major General Edmund Ironside and their mission was to help cover the evacuation of British Forces from North Russia during the month of September. The tanks would then be left in the hands of the North Russian (White) Army to assist them in holding off the advancing Bolshevik Army.

The British tanks in Northern Russia during 1919 were part of a larger effort to support the White forces in the Russian Civil War. The tanks were used to pursue broken troops and exploit breakthroughs by other tanks. The British supplied small numbers of tanks to other anti-Bolshevik groups and also supplied other equipment in the hope of influencing the bitter civil war. The bulk of the tanks supplied to Denikin’s forces from March 1919 were Mark V types: Male (two six-pounder guns, one on each side), Female (machine guns only, two on each side), and Hermaphrodites/Composites (a six-pounder gun on one side and two machine guns on the other). All types also had machine guns between the tracks to the front and rear. Some of the British tanks supplied were captured by the Bolsheviks, including 50 or so Mark Vs. The first 12 tanks (six Mark Vs and six Medium As, known as `Whippets’) delivered were committed to action on 20 May 1919 northwest of Taganrog where they spearheaded an operation to clear an important railway line. They struck terror into enemies, who broke and ran. This reaction was to become common over the course of the next six months. In June a further 16 machines arrived. Two Mark Vs and two Whippets were dispatched to support the attack on the heavily fortified city of Tsaritsyn (later Stalingrad). The tanks, some with British crews, broke down barbed wire defences and on 30 June entered the city in triumph. The battle started when White forces under Ataman Pyotr Krasnov laid siege to Tsaritsyn in the autumn of 1918, pushing back the Red Army defenders into areas surrounding the town on the west bank. The local Bolshevik leaders desperately called Moscow for reinforcements and arms, but received nothing other than orders to stand firm. The city was saved by the actions of the local chairman of the military committee, Joseph Stalin. Stalin urged his comrades to continue fighting and disobeyed direct orders from Moscow by recalling forces from the Caucasus, nicknamed Zhloba’s ‘Steel Division’. These forces were able to attack the White forces in the rear and defeat them, saving Tsaritsyn for the Bolsheviks.

The medal has a long, original silk ribbon.