Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916-1926

Subsequently, in South Russia, a mission of 10 officers and 55 other ranks of the British Royal Tank Corps trained more than 200 volunteer officers of the Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR) at the Russian Tank School (Tankadrom) established at Ekaterinodar on 22 March 1919 (relocated to Taganrog in June 1919). These men operated the British tanks that were shipped into Russia via Novorossiisk from mid-April 1919 (a total of 73 of them, according to White records, 74 according to British records). These were a combination of Mark Vs (heavy), Mark As (medium), and Mark Bs (medium). How many of these vehicles saw action in the 1st and 2nd Tank Divisions of the White forces in South Russia, however, is unclear, as almost half of them (35) arrived only in October 1919, just as the AFSR was about to collapse, and White orders of battle indicate that, as of 18 November 1919, 11 tanks were still at Novorossiisk, 11 were being used for training at the tank school at Taganrog, and 16 were undergoing repair or assembly there. White tanks were certainly present at Orel in October 1919, however (the most northerly point reached by the AFSR), and they had been used to some effect in earlier engagements, notably with the Caucasian Army during the capture of Tsaritsyn in late June 1919, when the army used them to smash through the city’s barbed-wire defenses (even though two of the six vehicles deployed broke down during transit and could not be used), captured six armored trains, and took Siavarsk unopposed by the terrified enemy. The 1st Tank Division (with some 25 vehicles) reformed in Crimea as part of the Russian Army of General P. N. Wrangel in May 1920 and was utilized expertly in the breakout through the Perekop peninsula in June 1920. Thereafter, the division was based at Melitopol′. Most its tanks were captured by the Reds or sabotaged (often ineffectively) by their crews during the Whites’ defeat at Khakovka of 14–16 October 1920.

Opportunities for the deployment of tanks by anti-Bolshevik forces in North Russia were limited by the forested and swampy terrain, but a North Russian Tank Detachment (of four Mark Vs and two Mark Bs), under Major J. N. L. Ryan, was formed at Arkhangel′sk on 11 August 1919, to fight alongside the Whites’ Northern Army. Three of the tanks were deployed alongside an armored train on the Vologda railway on 29 August 1919, and 34 officers and men of the North Russian Tank Corps were trained by Bryan at his headquarters at Solombala, before the final British evacuation of Arkhangel′sk on 27 September 1919. Two British tanks were left behind for the Russians and saw action in October against Red forces around Plestetskaia station. On 19 February 1920, as Red forces entered Arkhangel′sk, their crews loaded the tanks onto barges and sank them in the Dvina River. They were subsequently salvaged by the Reds and sent to Moscow for analysis.

The British North-West Russian Tank Detachment, comprising 22 officers, 26 men, and 6 Mark V (composite) tanks, under Lieutenant Colonel E. Hope-Carson, arrived at Revel (Tallinn) starting on 6 August 1919. They saw action in the Narva region during the advance toward Petrograd of the Whites’ North-West Army in September–October 1919 and were used to train 22 officers and 9 enlisted men of the Russian Tank Battalion. On 18–25 October 1919, the tanks were deployed at Gatchina and Tsarskoe Selo, alongside three Russian-crewed Renault FT-17s that had been loaned by Finland. When the White forces retreated, the tanks were entrained and sent back to Revel. The Finnish tanks were returned to Helsinki, and the British tanks were given to the Estonian Army.