British Army in Baku 1919

[barbajan]

My father, 1885-1972, seved in (Mesopotamia)Iraq from 1917 to 1918 or 1919. Before coming home, he was sent to Baku. He was a lorry driver in the RASC. He told me quite a lot about his time in Mespot but little about Baku. Does anyone know anything about British involvement there? Were they protecting the oilfields aganst the Reds?

[harribobs]

this is an interesting article about Baku

The Mensheviks and Dashnaks in Baku rose up against their former ally, Soviet Russia, and decided to invite the British army into the city. In the summer of 1918, a British military detachment was sent to Baku and arrested and shot the 26 Bolshevik Commissars. Again, Lenin was deprived of the Baku oil.

http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai102_folder/102_articles/102_overview_alakbarov.html

[IAFC]

Hi Barbajan,

Recently a friend gave me a WW1 Death Plaque she had which she believed belonged to a distant relative of hers. I have done a small amount of research on him, he was killed in the Baku area while our troops were out there trying to protect the oilfields. If you want I can email this to you.

Regards

IanC

[barbajan]

Thank you, Ian. I would very much like to read what you have about British troops in Baku, though I'm afraid I have nothing to add. Dad just said he was there and at the time (many years ago- he died in 1972) I didn't ask him for details.  He talked more about what happened when his unit was in Karachi afterwards.
Barbara

[liverpool annie]

I just thought you might be interested in the Baku Memorial!

http://static.flickr.com/38/82228821_de6cc229c4_o.jpg

Annie 

[barbajan]

Thank you, Annie. Interesting picture.I am glad to say the memorial doesn't contain my Dad's name. He came home in 1919 and lived through the second world war, driving his taxi thtough London in the days of the Blitz and V1s and V2s, dying at home in 1972 at the ripe old age of 87. How I wish I'd recorded all his stories, I just try to remember them.
Barbara

[benicek]

Just the other day in a flea market I came across this photo of British soldiers in Baku in 1919. See my blog: http://benicek.blogspot.com/2011/07/baku-azerbaijan-16th-june-1919.html

[IMBER]

More information and suggested reading here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunsterforce