A diary from the Russian Civil War - photo 1

A diary from the Russian Civil War

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$ 2 520
Auction dateClassic
27.01.2023 10:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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ID 887990
Lot 212 | A diary from the Russian Civil War
RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR — LALLY, John F. J. Manuscript diary, various places including Plymouth, London, Murmansk, Archangel, Harwich, Brest, and Portsmouth, N.H., 11 April - 27 October 1919.

116 pages, 170 x 100mm. Cloth boards with label affixed to front cover above manuscript title.

A rare diary chronicling the service of a member of the Allied Expeditionary Forces sent to fight in the Russian Civil War. Maintained John Lally, a pharmacist's mate aboard the U.S.S. Des Moines, the diary chronicles the voyage and service of a ship that was part of a squadron sent to take part in the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. The Brooklyn-born Lally narrates his tour from his departure from New York on 11 April 1919 to his return to Portsmouth, New Hampshire on 27 October 1919, offering a rich, at times unusual, but consistently colorful, account of the daily life of American sailors and soldiers during an extremely challenging military intervention.

Of particular interest are Lally's observations about daily life in Russia's far north as well as his observations on the deteriorating situation among the Allied forces as well as the questionable loyalty of many Russian troops opposing the Bolsheviks. But somewhat surprisingly, a striking portion of Lally's diary concerns the intense rivalry between American and British sailors that often boiled over into violence. Lally, who was not a neutral party to these disputes, began his commentary soon after landing at Harwich in early May reporting that he had heard that British sailors here tried to 'beat' up the American gobs [slang for U.S. sailors] and the Galveston's crew killed a couple of them." Landing at Archangel at the end of May, he chafed at the manner in which they were received by their British allies stationed there, "telling us to go home that they didn't want us here." Lally chalked it up to typical behavior by Britain who he believed were plotting to take permeant control the rich mines in the region, concluding: "And let me tell you the English are hated by world for her treachery in every thing she does. I really believe she has secret treaties with Japan in regards to us Americans. Well, if Japan and England, start anything against us Germany as well as France will side with America. Then watch out! America wont need a draft to get soldiers to fight England." Later his journal, Lally fantasizes of the fights that would erupt while "Celebrating the 4th in a port dominated by the English. We will be celebrating the day we told the English we could like them, have visions of a general clean-up on the streets of Archangel … and it wont be us that will get licked. We have a fighting bunch of gobs on our ship and they stick together like glue." (Interestingly enough, on the 4th, American forces stationed at Archangel were treated to a Y.M.C.A. picnic on an island in the Dvina River, well away from any member of British forces.)

Yet the British had much more pressing matters, namely the uncertain politics of Russian soldiers in British uniforms, who, according to Lally, "were induced to fight the Bolsheviki under British domination," and were often mutinying and defecting to the opposing Red forces. On 25 July, he reports that "street riots abounded here between the English and the Russians. It became so serious that the British were forced to disarm their Russian-British Legion" lest they stage a full scale mutiny. He writes of the Bolsheviks ("Bolos") posting leaflets that on 2 August 1919 warning that they would reenter the city they had lost the previous summer. Yet on "the day the Bolos were to retake Archangel, nothing happened!" False alarms notwithstanding, the Bolsheviks were on the offensive in the region for much of 1919, and western forces were in the process of evacuating Archangel lest they become trapped by the autumn ice. The U.S.S. Des Moines was one of the last allied vessels to depart Archangel, leaving the port behind on 14 September. The return journey brought Lally back to Harwich for several days (with a day-trip to London), and then onto Brest, where after a couple of days in Paris and the surrounding countryside. He returned to port and his ship to witness more violence: "Bolshevism has broken out in Brest, and the Bolos have started shooing up the town…. France is no place for me…" Lally also mentions, in passing, the 1919 flu pandemic raging at the time, noting that the soldiers "coming back from Paris are getting sick, fever, colds… The bunks are all full in the Sick Bay." On the return voyage, the "bunks in the Sick Bay were always occupied, as soon as one patient got well another was ready to occupy it."

Amidst his bravado and tales of intermural violence, Lally takes time to describe his surroundings both aboard ship and ashore. Often his impressions were not positive ones. "I wish I was out of this dump," opened his entry for 28 May 1919. "My first impression of this place was through my nose, I smelled fish." Over time, he grew more appreciative of his surroundings, describing visits to the many churches in the northern port city—admiring their richly-decorated interiors, a visit to Peter the Great's birthplace (leaving early as he found the "antique" odor disagreeable), dances organized by the Y.M.C.A., and days spent swimming and sunbathing in the never-ending daylight of the Arctic summer. During one cruise of the White Sea, Lally was able to visit the monastery at Solovetsky Island, and he described the activities of the still-active religious order founded in 1436, remarking on their industry and self-sufficiency. (The Soviets converted it to a prison seven years later.) He also offers valuable data on the region's economy, disrupted by years of warfare. Chocolate fetches absurd prices by American standards, while enough sealskin to make a coat for Lally's new bride Marie (whom he had left behind in Brooklyn) would cost him nearly nothing. ("I must get some of that for Marie.") He also notes on the skewed demographics of the region, depopulated of prime-age males by years of war. While stationed at the naval barracks at Solombala to guard a general hospital there, he describes the place in detail noting that the trolley-line that ran past was mostly run by women, who "do all the hard work, laying tracks, ties switches, and the over-head electric wires…" in addition to their traditional household roles. Lally's diary includes a good deal more detail throughout, and the whole makes for a strong, colorful narrative illustrating how one observer viewed an unfamiliar landscape and culture during a period of profound cultural, political, social and economic transformation.
Place of origin:USA
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