Page 49 - Sylvia Malt - Side by Side v1

This was the start of many long, dangerous and extremely difficult journeys across Russia’s vast
terrain which Col. Ward and his men endured during the next few months. The train would
sometimes be deliberately held up for many hours, even for days, for no apparent reason, and all the
time they had to be constantly alert to danger, their safety never guaranteed for a single minute. Once
the men were out in the hostile terrain, they had no barracks to fall back on and had to fend for
themselves as best they could in a very alien environment, as well as having to be prepared to fight “the
enemy” as and when they encountered them. The whole of the Region was in utter chaos. Death and
destruction was all around them.

The British Government had eventually sent out suitable clothing for the men to survive a Russian
winter. However, the sheepskin coats were in black, making them a perfect target against the white
background. Their fur caps were a dark brown, the half-moon peak making the head of the wearer a
good mark at midnight up to 300 yards. What with huge fur boots, the black pointed caps and long
black coats, there was nothing to indicate the British Tommy from the line of black monks that moved
silently over the frozen snow. The temperature was such that as the slight wind brought the water to
the men’s eyes, the drops froze to hard white spots of ice at the corners. Breath from the nostrils froze
before it could leave the nose.

Christmas 1918 came and went, and Henry Wells was just managing to survive. As a rather
bewildered soldier, miserable and longing to get back to England, he had to witness and endure many
horrific events in a totally alien and hostile environment. Thoughts of his devoted wife and family in the
peace and tranquillity of North Cray must have seemed a million miles away. But early in February
1919, there was a brief reminder of home and normality for the home-sick soldiers.

rd
3 Feb 1919 (Col. Ward’s diary entry):

“Lt Munro has just arrived at Ormsk from Vladivostok with comforts from the ladies at Shanghai,
Hong-Kong and Singapore. Words fail to describe the feelings of both officers and men as they receive
these tokens of love and remembrance from their own countrywomen in this cold, inhospitable climate.

It is a beautiful feeling, and although the actual work performed is the effort of a few, the whole sex
receives a crude sort of adulation from these womanly acts. The way one of the commonest Tommies
looked at a small wash-flannel that had evidently been hemmed by hands unused to work of any
description, and asked me if I would give the unknown lady my thanks, would have gone to the heart of the
fair but unknown worker could she have witnessed it.”

Two days later a really terrible blizzard occurred, with 20 degrees of frost, which lasted for over 48
hours. The snow beat into the men’s faces and found its way between the flaps of their head-covers. It
smashed straight onto their eyeballs so that they were unable to see. As it was impossible for the men
to know where they were or see a building until they crashed up against it, the decision was taken to
withdraw all sentries and send the men to the nearest shelter.

th
Henry Wells’ death It was during this awful spell of especially atrocious weather, on 8 February
1919, that 43-year-old Henry Wells died, reportedly of “acute alcohol poisoning”. It is perfectly
understandable, perhaps, that in order to forget the miserable life he was somehow expected to endure,
Henry drank a substantial amount of strong alcohol, such as Vodka, which caused his death.