A rumoured Russian invasion

This edited article about World War I originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 994 published on 28 March 1981.

Tsar Nicholas II, Britain’s ally in the First Worl War, was overthrown by the revolurionaries in 1917

The Russians were here. It was September, 1914 and the First World War was barely a month old. The invasion of Britain, however, was a friendly one, for the Russians were allies of Britain and France against Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but it was an odd affair.

No one knows how the story started, though a German spy called Karl Lody was to fall under suspicion, possibly because of a later rumour that the Russians were going to change sides when they got to France. The basic rumour was that the Russians, anxious to help Britain and France, had rushed troops to the port of Archangel and shipped them to Aberdeen and Leith in Scotland. It appeared that plenty of Scots had seen the Russian soldiers on their way south, mostly as they flashed by in trains.

Some informed the Press that they had travelled with the Russians. Porters, it was said, swept snow (presumably from the Russian’s boots!) from railway carriages. It was also claimed that the visitors had made stops at Carlisle, Rugby and elsewhere during their journey to France. A Crewe landlady said she had Russians billeted on her and had had a job providing them with enough food. Soon it was being rumoured than there were a quarter of a million Russian troops.

No one, it seemed, was prepared to believe statements that the reports were false, and it must be remembered that without the radio and TV news bulletins we are so used to today, it was easy to be misled by rumours. And rumours they were, though no one has ever discovered how they came about. There are several possible explanations. It is said that a French officer went about the Western Front in France asking: “Where are ze rations?” and his listeners thought he was asking “Where are the Russians?”!

Another story, which readers may consider even more unlikely, has a London wholesale provisions merchant getting a telegram from Russia announcing: “200,000 Russians are being dispatched via Archangel”, “Russians” in this case being the firm’s terminology for eggs. At least that theory is not based on a misheard word, and someone could have seen such a message and started talking . . .

By far the best theory, although still not very convincing, is that the “Russians” were actually a group of Highlanders – estate workers from Ross-shire. In this story these workers, on their way to join the army in their working kit, were asked where they came from. Their accent and clothes were different from those worn by townspeople, and when they said they were from Ross-shire it was mistaken for Russia.