Ivan Odliff

Alias Jack, John
Russian spelling Иван Одлив (?)
Born 1887
Place Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, or Riga, Latvia
Ethnic origin Russian
Religion Roman Catholic & Russian Orthodox
Father I. Odliff
Mother M. Odliff
Family

Wife Daisy Odliff

Residence before arrival at Australia Served in the Russian Navy
Residence before enlistment Albury, NSW
Occupation 1915 boiler maker, labourer, 1919 shipbuilder
Naturalisation Served as Russian subject
Residence after the war Currency Creek, via Windsor, NSW
Died 23.02.1926 Gunnedah, NSW

Service #1 – Depot

Service number 3177
Enlisted 15.02.1915
Place of enlistment Liverpool, NSW
Unit 17th Battalion
Rank Private
Discharged 19.03.1915 unlikely to become an efficient soldier

Service #2

Service number 3177
Enlisted 20.08.1915
Place of enlistment Newcastle, NSW
Unit 18th Battalion, 3rd Battalion, MG Company Details
Rank Private
Place Western Front, 1916-1918
Casualties WIA 1916
Discharged 20.05.1919 in England

Service #3 – British Army

Enlisted 26.05.1919
Place of enlistment London
Unit Middlesex Regiment, the North Russian Relief Force
Place Russia, 1919-1920
Final fate 6.04.1920 RTA, Sydney
Discharged 1920

Materials

Digitised service records 1 2 (NAA)

Digitised Embarkation roll entry (AWM)

British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920 (Available via Ancestry.com)

British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920 (Available via Ancestry.com)

Blog article

Russian

English

Newspaper articles

An open verdict. - The Sydney Morning Herald, 26 February 1926, p. 12

Poisoned in error. Cut throat to save life. - Singleton Argus, 2 March 1926, p. 1

From Russian Anzacs in Australian History:

[...] five Russians enlisted in the Middlesex Regiment, mostly as interpreters, and served with the North Russian Relief Force: Alex Alexandroff, from Vladivostok (a former cook), Robert Meerin and Anthony Minkshlin, from the Baltic region (both former seamen), Ivan Odliff, from Nizhny Novgorod (a former boiler-maker), and Paul Smirnoff, a 19-year-old former miner from Vologda, northern Russia. Richard Gregorenko planned to join them but later changed his mind and returned to Australia. They arrived in Archangel in summer 1919 and fought against the pro-Bolshevik forces in the area until the final evacuation of Allied forces a year later. Minkshlin was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal for this campaign.

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