Russian AnzacsCentenary Stories
To mark the Centenary of the First World War in 2014-2018, this site, in a weekly post, celebrated the Russian Anzacs who enlisted in the AIF that week.
Puikko, Tarasov, Kotton, Kovalevsky, Thomasson
- Karl Johannes Puikko, a Finnish seaman from Oulu, came to Australia in about 1912 and worked as a labourer.
- Enlisting in the AIF in Melbourne, he served with the 46th Battalion on the Western Front; later he was transferred to the machine gun battalion. In September 1917 he was gassed at Ypres and returned to Australia.
- After the war he continued seafaring and finally returned to Finland.
- Serge Tarasov was a seaman from St Petersburg; his father was a history teacher there.
- Enlisting in the AIF in Newcastle, Tarasov served with the 34th Battalion on the Western Front. In May 1918 he was killed near Sailly-le-Sec on Somme.
- The local Newcastle newspaper, commemorating his death, wrote ‘Young Tarasov was a midshipman, but deserted in order to join the fight against the Germans’.
- Moisey Kotton, a young Jewish man from Kremenchug on Ukraine, came with his family to Harbin and in 1912 moved to Brisbane in Australia. After trying a number of jobs in South Queensland, he finally settled in the small township of Naughtons Gap near Lismore in NSW, where he worked as a carter, winning the love and respect of local farmers.
- With the outbreak of war he made several attempts to enlist in the AIF. The local newspaper reported when he finally succeeded in his attempts: ‘Mr. M. Kotton, who succeeded in passing the medical test, is a naturalised Russian, and is only 5 ft. high. The minimum height is 5 ft 2 in, and Mr. Kotton was pleased when he was admitted as a bugler. He is very anxious to get to the front’. He served with the 4th Battalion on the Western Front; in September 1918 he was killed in the battle south of Peronne.
- Andrew Kovalevsky from Blahoveshchenka in Ukraine came to Australia in 1913 from the Russian Far Est. He was probably a clerk by profession, but worked in Queensland as a labourer.
- Enlisting in the AIF in Bundaberg, he served with the 26th Battalion on the Western Front. In October 1918 he was killed at the advance south of Peronne.
- Thomas Thomasson, a Finnish seaman from Christinestad, enlisted in the AIF in Melbourne.
- He served with the 29th Battalion on the Western Front until he got sick with otitis and returned to Australia.
- After the war he lived in Melbourne.
Kilpinen, Reimers, Wathen, Tomrop, Stepanoff
- Briynold Kilpinen, a Finnish seaman, was seafaring in Australian waters in 1915, but he enlisted in the AIF in Goulburn as a miner.
- Soon afterwards he was discharged, being considered ‘unlikely to become an efficient soldier’.
- He made two more attempts to enlist in the AIF and disappears from the records after that.
- John Reimers from Riga was probably of German origin.
- Enlisting in the AIF in Melbourne, he served with the 37th Battalion on the Western Front.
- After the war he lived in Melbourne.
- John Wathen, a Finnish seaman from Helsingfors (Helsinki) came to Australia in 1913.
- He served with the 36th Battalion on the Western Front. In June 1917 he was wounded in the arm at the battle of Messines.
- After the war he lived in Sydney, working as a ship’s fireman. During WWII he was interned in Newcastle.
- Ernest Tomrop, a seaman from Vindava (Ventspils) in Latvia, came to Australia in 1908 and was working as a labourer and rigger in South Australia and Melbourne.
- Enlisting in the AIF, he served in Egypt, first in the Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train, and then in the Australian Flying Corps.
- After the war he served for five years in the Australian Air Corps and Flying School in Laverton. Later he settled in Sydney where he married an Australian woman, Amy Bell Kershaw, and worked as a rigger, particularly on the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
- John Frederick Stepanoff from Krasnoiarsk in Siberia came to Australia with his mother and stepfather. They lived in Ipswich where John learnt the trade of a carpenter.
- Enlisting in the AIF in Sydney, when he was just 17, he served with the 54th Battalion on the Western Front. In May 1917 he experienced shell shock at Bullecourt. In October 1917 he was gassed at Passchendaele and evacuated to England. In June 1918 he was returned to his battalion, and wounded for the third time in the thigh near Rouen.
- After the war he worked as a seaman in Australia and in the UK, where he married an English woman, Violet Conway.
Liljestrand, Seeburg, Halme, Kaufman, Puho
- Erik Arvid Liljestrand, a Finnish seaman from Helsingfors (Helsinki), enlisted in the AIF in Melbourne.
- He served with the 23rd Battalion on the Western Front, attaining the rank of Lance-Corporal. In May 1917, at the battle for Bullecourt, he was wounded in the head; recovering, he rejoined his battalion. A year later at Ville-sur-Ancre he was severely wounded in the back and arms. He was evacuated to England, but died of wounds and pneumonia three weeks later.
- His Australian friend commemorated him in a newspaper advertisement after his death.
- Frank Seeburg, a seaman of German parentage born in Orel in Russia, came to Australia in 1907. He lived in South Australia working as a labourer and fireman.
- Enlisting in the AIF in Adelaide, he served with the 5th Pioneer Battalion on the Western Front.
- After the war he lived in Barmera in South Australia, working as a labourer.
- Andrew Halme, a former seaman from Kuopio in Finland, first tried to enlist in the AIF in July 1915, but did not succeed. His second attempt in April 1916 in Goulburn was successful.
- He sailed to England with the reinforcements to the 35th Battalion, but soon after arrival to Plymouth he was reported as absent.
- His destiny is unknown.
- Karl Kaufman, a seaman from Wesenberg (Rakvere) in Estonia, enlisted in the AIF in Melbourne.
- He served with the 58th Battalion on the Western Front and was killed in May 1917 at Bullecourt.
- His family in Estonia was found after the war.
- Alexander Puho from Olustvere in Estonia came to Australia in 1914 and worked as a locomotive fireman.
- Enlisting in the AIF in Cootamundra, he served with the 18th Battalion on the Western Front. On May 1917, at Bullecourt, he was wounded in the arm and returned to Australia.
- After the war he married an Australian girl, Constance Lilian Stone, and had a large family. Alexander became a dairy farmer and then a banana grower and lived with his family in Woolgoolga, NSW. He was active in the local sub-branch of the RSSILA and in 1942 was elected its president.
Blek, Mitskievich, Kaptein, Jaks, Fredrikson
- Enoch Blek from Oulu in Finland came to Australia in 1893 with his parents. He worked as a fireman and lived in New South Wales. He was married to Elizabeth Grimwood and had two sons.
- He served with the 2nd Tunnelling Company on the Western Front.
- After the war he lived with his family at Redhead.
- Adam Mitskievich, a Pole from Radom, served for 8 years in the Russian army. He came to Queensland and lived in Bundaberg working as a wood chopper.
- He enlisted in Bundaberg, but was discharged two months later with mental health problems.
- After the war he stayed in Queensland.
- Johann Kaptein, a seaman from Riga in Latvia, came to Australia in 1910.
- He enlisted in the AIF in Melbourne, but was discharged three months later because of insufficient English.
- After the war he continued his occupation as a seaman.
- William Frank Jaks from the Kovno (Kaunas) in Lithuania area stated he was of Polish origin. He came to Australia in 1914 and worked as a carpenter and cabinet maker.
- He enlisted in the AIF in Adelaide and served with the 5th Pioneer Battalion on the Western Front. In September 1918 he was severely wounded at the Hindenburg Line.
- After the war he worked as a French polisher and upholsterer in country New South Wales and Sydney. In the mid-1930s he moved to Canberra, where he married an Australian woman, Madeline Mary Elliott.
- Frans Oscar Fredrikson from Aland in Finland came to Australia in 1898 and worked as a fisherman and labourer in Western Australia.
- He served with the 16th Battalion on the Western Front. In April 1917, at the Battle for Bullecourt, he was taken POW. After the Armistice he was returned to Australia.
- After the war he married an Australian girl, Annie Magdalena Forsyth, and lived with his family in Fremantle working as a labourer. In 1940 he died in a traffic accident.
Halona, Maunula, Drachuk, Haiff, Gensberg
- Mikael Halona from Helsingfors (Helsinki) in Finland enlisted in the AIF in Rockhampton.
- He served with the 4th Pioneer Battalion on the Western Front. In August 1917 he was killed by a shell.
- George Jeremias Maunula, a Finnish seaman from Helsingfors, came to Australia in 1914 and worked on railway construction in Queensland. He enlisted in the AIF together with Halona in Rockhampton.
- He served with the 52nd Battalion on the Western Front. In September 1917 he was wounded in the neck at the battle for Polygon Wood near Ypres. In April 1918 he was gassed at Dernancourt.
- After the war he worked as a labourer in Queensland, later moving to Newcastle where he lived in the Diggers’ Camp on Hall Street.
- Paul Drachuk, a Russianised Moldovian from Kishinev, served as a wireless operator during the Russo-Japanese war and stayed in Harbin after that. He married there and had a daughter. In 1915 he came to Australia and enlisted four months later.
- He served in the 1st Wireless Squadron in India, where he fell seriously ill. After a letter criticising the AIF in India from Drachuk to his friend Grigory Shilov was intercepted by the censor, he was sent back to Australia.
- In 1921 Drachuk returned to Soviet Russia, soon followed by Shilov, who was arrested and served his sentence on the White Sea Canal construction project. Drachuk settled in Moscow and worked as an economist. He married Olga Baranovskaia in 1923 and their daughter Rimma preserved his AIF diary.
- Saul Haiff, a Jewish man from Odessa, came to Perth in 1909; two years later he moved to Sydney working as a tailor.
- His first attempt to enlist in the AIF in February 1916 was unsuccessful, but he was accepted two months later. He served with the 53rd Battalion on the Western Front.
- After the war he married an Australian woman, Yente (Jeanette) Pelmothe, and lived in Sydney working as a tailor.
- Jacob Gensberg, a Jewish man from Riga, came to Australia in 1894 after four years in London; he settled in Melbourne working as a bootmaker and then as a fruiterer. He was married and had a family. His son Alfred served in the AIF.
- By the time of his enlistment in the AIF he was nearly 45, but he was accepted and sailed to the Western Front with the 23rd Battalion. When he got sick soon after arrival he was transferred to work in the Australian Veterinary Hospital.
- After the war he lived in Melbourne, working as fruiterer, later moving to Reid’s Flat where he kept a hotel.
March-April 1916 enlistees without service records
- Waldermer Ende, a Latvian seaman from Riga, came to Australia in January 1916 and enlisted in the AIF two months later in Sydney. Most likely he continued working on the ships after his discharge.
- P. Kartnoff enlisted in the AIF in Victoria. No further data was found.
- A. Mackinson enlisted in New South Wales.
- August Einar Ronn, a Finnish seaman from Helsingfors, enlisted in the AIF in NSW. Obviously his service was brief as he was registered as an alien in Western Australia and continued seafaring.
- Solomon Rosenberg, a Jewish man from Kamenets-Podolsk in Ukraine or Brest in Belarus, left Russia in 1898 with his parents as a child. He lived in Scotland and Argentina. In 1912 he came to Australia and settled in Sydney working as a wood carver. In 1914 he married Esther Finkelstein. He enlisted in Sydney, but his service obviously did not last long.
- A.S. Islin enlisted in the AIF in NSW. No further data was found.
- Victor Neborotchko was a Ukrainian seaman from Odessa. He enlisted in NSW and after a short service worked as a fireman and a wiper on American and British ships.
- William Allias, an Estonian seaman, enlisted in the AIF in NSW. He did not serve long and in 1917 came to San Francisco in the USA, where he tried to enlist in the army twice: in WWI and WWII.
- John Grzybala was born in the Austrian part of Poland and came to Australia in 1911 as a seaman. He enlisted in the AIF in Sydney as a Russian subject, but was discharged soon. After the war he lived in Sydney.
- P. Kilpman enlisted in the AIF in NSW. No other data available.
Benson, Saarijarvi, Nummelin, Friman, Rantman
- Henry Benson, a Finnish seaman from Mariehamn, enlisted in the AIF in Melbourne.
- He served with the 2nd Pioneer Battalion on the Western Front until he got sick and was returned to Australia.
- His destiny after the war remains unknown.
- Adolf Saarijarvi, a Finn from Orivesi, came to Australia in 1902 and worked as a labourer and selector in South Gippsland and Chinchilla.
- Enlisting in the AIF in Toowoomba, he served with the 4th Pioneer Battalion on the Western Front. He was awarded the Military Medal for courage and ‘presence of mind’ at the battle of Dernancourt in April 1918. In August 1918, at the Amiens advance, he was wounded in the arm.
- While in hospital in England, he met and married a Finnish woman, Anna Janne Tuomisto, but his heath remained poor and a month later he died of flu, meningitis and wound complications with his new wife by his side. After the war she moved to Queensland.
- Karl William Nummelin, a Finnish seaman from Abo (Turku), enlisted in the AIF in Cootamundra.
- He served with the 17th Battalion on the Western Front. In May 1917 he was wounded in the head at Bullecourt; four months later he was wounded in his side at Mennin Road near Ypres; for the third time he was wounded at Perrone in August 1918, but returned to his battalion and served to the very end of the war.
- After the war he moved to San Francisco and continued working on the ships as a carpenter. During WWII he tried to enlist in the American army.
- Nikolas Anders Friman, also from Abo, came to Western Australia in 1913 and worked as a miner and engineer.
- He enlisted in the AIF in Perth, but was discharged for misbehaviour.
- After the war he married an Australian woman, Jessie, and worked as an engine driver and foreman. During WWII he he served in the Volunteer Defence Corps.
- Jakov Robert Rantman, a seaman from Estonia, enlisted in the AIF in Melbourne.
- He served with the 24th Battalion on the Western Front. In October 1917 he was killed at Broodseinde near Ypres.
Troyle, Tchorzewski, Brynkeveh, Wineberg, Mekenass
- Konrat Jank Troyle, from Abo (Turku) in Finland, came to Australia probably as a seaman and worked in Western Australia as a farmhand.
- He served with the 16th Battalion on the Western Front. Two months after arrival he was captured as a prisoner of war at the battle for Riencourt. He survived for sixteen months in German camps, but died from influenza in October 1918.
- George Marion Tchorzewski, a Pole from Ukraine, came to Australia in 1882 as a child with his parents. His father was sugar-cane farming in the Bundaberg area.
- Enlisting in the AIF, George arrived with the 52nd Battalion in England, but got sick and was returned to Australia.
- After the war he married a Ukrainian woman, Polly Sakaranko, and continued farming in the Bundaberg area.
- Hypolit Brynkeveh, a Polish man from Lodz, worked in Australia as a cotton worker and miner.
- He served with the 45th Battalion on the Western Front, attaining the rank of Lance Corporal. In June 1918 he was wounded in the head, but recovered and returned to his battalion.
- After the war he worked on the ships as a greaser; in 1921 he married an Australian girl, Eva Kay. Soon after that he disappears from the records; he probably left Australia.
- Harry Wineberg, a Jewish man from Warsaw in Poland, came to Australia in 1900 and worked as a jeweller in Western Australia. He was married to an Australian woman, Sarah Shineberg.
- He served with the 16th Battalion on the Western Front. In August 1916 he was wounded at Mouquet Farm and returned to Australia.
- After the war he moved with his family in Sydney, where he worked as a salesman.
- Alfred Joseph Mekenass (he served as Makeness), a Lithuanian from Panevežys, came to Australia in 1912 and worked as a labourer and gang overseer.
- He enlisted in the AIF in Newcastle and sailed with the 1st Pioneer Battalion to the Western Front, but while in Egypt was diagnosed with blindness and returned to Australia as medically unfit.
- He married an Australian girl, Linda Irene Coward, in 1917 and lived in Hexham working as a rigger. In 1925 he was injured in an accident at work and died in hospital.
Peekman, Ronlund, Paulin, Limwerk, Averkoff
- Edward Henry Peekman from Turboneme in Estonia came to Australia as a seaman in 1909, worked on ships and was engaged in farming.
- Enlisting in the AIF in Adelaide, he served with the 5th Pioneer Battalion on the Western Front.
- After the war the worked as a labourer at the stations in Victoria; in 1936 he moved to Sydney, where he worked as a carpenter.
- Arthur Nicholas Ronlund from Finland came to Australia in 1900 with his parents, who were followers of Matti Kurikka’s colonisation venture; they were farming in Cooroy in Queensland.
- Arthur served with the 15th Battalion on the Western Front. In April 1917 he was wounded in the knee and taken as a POW by the Germans at Bullecourt. After the end of the war he was repatriated to Australia.
- After the war he married an Australian girl, Ada Ellen Gohdes, and worked as a police constable in Queensland.
- Karl Fritz Paulin from Vindava (Ventspils) in Latvia was a boatswain in mercantile marine. He came to Australia in 1905 and was based in Newcastle.
- He served with the 34th Battalion on the Western Front, attaining the rank of Corporal. He was awarded the Military Medal for his conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in Battle of Ypres in October 1917, when he worked as a stretcher bearer.
- After the war he married an Australian girl, Nora Geraghty, and lived in Sydney working as a carpenter.
- August Limwerk from Revel (Tallinn) in Estonia, although he sometimes provided his place of birth as Riga, came to Australia in 1914 as a seaman, leaving his wife and child in Estonia. He also had the trade of an electrical engineer.
- He enlisted in the AIF in Perth, but was discharged five months later as medically unfit.
- He continued seafaring and died in 1920.
- William George Averkoff came to Australia in 1910 with his family when he was twelve. They took up cane-farming near Innisfail. In 1915 his father died in an accident. To help his family – he had five younger siblings –William started to master the trade of bookbinder.
- In March 1916, putting his age up, he enlisted in the AIF. He came to the Western Front with 47th Battalion and was killed at Messines, his first major battle in June 1917.
- William’s mother, Anna Averkoff, raised the entire family after his death, and three of his younger brothers served in the 2nd AIF.
Maximenko, Olin, Salonen, Abolin, Haritonoff
- Efim Maximenko was probably a Ukrainian, although he did not provide any place of birth but ‘Russia’. He came to Australia in about 1909 and worked as an engineer fitter living in Sydney. In 1915 he married an Australian girl, Cora Petterson.
He served with the 9th Field Company Engineers on the Western Front. In June 1917 he was wounded in the abdomen at Messines and died of wounds.
His widow commemorated his name in the newspaper advertisements.
- Axel Alexander Olin, a Finnish seaman from Abo (Turku), was naturalised in New Zealand in 1908 and, by the time of his enlistment in the AIF, worked with his brother in Murrumbeena in Victoria.
He served with the 39th Battalion on the Western Front and attained the rank of sergeant. For his courage and devotion to duty during the battle for Passchendaele in October 1917, he was awarded the Military Medal. He received it a few weeks before he was killed at Ploegsteert in February 1918.
- Usko Leonard Salonen, another Finnish seaman from Abo, was Olin’s cousin. He came to Australia in about 1905. They both were members of the Freemasons’ Lodge in Dunedin in New Zealand.
Salonen enlisted in the AIF together with Olin and served together with him in the 39th Battalion. In January 1917 he was wounded but rejoined his battalion; In June 1917, at Messines, he was killed in action.
- Peter Abolin, a seaman from Riga, came to Australia in 1915.
He served with the 39th Battalion on the Western Front with Olin and Salonen.
After the war he married an Australian woman, Amelia Selina Rayner, and lived in Sydney, working on the waterfront.
- Peter Haritonoff gave his birthplace as St Petersburg, but he was probably from Kaluga. He came to Australia as a seaman, having the profession of an electrical engineer.
He enlisted in the AIF with Abolin, but was later transferred to the 8th Battalion. In 1917 he was returned to Australia as medically unfit.
He disappears from the Australian records after the war; he probably sailed overseas, continuing his occupation.