Courtesy of Mr. Boris V. Drashpil of Margate, Florida, 1986. Description: Catalog #: NH 101051
Russian Imperial Guard Troops landing at Feodosiya, Crimea, on April 13, 1919.
Caption: Part of the 105 members of the “White Russian” Imperial Guard ashore at Feodosiya on the Crimean peninsula on April 13, 1919, having just disembarked from the British Destroyer HMS TOBAGO (G61), which can be seen in the right background.
The men mentioned above were likely former Guards officers and NCOs assigned to the Russian Expeditionary Force sent to France by the Tsar in 1916. After the Russian revolution kicked the country out of the war, some formed what was termed the Russian Legion and remained fighting on the side of the Allies until the Armistice, after which they were landed by the Allies in the Crimea, with most electing to serve the anti-Bolshevik White army.
As for Tobago, she was a 273-foot Thornycroft S-class destroyer newly commissioned just six months before the above photo was taken. She spent her entire active career supporting the Whites in the south of Russia, helping to evacuate refugees and support General Shkuro’s cossacks in the Caucus, among others. She was later damaged by a mine 12 November 1920 in the Black Sea and paid off on 15 December as a constructive total loss.
