Warfare British Winter War volunteers

mineman65

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British volunteers for Finnish Army were known as Group Sisu. Unfortunately group was formed a bit too late and they did't make it to the frontline to fight russians before Winter War ended. Gesture of these men was however appreciated and they were awhile in Finland. Last ones left Finland (28th Jun 1941) just few weeks before UK broke diplomatic relations with Finland in August 1941 because of Finlands alliance with Germany. UK declared war against Finland 6th Dec 1941. There were no battles between Finns and British during WWII.


List of Group Sisu volunteers:

After each name is civilian profession, rank if higher than private, year of birth and country of birth if not UK

(If you find profession which sound odd, please inform me and i'll replace it with correct one. These are my translations from finnish terms)

Enlisted in London:

Aitken-Quack, Richard Welford, accountant, Second Lieutenant, 1913
Alexander, Robert, miner, 1909
Apostolides, John Graham, teacher, 1917, India
Archer-Shee, Richard Martin, Lance Corporal, 1907
Armstrong, Kenneth, laundry manager, Lieutenant, 1915
Arter, Douglas William, gunsmith, 1920
Asling, John, soldier, Warrant Officer, 1905
Atkinson, George Arnold Stanley, architect, 1906
Averill, Charles Rochford, chemist, 1905
Babbs, Thomas Edward Harvey, sales agent, 1922
Barton, David, engineer, 1903
Bath, Charles Percival "Sauna", carpenter, 1907
Baxter, Montague Frank, 1915
Beest, Vivian Henry van, cook, 1821?! (perhaps 1921)
Bishop, Victor Charles, worker, 1906
Blew-Jones, Douglas Holden, soldier, 1894
Boddam-Whetham, Hugh Alexander, 1890
Boselli, Emanuele L, student, 1915, Italy
Boswell, Robert William Douglas, mine representative, 1912
Bowhay-Saunders, Leonard George, tailor, 1913
Bowman, Jake, 1898, Australia
Brabbs, James, clerk, 1920
Bradley, Albert George, packer, 1902
Bristow, Harry Corby, radiotechnician, Lance Corporal, 1907
Broad, Peter James, male servant, 1918
Brooke, Justin "Gus", student, 1920
Brown, Eric Heywood, engineer, Corporal, 1916, Australia
Budd, Frederick George, law firm official, 1909
Budden, Ronald Charles, clerk, 1909
Bullen, Charles John Stephen, worker, 1909
Burch, Russell Ward, electric engineer, 1908
Butler, Alexander Hugh Ormonde, student, 1920, India
Butt, Montague Robert, farmer, Staff Sergeant, 1915
Byrne, Thomas William, clerk, 1915
Carrick, Bernard Frederick, sales agent, 1908
Carwithen, George Edward Terry, 1908
Casey, John, baker, Lance Corporal, 1911, Ireland
Challenger, Andrew Latimer, masseur, 1907
Chalmers, Edward Costello "Jock", sailor, 1906
Chandor, Hugo Henry, farmer, Major, 1895
Clark, Edwin Alfred, gardener, 1911
Commins, Patrick Francis "Paddy", telephone repair man, Staff Sergeant, 1897, Ireland
Connolly, Henry, miner, Corporal, 1913
Cook, Walter W. Charles, 1888
Cooper, Peter John "Wolf", motormechanic, 1916
Coughlan, James, driver, 1911, Ireland
Cumberlege, Francis Charles Ray, motorbiker, 1898
d'Abo, Terence Darwin Nicolai, stock exchange official, 1916
Dalton, Denis Neale, pilot, 1918
Daly, William Francis "Liam", plummer, 1915, Ireland
Davey, John, kitchen assistant, 1909
Davidsen, S.A., interpreter, Scandinavia
De Burgh-Thomas, Hubert Patrick, 1916
De Liguori, Prince Alphonse, 1896, Italy
Demore, Rene Roland Raymond, metalworker, 1911
Dixon, Albert Herbert Fryer "Bob", farmer, 1909
Dixon, Raymond, pilot, 1914
Doese, Donald William, bank official, 1909
Dunlop, John Bonar, sculptor, 1916, New Zealand
Dunne, John Brendan, 1917, Ireland
Duprez, Charles Edward Manhattan, 1917
Dutson, Fred, 1913
Easton, Arthur Leonard, boxer, 1916
Elliott, John, journalist, Second Lieutenant, 1901
Ellis, Charles Alfred Pascoe, 1914
Evans, Esmond Victor, gardener, 1900
Evans, Howard Geoffrey "Sh*tty", Lance Corporal, 1908
Evans, Sidney Harold (later sir Harold), journalist, 1911
Farragut, Peter Macalister, 1913
Fitzgerald, Desmond Maurice Bingham, actor, 1914
Fleming, John, 1908
Forbes, Alastair Cameron, 1918
Ford, George, bartender, 1918
Ford, John Henry, 1913
Francis, Frederick Robert, Staff Sergeant, 1895
Fraser, Arthur Herbert, 1898
Geddes, Jack Fitzgerald, former naval officer, 1916
Gee, Howard Valentine, 1913
Gilhespie, George, Lance Corporal, 1906
Glyn, John St. George, medical student, 1916, South-Africa
Golby, Jack Reginald "Popeye", builder, Corporal, 1903
Gooderham, Gordon, clerk, 1912
Gordon, Vincent Anthony, alias Gorgone, 1913
Graham, Edward Manuel, pilot, 1914, Russia
Graham, John Murray "Jock", mining engineer, Lance Corporal, 1895
Grant, Charles John Patrick, soldier and lecturer, 1880, India
Green, Bernard Cyril Hicks "Hicks Green", golf professional, 1915
Green, Walter, 1905
Griffin, James Arthur, 1908
Guthrie, Duncan Dunbar, actor, Lieutenant, 1911
Haddleton, Stanley Cyril Joseph, airplane mechanic, 1906
Hallett, Arthur Walter Henry, roof tiler, 1910
Harrison, Montague Philip Everson, pilot, 1898
Hartman, John Victor, public relations director, 1910
Haywood, Ronald Edward "Spit", carriage maker, 1914
Henderson, Arthur, 1912
Henley, Ivor James, worker, 1908
Herford, Martin Edward Meakin, medical doctor, Lieutenant, 1909, Switzerland
Herring, Frederick William,, hairdresser, 1914
Heteren, Kurt Willibald Tambuza van, engineer, 1909, South-Africa
Hignell, Ronald, mason, 1915
Hill, Frank, engineer, 1912
Hill, Marie Charles Antoine Thomas "Tom", horse trainer, 1903, Ireland
Hole, Arthur Robert "Jimmy", drug merchant, 1916
Holley, Charles Edward, worker, 1910
Holliday, William Cuthbert "Bill", engineer, 1913
Holtom, Robert Frederick, fireman, 1915
Hopkinson, Thomas Gordon, secretary, 1911
Howard, Hon. Hubert John Edward Dominic, Sergeant, 1904, USA
Humphries, Henry Arthur, building contractor, 1896
Ilbury, Frederick, electrician, 1908
Ingarfield, Leonard, 1915
Jackson, Norman, police, 1915
Jarrett, Francis Alfred "Lulu", miner, 1912
Johns, Ronald Wilby, engine draughtsman, 1914 Australia
Johnstone, Reginald Hugh, 1895
Jones, Sidney, 1900
Jones, William Christopher, hotel porter, 1905
Joyce, Joseph, M.C., Captain, 1887
Keen, Peter Herbert (James), stage master, 1914
Kenworthy, Reginald Watson, test pilot, 1896
Kilgour, John, engineer, 1913
Kilpin, George, 1910, died in Savonlinna, Finland 1940
Kingcote, Gordon Henry, 1884
Kuss, Gerald Valentine, truck driver, 1920, Ireland
Lace, Alfred Clucas "Tom", race-driver, Captain, 1897
Lansdowne, William Ewart, milk merchant, 1905
Lavey, Charles Edward, 1905
Law, Robert Galbraith "Bobby", dentist, 1901
Leith, John Nicholas von der, 1896, USA
Le Mee-Power, Colin Adrian Cowper, 1910
Lenox-Conyngham, James Desmond, secretary, 1905
Loureiro, E.P., Portugal
Lowe, William Henry, 1901
Lucey, Denis "Paddy", worker, 1915
Lyons, Harold Bruce, transport company owner, 1918
McGee, Patrick Conleth "Paddy", journalist, 1914
McKay, Alexander, technician, Staff Sergeant, 1897, Australia
McKibbin, Leonard George, advertisement artist, 1906
McKibbin, Russell, gym instructor, Lance Corporal, 1912
Mackie, Douglas, architect, 1889
McMullin, Michael Anthony, 1913, Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
McNally, Daniel, worker, 1910, Ireland
McNeil, Edward Gouding, cook, Corporal, 1913
Mallowan, Cecil Frederick Hubert, teacher, 1907
Martin, Edward "The Baron", hairdresser, 1914
Maund, Eric George, machine engineer, Lieutenant, 1911
Medlicott, John Irvine, clerk, 1914
Millington-Hogg, Godfrey William, horse trainer, 1919
Montague, John Cook, production engineer, 1913
Moore, Charles, cook's mate, 1912, Ireland
Munday, John Henry, 1910
Munro, Neil, student, 1922
Neumark, Otto Walter, student, 1821?! (perhaps 1921) Tschechoslovakia
Nicholls, William George, medic, Staff Sergeant, 1908
Nightingale, Christopher Carnac, 1913
Ninnis, Robert Douglas Kiallmark, chief of police (India), Corporal, 1897
Nurk, Karl, game keeper, Lieutenant, 1904, Estonia
Olivo, Salvator Antonio, soldier, 1910
Owbridge, Giles W.G., ski instructor, 1921
Parker, George Albert "Boston", truck driver's mate, 1913
Patterson, Bruce Tyrrell, student, 1921
Pearce, James Townsend, farmer, 1903
Pearson, Dennis Frederick Alfred, 1907
Perowne, Leonard William, bus driver, 1910
Pershke, Ifor Frederick, accountant, 1915
Phelps, Jack George, "Lofty", worker, 1914
Phillips, Thomas, mechanic, 1904
Philpott, Guy, 1903
Pooke, Reginald Sidney Bertram, cheese master, Staff Sergeant, 1907
Porte, Laurence, mechanic, 1912
Prince, Harry, plummer, 1911
Pryse, David edward Jones, secretary, 1895
Punshon, Percy Killingworth "Punch", trchnician, 1910, Canada
Purves, Erith Marshall "Eric", actor, Lance Corporal, 1919, India
Rankin, John McK., insurance agent, 1910
Rattigan, William Douglas Clive, accountant, Corporal, 1908
Read, John Edwar Thesiger "Phyllis", farmer, 1912, Canada
Reed, Charles Thomas Michael, ambulance nurse, 1913
Reynolds, Sylvanus Brian John "Brian", Lance Corporal, 1908
Roberts, Charles Dennis, warehouse manager, Corporal, 1908
Roberts, Reginald Alexander, 1904
Roome, Donald "Darkie", mason, 1905
Roosevelt, Kermit, soldier, Colonel, stayed in London, 1889, USA
Roper, Charles William, carpenter, 1920
Ruck-Keene, William Edmund, lawyer, Second Lieutenant, 1912
Ryder, Richard Dudley "Dick", accountant, Staff Sergeant, 1904
Sandbach, Jack, 1909
Scott, Arnot Hercules Wilmot, soldier, Lieutenant, 1892, Hong Kong
Scott, Nigel William Guthrie, export merchant, 1912
Seccombe, Patrick John, 1915
Seilerne, Antoine, 1901
Seyler, Paul Clifford, sheep farmer, Staff Sergeant, 1914
Shaw-Kennedy, Hugh James, 1902
Sherry, Frederick James, drawer, 1913
Sinclair-Lockhart, Sir Graeme Duncan Power, Lieutenant, 1897
Smith, John, clerk, 1922
Smith, Mark Lindsay "Lindsay Smith", trade gardener, 1918, India
Smith, Sidney George Rubert "Trader Smith", farmer, 1917
Snodin, Maurice Raymond, lector, 1914
Snowden, John Stanley, courier, 1904
Stead, David Vere, Second Lieutenant, 1906, Australia
Stephenson, Thomas, 1912
Stuart-Menteth, Montagu, M.C. "Stuart", accountant, 1893
Summers, Richard John, airplane motor mechanic, 1906
Tawell, Roy Gifford, "Dick", farmer, 1906
Taylor, Harry Stuart, pilot, Lieutenant, 1918
Taylor, Hugh, hotel manager, 1899
Thompson, John Edward, hotel porter, 1905
Thompson, Leslie Robert "Les", newspaper deliveryman, 1914
Tierney, William Joseph, worker, 1918, Ireland
Tillbrook, William Harry, 1892
Tosh, William Henderson, soldier, 1900
Vernon, Stanley Harold, construction manager, 1910
Vessey, Roland, farmer, 1903
Walker, William Edward, clerk, 1911
Watkins, Harold, dental techician, 1915
Watson, William Arthur Capron, horse trainer, 1903
Waugh, Albert Henry, hotel owner, 1883
Way, Robert edward, horse trainer, 1918, South-Africa
Weaver, Denis Robert, airplane engineer, 1916
Wellmon, Malcom Harry, pilot, 1911
White, Albert Edward Barkham, hospital financial manager, 1916
Williams, Bernard James A., hairdresser, 1913
Winter, Sir Ormonde de L'Epee, retired Brigadier General, 1875
Woodburn, Alfred Basil Brailsford "Basil", transport (logistic) manager, Lance Corporal, 1911
Young, Leslie Edward, 1919, Canada
Zipfel, Frederick Leon, private secretary, 1914

Enlisted in Lapua, Finland:

Bamford, Ernest Ludvig, travel guide, 1902, Russia
Beck, James Cyril, student, 1920, Finland
Eager, Richard Albert, interpreter, 1891
Gaster, Benjamin Herman, Sergeant
Hancock, John, Finland
Hancock, Robert, advertisement artist, 1912, Finland
Hancock, William, journalist, 1920, Finland
Hitching, John Joseph Jack O'Brien, journalist, Captain, 1890
Johnson, John William Edgar, accountant, 1915
2 unknown men born in Russia 1909 and 1913

Enlisted in Canada:

Hall, Samuel John, Canada
Hellenius, Rolf August, fur hunter and ore digger, 1907, Finland
Walker, John Sidney "Johnnie", Warrant Officer, 1893, Canada
Waller, Edward Bloomfield, pilot, Captain, Canada
 
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Quite a collection there, Mineman! Something I never knew anything about. Kermit Roosevelt - was he related to THE Roosevelt's? I think Theodore Roosevelt's wife had a 'Kermit' in her name somewhere?

Did these volunteers ever suffer any discipline/reprisals by UK authorities?
 
Kermit Roosevelt could have been the son of Theodore Roosevelt, at least they have same year of birth. I have no knowledge of any disciplinary actions by UK authorities and i don't believe there were any reason for it, because Soviet Union and UK were not allies yet when they came to Finland.
 
Yeah, I suppose they were really there to help the Finns fight Communism, rather than ally themselves with the Nazis.
 
One of the most famous early battles of the Winter War occurred at Suomussalmi during December, 1939. The Russian 44th Division advanced along the Raate Road from the south and the 163rd Russian Division advanced from Juntusranta from the North. They were supposed to link up at Suomussalmi and then head West across Finland to Oulu and cut the country in half. Russian troop strength totaled 48,000 men, 335 cannon, 100 tanks and 50 armored cars. The Finnish defenders reinforced from a few thousand now numbered 17,000 with 11 cannons under the command of Colonel Hjalmar Siilasvuo; his only hope was to defeat the Russians in detail. And he did.
 
Re: British Volunteers in Finland

Good Day Gentlemen!
This is my first posting after I ran across this list sent in from Finland on British voluteers. I just recently interviewed one of these veterans and his name is Godfrey Millington Hogg. Into his 80's and living at SunnyBrook hospital Veterans wing he is still in good spirits I had previously met him at one of my military displays 9 years previous.
Godfrey's parents had emigrated from England to Canada in 1925 when he was 6 years old. His father was a cavalryman and had taken a position at a prestigous college north of Toronto as Riding master .
In 1939 Godfrey went back to England to seek employment when the Winter War started in Finland on Nov 30th of that year. A volunteer unit was formed in England and being young and full of adventure off he went. He wound up in Helsinki and after a period of waiting for an assignment was put into the airforce air gunnery training program. He had put in a number of flights on the Fokker CX biplanes as a gunner in training when the war ended in March of 1940. He lived in Finland and worked for a woman tending her horses. Then the Finnish government approached all the volunteers still in Finland and informed them that there were warming of relations between Germany and Finland. As a result the Finnish government moved all foreign nationals whose governments were at war with Germany to safe third countries and in particular Sweden. Godfrey took a train to Filostad Sweden and was in Sweden well into 1942 when he was able to get on a diplomatic flight to England. He was lucky as the previous flight had been shot down.
He wound up in the 50th division 3rd armoured brigade and saw action in Sicily then to northern Italy where he was put on a tank ship to Marseille France , then Isigum(?) Belgium where they were given new shermans with 76mm guns and then onto Ehmden Germany. There is more to the story but I am keeping this short.

An interesting person and quite an adventurer .I must say I have been lucky to meet such a person as Godfrey Millington-Hogg . I believe he is the last remaining volunteer from Canada of English parentage to have served in Finland . Regards Tero Tuononen Toronto Canada
 
Hi Tero and welcome to our site. :)
Thats a very interesting story and has given the list of volunteers some substance. It seems Godfrey was indeed an adventurer and I envy you being able to speak with him.
Our resident expert on this subject mineman65 will be very interested in this information also.
army;
 
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Hi T Tuononen, nice to read that.

as we get older a lot of these incidents are being forgotten, I for one didn't know about this part of the war, but thanks to people like Mineman and yourself i now know.
 
Great info my friend, many thanks. It's good to hear of veterans who lived through so much and went on to have long and happy lives. Here's to them! sal;
 
Bobby Galbraith Law

I am researching this person for his son, who never knew him because the parents divorced. He is in the list of people who went to Finland, and we wonder if he lived there afterwards.
 
Bob Galbraith Law

The book entitled The Volunteers by Justin Brooke state only that Bob or "Bobby" was a Dentist and born in 1901. I will see if there is anything further to his career in Finland. They would have some records on him and when he left back to England etc. Unfortunately I do not have access to those from here. Regards Tero T Toronto Canada
 
British volunteer

My father, John Henry Terry Ford, was one of the volunteers who joined up in London. He was also one of the 13 who didn't return with the rest and was captured by the Gestapo in Oslo in April 1940. They weren't shot at dawn as believed but were taken as POW's to Wulzberg. He was then moved to Tost and then Stalag 7 before escaping in early 1945. I am trying to find out how he bacame a volunteer as he was discharged from the army (Royal Hussars) on 18th November 1937. I don't know what he did between 1937 and 1939.
 
Group Sisu

Thank you for the list of volunteers, Mineman. It includes the name of my late father-in-law, Patrick John Seccombe, 1915, who was captured by the Germans in Oslo and spent the rest of WW2 as a PoW (acting as a camp doctor because he had been a medical student before volunteering). After the war he joined the British Council and his last overseas posting was in Finland where he received a very warm welcome because of having served in Group Sisu.
 
Hi everyone, I've come back to this thread a bit late in the day so I hope it's still active.
I've just returned from Sweden where I've been researching the history of my wife's father, Peter Cooper, who was one of the volunteers (incidentally, he was actually born in 1922 and lied about his age in order to sign up). Peter was eventually interned in Malung, Sweden where he met my wife's mother; they later married in Stockholm and settled in England.
Whilst in Malung, Peter worked at a local logging camp in a place called Arvselen, alongside two men called Humphries and Maund (also listed above). Humphries and Maund later disappeared and it was believed that they might have tried to make their way back to England through Norway. On this visit, I came across new information which may support that belief and would like to find out if either man still has living relatives so that I can share it with them. The information still needs to be verified but I thought it important to share as soon as possible.
One thing I haven't been able to find out though is how Peter earned the nickname 'Wolf', I have a copy of Justin Brooke's book 'The Volunteers' but this doesn't elaborate.

image.jpeg
 
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Excellent first post @Grandy and welcome to MI.Net
Thanks for sharing this information about Peter and his pals, I am sure somebody doing similar research will find it useful.
All threads remain active here mate and feel free to resurrect any that interest you.
 
Hi
I am doing some research for a friend on Charles Rochford Averill who was one of the British volunteers. He wrote a short memoir before he died which states that he was captured in Oslo on 12 April 1940 on his way back from Finland. He was a POW for 1742 days. He finally escaped from a camp in Krutzburg in January 1945. Can you advise where I might find any POW records or is that being completely unrealistic? Many thanks
 

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