WW1: Unusual Tales from The Great War.

The second part on Dyer's Battalion. Russian men released from the prisons, trained by the Canadian, Royce Dyer, mutinied in July 1919. What happened and why? How did the British respond and what happened to the mutineers.

Short of men to achieve their strategic objectives in North Russia, the British under Gen. Ironside, sanction the recruitment of criminals from Russian prisons. What could possibly go wrong?

The extraordinary story of Col. Philip Woods appointed to command "The Royal Irish Karelians." wanting independence from the yoke of Imperial Russia.

The Royal Scots and The Green Howards. Conscripts 'for the duration', recovering wounded, unfit for France? Who were these men in late 1918 sent to an inhospitable land - as the war in the west was coming to an end . We hear from their journals.

Who were the men in command? Here we explore the background of the three Generals sent in 1918. The challenges they faced on arrival and the one that stood out as an exceptional officer through to WW2.

The Russian Revolution, collapse of their army in the East and the peace treaty with the Central Powers in March 1918 created huge problems for the Allies - potentially 1m Germans now free to fight in France. The response, a multinational 'intervention' with unclear and changing objectives.

I was 11 when Arthur Walton died in 1972 leaving a host of implausible stories about WW1 and Russia with his son-in-law and grandson; me.

This introduction explains how researching his tales led to finding many more forgotten and unusual stories, well away from the Western Front. This first series is on the Allied Intervention in Northern Russia.