World War I Roll of Honour - The Clove Club Hackney Downs School

ARMOURED CARS IN RUSSIA
Incidents of 1917 Retreat
Quiet in manner, in years ‘twixt the forties and fifties, Commander F.W. Belt, D.S.O.,
R.N.V.R., stood on the second deck of the Niagara on Saturday morning as the steamer came alongside
(says the “Sydney Daily Telegraph” March 24 th ) He was dressed in naval uniform, and was coming
home to Adelaide, his native city, for a short stay.
When he began to narrate the thrilling experiences that have come his way since 1914 one felt
that here was a figure that a twentieth century Scott would have revelled in. To explain: Commander
Belt was attached to the British armoured car Section which played so prominent a part in the Russian
and Roumanian campaigns.
When 1914 was closing in Commander Belt was in London. There he heard the introductory
rumbles of the storm that burst on the world. He volunteered tom the Admiralty, and his services were
accepted.
An armoured section was being assembled, and in this Commander Belt went to France. In
those days of cold and death, when the Mons retreat came and faded into the past, and the turn of the
tide swung, the Adelaide man was, with other Australians, foremost in the fray. It was exciting then;
no trench warfare had supervened and life went merrily for those of fighting stock, and Commander
Belt was such a one. But the time came when opposing armies came to the trench deadlock. Then the
call from Russia went eastward. Things were not going well in the land of the Czars.
So the British Armoured Car Section, comprising 500 men and officers, 30 armoured cars, 65
transport cars, was sent to Russia, under the leadership of Commander Lockyer-Lampson. Commander
Belt was second in command. It was then winter. And what this means in Russia few who have not
been there in that season know.
ICE-BOUND
The party was ice-bound in the Kola Inlet for three months, and in the bitter cold of the Arctic
circle had to wait until the weather allowed a landing at Archangel. All that time the sun was not seen,
so it was with a pretty joyous feeling that the party, which included Lieutenants Gawler (grandson of
the second Governor of South Australia, Lefroy (son of the Premier of west Australia), Walford, and
Sholl (all Australians), landed at Archangel.
It was now May, 1916, and under the orders of the Grand Duke Nicholas the Britishers were
sent to the Caucasus to clear the Turks and Kurds from Lake Van, in Armenia. The terrible atrocities
against the Armenians were then in full swing, and very soon the armoured car men were hot on the
trail of the Turks and Kurds. The latter, at home on their wild horses, were alarmed at the swiftly
travelling cars, especially when within range, and so soon they fled. Then Commander Belt and a party
were sent to North-West Persia, whence they cleared the enemy. The bad roads made the work
dangerous, and in the darkness of this rugged region there were many narrow escapes. But all went
well. Not many men had been lost in all the campaigns up to then, and the party was in great spirit,
when orders came to transfer to the Roumanian side. Roumania had now thrown down the gage to
Germany, and Mackensen was marching on Bucharest.
Joining up with the Russians, the Britishers, with Commander Lockyer-Lampson at the head
and Commander Belt supporting, joined the armies in the Dobrudja. Then came anxious times,
culminating in the overthrow of the Roumanians and the entry into Bucharest of the enemy. In this
Dobrudja fighting Commander Belt was slightly wounded with a shell. The fighting was of the most
desperate character, and night and day assault and defence kept both sides awake. With the failure of
the Russians and Roumanians the British were transferred to Galatz, on the Danube where they spent
the winter of 1916-17.
THE RUSSIAN DISASTER
This spell was the prelude to the great storm of 1917, when Russia was plunged into the chaos
that ended in the mighty disaster now memorable to all students of the war. Fresh from brushes with
the Bulgarians, Germans and Turks in the picturesque Danube region, the armoured car enthusiasts
again did a quick change, and swung across into the van of the Russian armies. This was in July, 1917,
when Brussiloff launched his great offensive.