A medal for the Arctic?

Abstract

Ever since the end of the Second World War men who served on ships, both naval and merchant, which were involved in the transport of war materials to north Russia between 1941 and 1945 have sought recognition for their service with an appropriate campaign medal. They have failed to achieve this through a complicated muddle of government policy, ignorance and cold-heartedness.

Supplying Russia during the Great War, 1914–1918

“…Reading Captain Richard Woodman's lament on the lack of an appropriate campaign medal for those serving in British ships involved in the transport of supplies to north Russia from 1941 to 1945 (Woodman 2007), I was reminded of their predecessors in the Great War of 1914 to 1918, when the timber port of Archangel, towards the mouth of the Dvina, together with Vladivostok, were Imperial Russia's only outlets to the sea. Captain R.F.…”