6 April 2026Admin1 min read
This collection brings together excerpts from letters written by Soviet military personnel who found themselves on British soil during the Second World War. The letters, sourced from family archives and the Russian State Military Archive (RGVA), reveal the everyday concerns, homesickness, and observations of men and women far from the Eastern Front.
One recurring theme is the surprise many Soviet servicemen expressed at British daily life — the availability of tea, the politeness of civilians, and the strange weather. A letter from a sailor stationed near Liverpool in 1943 describes his amazement at seeing British women working in factories: "They do the same work as our women, yet they have never known the sound of shells overhead."
Another letter, written by a tank crew member passing through Scotland en route to collect Lend-Lease equipment, describes the Scottish highlands: "The mountains here are soft and green, nothing like the Urals. But the cold wind reminds me of home."
Several letters discuss the complicated emotions of receiving Lend-Lease supplies. One officer writes: "We are grateful for the Matilda tanks, though the men joke that they handle like pregnant cows on the muddy roads of Smolensk."
The collection also includes a poignant farewell letter from a naval officer who was killed in a convoy attack in 1944. His letter, posted from a British port, was the last communication his family received.
These letters, many published here for the first time in English translation, provide a deeply human perspective on the Anglo-Soviet wartime alliance.
