9 May 2025
Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery — Three Soviet Soldiers, 1945
Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery in North Yorkshire — predominantly a RAF aircrew burial site — holds three Soviet soldiers buried in 1945: Kapalil, Ustinov, and Kolishev.
Central London
Arctic Convoys — The UK-Soviet Alliance at Sea 1941–1945
Арктические конвои — британско-советский морской союз 1941–1945
9 May 2024AdminCentral London
78 Allied convoys delivered 4 million tons of war supplies to Soviet ports between 1941 and 1945. 85 ships and over 3,000 lives were lost — including 153 in the PQ17 disaster alone.
Between August 1941 and May 1945, 78 Allied convoys (PQ/QP and JW/RA series) sailed from British and Icelandic ports to the Soviet Arctic ports of Murmansk and Archangel. Approximately 1,400 merchant vessels made the voyage, delivering around 4 million tons of war materiel including 5,000 tanks and 7,000 aircraft to support the Soviet war effort.
The human and material cost was immense. 85 Allied ships were lost, along with 16 Royal Navy warships. The worst single disaster occurred on 4 July 1942, when the Admiralty ordered Convoy PQ17 to scatter. Left unprotected, 24 of its 35 merchant ships were sunk by German U-boats and aircraft over the following days — 153 merchant seamen were killed and nearly 430 tanks, 210 aircraft, and 3,350 vehicles destined for the Soviet Union were lost.
The Arctic Convoys are commemorated in the UK at Liverpool and elsewhere, reflecting the vital contribution of Allied merchant and naval sailors to the defeat of Nazi Germany on the Eastern Front.
