a training battalion at Codford, and on 23 March he was promoted to acting corporal, and employed as a camp orderly room corporal. He was keen for a tour of active duty with the North Russia Relief Force (NRRF) as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. This intervention had begun after the Bolsheviks had overthrown the Russian government and made peace with the Central Powers in 1917. Allied troops had become involved in the ongoing civil war, and after the Armistice in November 1918, their involvement continued, albeit with poorly defined objectives. In March 1919, the NRRF was conceived to intervene against the Bolsheviks and create a situation where the original force could be withdrawn. Although no Australian contingent was being sent with the NRRF, it was recruiting amongst Australians then in the UK, and a recruiting officer visited Codford in April. Sullivan was attracted by the high pay and potential for adventure. The Australian government limited recruitment to single Australians who were willing to forgo their right to repatriation. Sullivan was discharged from the AIF on 28 May 1919, and enlisted in the British Army on the same day as a corporal. The NRRF was an 8,000-strong force of two brigades that included about 150 Australians who had been awaiting repatriation from the UK. Sullivan was allotted to the 45th Battalion, the Royal Fusiliers (45th RF), part of the NRRF brigade commanded by Brigadier General Lionel Sadleir-Jackson. The Australians were permitted to continue wearing the Australian uniform, and wore the NRRF colour patch on their sleeve. The commanding officer of the 45th RF was Lieutenant Colonel Charles Davies, an Australian who had commanded the 32nd Battalion on the Western Front. Sullivan and the other Australians went into camp at Sandling in Kent where they prepared for their deployment. The Australians who volunteered for the NRRF were concentrated in two units: the 45th RF, and the 201st Company, Machine Gun Corps. Sullivan sailed directly from Leith to Russia with an advance party on board the cargo ship Steigerwald on 9 June, and, travelling via Murmansk, landed at Archangel on 20 June. A 50-man detachment of the advance party was almost immediately sent up the Dvina River by paddle steamer to the village of Pinega, where they stayed for five days, ostensibly to quell rioting, although they actually encountered no trouble. They returned downstream to the village