His life reads like a Boy's Own Adventure story. "The extraordinary story of a British First World War captain who became an unlikely cult hero as he fought the communist Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War has come to light after his medals and photographs sold for £7,500. Captain William Richardson was flung into the conflict along with other Allied war veterans after troops were sent to Russia in support of the Imperial White Army in their civil war against the Bolsheviks in 1919. Many British forces, as well as troops from France, U.S and Japan, had been sent to join the fight against the Red Army in 1918 in a bid to re-establish the Eastern Front. The incredible collection of photographs documenting the Birmingham-born soldier's time in the conflict show him adopting the Russian military lifestyle wearing a traditional Russian hat and a large fur coat. Captain Richardson was lauded by the anti-communist Cossacks, who sometimes fought independently and sometimes as a faction of the White Army, and decorated him for his outstanding service to their cause. The war hero served in southern Russia and earned the respect of the locals for helping to train and equip their soldiers. When he died suddenly of pneumonia aged 37 in 1920 his death was mourned by the Cossacks and the residents of the area of the Black Sea port of Novo Rossisk he helped defend. His archive, which includes the Russian Imperial Order of St Anne and five photo albums containing images from his travels across the globe, sold at auction in London." www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8365447/Auction-reveals-story-British-WWI-captains-helped-White-Army-Russian-civil-war.html