HE CAME FROM SIBERIA
TO FIGHT

LANCE CORPORAL LESLIE ADRIAN DESPREZ

MIDDLESEX REGIMENT

16TH AUGUST 1917 AGE 28

BURIED: LIJSSENTHOEK MILITARY CEMETERY, BELGIUM


I can't tell you what Leslie Desprez was doing in Siberia but I think I can guess. Both his father, Philip Victor Desprez, and his older brother, Rene Victor Desprez, were commercial travellers so the chances are that Leslie Adrian Desprez was one too. The opening up of Siberia, following the building of the Trans-Siberian railway, presented huge commercial opportunities to the industrialised nations. It was seen a region of 'vast promise', a 'land of limitless possibilities', Russia's Canada. The British had been slow into the field and not only the Americans but the Germans, Austrians and Swedes were well ahead of the game during the first decade of the 20th Century. However, this is probably why Desprez was in Siberia when the war broke out.
Some men saw the outbreak of war as a commercial opportunity for Britain since, they argued, the Russians were not likely to want to do business with an enemy country. However, Desprez obviously didn't feel he could remain in the region to exploit this opportunity; he came home "to fight". He served with "D" Company, 2nd Battalion Middlesex Regiment and died of wounds in a casualty clearing station at Lijssenthoek on 16 August 1916. It's not possible to tell exactly when he was wounded but the battalion war diary summarises its August casualties as, "3 killed, 7 wounded, all privates", whereas among its July casualties were, "1 officer killed and 5 ORs killed, 3 corporals wounded and one lance corporal". That one lance corporal was probably Leslie Desprez, wounded when "D" Company were in the front line near Blangy between 27/28th and 30/31st July.