Painting gifted to Russian Arctic convoys museum

A PAINTING commissioned by an Angus veteran of the Second World War Arctic convoys has been presented to the Consul General of Russia and will be displayed in a St Petersburg museum.

Murray Haddow, 92, who lives in Monifieth, served on board the destroyer HMS Caprice during the perilous journeys which took supplies, including food and weapons, to the Russian people.

Mr Haddow was involved in six of the 78 convoys between August 1941 and May 1945 and he still has vivid memories of the treacherous journeys from Loch Ewe near Aultbea and Scapa Flow to Russia.

More than 3,000 British sailors and airmen died between 19411945 taking part in the convoys, a vital part of Churchill’s attempts to keep Stalin in the alliance against Hitler.

Today, Mr Haddow is one of just a few surviving veterans of the convoys, and has been honoured by the UK and Russian governments with the Arctic Star medal and Ushakov medal.

In 1999, a monument to those who lost their lives was unveiled at Cove in Wester Ross. Mr Haddow commissioned a painting of it which has now been presented to the Consul General of Russia, Andrey Pritsipov (pictured).

The painting will be exhibited at the new Museum of the History of the Arctic Convoys at St Petersburg’s Admiral Makarov State University.

The Consul General said: “The brotherhood i n arms forged between our nations stands as an indispensable chapter of our shared and proud past. We are most grateful for this work of art.”