The war to end all wars people said in 1918. Not for long. By 1919 White Russians were fighting Bolshevik Reds for control of their country & Winston Churchill (then Secretary of State for War) wanted to see Communism strangled in its cradle. So a volunteer R.A.F. squadron flying Sopwith Camels went there to duff up the Reds. Theres a splendid little war going on a British staff officer told them. Youll like it. Looked like fun. But the war was neither splendid nor little. It was big & it was brutal a grim conflict of attrition marked by incompetence & corruption. Before it ended the squadron wished that both sides would lose. If that was a joke nobody was laughing.