Paul Tapken

Alias Tapkin     Russian spelling Павел Федорович Тапкин

Born 1890     Place Baku, Azerbajdzhan, the Caucasus     Ethnic origin Russian/German?     Religion Church of England

Father Tapken, Theodore, St Petersburg     Mother Tapken, Clara

Arrived at Australia -

Residence before enlistment Wilga, Perth, WA

Occupation labourer

Service

service number 3940     enlisted 25.11.1915     POE Perth

unit 28th Battalion       rank Private

place Western Front, 1916

final fate KIA 29.07.1916

memorial details 26 Villers Bretonneux, France

Naturalisation served as Russian subject

Materials digitised service records (NAA)

digitised Red Cross wounded and missing file (AWM)

digitised Roll of Honour card (AWM)

Australian war pensions payable in USSR (NAA)

From Russian Anzacs in Australian History:

Paul Tapken, another bomber, [...] was reported missing during this attack [Somme]. Enlisting as a labourer from Perth, he had originally come from the Transcaucasian city of Baku, probably from a family of Russian German merchants engaged in the oil trade. And, as so often happens with the Russian Anzacs, the thoughtlessness of the authorities — epitomised by Kovalsky’s lonely death, thrown overboard when no longer wanted by the war machine — is offset here by the careful concern of Tapken’s comrade L/cpl Lucien McBride. In his letter to the court of enquiry McBride began, ‘I shall be lengthy in this letter as through brevity, some small matter may be missed which may be of interest to his people in Russia’. He described the night attack: ‘At midnight we commenced to attack exchanging compliments of good luck and all appeared in high hope as to success. Halfways, about 200 yards, we began to separate owing to pitch darkness. … It was just here that I saw the last of Tapkin.’ In conclusion, probably out of the same concern he felt for the Russian’s distant family, he gave a word-picture of Tapken: ‘He was slow in his speech, a trait in his character, and he never became excited or lost his temper’. From other soldiers we learn that his nickname was ‘Tap’.

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