In the aftermath of the First World War, the United States sent 13,000 troops into the Soviet Union in support of the Tsarist White Russian Army, in an attempt to crush the Bolshevik government that had assumed power in the Russian Revolution. Written by three American doughboys who fought in Russia, this is a firsthand account of the only time in history that American troops directly fought Red Army troops. With 22 pages of photos.
One of the earliest U.S. counterinsurgency campaigns outside the Western Hemisphere, the Siberian intervention was a harbinger of policies to come. At the height of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson dispatched thousands of American soldiers to Siberia, and continued the intervention for a year and a half after the armistice in order to overthrow the Bolsheviks and to prevent the Japanese from absorbing eastern Siberia. Its tragic legacy can be found in the seeds of World War II, and in the Cold War.
In the brutally cold winter of 1919, 5,000 Americans battled the Red Army 600 miles north of Moscow. We have forgotten. Russia has not. "AN EXCELLENT BOOK." —Wall Street Journal • "INCREDIBLE." — John U. Bacon • "EXCEPTIONAL.” — Patrick K. O’Donnell • "A MASTER OF NARRATIVE HISTORY." — Mitchell Yockelson • "GRIPPING." — Matthew J. Davenport • "FASCINATING, VIVID." — Minneapolis Star Tribune An unforgettable human drama deep with contemporary resonance, award-winning historian James Carl Nelson's The Polar Bear Expedition draws on an untapped trove of firsthand accounts to deliver a vivid, soldier's-eye view of an extraordinary lost chapter of American history—the Invasion of Russia one hundred years ago during the last days of the Great War. In the winter of 1919, 5,000 U.S. soldiers, nicknamed "The Polar Bears," found themselves hundreds of miles north of Moscow in desperate, bloody combat against the newly formed Soviet Union's Red Army. Temperatures plummeted to sixty below zero. Their guns and their flesh froze. The Bolsheviks, camouflaged in white, advanced in waves across the snow like ghosts. The Polar Bears, hailing largely from Michigan, heroically waged a courageous campaign in the brutal, frigid subarctic of northern Russia for almost a year. And yet they are all but unknown today. Indeed, during the Cold War, two U.S. presidents, Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon, would assert that the American and the Russian people had never directly fought each other. They were spectacularly wrong, and so too is the nation's collective memory. It began in August 1918, during the last months of the First World War: the U.S. Army's 339th Infantry Regiment crossed the Arctic Circle; instead of the Western Front, these troops were sailing en route to Archangel, Russia, on the White Sea, to intervene in the Russian Civil War. The American Expeditionary Force, North Russia, had been sent to fight the Soviet Red Army and aid anti-Bolshevik forces in hopes of reopening the Eastern Front against Germany. And yet even after the Great War officially ended in November 1918, American troops continued to battle the Red Army and another, equally formiddable enemy, "General Winter," which had destroyed Napoleon's Grand Armee a century earlier and would do the same to Hitler's once invincible Wehrmacht. More than two hundred Polar Bears perished before their withdrawal in July 1919. But their story does not end there. Ten years after they left, a contingent of veterans returned to Russia to recover the remains of more than a hundred of their fallen brothers and lay them to rest in Michigan, where a monument honoring their service still stands. In the century since, America has forgotten the Polar Bears' harrowing campaign. Russia, notably, has not, and as Nelson reveals, the episode continues to color Russian attitudes toward the United States. At once epic and intimate, The Polar Bear Expedition masterfully recovers this remarkable tale at a time of new relevance.
The author sheds light on a little-known chapter of U.S.-Soviet relations, using diaries, memoirs, and letters to recall the efforts of nearly 300 relief workers in easing the suffering of Russians during one of the country's worst famines.
Step back in time to the tumultuous days of the Russian Revolution with The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki: Campaigning in North Russia 1918–1919. This riveting account chronicles the little-known story of the American Expeditionary Forces’ mission in North Russia, where they fought Bolshevik forces during the chaotic final years of World War I. As you journey through the pages, you’ll discover the challenges, heroism, and complexities faced by the American soldiers who were sent to intervene in Russia’s civil war. The authors provide a detailed and first-hand account of the expedition’s operations, offering readers a rare glimpse into this pivotal, yet often overlooked, chapter of military history.What motivated the United States to send troops into a faraway land embroiled in revolution? How did the American soldiers adapt to the harsh conditions and fierce resistance they faced? This book sheds light on these crucial questions, giving voice to the soldiers' experiences and struggles in a foreign and hostile environment. Through engaging narratives, this book explores the political, military, and human aspects of the mission, providing readers with a comprehensive understanding of the American role in North Russia during this volatile period. This is a must-read for history enthusiasts, military scholars, and those interested in the broader impact of World War I. Are you ready to discover a hidden chapter of history that changed the course of global events?Grab your copy of The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki today and explore the untold stories of the soldiers who fought in the frozen trenches of North Russia. This book offers an eye-opening perspective on one of the most challenging and dramatic military campaigns of the 20th century. Don't miss the chance to uncover the secrets of this historic expedition. Buy The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki now and dive into a gripping story of courage and conflict in a turbulent time.
An account of the little-known involvement of Royal Marines as they engaged the new Bolsheviks immediately after the Russian Revolution. After three years of great loss and suffering on the Eastern Front, Imperial Russia was in crisis and on the verge of revolution. In November 1917, Lenin’s Bolsheviks (later known as “Soviets”) seized power, signed a peace treaty with the Central Powers and brutally murdered Tsar Nicholas (British King George’s first cousin) and his children so there could be no return to the old order. As Russia fractured into loyalist “White” and revolutionary “Red” factions, the British government became increasingly drawn into the escalating Russian Civil War after hundreds of thousands of German troops transferred from the Eastern Front to France were used in the 1918 “Spring Offensive” which threatened Paris. What began with the landing of a small number of Royal Marines at Murmansk in March 1918 to protect Allied-donated war stores quickly escalated with the British government actively pursuing an undeclared war against the Bolsheviks on several fronts in support of British trained and equipped “White Russian” Allies. At the height of British military intervention in mid-1919, British troops were fighting the Soviets far into the Russian interior in the Baltic, North Russia, Siberia, Caspian and Crimea simultaneously. The full range of weapons in the British arsenal were deployed including the most modern aircraft, tanks and even poison gas. British forces were also drawn into peripheral conflicts against “White” Finnish troops in North Russia and the German “Iron Division” in the Baltic. It remains a little-known fact that the last British troops killed by the German Army in the First World War were killed in the Baltic in late 1919, nor that the last Canadian and Australian soldiers to die in the First World War suffered their fate in North Russia in 1919 many months after the Armistice. Despite the award of five Victoria Crosses (including one posthumous) and the loss of hundreds of British and Commonwealth soldiers, sailors and airmen, most of whom remain buried in Russia, the campaign remains virtually unknown in Britain today. After withdrawal of all British forces in mid-1920, the British government attempted to cover up its military involvement in Russia by classifying all official documents. By the time files relating to the campaign were quietly released decades later there was little public interest. Few people in Britain today know that their nation ever fought a war against the Soviet Union. The culmination of more than 15 years of painstaking and exhaustive research with access to many previously classified official documents, unpublished diaries, manuscripts and personal accounts, author Damien Wright has written the first comprehensive campaign history of British and Commonwealth military intervention in the Russian Civil War 1918-20. “Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War remains forgotten. Wright’s book addresses that oversight, interspersing the broader story with personal accounts of participants.” —Military History Magazine
The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki Campaigning in North Russia 1918-1919 by Joel Roscoe Moore, Harry H. Mead, Lewis E. Jahns: Uncover a lesser-known chapter of history as Joel Roscoe Moore, Harry H. Mead, and Lewis E. Jahns offer a comprehensive account of the American military intervention in North Russia during the Russian Civil War, shedding light on a pivotal moment in international relations. Key points: Detailed historical narrative chronicling the American expedition's involvement in the Russian Civil War, providing valuable insights into the motivations, challenges, and consequences of the intervention. Meticulously researched and well-documented, drawing from official records, personal accounts, and archival materials to present a comprehensive and balanced perspective. Explores the geopolitical dynamics, military strategies, and human experiences of the American soldiers deployed in North Russia, offering a nuanced understanding of this often-overlooked period in history. The History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviki Campaigning in North Russia 1918-1919 is a comprehensive historical account edited by Joel Roscoe Moore, Harry H. Mead, and Lewis E. Jahns. This book offers firsthand narratives and detailed analyses of the American intervention in the Russian Civil War, shedding light on the complexities and consequences of this pivotal period in history.
Following requests from Britain and France to send troops to Russia to fight the Red Army, President Woodrow Wilson ordered the formation of the Northern Russian Expedition, also known as the Polar Bear Expedition and Archangel Campaign (after the Russian city, Arkhangelsk). The expedition was tasked with defeating the Red Army in Northern Russia. Lenin and the Bolsheviks were strengthening ties to Germany which allowed the Germans to send troops fighting in Russia to the Western Front against Britain and France. John Cudahy was a lieutenant of the 339th Infantry Regiment that was part of the expedition. This captivating first-hand account of the desolate winter months sees American soldiers fight for their lives along the Vologda railway. It also importantly provides a valuable and insightful political critique of the connection between the Archangel Expedition and the Vladivostok Expedition, asking questions that were not answered by the statesmen for American soldiers facing death and unknown dangers. Though he personally believed the mission to be a waste of American life, Cudahy's memoir of the campaign is filled with stories of exceptional courage and comradery.
