Formation of the United States Army in Siberia during the Russian Civil War
American soldiers in Vladivostok parading before the building occupied by the staff of the Czechoslovaks.American soldiers from the 31st Infantry marching near Vladivostok Russia April 27, 1919
U.S. PresidentWoodrow Wilson's claimed objectives for sending troops to Siberia were as much diplomatic as they were military. One major reason was to rescue the 40,000 men of the Czechoslovak Legion, who were being held up by Bolshevik forces as they attempted to make their way along the Trans-Siberian Railroad to Vladivostok, and it was hoped, eventually to the Western Front. Another major reason was to protect the large quantities of military supplies and railroad rolling stock that the United States had sent to the Russian Far East in support of the Russian Empire's war efforts on the Eastern Front of World War I. Equally stressed by Wilson was the need to "steady any efforts at self-government or self defense in which the Russians themselves may be willing to accept assistance." At the time, Bolshevik forces in Siberia controlled only small pockets, and President Wilson wanted to make sure that neither Cossack marauders nor the Japanese military would take advantage of the unstable political environment along the strategic railroad line and in the resource-rich Siberian regions straddling it.
Although General Graves did not arrive in Siberia until September 4, 1918, the first 3,000 American troops disembarked in Vladivostok between August 15 and August 21, 1918. They were quickly assigned guard duty along segments of the railway between Vladivostok and Nikolsk-Ussuriski in the north. Units were placed along the railway as far west as Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude.
Unlike his Allied counterparts, General Graves believed their mission in Siberia was to provide protection for American-supplied property and to help the Czechoslovak Legion evacuate Russia, and that it did not include fighting against the Bolsheviks. Repeatedly calling for restraint, Graves often clashed with commanders of British, French, and Japanese forces, who also had troops in the region and who wanted him to take a more active part in the military intervention in Siberia.
AEF Hospital Car Number 1 at Khabarovsk, Russia
To operate the Trans-Siberian Railroad, the Russian Railway Service Corps was formed of US personnel.[2][3]
The experience in Siberia for the soldiers was miserable. Problems with fuel, ammunition, supplies, and food were widespread. Horses accustomed to temperate climates were unable to function in sub-zero Russia. Water-cooled machine guns froze and became useless. The last American soldiers left Siberia on April 1, 1920. During their 19 months in Siberia, 189 soldiers of the force died from all causes. As a comparison, the smaller American North Russia Expeditionary Force experienced 235 deaths from all causes during their nine months of fighting near Arkhangelsk.
American socialist author Upton Sinclair,[4] in his novel Oil!, references the AEF in Siberia and ascribes capitalist motives as the primary driver of the Allied intervention.
Results
By every measure, President Wilson's interventions in Russia failed. The Eastern Front had not been reestablished, the war supplies stockpiled in Russian ports had not been saved, and no popular, progressive, non-Communist government had been established. The Japanese continued to meddle in Siberian affairs for another two years in a futile effort to carve out a puppet state. Even the successful extrication of the Czech Legion had little to do with Graves' small expedition. In the words of Chief of Staff Peyton C. March, the expeditions in Russia had been little more than "a military crime".[5]
↑ Luckett, Richard (April 4, 2017). The White Generals: An Account of the White Movement and the Russian Civil War (1sted.). NY, NY: Routledge. p.62. ISBN978-1138631243.
^ Robert L. Willett, "Russian Sideshow" (Washington, D.C., Brassey's Inc., 2003), p.166
^ Robert L. Willett, "Russian Sideshow" (Washington, D.C., Brassey's Inc., 2003), pp.166–167, 170
^ Robert L. Willett, "Russian Sideshow" (Washington, D.C., Brassey's Inc., 2003), p.267
^ U.S. Army Counterinsurgency and Contingency Operations Doctrine, 1860-1941 / by Andrew J. Birtle. – Washington D.C.: Center of Military History of the United States Army, 1998. – p.226
Further reading
Folkman, Kevin; Ballard, Ron (2015). "Just Like the Mountains of Tennessee and Virginia: LDS Soldiers in Siberia, 1918-1919". Journal of Mormon History. 41 (2): 91–130.
Wick, Ned (1975). Service in Siberia. Fenwynn Press, Inc. ASINB0006CJR9W.
Foglesong, David S (1995). America's Secret War Against Bolshevism: U.S. Intervention in the Russian Civil War, 1917–1920. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN0807822280. Book review on Humanities and Social Sciences Online. Article retrieved March 10, 2006.
Goldhurst, Richard (1978). The Midnight War. McGraw-Hill. ISBN0070236631.
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The Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force (French: Corps expéditionnaire sibérien) (also referred to as the Canadian Expeditionary Force (Siberia) or simply the C.S.E.F.) was a Canadian military force sent to Vladivostok, Russia, during the Russian Revolution to bolster the allied presence, oppose the Bolshevik Revolution and attempt to keep Russia in the fight against Germany. Composed of 4,192 soldiers and authorized in August 1918, the force returned to Canada between April and June 1919. The force was commanded by Major General James H. Elmsley. During this time, the C.S.E.F. saw little fighting, with fewer than 100 troops proceeding "up country" to Omsk, to serve as administrative staff for 1,500 British troops aiding the anti-Bolshevik White Russian government of Admiral Alexander Kolchak. Most Canadians remained in Vladivostok, undertaking routine drill and policing duties in the volatile port city.
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The Japanese Siberian Intervention of 1918–1922 was the dispatch of Japanese military forces to the Russian Maritime Provinces as part of a larger effort by western powers and Japan to support White Russian forces against the Bolshevik Red Army during the Russian Civil War. The Japanese suffered 1,399 killed and another 1,717 deaths from disease. Japanese military forces occupied Russian cities and towns in the province of Primorsky Krai from 1918 to 1922.
The Legione Redenta was an Italian military formation that participated in the Siberian intervention during the Russian Civil War. It was formed from 2500 prisoners of war who had been captured by the Russians from the Austro-Hungarian Army.
The revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion comprised the armed actions of the Czechoslovak Legion in the Russian Civil War against Bolshevik authorities, beginning in May 1918 and persisting through evacuation of the Legion from Siberia to Europe in 1920. The revolt, occurring in Volga, Ural, and Siberia regions along the Trans-Siberian Railway, was a reaction to a threat initiated by the Bolsheviks partly as a consequence of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. One major secondary consequence of victories by the Legion over the Bolsheviks was to catalyze anti-Bolshevik activity in Siberia, particularly of the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly, and to provide a major boost for the anti-Bolshevik or White forces, likely protracting the Russian Civil War.
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was a Russian admiral, military leader and polar explorer who held the title of Supreme Ruler of Russia from 1918 to 1920 during the Russian Civil War, though his actual control over Russian territory was limited. Previously, he served in the Imperial Russian Navy and fought in the Russo-Japanese War and World War I.
Marina Yurlova was a Russian child soldier and author. She fought in World War I and later in the Russian Civil War on the side of the anti-communist White movement. Wounded several times, she won the Russian Cross of Saint George for bravery three times. She eventually made her way to Vladivostok, then to Japan and finally to the USA, where she performed as a dancer.
Baron Ōtani Kikuzō was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army. Otani participated in the First Sino-Japanese War, Russo-Japanese War, World War I and the Russian Civil War. During the course of the latter he commanded the Vladivostok Expeditionary Force and became the formal commander of the Allied Siberian intervention. He was elevated to baron upon his retirement in 1920.
Siberia To-day is a first-hand account of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War by intelligence officer Frederick Ferdinand Moore published in 1919. The book provides a rare insight into life in Siberia during the winter of 1918-19 under the rule of the Cossacks at a time when the Bolsheviks were rising and helped shape US policy in Russia at the time. The book continues to serve as a reference to the region at the time.
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