Battle of Ust-Padenga | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of North Russia intervention in the Russian Civil War | |||||||||
Location of Arkhangelsk Governorate in Russia | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Belligerents | |||||||||
United States | Russian SFSR | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Lieutenant Harry Mead | Unknown | ||||||||
Units involved | |||||||||
American Expeditionary Force, North Russia or the 339th Infantry Regiment "Polar Bears" | Unknown | ||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
47 soldiers | ~800 Bolshevik infantrymen [2] | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
25 killed, 15 injured [3] | Unknown |
The Battle of Ust-Padenga, also known as the Defense of Ust-Padenga was a minor battle during the Russian Civil War, fought in Ust-Padenga, located in Arkhangelsk Governorate, 500 miles away from Moscow. It was a part of a larger retreat which occurred in January 1919 during the larger-scale Battle of Shenkursk.
During the Battle of Ust-Padenga, a larger-scale battle had also been occurring at the same time. This was the Battle of Shenkursk, which began on January 19, 1919, and ended on January 25th, 1919 and was a major battle of the Russian Civil War. Following the Bolshevik loss at the Battle of Tulgas, the Red Army's next offensive action was against the Allied garrison of Shenkursk; located on the Vaga River. Allied forces in Shenkursk and the surrounding villages included men primarily from the United States and the United Kingdom with support from the White Russians. The battle ended with an Allied retreat from Shenkursk ahead of a superior Bolshevik army. [4]
Just before dawn on January 19, Red Army soldiers moved through the tiny houses in the village of Ust-Padenga, hoping to push the Americans 200 miles away from their position, all the way to the White Sea. [5] Bolshevik soldiers began firing artillery shells at the American positions, awaking Lieutenant Harry Mead from his sleep. [5] The artillery shells fell for an hour until Bolshevik soldiers dressed in all-white uniforms rose up and began advancing on the American position, firing automatic rifles and muskets at the outnumbered Americans. [6] Lieutenant Mead is quoted as saying:
"I at once realized that our position was hopeless. We were sweeping the enemy line with machine gun and rifle fire. As soon as one wave of the enemy was halted on one flank another was pressing in on us from the other side." [7]
When the shelling stopped, around 800 Bolshevik infantrymen, [8] supported by heavy machine guns advanced on the American positions wielding bayonets, automatic rifles and muskets. [9] American troops began firing at the Bolsheviks, but they were severely outgunned and outnumbered by the Red Army. They were in danger of encirclement, and were ordered to fall back to Vysokaya Gora. The American troops conducted a fighting withdrawal, pulling back their forces while maintaining contact with the enemy. [9] The allied position around Shenkursk, including Ust-Padenga was being attacked from three sides, [10] meaning the outnumbered American force had less of an advantage against the more prepared, larger Russian force. [11] As the Red Army neared, with bayonets fixed on their guns, Mead and his soldiers retreated. They ran through the village, from house to house. At last, Mead made it to the next village, filled with American soldiers. [5]
Of Mead's 47-man platoon, 25 died that day, and another 15 were injured. The evacuation of Ust Padenga was necessary and the Allied troops to the west and east of Shenkursk fell back. [10] It was a crushing defeat for the Americans, and a pivotal point in the North Russia intervention. The Bolshevik victory at Ust Padenga and the subsequent American retreat from Shenkursk was a significant defeat for the Allied forces. [12]
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the overthrowing of the social-democratic Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. It resulted in the formation of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and later the Soviet Union in most of its territory. Its finale marked the end of the Russian Revolution, which was one of the key events of the 20th century.
The Czechoslovak Legion were volunteer armed forces consisting predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I and the White Army during the Russian Civil War until November 1919. Their goal was to win the support of the Allied Powers for the independence of Lands of the Bohemian Crown from the Austrian Empire and of Slovak territories from the Kingdom of Hungary, which were then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With the help of émigré intellectuals and politicians such as the Czech Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and the Slovak Milan Rastislav Štefánik, they grew into a force over 100,000 strong.
The American Expeditionary Force, North Russia was a contingent of about 5,000 United States Army troops that landed in Arkhangelsk, Russia as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. It fought the Red Army in the surrounding region during the period of September 1918 through to July 1919.
The Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War consisted of a series of multi-national military expeditions that began in 1918. The initial impetus behind the interventions was to secure munitions and supply depots from falling into the German Empire's hands, particularly after the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and to rescue the Allied forces that had become trapped within Russia after the 1917 October Revolution. After the Armistice of 11 November 1918, the Allied plan changed to helping the White forces in the Russian Civil War. After the Whites collapsed, the Allies withdrew their forces from Russia by 1925.
The Lithuanian Wars of Independence, also known as the Freedom Struggles, refer to three wars Lithuania fought defending its independence at the end of World War I: with Bolshevik forces, Bermontians, and Poland. The wars delayed international recognition of independent Lithuania and the formation of civil institutions.
The North Russia intervention, also known as the Northern Russian expedition, the Archangel campaign, and the Murman deployment, was part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War after the October Revolution. The intervention brought about the involvement of foreign troops in the Russian Civil War on the side of the White movement. The movement was ultimately defeated, while the British-led Allied forces withdrew from Northern Russia after fighting a number of defensive actions against the Bolsheviks, such as the Battle of Bolshie Ozerki. The campaign lasted from March 1918, during the final months of World War I, to October 1919.
The American Expeditionary Force, Siberia was a formation of the United States Army involved in the Russian Civil War in Vladivostok, Russia, after the October Revolution, from 1918 to 1920. The force was part of the larger Allied North Russia intervention. As a result of this expedition, early relations between the United States and the Soviet Union were poor.
The Latvian War of Independence, sometimes called Latvia's freedom battles or the Latvian War of Liberation, was a series of military conflicts in Latvia between 5 December 1918, after the newly proclaimed Republic of Latvia was invaded by Soviet Russia, and the signing of the Latvian-Soviet Riga Peace Treaty on 11 August 1920.
The Siberian intervention or Siberian expedition of 1918–1922 was the dispatch of troops of the Entente powers to the Russian Maritime Provinces as part of a larger effort by the western powers, Japan, and China to support White Russian forces and the Czechoslovak Legion against Soviet Russia and its allies during the Russian Civil War. The Imperial Japanese Army continued to occupy Siberia even after other Allied forces withdrew in 1920.
The Battle of Tulgas was part of the North Russia Intervention into the Russian Civil War and was fought between Allied and Bolshevik troops on the Northern Dvina River 200 miles south of Arkhangelsk. It took place on the day the armistice ending World War I was signed, November 11, 1918, and is sometimes referred to as "The Battle of Armistice Day." Shortly before the battle, the freezing of the local waterways resulted in the cutting off of the Tulgas Garrison from outside assistance, and the freezing of the ground let the Bolsheviks move troops to surround Tulgas. The Bolsheviks used this opportunity and their superior numbers to try to attack and conquer the isolated outpost, but were driven back with severe losses.
The Hungarian–Romanian War was fought between Hungary and Romania from 13 November 1918 to 3 August 1919. The conflict had a complex background, with often contradictory motivations for the parties involved.
The Battle of Shenkursk, in January 1919, was a major battle of the Russian Civil War. Following the Bolshevik loss at the Battle of Tulgas, the Red Army's next offensive action was against the Allied garrison of Shenkursk; located on the Vaga River. Allied forces in Shenkursk and the surrounding villages included men primarily from the United States and the United Kingdom with support from the White Russians. The battle ended with an Allied retreat from Shenkursk ahead of a superior Bolshevik army.
The Battle of Romanovka was fought in June 1919 during the Russian Civil War. Russian Bolsheviks of Yakov Tryapitsyn launched a surprise attack on an American army camp at Romanovka, near Vladivostok. As a result of the engagement, the attacks were repelled. Romanovka and the Suchan Valley Campaign that followed were the final major engagements of the Russian Civil War involving the United States. Battles would later break out again between the Americans and Soviets, as well as the Cossacks, on much smaller scales. Likewise, the Americans were invariably victorious.
The Siberian Army was an anti-Bolshevik army during the Russian Civil War, which fought from June 1918 – July 1919 in Siberia – Ural Region.
The 339th Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Army, raised for service in World War I, that served in the North Russia Intervention and World War II.
The Battle of Bolshie Ozerki was a major engagement fought during the Allied North Russia Intervention in the Russian Civil War. Beginning on March 31, 1919, a force of British, American, Polish, and White Russian troops engaged several Red Army partisan regiments at the village of Bolshie Ozerki. Although the initial Allied attacks were repelled, the outnumbered Allies managed to repel the Soviet flanking attempts that followed and the Red Army was later ordered to withdraw. Allied forces began to withdraw rapidly from northern Russia shortly thereafter.
The Battle of Vystavka was the defense of the village of Vystavka and several neighboring villages by Allied forces against a series of attacks from the Red Army during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War in late January-early March, 1919.
The Ukrainian–Soviet War is the term commonly used in post-Soviet Ukraine for the events taking place between 1917 and 1921, nowadays regarded essentially as a war between the Ukrainian People's Republic and the Bolsheviks. The war ensued soon after the October Revolution when Lenin dispatched Antonov's expeditionary group to Ukraine and Southern Russia.
The Battle of Galați was a military engagement between the formerly allied Romanian and Russian troops at the end of World War I, as the former sought to prevent the latter from retreating from the armistice line along with their equipment.
The Petsamo expeditions were two military expeditions in May 1918 and in April 1920 by Finnish civilian volunteers, to annex Petsamo from Bolshevist Russia. It was one of the many "kinship wars" (Heimosodat) fought by the newly independent Finland during the Russian Civil War. Although both expeditions were unsuccessful, Petsamo was handed over by Russia to Finland in the 1920 Treaty of Tartu.