The 1918 "Polar Bear" Expedition

thank you Russian involvement in the Great War effectively ended with the October revolution of 1917 as the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin turned towards the internal concerns the end of fighting on the Eastern Front allowed the Central Powers to send significant troops to go try to break the stalemate on the Western Front but fighting continued in the east as Russia descended into a civil war that outlasted the Great War often forgotten in that struggle was the foreign intervention in the Russian Civil War troops from some 13 Nations participated in various ways in the fighting in the Russian Civil War trying to achieve various goals and objectives and among those were troops from the United States where Americans were fighting and dying in the bitter cold of Russia even after the end of the war in Europe the north Russia expeditionary Force otherwise known as the polar bear Expedition deserves to be remembered Russia was involved in World War one from the start when's our Nicholas ordered a mobilization to defend Serbia from Austria-Hungary on July 30th 1914. the mobilization prompted germinated Clair war on Russia which soon cascaded into war across the continent despite having the largest army in the world in 1914 the war soon became a disaster for Russia only five months after the War Began the winter of 1914 a Russian military officer complained in his diary that there's not enough food people are starving many soldiers have no boots they wrap their feet in rags now great losses among infantry and officers there are regiments with only a few officers left especially worrying is the state of artillery supplies I read a Commander's order not to use more than three to five artillery shells per Canon reinforcements comprising 14 000 soldiers were sent and they lacked rifles Russia's initial bullet manufacturing was low as 13 000 bullets a day Russia had massively overestimated their grain production which resulted in years of rationing in starving soldiers almost as serious was Russia's lack of military equipment the Empire elect Heavy Artillery production and they began producing it in 1916 after Years War General Anton deniken recalled that during fighting in May of 1915 Russian Artillery did not respond to overwhelming German bombardment we had nothing almost 75 percent of heavy artillery shells were imported into Russia despite their need the Allies only had so much to give British prime minister Lloyd George told the Russians in the fall of 1915 that our own needs are greater than those of our allies suggesting that the Russians limit their requests Russia ordered almost 4 million rifles from the United States though some firms delivered only 10 percent of what was ordered without a doubt they shortages contributed to the outbreak of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1915 a German offensive on the Eastern Front was so successful that it has been called Russia's great retreat the Germans had more manpower triple the light field artillery in as much as 40 times more heavy artillery a Russian tunnel reported in July 1915 that military losses were due too among other things a lack of artillery shells which he called the most important most alarming shortcoming just 10 days before the beginning of the October revolution in 1917 the Russian minister of food procurement acknowledged in public that there was almost no grain storage to feed the army or the public in Saint Petersburg Mass protests broke out against food rationing in petrograd modern day Saint Petersburg on March 8 1917 February 23rd in the old style dating which resulted in czar nicholasican's abdication military officials hope that Nicholas's abdication would end unrest but ultimately unrest continued with conflict between the provisional government and popular organizations called Soviets a word which means Council which were largely led by Bolsheviks growing Bolshevik support was caused by ongoing food shortages and Military defeats the Bolshevik supported immediate withdrawal from the war and Germany supported them by transporting Vladimir Lenin and supporters from Switzerland to petrograd the red guards a paramilitary group formed by the petrograd Soviet seized The Winter Palace on November 7th 1917. and Armistice between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers was included on December 15th and the Treaty of Brest levusk was signed on March 8th Russia's exit from the war presented a significant problem for her former allies the Allies had sent large amounts of Supply to Russia since 1914 largely via three main ports Arc anglisk murmansk and vladivoscock and had been building up in warehouses also at risk was that Czechoslovakia religion where a volunteer force of ethnic checks in slovaks along with former austro-hungarian soldiers recruited from POW camps hope to win support for an independent state after the war between forty and seventy thousand of the czechoslovak legionnaires were still in Russia when the treaty was signed strung out along the poorly maintained Trans-Siberian Railway fighting between Bolshevik forces and legionaries broke out in May and czechoslovak soldiers captured the railway and secured all of the major cities in Siberia including vadavostok which they declared an Allied protectorate 55 000 German troops moved to Finland which threatened Allied surprise at the Port of murmansk finally and importantly the loss of the Eastern Front meant that Central Powers could move considerable forces to the Western Front almost immediately Russia descended into a multi-sided civil war planning was primarily between the Bolshevik Red Army in a loose collection of Allied Forces called the white Army the white Army was far from politically homogenous with factions often having little in common except that they opposed Bolshevik rule various other forces such as Ukrainian anarchists and numerous others battled across the country British forces landed in murmansk in March 1918 the day after the signing of the breslavus treaty in August White Russians had overthown the government in Archangel and Allied units including a small contingent of Americans entered the city in August 1918. the United States had entered the Great War only in April of 1917 with troops arriving on the Western Front as soon as June of 1917. Wilson was not initially interested in sending forces to Russia as Chief of Staff called the intervention nonsense from the beginning but the plight of the checks received attention Stateside he wrote in his Memoir that he posed intervention as it would add to the present sad confusion in Russia but that he supported a military action to guard military stores and for helping the czechoslovaks with that Wilson ordered men to Russia Benton on the other hand had more ambitious goals hoping to reopen an Eastern Front British foreign secretary Alfred Balfour even said that it is not necessary that the troop should be completely trained as we anticipate that military operations in his region will only be of irregular character the U.S 339th Infantry Regiment had originally been bound for the Western Front as part of the 85th division the 339th was mostly made up of draftees from Michigan along with around 500 soldiers from Wisconsin made up of factory workers Farmers office help and school teachers as one soldier described so many of the men were from Detroit that the unit was commonly called Detroit's own the 339th formed the core of the American expeditionary Force North Russia also known as the polar bear Expedition the 339th was joined by the first Battalion of the 310th engineers the 337th field hospital and the 337th ambulance company but while in England they picked up the influenza the Spanish flu before they even reached Russia men were dying aboard the ship 65 members of the 339th died of influenza in September alone they first traveled to England with the 85th before being reassigned under the command of Colonel George Edward Stewart a recipient of the Medal of Honor the 339th was chosen in part because michiganders and wisconsinites were expected to handle the cold better than other regiments Ernest Shackleton himself only recently backed from his harrowing Voyage lectured the regiment in London on conditions in the Arctic they were re-equipped with Russian equipment handing in their Lee infield rifles for American-made Russian Mosin Nagant says ammo for the Russian guns was expected to be plentiful replacing the Browning machine guns where water cooled Vickers which proved to be useless in the Arctic cold one American Soldier described British enthusiasm for the mission we'll just rush in there and re-establish the great Russian army Russia's former great armies will rise to welcome us some were disappointed to miss the Big Show in France or to be sent to an unknown country to fight an unknown enemy for an unknown reason unfortunately by the time the Allies had secured Archangel the war material was already secured by the Bolsheviks small force of Americans along with the protected Cruiser USS Olympia which had been Admiral Dewey's Flagship at the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898 had already been engaged across the Russian Tundra since August sailor Harold gunnis later said we ran out of ammunition and food I was young and didn't have the sense to be scared the 339th was immediately thrown into The Fray when they arrived on September 4th to save lost American Sailors somewhere in the wilderness soon they were engaged with Bolsheviks and American soldiers were dying in the far north of Russia to make matters worse a British officer had deposed The anti-bolshevik Sovereign government of Northern Russia though quickly reinstated the locals became wary of the Allied Forces Frederick Poole the British commander of the theater thought he would be able to seize walligda easily Gathering an army of a hundred thousand White Russians meet up with the Czechoslovakian Legion and sweep West to Moscow and Europe despite these ambitious goals he had fewer than 10 000 men under his command the 339th was split up and sent across the front line seeking to capture key points while the Bolsheviks allegedly retreated at first the Allied Forces were spread thin in untenable outposts as the fighting raged Leon Trotsky came to realize that the alleys weren't just there to hold off Germans in Finland but to overthrow the Bolsheviks entirely Trotsky began building the Red Army and reinforced the northern line to push the alleys out pool was replaced by General Edmund Ironside a veteran of fighting on the Western Front in October he immediately ordered a halt to advances recognizing how precarious the front was as October turned to November when American waxed that old boreas the Greek name for the North Wind came down upon the devoted company of Doughboys as November approached news of German in treaties for a treaty to end the war in Europe reached the northern Expedition as early as October French forces on the Western Front simply refused to fight shouting that the war is over on November 11th the same day that the Armistice took hold in Europe American forces were engaged in the bloody Battle of tolgas in Northern Russia what became called The Battle of Armistice Day their 600 men about half of them Americans along with Canadians and members of the royal Scots held off several thousand Russians in the fight troops of the 339th were saved from encirclement by close range fire from a Canadian artillery regiment after which A desperate bayonet charge led by lieutenant John cuttacky of Company B inflicted heavy losses on the Bolsheviks and forced them to retreat throughout the fighting the Allied Forces were constantly outnumbered British Canadian polish and even Chinese units were supported by Cossacks and recruited Russians although Russian units repeatedly proved unreliable with some simply switching sides one man has to do the fighting of ten and we can't replace men when they fall one American complained beside the steadily growing number of Bolsheviks the Allies also had to contend with the absolutely miserable cold temperatures descended to negative 35 degrees Fahrenheit or colder causing the water cooled Vickers to freeze up if a machine gun Jam the only way of getting it going again was by taking it apart and boiling it the soldiers reported making them practically useless by January the northern six Bolshevik Army had more than 45 000 men well there were only six thousand Allied troops still on the lines along with some fickle Russian volunteers as winter wore on towards Spring men began to Mutiny more often one American platoon signed a petition asking why they were still fighting well corporals and Company E discussed refusing to return to the battle lines the troops were still unclear as to the purpose of the Expedition with an exasperated Lieutenant Charles Ryan of company K writing in his journal we're here because we're here the French contingent rioted in mass and March 1st while part of the slavo British Allied Legion refused to fight or joined the Red Army company I of the 339th briefly refused to return to the lines leading to a wide reports of a mutiny although the Army claimed that the issue was a misunderstood order and denied it was Mutiny no one was ever punished and the company continued to fight in mid-January amassed Bolshevik attack along the Vega River caught some 260 Americans along with Allied Forces unprepared and the line was forced north town after town was leveled by Bolshevik guns while Allied soldiers withdrew for 80 miles when Soldier recalled 350 men had held off between five and six thousand in an orderly retreat the loss however endangered the entire theater in the U.S newspapers began complaining about the war as reports of the Vega collapse reached reporters on February 5th the Michigan state senator announced a resolution to immediately withdraw American troops from northern Russia the soldiers were confused and complained that they had no idea why they were in Russia especially after the war had ended in Western Europe on February 16th Wilson finally ordered the Americans be withdrawn the Secretary of War announced the 339th would be withdrawn at the earliest possible moment despite Winston Churchill's support for more men to overthrow bolshevism British leadership decided to pull out as well Ironside decided it was time to pass the defenses to White Russian forces and withdraw American forces were pulled from the lines and finally reached Archangel in May and June of 1919 when they left eight Russian brides accompanied them to the states Glenn L Shannon a reporter who had accompanied the 339th summarized the expedition in the Detroit Free Press April 13 1919. they have crossed the Seas to helping Downing a tyrannical foe they had been sent to a Russian Wilderness to combat unknown forces in a Land of Filth and desolation of which their strongest Sensations had been stenched sickness and death sturdy young man only a few months away from the daily routine of Civil Life caught on through dark foreboding stormtorm winter fought with the courage and abandoned that borders on The Reckless even though the cause that they are defending is as dark to them as the lightless days in the land of the Midnight Sun the British attempted one last offensive trying to link up with the main force of the White Russian army but soon the White Russian forces were in Retreat all the way across Eastern Russia and the British decided that they would get out of there as quickly as possible both of the British and the Americans were lucky in that the Bolsheviks didn't harass their retreat they were hoping from recognition from their governments and didn't want to antagonize the Allies although the relationship had already soured and the United States didn't recognize the Soviet government until 1933. soon the fighting in Northern Russian was forgotten the white Russians were defeated the Bolsheviks were left in control of the country and of the 5 500 men of the north Russian expeditionary Force 244 died in combat or due to accidents 305 were wounded 100 died of influenza and one died from suicide a similar Expedition the American expeditionary Force Siberia which had been landed in Vladivostok was no more successful it was at the end of their service as they waited to return To America that members of the 339 suggested their nickname the polar bears at least 23 distinguished service crosses were awarded for Heroic acts to Men of the 339th along with 50 coitiger Awards and medals from both Britain and Russia over the years survivors of the Expedition managed to successfully return the remains of many soldiers that have been buried there in Russia although several dozen are thought to still remain there on March 15 2003 Harold R gunnis who had been a sailor aboard USS Olympia passed away at the age of 104. he had been the last survivor of the north Russia expeditionary Force and then perhaps the most painful Legacy of the polar bear expedition of 1918 and 1919 was its futility none of the expedition's goals had been achieved historian Daniel Bulger wrote in a 1987 edition of military review that the Allies had done just enough to alienate the Reds but not nearly enough to save the whites but a survivor of the Expedition perhaps summed up best in 1920 when he simply said why were we there I hope you enjoyed this episode of the history God check out our community on the historyguideguild.locals.com our webpage at thehistoryguy.com and our merchandise at teespring.com or book a special message from the history guy on Cameo and if you'd like more episodes of Forgotten history all you have to do is subscribe foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

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Id: pD-DYw5bUH0

Length: 17min 28sec (1048 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 28 2022