Posted on 09/04/2006 5:26:37 AM PDT by mainepatsfan
1918: American troops land at Archangel
On September 4, 1918, United States troops land at Archangel, in northern Russia. The landing was part of an Allied intervention in the civil war raging in that country after revolution in 1917 led to the abdication of Czar Nicholas II in favor of a provisional government; the seizure of power by Vladimir Lenin and his radical socialist Bolshevik Party; and, finally, Russia’s withdrawal from participation alongside the Allies in World War I.
By the spring of 1918, after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ended Russia’s war effort against the Central Powers, the country was embroiled in a heated internal conflict. Supporters of the Bolsheviks—known as the Reds—faced off against the Whites, anti-Bolshevik forces loyal to the provisional government, in a power struggle aimed at defining the future course of the Russian state. In this struggle, the leaders of Britain, France and the United States definitively favored the Whites, harboring as they did an intense fear and misunderstanding of Lenin and his forces of radical socialism. With some hesitation, they determined to launch an intervention into the Russian civil war, aimed at defeating the Bolsheviks and installing the Whites in power again, hoping this eventuality would draw Russia back into the war against the Central Powers.
A document issued by the U.S. State Department in July 1918 set the terms by which the U.S. would participate alongside the other Allied powers in the so-called "interventions" in Russia: three infantry battalions and three companies of army engineers would be sent to Archangel to join the British troops already there. A small force would also be sent to Vladivostok, where a force of Czecho-Slovak troops bent on continuing the fight against the Central Powers had claimed the Russian city as an Allied protectorate early in July.
(Excerpt) Read more at history.com ...
Worse...they had no UN mandate.
The author of the article reveals a certain bias, don't you think?
"...harboring as they did an intense fear and misunderstanding of Lenin and his forces of radical socialism."
"misunderstanding"?
Yeah I caught that as well. He or she also seemed pleased that we eventually pulled out.
Yep, of course things might have turned out differently if Reilly, "ace of spies", hadn't been left out in the cold. :)
We did not send enough troops. And no body armor.
"World War I September 4, 1918 American troops land at Archangel"
Immediately the press insisted it was a quagmire as supply lines measured in the miles.
Imagine how the history of the 20th century would have been changed if they'd been crushed right then and there.
Polarbears 339th Infantry
http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/p_bears.htm
BTW. I knew a old guy when I was a kid who was one of the GIs sent to Russia back then. If memory serves correctly, he was out in Siberia guarding a rail line.
Yeah, the writer doesn't tip his views much. "Misunderstanding" Lenin? Frankly, they had his M-O nailed.
Amazing stuff. The first I read of U.S. involvement, many years ago, was in a passing comment in some writing on a different subject. Didn't know what to make of it or if to believe it.
I have a relative who was part of this force. He died when his squad went in and saved another squad that was ambushed and pinned down.
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