It seems that America's involvement in the Russian Revolution, and the civil war that followed, received very little attention from the press. For the most part, our involvement in Russia's bloody revolution and the aftermath, appears only as a footnote in most of our history books. The treatment it receives gives one the impression that America dispatched an insignificant number of soldiers, the so-called "expeditionary force" that spent a few months in Russia and then returned, obviously without much fanfare.
Perhaps the number of troops that were dispatched was not great, a total of about 13,000 dough boys. But they did not dilly-dally around for a few months eating borscht and drinking vodka, and then returned home. They in fact, spent 14 miserable months in European Russia's arctic region and in Siberia, along the Manchurian border. They were, supposedly, engaged only in non-combat, logistical support (where have we heard that before?) of White Russian pro-Tsarist forces that were fighting the Bolsheviks. However, it is a bit puzzling that they were not "quartermaster" or other support units. The 5,000 man force that was in European Russia, known as American North Russia Expeditionary Force (more popularly called by the G.I.s themselves as the "Polar Bear Expedition") was composed of five infantry regiments! The 8,000 man force in Siberia, the American Expeditionary Force Siberia, was an infantry division! So much for non-combat logistical units!
What is surprising is that President Wilson, who was so reluctant to commit U.S. troops in war, thereby delaying U.S. entry until 1917, agreed to send the dough boys to Russia as soon as the war in Europe ended! The rationale that was used (yes, it is true!) was that Lenin, Trotsky, and the rest of the Bolshevik leadership were nothing but agents of German Imperialism! Yes, they claimed that Russia pulled out of the war not because of internal instability, but because they did not want to fight Germany! Apparently the press, as well as the public in general, bought this theory! The American forces that landed in Murmansk and Archangel in European Russia did so with other allied troops from England as well as various European allies. The G.I.s that landed in Vladivostok in Siberia did so following the Japanese who landed a huge 70,000 man expeditionary force. The Japanese moved on inland and occupied Sakhalin Island until 1922 and ultimately colonized it in 1925 until 1945 when they lost it back to the Soviets. The American troops stayed in Primorsky Krai.
Although there were "White" units that fought Bolsheviks, American troops were engaged in combat as well. It is not clear if the G.I.s in European Russia engaged in combat, but the ones in Siberia were certainly involved with chasing guerrillas that harassed the allied troops constantly. The guerrillas would strike, then escape across the border into Manchuria. Shades of Vietnam and the NVA skipping into Cambodia after hitting U.S. units in RVN. Apparently back in the day American commanders were not all that concerned about international borders, so quite often, the dough boys would find themselves in Manchuria engaged in fire fights. The G.I.s in Siberia were ill prepared for that region. The War Department in its infinite wisdom dispatched an infantry division that was stationed in Philippines to Siberia! It took a while for the poor dough boys to acclimate themselves to the severe cold of Siberia and Manchuria! It never ceases to amaze me the wisdom that is displayed by some of our leadership! They sent the poor G.I.s out of tropical Philippines to sub-arctic Siberia! And yes, the troops left Philippines during its hottest period in January to arrive in Siberia during its coldest time! No doubt the folks in Washington felt that since the troops were in Asia, they were closest to Siberia so why not send them?
During their 14 month stay in the region, the G.I.s ended up wearing Japanese Army overcoats and other winter gear during the colder season. It was easier and quicker to get the stuff from Japanese than to wait for the supplies to arrive from the U.S. The Japanese literally sold all of their large sized winter clothing to the Americans! The G.I.s were also armed with Japanese Arisaka rifles rather than the U.S. 1903 Springfields or 1917 Enfields. The ammunition supply was a problem and the Japanese could supply all that the Americans wanted, very quickly, and for a price, of course! That was probably the only time in history that American soldiers fought using foreign rifles and wearing foreign made winter gear! Strangely, there are no casualty figure reports of our stay in Siberia. Surely, there must have been at least frost bite cases! In fact, there is very little if anything written about that experience by former G.I.s. What literature that is found about American involvement in Siberia is found in the writings of veterans of Russian guerrilla units that fought the dough boys, or essays written by military scholars. Our troops were in Russia until April of 1920.
The Russian Revolution and the civil war that followed extracted a terrible toll on Russia. It is estimated that over 20 million lives were lost and the civil war did not end until about 1922, at least two years after we washed our hands off the whole affair. It is said that it set back Russia's industrial capability and infrastructure back to the 19th Century! Less than twenty years later, Russia was involved in another desperate struggle with Nazi Germany and lost over 25 million of its people. In short, Russia lost about 50 million people in a space of about 30 years! However, on the second go around, we became allies with the Soviets and enemies with the Japanese, whose uniforms we wore and rifles we used earlier! Strange world!
About a month ago, when all the world was a-buzz with talk about Russia in Ukraine and what could be done to stop their aggression, some of the more hawkish members of our government made noises about sending U.S. troops to Ukraine. One well meaning Congressman who shall remain nameless, said that U. S. troops had never set foot on Russian soil (or former Russian, in case of Ukraine) and were not about to do so now. I was struck by the fact that here, supposedly an intelligent and knowledgeable lawmaker of ours, one of our leaders, didn't even know our own history! Oh well, you can't really blame him. Our text books never made much of our "Intervention" in the Russian Civil War, so, blame the textbook writers and publishers.
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