Wednesday, July 25, 2018

The Allies Intervene In Embattled Russia


Finding an actual date, at least on the net, for the commencement of the Allied intervention in Russia is difficult.  Generally, you'll just get "July, 1918".

Well, whatever the actual date was, it was obviously close to this day in 1918, as the Soviets were complaining about Allied landings on Murman Coast, near Murmansk.  That was in fact one of the two three locations for the Allied intervention and it may well have been the first location.



The landings near Murmansk would be made up of a joint Anglo American force of which 5,000 men were American troops.  6,000 were English, 1000 Canadian and approximately another 1,000 or so were French.  The force was under the overall command of an English commander and it actively participated in combat in the region, which was generally contrary to the vague instructions that the Administration had issued to the American forces that were going into Russia.  The fact that they were engaged in combat was not due to insubordination so much as it was due to poor communication of the intended restrictions on American troops.

A little over 160 Americans would loose their lives in the intervention, far fewer than the British loss which amounted to over 500.  It's always been speculated that some Americans may have been left behind due to the hasty nature of the withdrawal in 1919.  Following that withdrawal, White resistance in Northern Russia, which was not doing well by that time in any event, collapsed.

No comments: