The Lost Soldiers:

Reviews and commentary on books, films, etc.
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Pat Holscher
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The Lost Soldiers: An Examination of the American Expeditions into North Russia and Siberia
Military Collector & Historian
Vol. 65, No 1, Spring 2013
Ross Patterson II

The latest edition of Military Collector & Historian includes a very detailed article by Ross Patterson II on the topic of the two U.S. expeditions into Russia that came at the end of (and outlasted the end of) World War One. For a very detailed article on this topic, this would be hard to beat. A more detailed treatment would require a book.

The articles are very interesting and provide a lot of insights into the Russian Civil War itself. The authors treatment of the Whites in the contest is highly critical of their disorganization and treatment of civilians, and certainly leads a reader to wonder if there was ever any hope of their defeating the Reds. The treatment of the Japanese military mission is also very interesting and critical, showing that the Japanese mission was fully a colonial expedition.

The article even includes a few odds and ends that I wouldn't have expected to have occurred. One is the discussion of Russian war brides. I wouldn't have guessed that there were many, but it seems that there were an appreciable number of US troops who married Russian women during the expedition, and that this was also the case for members of the Czech Legion. The Japanese, it seems, tried to affirmatively prevent American interaction with Russian women, which is a curious fact. Japanese use of White Russian Cossacks (essentially mercenaries) is also discussed, and it seems to have brought out the worst inclinations in the Cossacks. All in all, well worth reading.
mmoore
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Last Name: Moore

The Polar Bear Expedition: The U.S. Intervention in Northern Russia, 1918–1919

by Alexander F. Barnes and Cassandra J. Rhodes

http://www.almc.army.mil/alog/issues/Ma ... _Bear.html

Another article on this subject.
Pat Holscher
Society Member
Posts: 7553
Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2000 6:51 pm
Last Name: Holscher

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