herakles
10-01-2008, 02:01
The recent thread on the Arctic convoys to Russia in WW2 reminded me of an earlier situation - the so-called Archangel Expedition of 1918.
This expedition has parallels to the Gallipoli campaign of 1915 in that:
it was a good idea in theory and a failure in practice
its intention was to open a second front
it involved the British navy and British and Commonwealth land forces
it was the child of Churchill and is sometimes called "Churchill's War"
its commander was given almost no warning of his role and no time to prepare for it.
The collapse of the Russian government and the overthrow of the Czar was a matter of great interest to the Allies. The Czar's departure was the key to Woodrow Wilson's decision to commit American forces to the Great War. Until that happened, he wasn't prepared to.
With the fall of the government, Russian commitment to the war ceased, allowing the Germans to close the Eastern Front and concentrate all their forces on the Western Front. Realise that Lenin was given safe passage to Russia by the Germans precisely to cause this to happen. As soon as he came to power, an armistice with Germany was signed, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918.
The rise of the Bolsheviks was seen as an intense threat that needed nullifying.
The key to doing this was the city of Archangel. The English and French governments decided to send an expedition there: to prevent extensive stockpiles of armaments falling into German/Bolshevik hands; to rescue the Czech Legion which at the time was stranded along the Trans-Siberian railway; and to defeat the Bolsheviks. ("Strangle them at birth" was the way Churchill described it.)
Being desperately short of troops, the Americans were invited to participate. Which they did in a minor way, mostly in a guard keeping role. They arrived in September 1918.
Lieut.-Colonel Edmund Ironside was placed in charge of the expedition and soon after arriving, found himself CinC as the actual CinC, Gen. Poole took a month's leave and never returned. His brief was: 'Your business in North Russia is to hold the fort until the local Russians can take the field. You are to prepare for a winter campaign.'
Ironside later wrote:
"The coming winter campaign might have daunted anyone. We were proposing to occupy a great area with very few troops, none of whom had any experience of Arctic weather, with the sole exception of the Canadians. There were no troops trained to run on skis or snow shoes, and it was now too late to train them. The whole country was one vast forest, a swamp in early and late summer, deep in snow in winter.
There were no roads, so that mechanical transport could not be used, but countless tracks led in every direction, and no existing maps showed where they ran."
Murmansk was captured in July 1918. Using this as a base, a combined naval and air force captured Modiuga Island thus allowing the capture of Archangel in August 1918. Safely in their hands, several thousand White Russians immediately volunteered to join this army.
The Royal Navy successfully contained the Bolshevik fleet in St. Petersburg, at the time called Petrograd. Several raids by the RAF and Coastal Motor Torpedo Boats into the harbour, inflicted much damage.
The army stayed in Archangel a year, managing to keep control of it. But the Bolsheviks were able to concentrate their forces there after the German Armistace and Archangel became totally isolated.
Further, popular opinion in England was rising dramatically against the expedition and there were instances of a few British soldiers refusing to fight and being court-martailed. And the Russians mutinied and were deserting in droves. The Americans withdrew in May 1919.
Finally, a withdrawal from Archangel was planned and executed in August/September 1919. It was felt that there was no alternative. The British naval base was closed in September. The blockade ended in January 1920. A total of 13,000 British and 2,000 French troops had to be withdrawn. The withdrawal from Murmansk took place in October. And they never did rescue the Czech Legion, which fought its way out in February 1920. Archangel fell to the Red Army in February 1920, the remaining White Russians having been led at the time by the British Gen. Miller.
On his return to England, Ironside was demoted and put on half pay until the government read the despatches. He was then promoted to Major General on full pay. In 1939 he was to go to France as a field-marshal and Chief of the Imperial General Staff.
In all, 5 VC's were awarded, three to the Royal Navy and two to Australian soldiers. There is no campaign medal and no official history. Britain and France recognised the USSR in 1924.
This expedition has parallels to the Gallipoli campaign of 1915 in that:
it was a good idea in theory and a failure in practice
its intention was to open a second front
it involved the British navy and British and Commonwealth land forces
it was the child of Churchill and is sometimes called "Churchill's War"
its commander was given almost no warning of his role and no time to prepare for it.
The collapse of the Russian government and the overthrow of the Czar was a matter of great interest to the Allies. The Czar's departure was the key to Woodrow Wilson's decision to commit American forces to the Great War. Until that happened, he wasn't prepared to.
With the fall of the government, Russian commitment to the war ceased, allowing the Germans to close the Eastern Front and concentrate all their forces on the Western Front. Realise that Lenin was given safe passage to Russia by the Germans precisely to cause this to happen. As soon as he came to power, an armistice with Germany was signed, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918.
The rise of the Bolsheviks was seen as an intense threat that needed nullifying.
The key to doing this was the city of Archangel. The English and French governments decided to send an expedition there: to prevent extensive stockpiles of armaments falling into German/Bolshevik hands; to rescue the Czech Legion which at the time was stranded along the Trans-Siberian railway; and to defeat the Bolsheviks. ("Strangle them at birth" was the way Churchill described it.)
Being desperately short of troops, the Americans were invited to participate. Which they did in a minor way, mostly in a guard keeping role. They arrived in September 1918.
Lieut.-Colonel Edmund Ironside was placed in charge of the expedition and soon after arriving, found himself CinC as the actual CinC, Gen. Poole took a month's leave and never returned. His brief was: 'Your business in North Russia is to hold the fort until the local Russians can take the field. You are to prepare for a winter campaign.'
Ironside later wrote:
"The coming winter campaign might have daunted anyone. We were proposing to occupy a great area with very few troops, none of whom had any experience of Arctic weather, with the sole exception of the Canadians. There were no troops trained to run on skis or snow shoes, and it was now too late to train them. The whole country was one vast forest, a swamp in early and late summer, deep in snow in winter.
There were no roads, so that mechanical transport could not be used, but countless tracks led in every direction, and no existing maps showed where they ran."
Murmansk was captured in July 1918. Using this as a base, a combined naval and air force captured Modiuga Island thus allowing the capture of Archangel in August 1918. Safely in their hands, several thousand White Russians immediately volunteered to join this army.
The Royal Navy successfully contained the Bolshevik fleet in St. Petersburg, at the time called Petrograd. Several raids by the RAF and Coastal Motor Torpedo Boats into the harbour, inflicted much damage.
The army stayed in Archangel a year, managing to keep control of it. But the Bolsheviks were able to concentrate their forces there after the German Armistace and Archangel became totally isolated.
Further, popular opinion in England was rising dramatically against the expedition and there were instances of a few British soldiers refusing to fight and being court-martailed. And the Russians mutinied and were deserting in droves. The Americans withdrew in May 1919.
Finally, a withdrawal from Archangel was planned and executed in August/September 1919. It was felt that there was no alternative. The British naval base was closed in September. The blockade ended in January 1920. A total of 13,000 British and 2,000 French troops had to be withdrawn. The withdrawal from Murmansk took place in October. And they never did rescue the Czech Legion, which fought its way out in February 1920. Archangel fell to the Red Army in February 1920, the remaining White Russians having been led at the time by the British Gen. Miller.
On his return to England, Ironside was demoted and put on half pay until the government read the despatches. He was then promoted to Major General on full pay. In 1939 he was to go to France as a field-marshal and Chief of the Imperial General Staff.
In all, 5 VC's were awarded, three to the Royal Navy and two to Australian soldiers. There is no campaign medal and no official history. Britain and France recognised the USSR in 1924.