Russian Expeditionary Force in France
Russian Expeditionary Force in France | |
---|---|
Corps Expéditionnaire Russe en France | |
Branch | Imperial Russian Army |
Type | Expeditionary Force |
Role | Cold-weather warfare Combined arms Expeditionary warfare Trench warfare |
Mascot(s) | |
Engagements | World War I
|
Insignia | |
Identification symbol | Corps Expéditionnaire Russe en France |
Identification symbol | Légion d’Honneur Russe |
The Russian Expeditionary Force [REF] (
A second brigade was also sent to serve alongside other Allied formations on the
Before March 1917
In December 1915 the French politician, Paul Doumer while on a visit to Russia, proposed that 300,000 Russian troops be sent to fight in France in exchange for French munitions. While the Russian High Command showed little enthusiasm for this proposal, Tsar Nicholas II supported it. General Alexeyev, the Russian chief of staff from August 1915, made an offer to send Russian troops to France, as long as they remained under Russian officers (while operating under the French High Command). Another requirement was that the French Navy transport them.[1]
The 1st Russian Brigade formed in January, 1916 under the command of General
The regiments were divided into three battalions of four companies each. Each regiment also had a liaison and a service section. The reserve battalion had six companies. The First Brigade was commanded by General Lokhvitsky, and was composed of 180 officers and 8762 enlisted men. Each brigade had a double supply of clothing and a kitchen on wheels. The French Navy and Army undertook to provide shipping, supplies, and equipment.
The 3rd, 4th and 5th Brigades soon followed. The 2nd and 4th Brigades arrived on the
General Aleksei Brusilov, commander of the Russian Southwest Front from March 1916, was responsible for the four brigades, which contributed a total of 44,319 men to the Entente effort in western and southern Europe. The 6th, 7th and 8th Brigades were never formed due to the outbreak of the Russian Revolution.[1]
Approximately 450 Estonian troops also served with the REF, mostly in the 1st and 3rd Brigades. After February 1917 these troops wore small Estonian flags to distinguish themselves from their Russian counterparts.[2]
The Russians in action
Order of battle
In January 1916, the 1st Infantry Brigade of the Russian expeditionary Force (REF) was formed and included two regiments, the 1st under Colonel Mikhaïl Netchvolodov, and the 2nd under Colonel Dyakonov, each of 3 battalions in strength. The brigade was under the overall command of Major-General
In July 1916, the 2nd Infantry Brigade, commanded by General
The 3rd Infantry Brigade, formed of the 5th and 6th regiments, under, respectively, Colonels Narbout and Simonov, was formed in June 1916, and was sent to France in August via
The 4th Infantry Brigade, formed of the 7th and 8th regiments, was commanded by Major-General Maxime Leontiev . It was part of the Expédition de Salonique, stopping first at Brest aboard the ocean liner La Lorraine and finally arriving at Thessaloniki in October 1916, and at the front in November.
In July 1917, the two brigades operating on the Macedonian front were grouped together to form the 2nd Infantry Division. This formation was dissolved in January 1918,[4] due to the men and officers being greatly troubled by events on the Russian home front[a] and the Allied commanders similarly fearful of the effect of communist propaganda on the troops, and reports of fraternisation with the Bulgarians on the front. The Russians were relieved of duty on the frontline between January 2 and January 20. Of the remaining soldiers, 784 volunteered to join the Russian Legion in France in March, while 2196 men, formed into two battalions, remained available for work. Over 17500 others refused either position, and were sent away to Bizerte and then further on.[5]
Formations
Readying and equipping was done with the French Army in Camp de Mailly, France. The Russian brigades also found themselves engaged in combat in the Balkans; where British, French, Italian, Albanian, Greek, Portuguese and Serbian forces were already serving together.
Battle fronts
In France the Russian brigade prepared in camp de Mailly, in Champagne and was sent between Suippes and Aubérive on the Western Front. Russian units held the front of Champagne while French units were fighting the Battle of Verdun. Russians occupied the Fort de la Pompelle near Reims.
Following heavy losses during the offensive of April 1917 (Second Battle of the Aisne, also known as bataille du Chemin des Dames) for the taking of Courcy and the Fort of Brimot, the 1st and 3rd Russian Brigades which had been placed under the French 7th Army Corps (General Georges de Bazelaire),[6] were both cited at the orders of armed forces and paused at camp de La Courtine. Both Russian infantry brigades became the Russian Division, commanded by Lokhvitski.
In
On 11 March the 1st Russian Brigade relieved the 152nd French brigade in the
The 3rd Bridgade was also involved in the Second Battle of the Aisne and took Mount Spin. The casualties for the two brigades amounted to 4,542 men killed, wounded or missing in action.[1]
Mutiny
News of the February Revolution started to reach the Russian soldiers in France during April 1917. At first these reports were kept secret by their officers but by 12 April the news became official.[8] Four days later the 2nd Brigade lost over 4,000 casualties killed and wounded. Following the example of their comrades at home, soldiers of the Expeditionary Force based in the camp of La Courtine rejected their officers and elected soldier committees. At one meeting the committee representatives made an appeal to their fellow soldiers to refuse to drill, since they would not continue fighting.[9]
The rebellious units, considered a dangerous revolutionary influence, were ordered to
On 14 September 1917 French and Russian commanders isolated the rebel camp, placing the occupants on half-rations, and lining the surrounding roads with a mixture of French and reliable Russian troops and guns. On 15 September 1917, the remaining revolutionary soldiers, numbering around 2,000, were ordered to lay down their arms by 10 A.M. 16 September 1917 or be destroyed. The rebels refused and at 10 A.M. 16 September 1917 the encircling force fired upon the camp with a French artillery piece. After light fire had reduced their numbers, the majority of the Russian soldiers surrendered and were arrested. By 09:00 on September 16 the camp was completely occupied by French forces and the mutineers were disarmed. The casualties had been exclusively among the Russian mutineers, comprising 9 killed, and 49 wounded.[10]
The Russians were at first sent to prison camps in North Africa and France. After some months many were sent back to Russia, while others were integrated into French society.[11]
In January 2014 the Association pour la mémoire de la mutinerie des soldats russes à La Courtine en 1917 (Association for the memory of the mutiny of Russian Soldiers at La Courtine 1917) was established.[12]
Légion d’Honneur Russe
Russian Legion Battalion
A loyal remnant of Russian troops, under Colonel Georgy Semyonovich Gotua, demanded that they be allowed to continue to fight. They were incorporated into either the French Foreign Legion; units of the Polish Army in France which was already serving on the Western Front; or the Russian Volunteer Legion (French: Légion Russe des volontaires), also designated as the Russian Legion of Honour (French: Légion d’Honneur Russe). The Russian Legion was attached to the French 1st Moroccan Division commanded by Général Daugan on December 13, 1917. It continued to see active service (notably during the Second Battle of the Marne (French: seconde bataille de la Marne)) until the end of the war, before being disbanded at the end of 1918.
The Russian and French units fought around Amiens in March 1918 and along the road from Soissons to Paris in May 1918. Losses during this fighting amounted to nearly 85% of the Russian Legion's numbers.[1]
In July and August additional Russian volunteers, mainly veterans of the former Expeditionary Force, enabled the Russian Legion to become first a brigade and then a regiment with a total of 21⁄2 infantry companies as well as a mortar unit. The unit was assigned to the vicinity of Laffaux.[1] On September 12 the regiment penetrated three lines of fortifications despite heavy losses and were awarded a special flag by the Commander of the French Army, Marshal Ferdinand Foch as well as attracting more volunteers. By November 1, 1918, the regiment had 564 men comprising a machine gun company and three infantry companies.[1]
After the German withdrawal to the border the Moroccan Division, including the Russian Regiment, advanced towards Moyeuvre. This operation was halted by the signing of the Armistice on November 11. Near the end of 1918 the entire Russian Regiment was demobilized.[1] Some Russians chose to remain in France, while others returned to revolutionary Russia. Among the latter was Rodion Malinovsky, the future Soviet Minister of Defence.
Battalion Regimental Commander
- Colonel Gothoua.
- Chef de bataillon Tramuset. From August 11, 1918, to September 3, 1918 (killed)
- Chef de bataillon Durand. From September 4, 1918, to December 25, 1918.
Decorations
- 2 citations at the orders of the armed forces. The Russian Legion Battalion bears the Croix de guerre 1914-1918bestowed December 19, 1918.
Monuments
The following monuments have been dedicated to the memory of the Russian Expeditionary Force:
- on June 21, 2011, a Russian Expeditionary Force Monument was dedicated, in Paris;
- in the Marne a monument at the Fort de la Pompelle on September 4, 2010, at the Russian cemetery of Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand. This is an ensemble memorial compromising a chapel and a column;
- on June 12, 2011, a monument at Courcy commemorating all the sacrifices of the Russian brigades on the Western front.
- a column dedicated in 2012 at the cemetery of La Courtine. The column is in memory of the mutineers of the summer of 1917, and proclaims in Russian « à bas la guerre » (долой войну!). The Lacourtine 1917 Association is dedicated to that memory;
- on July 15, 2016, a Russian Expeditionary Force monument was dedicated at Brest in France in the place of général de Gaulle,;
- on May 12, 2016, at Marseille, the Consulate of the Russian Federation in France dedicated a plaque commemorating the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the 1st Brigade of the Russian Expeditionary Corps formed in Moscow and Samara.[citation needed]
There are also two Imperial Russian war graves in the Gouzeaucourt New British Cemetery, near Cambrai.
Russian Expeditionary Force in France - Gallery
-
Memorial of the 1st and 3rd Infantry Brigades at Fort de la Pompelle
-
Russian Monument atmilitary cemetery, Thessaloniki
-
Russian
soldiers on the Front of Champagne,
Russian
uniform and boots, and
French
helmets and gas masks -
Trial of steel helmets
Notable members of the REF in France
- Nikolai Aleksandrovich Lokhvitsky(1867–1933), Lieutenant-General commandant of the Russian Expeditionary Force in France, immigrated to France and rests at Cimetière Russe de Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois.
- Battle of Budapest.
See also
- Canadian National Vimy Memorial
- Givenchy-en-Gohelle
- Moroccan Division
- Marching Regiment of the Foreign Legion
- Belgian Expeditionary Corps in Russia
- Russian Expeditionary Forces in France and the Balkans electoral district (Russian Constituent Assembly election, 1917)
Notes
- ^ The October Revolution and the subsequent December 15 1917 armistice.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "The Volunteers of the Russian Expeditionary Corps in the Moroccan Division during the Second Battle of Marne". Archived from the original on January 19, 2008. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), by Henri Maurel. Retrieved 14 March 2009. - ^ CRW Flags. History of the Flag of Estonia. Retrieved 4 July 2007.
- ^ La campagne d'Orient (Dardanelles et Salonique), Premier volume, La campagne d'Orient jusqu'à l'intervention de la Roumanie (Février 1915 - Août 1916). Les armées françaises dans la Grande guerre. Vol. VIII/1 (online scan ed.). Paris: Imprimerie Nationale. 1923. p. 560 – via Bibliothèque nationale de France.
- ^ Les armées françaises dans la Grande guerre, Volume VIII/3, p. 525.
- ^ Les armées françaises dans la Grande guerre, Volume VIII/2, p. 565-567.
- ^ Jamie H. Cockfield - With snow on their boots: the tragic Odyssey of the Russian expeditionary force in France in World War I - St Martin Press - New York, 1999 - pages 96 and fol.
- ^ a b Clément, Robert. "La Brigade Russe a Courcy". Retrieved 31 August 2014.
- ^ "Fevrier". Les Mutins de La Courtint. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
- ^ Reed, John. Ten Days That Shook The World. Penguin Classics.
- ^ 'Haig, Master of the Field', by John Davidson (Pub. Peter Nevill, 1953). P.22-23
- ^ "WW1 rebellion of Russian troops on the Western Front at Courtine, France". Archived from the original on July 29, 2009. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Retrieved on 4 July 2007. - ^ "Statuts de l'Association " La Courtine 1917 "". La Courtine. Association pour la mémoire de la mutinerie des soldats russes à La Courtine en 1917. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
Bibliographies
- Remi Adam, Histoire des soldats russes en France 1915-1920 : Les damnés de la guerre, L'Harmattan, 1996.
- Gérard Gorokhoff, Andrei Korliakov, Le Corps Expéditionnaire Russe en France et à Salonique 1916-1918, édition YMCA-PRESS, Paris, 2003 - 656 p. 1005 illustrations.
- Cockfield, Jamie H. With Snow on Their Boots: The Tragic Odyssey of the Russian Expeditionary Force in France During World War I, 1997, ISBN 0-312-17356-3
- Gilbert Cahen : « Le temps retrouvé du soldat russe Anissim Ilitch Otmakhov - France 1916-1920 », ISBN 978-2-7466-5606-2, 288 pages, 30 photos, 2 cartes. Auto-édition Gilbert Cahen Versailles, mars 2013.
Further reading
- Cockfield, Jamie H. With Snow on Their Boots: The Tragic Odyssey of the Russian Expeditionary Force in France During World War I. ISBN 0-312-17356-3.
- Poitevin, Pierre, "La Mutinerie de la Courtine. Les régiments russes revoltés en 1917 au centre de la France", Payot Ed., Paris, 1938.
External links
Media related to Russian Expeditionary Force at Wikimedia Commons