Russian Legion
The Honorary Russian Legion (
Russian Expeditionary Force
The Russian
Mutiny
After the October Revolution and subsequent withdrawal of Russia from the Allies, the Russian troops were looked upon with distrust and relegated to labor companies and internment camps, primarily at Camp Militaire, near La Courtine. The camp was divided into the 1st and 3rd Brigades.
The Russian soldiers in 1st Brigade camp began questioning why they were fighting for the French at all and mutinied. The 3rd Brigade camp was still led by Russian officers (notably Georgy Semyonovich Gotua) and was used to help suppress the rebellious one. Finally the French, backed by a newly arrived Russian-manned 75mm field artillery regiment, shelled the rebellious camp, resulting in approximately 10 dead and 44 wounded, as well as an unknown number of dead and wounded shot by Gotua's camp. The survivors were at first sent to jail camps in North Africa and France, and after some months many were sent back to Russia, while a good number of the men integrated into French society.[1]
Russian Legion
The loyal men under Colonel Georgy Gotua demanded that they be allowed to fight and thus formed the Russian Legion.
Four battalions are formed:[2]
- First Battalion - Colonel Gotua
13 officers, 490 men. Attached to the 1st Moroccan Division.
- Second Battalion - Colonel Ieske (Jeske) until May 5, 1918, then led by Colonel Kotovitch.
11 officers, 397 men. Was not sent to the front to fight.
- Third Battalion - Colonel Balbachevski
21 officers, 504 men. Ordered to go to the Macedonian front (Salonika) but after learning of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk the men started questioning why they should fight so it was never used in battle.
- Fourth Battalion - Colonel Simonoff
6 officers, 234 men. Also attached to the Moroccan Division, fighting alongside the First Battalion.
It joined the French
In May 1918 the Moroccan Division took part in the fierce fighting on the road from Soissons to Paris. The Russian Legion was sent in by Colonel Lagarde as badly needed reinforcements for the Moroccan Division. Losses during the fighting accounted for nearly 85% of the Russian Legion's forces.[3]
In July the Legion was sent reinforcements made primarily of volunteers from old regiments of the Expeditionary Corps and was reformed into the 1st Brigade of the Moroccan Division. More reinforcements arrived in August to bring the total to 21⁄2 infantry companies as well as a mortar unit which turned the Brigade into a Regiment. The Regiment was then sent towards Laffaux.[3] The Legion actively participated in the breakthrough of the Hindenburg line, taking the first and second lines with bayonet attacks, and the third line surrendered itself when the Russians began to approach with shouts of "Huzzah”. The Legion's losses amounted to 9 killed and 25 wounded.[4]
Marshal Ferdinand Foch, Commander of the French Army, awarded the Russian Regiment with a special flag after their actions on September 12, where the Regiment managed to pierce the German defences, making its way through 3 lines of fortifications and capturing prisoners and materials, despite taking heavy losses. This attracted more volunteers, so that by November 1, 1918 the Regiment had 564 men. The battalion in turn was divided into a machine gun company and 3 infantry companies.[3]
After the German withdrawal to the border the Moroccan Division, including the Russian Regiment, advanced upon Moyeuvre. The operation was halted by the signing of the armistice treaty on November 11. Near the end of 1918 the entire Russian Regiment was recalled and demobilized.[3] 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.
See also
References
- ^ "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. - ^ http://ascerf.fr/expo/g.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ a b c d e "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. - ^ "Грузинские Белогвардейцы (участники Белого движения)". Archived from the original on 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2014-08-02.
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.