Siberian intervention
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Siberian intervention | |
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Part of the Outer Mongolia | |
Result | Soviet victory |
Territorial changes |
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Flag_of_the_Mongolian_People%27s_Republic_%281921%E2%80%931924%29.svg/23px-Flag_of_the_Mongolian_People%27s_Republic_%281921%E2%80%931924%29.svg.png)
Allied Powers:
Japan
Czechoslovakia
United States
Italy
United Kingdom
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/Flag_of_France_%281794%E2%80%931815%2C_1830%E2%80%931974%29.svg/23px-Flag_of_France_%281794%E2%80%931815%2C_1830%E2%80%931974%29.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Flag_of_Poland_%281919%E2%80%931928%29.svg/23px-Flag_of_Poland_%281919%E2%80%931928%29.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Flag_of_Bogd_Khaanate_Mongolia.svg/12px-Flag_of_Bogd_Khaanate_Mongolia.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/Flag_of_the_Russian_Soviet_Federative_Socialist_Republic_%281918%E2%80%931925%29.svg/23px-Flag_of_the_Russian_Soviet_Federative_Socialist_Republic_%281918%E2%80%931925%29.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f3/Flag_of_Russia.svg/23px-Flag_of_Russia.svg.png)
70,000 Japanese
50,000 Czechoslovaks
8,763 Americans
2,400 Italians
2,364 British
4,192 Canadian[2]
2,300 Chinese
1,400 French
several thousands of Poles
~ More than 140,000
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/Flag_of_the_Russian_Soviet_Federative_Socialist_Republic_%281918%E2%80%931925%29.svg/23px-Flag_of_the_Russian_Soviet_Federative_Socialist_Republic_%281918%E2%80%931925%29.svg.png)
698 killed/missing
2,189 died of disease
1,421 wounded
3,482 evacuated sick/frostbitten
(Jan-June 1922 only)[3]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f3/Flag_of_Russia.svg/23px-Flag_of_Russia.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Flag_of_Japan_%281870%E2%80%931999%29.svg/22px-Flag_of_Japan_%281870%E2%80%931999%29.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Flag_of_the_United_States_%281912-1959%29.svg/23px-Flag_of_the_United_States_%281912-1959%29.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ae/Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg/23px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/Flag_of_Canada_%281868%E2%80%931921%29.svg/23px-Flag_of_Canada_%281868%E2%80%931921%29.svg.png)
The Siberian intervention or Siberian expedition of 1918–1922 was the dispatch of troops of the Entente powers to the Russian Maritime Provinces as part of a larger effort by the western powers, Japan, and China to support White Russian forces and the Czechoslovak Legion against Soviet Russia and its allies during the Russian Civil War. The Imperial Japanese Army continued to occupy Siberia even after other Allied forces withdrew in 1920.
Background
Following the Russian
Faced with this situation, the United Kingdom and France decided to intervene in the Russian Civil War on the anti-Bolshevik side. The Western European powers had three objectives in intervening:[citation needed]
- to prevent the Allied matériel stockpiles in Russia from falling into German or Bolshevik hands
- to help the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia and return it to the fighting
- to resurrect the Eastern Front by installing a White Russian-backed government
The British and French asked the
Wilson appealed to
Participants
British Empire
The
The British also sent a military mission of 500 men to Siberia,[11] made up of 250 officers and 250 non-commissioned officers, who took part in the training and equipping of the White forces.[12] The military mission was commanded by General Alfred Knox.[13] At least 64 Royal Marines were also involved of the manning of guns at the front in Siberia.[14]
Canada
The Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force, authorised in August 1918 and commanded by Major General
China
At the request of Chinese merchants, 2,300 Chinese troops were sent to Vladivostok to protect Chinese interests there. The Chinese army fought against both Bolsheviks and Cossacks.[18]
Italy
The "Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Estremo Oriente" was made of Alpini troops, supported by 2,500 Italian ex-POWs who had fought in the Austro-Hungarian Army and enrolled in the Legione Redenta.
The Italians played a small but important role during the intervention, fighting together with the
The main areas of operation were the Irkutsk, Harbin and Vladivostok regions.[20]
France
The French sent a small, token, 500-strong force to Vladivostok in August 1918. This was a colonial regiment from Indo-China.[7] This composite force was known as the Bataillon colonial sibérien
Japan
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b5/The_Illustration_of_The_Siberian_War%2C_No._16._The_Japanese_Army_Occupied_Vragaeschensk.jpg/220px-The_Illustration_of_The_Siberian_War%2C_No._16._The_Japanese_Army_Occupied_Vragaeschensk.jpg)
The Japanese were initially asked in 1917 by the French to intervene in Russia but declined the request.[21] However, the army general staff later came to view the Tsarist collapse as an opportunity to free Japan from any future threat from Russia by detaching Siberia and forming an independent buffer state.[21] The Japanese government at first refused to undertake such an expedition and it was not until the following year that events were set in motion that led to a change in this policy.[21]
In July 1918, President Wilson asked the Japanese government to supply 7,000 troops as part of an international coalition of 25,000 troops, including an
Once the political decision had been reached, the Imperial Japanese Army took over full control under Chief of Staff Yui Mitsue and extensive planning for the expedition was conducted.[22] The Japanese first started landing troops in Vladivostok on a large scale on 8 August 1918, and by the end of the month 18,000 Japanese troops had arrived at the port with a further 6,000 moved up through Manchuria to Manzhouli.[23] On 18 August the Japanese General Otani Kikuzo assumed command of all the Allied forces.[24]
United States
The American Expeditionary Force, Siberia was commanded by Major General
Although General Graves did not arrive in Siberia until September 4, 1918, the first 3,000 American troops disembarked in Vladivostok between August 15 and August 21, 1918. They were quickly assigned guard duty along segments of the railway between Vladivostok and
Unlike his Allied counterparts, General Graves considered his mission in Siberia to be to provide protection for American-supplied property and to help the Czechoslovak Legions evacuate Russia, and that it did not include fighting against the Bolsheviks. Repeatedly calling for restraint, Graves was often at odds with commanders of British, French and Japanese forces who wanted the Americans to take a more active part in the military intervention in Siberia.
Others
Small detachments of Poles, Serbs and Romanians were also sent to Vladivostok between August–September 1918.[24]
Allied intervention (1918–1919)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/Czech_Troops.jpg/220px-Czech_Troops.jpg)
The joint Allied intervention began in August 1918.[22] The first landing was by British troops in Vladivostok on 3 August. The Japanese entered through Vladivostok and points along the Manchurian border with more than 70,000 Japanese troops eventually being involved by the beginning of November.[24] The deployment of such a large force for a rescue expedition made the Allies wary of Japanese intentions.[22] The Americans landed their forces from 16 August-early September, eventually landing a total of 8,763 men[24] The British, Italian and French contingents joined the Czechs and Slovaks in an effort to re-establish the Eastern Front west of the Ural Mountains; as a result, the European allies trekked westwards.[22] It was agreed that 543 infantrymen and machine-gunners from Ward's British unit and the other Allied units would be sent Westwards to 'be used defensively and in reserve' until the Japanese arrived in strength.[29] The Japanese, with their own objectives in mind, refused to proceed west of Lake Baikal[22] and stayed behind. The Americans, suspicious of Japanese intentions, also stayed behind to keep an eye on the Japanese.[22] By November, the Japanese occupied all ports and major towns in the Russian Maritime Provinces and in Siberia east of the city of Chita.[22]
In the summer of 1918 onwards, the Japanese army lent its support to White Russian elements;
The Allied forces helped hold the line against the Bolsheviks in the far-east in the
The British armoured trains were in action on the Ussuri front between 14 and 24 August 1918.[31] Operating under a Japanese commander, the small British unit and other Allied forces played a small but important part in the battle of Dukhovskaya between 23 and 25 August. Five Bolshevik armed trains were attacked, supported by the British forces' own two armoured trains, and there were 600 fatal Japanese casualties. This limited but decisive action eliminated organised Bolshevik resistance on the Ussuri front.[32]
The various Allied forces did not function well together, because of the underlying chaos and suspicion.
The general situation here is an extraordinary one—at first glance one assumes that everyone distrusts everyone else—the Japs being distrusted more than anyone else. Americans and Japs don't hit it off. The French keep a very close eye on the British, and the Russians as a whole appear to be indifferent of their country's needs, so long as they can keep their women, have their vodka, and play cards all night until daylight. The Czechs appear to be the only honest and conscientious party among the Allies.[34]
In one incident an American unit, 27th Infantry Regiment (Wolfhounds) was part of the Evgenevka incident, a face-off between the Wolfhounds and the Japanese military.
For their part, the Czechs were having difficulty fighting their way to Vladivostok on the Trans-Siberian railway. Although many had linked up with the forces at
It was decided that the American forces would not in any way fight the Bolsheviks and would simply stay behind and guard the section of the
On 26 October, a Canadian force of about brigade size landed in Vladivostok. The Canadians believed that there would be trade benefits from establishing a friendly Russian regime. By this time, the British force had finished its journey West from Vladivostok all the way to the front lines near Omsk. The unit stayed in the city for the next six months over the cold Siberian winter.[15] It may have played a role in the coup in the city in November 1918 which brought Admiral Kolchack to power as 'Supreme Leader' of Russia.[38] The force went forward with the advancing Czechs and Russians and continued to provide artillery support along the railway from Omsk to Ufa in October and November.[39] A Bolshevik offensive in December drove the White troops back, and the British armoured trains that had moved beyond Omsk to the front were forced to flee back east.[40] In April, many of the British forces were sent back to Vladivostok, but the 12,000-mile journey was not completed until 6 May.[40]
A small British Royal Marine force would later form an important part of the '
On 28 October 1918 an independent Czech state had been declared, and this led the Czech Legion to lose any desire for fighting, since the troops now merely wanted to return to their country as free citizens. The Canadians also refused to play any part in fighting and signalled their desire to withdraw from Russia in April 1919.[43] The last Canadian forces left Siberia on 5 June 1919.
Aftermath
Allied withdrawal (1919–1920)
In the summer of 1919, the White regime in Siberia collapsed.[44] By August 1919, plans were made to withdraw the British forces and by 1 November the last of their troops had been withdrawn,[45][46] with only the military mission remaining.[13] During November, the Whites were being routed and the remaining Allies quickly scrambled to get out. [45][46] On 12 January 1920, 12 members of the British military mission and two members of the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force were captured when their train was captured near Krasnoyarsk as they were fleeing the Bolshevik advance.[47] The last members of the British military mission had left Siberia by February 1920.[30]
On 7 February 1920, White leader Admiral Kolchak was executed,[48] and in the next few months the Americans and the remaining Allied coalition partners withdrew from Vladivostok. The evacuation of the Czechoslovak Legion was also carried out in the same year. However, the Japanese decided to stay, primarily due to fears of the spread of communism so close to Japan, and the Japanese controlled Korea and Manchuria. The Japanese were forced to sign the Gongota Agreement of 1920 in order to evacuate their troops peacefully from Transbaikal. It meant an unavoidable end to Grigory Semyonov's regime in October 1920.
The Japanese army provided military support to the Japanese-backed
Legacy
Effects on Japanese politics
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/Provisional_Priamurskoe_government.jpg/220px-Provisional_Priamurskoe_government.jpg)
Japan's motives in the Siberian intervention were complex and poorly articulated. Ostensibly, Japan, as with the United States and the other international coalition forces, was in Siberia to safeguard stockpiled military supplies and to "rescue" the
Japanese casualties from the Siberian Expedition included some 5,000 dead from combat or illness, and the expenses incurred were in excess of 900 million yen.
See also
Notes
- ISBN 1135765952, p.378, footnote 28
- ^ Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force.
- ^ General-Lieutenant G.F.KRIVOSHEYEV (1993). "SOVIET ARMED FORCES LOSSES IN WARS,COMBAT OPERATIONS MILITARY CONFLICTS" (PDF). MOSCOW MILITARY PUBLISHING HOUSE. p. 46. Retrieved 2015-06-21.
- ^ a b Wright, pp. 490-492
- ^ a b Kinvig 2006, p. 55.
- ISBN 963-7326-14-6. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
- ^ a b c d e Kinvig 2006, p. 56.
- ^ Kinvig 2006, p. 63,297.
- ^ James 1978, p. 62
- ^ James 1978, p. 78
- ^ Kinvig 2006, p. 304.
- ^ Wright, pp. 328-329
- ^ a b Wright, p. 328
- ^ Wright, pp. 305-306
- ^ a b Kinvig 2006, p. 63.
- .
- ^ Canada's Siberian Expedition website
- ISBN 963-7326-14-6. Retrieved 18 March 2012. "At the end of the year 1918, after the Russian Revolution, the Chinese merchants in the Russian Far East demanded the Chinese government to send troops for their protection, and Chinese troops were sent to Vladivostok to protect the Chinese community: about 1600 soldiers and 700 support personnel."
- Dorling Kindersley, 2003, Page 251
- ^ A History of Russia, 7th Edition, Nicholas V. Riasanovsky & Mark D. Steinberg, Oxford University Press, 2005
- ^ a b c d e Humphreys 1996, p. 25.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Humphreys 1996, p. 26.
- ^ Kinvig 2006, p. 56-57.
- ^ a b c d Kinvig 2006, p. 57.
- ^ Willett 2015, pp. 166–167, 170.
- ^ Congressional hearings
- JSTOR 43521010.
- ^ Guarding the Railroad, Taming the Cossacks The U.S. Army in Russia, 1918–1920, Smith, Gibson Bell
- ^ a b Kinvig 2006, p. 58.
- ^ a b Wright, p. 303
- ^ a b Wright, p. 304
- ^ Kinvig 2006, p. 59.
- ^ Smith 1959, p. 872.
- ^ Beattie 1957, p. 119.
- ^ a b Kinvig 2006, p. 60.
- ^ Moffat 2015, p. 132.
- ^ a b Kinvig 2006, p. 62.
- ^ Kinvig 2006, p. 69.
- ^ Kinvig 2006, p. 211.
- ^ a b Wright, p. 305
- ^ a b Wright, p. 306
- ^ Kinvig 2006, p. 298.
- ^ Kinvig 2006, p. 208-209.
- ^ Humphreys 1996, p. 27.
- ^ a b Moffat 2015, p. 256.
- ^ a b Kinvig 2006, p. 297.
- ^ Wright, pp. 329-330
- ^ Moffat 2015, p. 260.
References
- Beattie, Steuart (1957). Canadian Intervention in Russia, 1918-1919 (MA). McGill University.
- Graves, William S. (1931). America's Siberian Adventure 1918-1920. New York: Peter Smith.
- Humphreys, Leonard A. (1996). The Way of the Heavenly Sword: The Japanese Army in the 1920s. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-2375-3.
- James, Brigadier E.A. (1978). British Regiments 1914–18. London: Samson Books Limited. ISBN 0-906304-03-2.
- Kinvig, Clifford (2006). Churchill's Crusade: The British Invasion of Russia, 1918–1920. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 1-85285-477-4.
- Moffat, Ian C.D. (2015). The Allied Intervention in Russia, 1918–1920: The Diplomacy of Chaos. New York: Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-43573-6.
- Smith, Gaddis (1959). "Canada and the Siberian Intervention, 1918–1919". JSTOR 1905120.
- White, John Albert (1950). The Siberian Intervention. ISBN 9780837119762.
- Willett Jr., Robert L (2005). Russian Sideshow: America's Undeclared War, 1918–1920. Potomac Books. ISBN 1-57488-706-8.
- Wright, Damien (2017). Churchill's Secret War with Lenin: British and Commonwealth Military Intervention in the Russian Civil War, 1918-20. Solihull: Helion. ISBN 978-1-911512-10-3.