The Polar Bear Expedition of 1918-1919

Rumple — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 01:19:19 -0800

"The "American Intervention in Northern Russia, 1918-1919," nicknamed the "Polar Bear Expedition," (wikipedia) was a U.S. military intervention in northern Russia at the end of World War I." The ostensible purpose was to open an Eastern Front following the Russian withdrawal from World War I, but in practice the unit stayed to fight Bolshevism. An archive of the expedition, which gives wonderful insight into early Bolshevik Russia as well as war-weary United States, is online. Notable are the many diaries and photographs by ordinary members of the expedition, as well as some poignant newspaper clippings from the home front, touristy snapshots, brutal snapshots, and a petition drawn up by a former member demanding the return of American troops from Russia (some of whom had seen amputation by pocketknife). After a long struggle, bodies of American troops were returned in 1930. The descendant of a trooper is also keeping an interesting blog, and this site gives a Russian perspective via photos and a mocking song.

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The Polar Bear Expedition of 1918-1919