Title: The Polar Bear Expedition: US/Allied Forces ordered into Russian Revolution/Civil War at close of WWI Source:
YouTube and criticalpast.com URL Source:http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL04666C08BF8CC024 Published:Dec 1, 2011 Author:Various Post Date:2011-12-01 07:37:10 by GreyLmist Keywords:WWI, Russian Revolution, Civil War Interventionism, Wilson Views:4357 Comments:25
12 videos. 27 minutes total. Click the white box on the toolbar to scroll through the list of titles or view selections individually.
Poster Comment:
Two videos from right sidebar list of historical footage at criticalpast.com:
Location: Arkhangelsk Russia Date: 1918, September Duration: 1 min 50 sec Sound: NO SOUND
Footage from the arrival of United States Army 85th Division, 339th Infantry, American Expeditionary Force North Russia, participating as part of the Triple Entente forces, in the so-called "Polar Bear Expedition." Two thirds of the soldiers were from Michigan. City officials greet the arriving forces. Officials from all of the Entente forces are seen (British, French, Russia) along with Colonel George E. Stewart, the commander of all US Forces. The procession of civilian and military officials emerge from a doorway and are greeted by local officials. Children and townspeople look on.
This historic stock footage available in SD and HD video.
Location: Arkhangelsk Russia Date: 1918, September Duration: 1 min 50 sec Sound: NO SOUND
Footage from the United States Army 85th Division, 339th Infantry, American Expeditionary Force North Russia, participating as part of the Triple Entente forces, in the so-called "Polar Bear Expedition." Two thirds of the soldiers were from Michigan. Arrival of US Army troops aboard the Gorfe Castle steamship docked at Arkhangelsk (also known as Archangel) in northern Russia. Military band disembarking with their instruments in hand. Soldiers disembarking down plank with their equipment. Soldiers and civilians on the dock beside the ship. Troops also included the 1st Battalion of 310th Engineers, the 337th Field Hospital, and the 337th Ambulance Company.
This historic stock footage available in SD and HD video.
Forgot to check the links and info for the two criticalpast.com videos before posting to make sure they were both working properly with the accurate details for each. Apologies for the path glitches and data duplication error. For clarification, am just going to repost them as they should have been listed above:
Location: Arkhangelsk Russia Date: 1918, September Duration: 1 min 50 sec Sound: NO SOUND
Footage from the arrival of United States Army 85th Division, 339th Infantry, American Expeditionary Force North Russia, participating as part of the Triple Entente forces, in the so-called "Polar Bear Expedition." Two thirds of the soldiers were from Michigan. City officials greet the arriving forces. Officials from all of the Entente forces are seen (British, French, Russia) along with Colonel George E. Stewart, the commander of all US Forces. The procession of civilian and military officials emerge from a doorway and are greeted by local officials. Children and townspeople look on. This historic stock footage available in SD and HD video.
Location: Arkhangelsk Russia Date: 1918, September 4 Duration: 1 min 39 sec Sound: NO SOUND
Footage from the United States Army 85th Division, 339th Infantry, American Expeditionary Force North Russia, participating as part of the Triple Entente forces, in the so-called "Polar Bear Expedition." Two thirds of the soldiers were from Michigan. Arrival of US Army troops aboard the Gorfe Castle steamship docked at Arkhangelsk (also known as Archangel) in northern Russia. Military band disembarking with their instruments in hand. Soldiers disembarking down plank with their equipment. Soldiers and civilians on the dock beside the ship. Troops also included the 1st Battalion of 310th Engineers, the 337th Field Hospital, and the 337th Ambulance Company. This historic stock footage available in SD and HD video.
Can click the "More" button at Related Clips on the site's right sidebar to see the full list of vintage films there on the subject of our troops in Russia.
Keywords: WWI, Russian Revolution, Civil War Interventionism, Wilson
iirc, the entry for Wilson was supposed to read: Wilson's Undeclared War in Russia and Globalization of Our Troops under Foreign Command.
Guess there wasn't enough room in that boxed-section for all of that.
There was a PBS documentary on TV in the last few days about the Polar Bear Expedition in Russia's Civil War. Some of the place names involved are spookish. Was the first time I saw it, and didn't see all of it, but it was reportedly scheduled to be televised at least once before, on July 4th, 2010 -- probably to commemorate the date that the surviving Polar Bears came home, who were on the verge of mutiny in Russia because their mission was a mystery to them, other than to be heldover there to be attacked. The U.S. Ambassador to Russia said something to them to the effect that they were there to help the emerging government, which shortly emerged from the Red Bolshevik forces that were were attacking them.
Carl Levin (Dem-Senator, Michigan) appeared as a speaker in the documentary a number of times and so I figured that it could be somewhat insightful as to his current manuevers against the Constitution to make America into a Battlefield legislatively. Found a review of the documentary to post next that notes his political views of Wilson's Foreign Civil War Intervention then as comparative politically with the movement of our troops into Iraq and that political landscape. I suppose he thought at the time he was being interviewed for the show that all battlefields are alike for the purpose of outsourcing our troops and allies around the world for furthering the interests of empire designers. I dunno but maybe he's expecting the outsourcing of some Allied forces here to assist ours in turning America into a battlefield for global-empire expansion.
For now, am posting this very lengthy source that has intrigues galore going on in that Russian era, 250 footnotes, 45 Bibliography references, but only one short, obscure sentence that I noticed by scanning through it on our Polar Bears and the allied expeditionary forces deployed there by underhanded, ignoble, dictatorial-empire types:
Throughout April, the question of intervention loomed large in the considerations of all parties, a debate that went on after Robins left in May, and was acted on from the summer of 1918 to the summer of 1920. (241) That debate resulted in a limited intervention later on [My note: a few weeks later on, in September of that year - 1918] by US and other Allied forces.
A documentary about the American Russian Civil War Intervention: 1918-1919 has been made.
'Voices of a Never Ending Dawn':
Quote:
In the summer of 1918 President Woodrow Wilson, at the urging of our allies in Britain and France, sent an infantry regiment to north Russia to fight the Bolsheviks (the first Communists) in hopes of persuading Russia to rejoin the war against Germany. The 339th Infantry with the first battalion of the 310th Engineers and the 337th Ambulance and Hospital Companies were chosen from the Detroit and Michigan areas.
Additional units and soldiers were chosen from all 50 states, and from the battlefronts of France.
These men were called to brave the cold arctic snows and fight long battles in temperatures of sixty-degrees below zero, under the midnight sun of arctic Russia.
Those that survived called themselves The Polar Bears. When WWI ended, these men expected to be immediately called home, like all other regiments around the world. That call, for these men, never came. They were left to fight a savage enemy in Northern Russia eight long months after WWI had ended.
There has never been a regiment more tested. They became one of the most highly decorated regiments in all of WWI.
This documentary will be shown are various PBS stations throughout the United States through July 4th, 2010:
PBS TV stations, dates, and times (seems to be mainly on at odd hours of the day and night):
I was only able to catch the last hour on TV when it was shown a few months back.
It wasn't that good IMO; it has (IMO) low budget / second rate production standards but it is the only documentary film on the American Intervention in the Russian Civil War that I know about.
There are a lot of scenes with reenactors.
The woman who made the documentary (a relative of hers fought on the American side in the conflict) interviews Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan) who makes frequent appearances to comment on the political aspects of the American Intervention and makes connections between the Russian Civil War Intervention and Iraq, so it is that type of documentary. [My note: extra emphasis mine]
However, I would recommend watching it on TV and if you miss seeing it on TV, I would say ordering a copy of the documentary for $29.00 would be worth your time and money.
It is not a great documentary, but if you're interested in the Russian Civil War, or WWI, or if you've never heard of the Polar Bears and would like to learn more through a video format, it would be worth the price.
"...President Wilson made the unprecedented decison to place the troops under foreign command. The British commander then divided the American troops and ordered them to the front lines."
"This flag flew over Pinega, which is the most northern U.S. Military post in our nation's history. And Capt. Joel Moore of Company 'M' was sent up to Pinega, Russia to help Company 'G'. And he said, 'Here we're under our own command and we're under British command up there.' And he says, 'We fly our own colors, raised and lowered according to regulations.'" [Info on the U.S. flags at Onega, Russia at 2:42-3:50.]
CAPT. JOEL R. MOORE, 339th U. S. Infantry LIEUT. HARRY H. MEAD, 339th U. S. Infantry LIEUT. LEWIS E. JAHNS, 339th U. S. Infantry
Published by
The Polar Bear Publishing Co. Detroit, Mich.
COPYRIGHT 1920 BY JOEL R. MOORE
[Illustration: The following poem is enclosed in a cross.] - excerpt:
IN RUSSIA's FIELDS (After Flanders Fields)
And some in Archangel are laid 'Neath rows of crosses Russian-made With marker of the Stars and Stripes Not minding bugle, drum or pipes We sleep, the brave, in Russia.
And comrades as you gather far away In God's own land on some bright day And think of us who died and rest Just tell our folks we did our best In far off fields of Russia.