… Force in Siberia, 1918-1920 reviewed by Peter L. Belmonte.
"The North Russian and Siberian Expeditions (1918-1919 and 1918-1920, respectively) may be properly considered to be part of World War I, with the Mexican Punitive Expedition (1916-1917) and the German Army of Occupation (1918-1923) as closely related bookends. All are worthy of study in relation to U.S. involvement in the Great War. Retired U.S. Army colonel John M. House addresses the Siberian Expeditionary Forces in this work. In addition to helping readers understand this little-known and confusing episode in U.S. history, House hopes this study will afford both Americans and Russians a common ground of understanding our past with a hope for a better future. The author provides a general overview of the war as a backdrop to U.S. involvement in Siberia; he goes into much more depth on the specific situation in Russia from 1914 to 1918. House's description of the various factions, including (but not limited to) White Russians, Red Russians, Green Russians, peasants, Czech soldiers, Austro-Hungarian and German prisoners of war, and Japanese, Chinese, and British soldiers, is enough to make one's head swim. In the end, although there were many reasons given for intervention, U.S. diplomats considered the Siberian expedition mainly a humanitarian effort. But from the outset the Allies were hampered by differing goals and an abandonment of the military principle of unity of command. Indeed, even upon the arrival of the first U.S. troops in mid-August 1918, confusion reigned, and no one had a clear idea of what their mission was.
Subsequent chapters helpfully describe the military forces in Siberia and the challenges imposed upon troops and civilians simply because of Siberia's remote, austere, and forbidding climate and terrain. One interesting chapter is devoted to a discussion of the Russian Railway Service Corps; this group of American railroad men was "recruited" especially for their skill in running and maintaining a railroad. They arrived before American military forces and helped greatly to maintain the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Although technically civilians, they wore military uniforms, and most of the men thought they were indeed part of the U.S. Army at the time. It wasn't until the early 1970s that the Corps was awarded retroactive U.S. Army veteran status…"
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Amicalement
Armand
dips his toe into the Russo-Japanese War.
