Tango01 | 04 Oct 2019 9:00 p.m. PST |
… at the End of World War I—and They Lost "In late February 1919, the soldiers of Company B reached the breaking point, when griping gave way to mutiny. The Americans had expected to face Germans on the Western Front. Yet three months after the Nov. 11 armistice ended the Great War, they were instead fighting Bolshevik revolutionaries in Russia's frigid European north. Dozens of their fellow troops had succumbed to influenza on the sea voyage to the Russian port of Archangel. Others had been killed in combat by an enemy armed with a local's knowledge of trails and villages. Wounded Americans had frozen to death awaiting rescue in snowy forests…." Main page link Amicalement Armand |
Uparmored | 05 Oct 2019 3:06 a.m. PST |
When meeting a foreigner I always bring up as a talking point the time Australian troops fought their people. I think it's interesting that Australians have fought nearly everyone on Earth at some point. Probably same for Americans. |
Cerdic | 05 Oct 2019 7:58 a.m. PST |
I'm British. I don't need to bring it up. Seems like everyone in the world knows we fought them at some point… |
Glengarry5 | 05 Oct 2019 9:31 a.m. PST |
Americans fought the Russians in the skies over Korea as well. |
Tango01 | 05 Oct 2019 12:12 p.m. PST |
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Lion in the Stars | 05 Oct 2019 12:43 p.m. PST |
Americans fought the Russians in the skies over Korea as well. and over Vietnam. Possibly in Afghanistan, when the Russians were there. |
Uparmored | 05 Oct 2019 7:45 p.m. PST |
I'm interested in Americans possibly directly fighting Russians in Afghanistan, in the air, on the ground? Are we talking CIA agents getting into direct fights with Soviet troops? |
Cuprum2 | 05 Oct 2019 8:34 p.m. PST |
It remains to ask ourselves one question – and what did the Americans do thousands of miles from home, on a foreign land? ;) Are wars with the Indians considered a war between Russians and Americans? Russian-Tlingit war))) |
Lion in the Stars | 06 Oct 2019 12:05 p.m. PST |
I'm interested in Americans possibly directly fighting Russians in Afghanistan, in the air, on the ground? Are we talking CIA agents getting into direct fights with Soviet troops? I'm under the impression that there were actual US troops there, not just CIA guys, but yes, American 'advisors' getting into firefights with Soviet troops on the ground. |
Rudysnelson | 06 Oct 2019 2:47 p.m. PST |
A decent easy to read book from the 1970s about the US effort in Siberia after WW1 is The Midnight War. |
Uparmored | 06 Oct 2019 3:33 p.m. PST |
Interesting Lion in the Stars, I might have to do more research. I assume these guys in the '80s would've been Green Berets although the famous ones that went in during 2001 didn't seem to have any experience in the country to draw on? I guess in the '80s things might have been more deniable black ops than in 2001? |
whitejamest | 09 Oct 2019 2:04 p.m. PST |
We pumped a lot of money and weaponry into Afghanistan in the 80s, through Pakistan, but did not have soldiers in country. Even the CIA had only limited contacts in the country, because Pakistan's ISI was extremely territorial about it. There was never a need to send Americans into Afghanistan to fight Russians, because the muj were never in danger of giving up, and the Russians never had that great a handle on the situation. You're right that the Special Forces teams that went in in 2001 had no prior experience in Afghanistan. Sure, operations in the 80s could have been deniable, but the Reagan administration considered Afghanistan a huge win, and blew that trumpet loudly. If they could have blown it into an extra octave by taking a little more credit, I suspect they would have. I've never heard American, Pakistani or Afghan sources talk about Americans fighting in the jihad period. The only ones I have heard talk about it were Russian soldiers. They were told they were going into Afghanistan to fight Americans, and were genuinely surprised when they found there weren't any. They felt they had been lied to, because they had. |
Uparmored | 21 Nov 2019 2:59 a.m. PST |
More interesting perspectives whitejames. Thanks for your post. |