America's Siberian Adventure 1918-1920
New York: Jonathan Cape & Harrison Smith, 1931. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. xxiii, [1], 363, [1] pages. Illustrations. Index. Cover has wear and soiling. Front and rear boards have some weakness. Small embossed stamp from a stationary store on fep. Major General William Sidney Graves (27 March 1865 – 27 February 1940), United States Army, commanded American forces in Siberia during the Siberian Expedition, part of the Allied Intervention in Russia. Graves attended the United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated on 12 June 1889. He served in the Spanish–American War in the Philippines until 1902. In 1918, he was given command of the 8th Infantry Division and sent to Siberia under direct orders from President Wilson. His orders were to remain strictly apolitical amidst a politically turbulent situation. Given some 7,000 soldiers in what was called the American Expeditionary Force in Siberia, he settled on the idea of making sure the Trans-Siberian railroad stayed operational and brought in a number of railroad experts to run the railway. His troops did not intervene in the Russian Civil War. U.S. forces operated the Trans-Siberian railroad for almost two years. The U.S. military did accomplish its main objective and the entire Czech Legion was evacuated out of Russia via Vladivostok. The last U.S. soldiers left Siberia April 1, 1920. Historian Benson Bobrick wrote of Graves: "In the whole sad debacle, he may have been the only honorable man." General Graves was promoted to the rank of major general on 11 July 1925, and retired from the army in 1928. He then wrote a book about his time in Siberia, entitled America's Siberian Adventure 1918-20. The American Expeditionary Force, Siberia (AEF in Siberia) was a formation of the United States Army involved in the Russian Civil War in Vladivostok, Russia, after the October Revolution, from 1918 to 1920. The force was part of the larger Allied North Russia Intervention. As a result of this expedition, early relations between the United States and the Soviet Union were poor. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's claimed objectives for sending troops to Siberia were as much diplomatic as they were military. One major reason was to rescue the 40,000 men of the Czechoslovak Legion, who were being held up by Bolshevik forces as they attempted to make their way along the Trans-Siberian Railroad to Vladivostok, and it was hoped, eventually to the Western Front. Another major reason was to protect the large quantities of military supplies and railroad rolling stock that the United States had sent to the Russian Far East in support of the Russian Empire's war efforts on the Eastern Front of World War I. Equally stressed by Wilson was the need to "steady any efforts at self-government or self defense in which the Russians themselves may be willing to accept assistance." At the time, Bolshevik forces in Siberia controlled only small pockets, and President Wilson wanted to make sure that neither Cossack marauders nor the Japanese military would take advantage of the unstable political environment along the strategic railroad line and in the resource-rich Siberian regions that straddled it. Anticommunism was also a strong factor. The AEF in Siberia was commanded by Major General William S. Graves and eventually totaled 7,950 officers and enlisted men. The force included the U.S. Army's 27th and 31st Infantry Regiments, plus large numbers of volunteers from the 12th, 13th, and 62nd Infantry Regiments of the 8th Division, Graves' former division command. 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 Nikolsk-Ussuriski in the north. Unlike his Allied counterparts, General Graves believed their mission in Siberia was to provide protection for American-supplied property and to help the Czechoslovak Legion evacuate Russia, and that it did not include fighting against the Bolsheviks. Repeatedly calling for restraint, Graves often clashed with commanders of British, French, and Japanese forces, who also had troops in the region and who wanted him to take a more active part in the military intervention in Siberia. To operate the Trans-Siberian Railroad, the Russian Railway Service Corps was formed of US personnel. The experience in Siberia for the soldiers was miserable. Problems with fuel, ammunition, supplies, and food were widespread. Horses accustomed to temperate climates were unable to function in sub-zero Russia. Water-cooled machine guns froze and became useless. The last American soldiers left Siberia on April 1, 1920. During their 19 months in Siberia, 189 soldiers of the force died from all causes. As a comparison, the smaller American North Russia Expeditionary Force experienced 235 deaths from all causes during their nine months of fighting near Arkhangelsk. In the words of Chief of Staff Peyton C. March, the expeditions in Russia had been little more than “a military crime”. Condition: Fair.
Keywords: Russian Revolution, Russian Civil War, Kolchak, Trans-Siberian Railroad, Czech Legion, Czechoslovak Legion, Bolshevik, Cossack, Kalmikoff, Semeonoff, 27th Infantry, 31st Infantry, American Expeditionary Force, Siberia, AEF in Siberia
[Book #83742]
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