There is a small cemetery where I grew up. Only 6 or 8 graves. All from the American expeditionary unit Polar Bears. We local kids had a better understanding of the post WW1 events than our school teachers. Detroit’s own was under one of the names. Thank you. It’s a great story!
My grandfather (mom’s dad) was a Detroit Polar Bear. His duty was to change the “cheese box” on a Lewis gun. There is a cemetery in Troy, Michigan (north of Detroit) called White Chapel where stands a statue of a Polar Bear with the graves of those who were killed in Russia buried around it. My grand parents took my there when I was 6 or7.
My grandfather was a member of the Canadian contingent of this expedition. He was gassed at/near Ypres in early 1918 and after his recovery volunteered for a “secret mission.” He returned to Canada in July 1919 after being extracted by the Americans…minus some toes.
My Grandfather, Michael F. Burke, was a Polar Bear from Chicago. The citation that accompanied his award for the Silver Star Medal reads in part: Sergeant Burke distinguished himself by gallantry in action while serving with Company G, 339th Infantry Regiment, 85th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, in action at Karpogora, Russia, 4 December 1918, while operating a machine gun against the enemy. Sadly, this action occurred three weeks after WW1 had ended.
I've learned so much from THG. One of the very best channels on TH-cam, and one that this old man is so thankful for. Looking forward to seeing what THG has in store for us in 2023.
“Churchill’s Secret War with Lenin: British and Commonwealth Military Intervention in the Russian Civil War, 1918-1920” is an absolutely great book about the history of the intervention. While focusing on the Commonwealth forces, it does cover the some of the actions of US forces.
@@arthas640 Churchill left the Admiralty after the disaster at Gallipoli. He enlisted in the Army, hoping to die at the front. He proved himself a valiant and able frontline officer.
I had a 2nd Great Uncle involved in this. He was a first generation German-American farm boy from Texas. The story I heard had him entering Russia from somewhere in the west and coming out in the east in China. While in China he met and married a young Russian woman who was the sole survivor of a large family murdered by the Bolsheviks. They settled in southern California and stayed there the rest of their lives. I greatly regret that I never got to meet them and hear their story. What a story it must have been.
as a small boy growing up in the 1960's, I would listen to the stories our local postmaster would tell of his time in the Polar Bears. They almost always ended with him saying I never understood why we were there or if we did any good.
I first heard of the US participation in the Russian civil war from Phillip Knightley’s book “The First Casualty.” I really appreciate your concise account of this unknown intervention.
I served in the Army Reserves after my time on active duty. The unit I served in was the 339th Infantry Regiment. When I served with the unit it was a training unit that would have opened basic training bases had WW III broken out, teaching draftees how to operate a tank. The unit crest for the unit had a polar bear on it and Cyrillic writing. It is the only unit crest in the United States military with Russian on it.
I knew that Americans had been involved, and that was about the extent of what I knew. I have no recollection of this episode ever having been covered in high school or college history classes.
The "Polar Bears" are memorialized in the Michigan Military and Space Museum in Frankenmuth - well worth the visit. On a personal note, I was attached to the 4/31st Infantry Battalion in Afghanistan in 2002. The 31st Infantry is still nicknamed "Polar Bears" and traces its heritage back to the Russian Expedition.
In Troy, Michigan, my home town, is White Chapel Cemetery. There is a Polar Bear memorial and the remains of many of the dead are interred there. Every 4th of July and memorial day the USAF does a flyover with A-10's from Selfridge ANG base and WW1 reenactors parade in period attire to honor them.
I knew of the US participation in Russia during this period. But I was unaware that this mission had not been fully explained to the troops. Having served in Afghanistan, I can sort of relate.
Thank you. My grandfather was in the 339th company C and was a sharpshooter. It is never mentioned that some were from Illinois, as he was a resident of Cicero outside Chicago. Thank God he made it and lived until 1962.
Nice job... For more, read my oral history, "A Well-Kept Secret: The Allied Invasion of North Russia, 1918-1919" by William Ward... While in graduate school, I had the great good fortune to interview 49 Americans and Canadians who were there... The French soldiers who mutinied ended up negotiating their surrender that allowed them to keep their guns... Also, I believe that the most common machine gun was the Lewis gun... There is a painting done by John Toornman of the Battle of Kopogora, the farthest point that Americans reached from Archangel... There is some support that the "suicide" was actually a murder (read the accounts of John Toornman)...
@@williamward446 Actually was quite surprised to see ski use by (non-Scandinavian) troops in such early footage! Being one who has used skins on my own skis, figured those guys were using them also, due to their decidedly slow forward progress!
Seems like a shitty secret, the western intervention in the Russian Civil War was brought up by Soviets and still gets brought up by some Russians in regards to anti-western sentiments and it basically created the cold war. Pre Russian Civil War many communists thought communism was a borderless ideology but after the intervention the ideology of international or world communism started to dimish in favor of communism in one nation with Russia at the heart of any future communist actions. The intervention had little impact on the war but big impacts on world politics and world history
Thanks for sharing this story with your viewers. My grandfather served as an infantryman in the 339th, E Company. I still have a jar with some hard tack that he kept in his pockets. From what I understand, that and melted snow were all they survived on for weeks.
My Air War College paper centered around American involvement in small scale actions and began with a description of the long forgotten Polar Bear Expedition. It is an early example of mission creep, or as others have said, "When you're up to your neck in alligators, it's hard to remember that your original objective was to drain the swamp". Somalia comes to mind.
Thank you for producing this post. My mother's father, H. O. Cottrell, was a veteran of the Polar Bear Expedition. This military expedition has always given our family some difficulty when trying to find information on the actions of the forces involved. Thank you for "remembering" this small but difficult conflict.
My grandfather Arnold Carlson was drafted and sent to the Mexican border, as a company clerk he saw the orders for their company to be shipped to Vladivostok then requested and got a transfer to another company.
My grandfather, Charles Oliver Willard, participated in the campaign. I remember a picture in my grandparents’ kitchen of three men in furs. I recall him saying that he was given the cook position after the former cook was shot and that a local woman was executed by the Bolshevik’s for giving aid to the Americans. For further information, there is an exhibit at the Michigan Heroes Museum in Frankenmuth Michigan.
One of the US regiments in the Siberian expedition was the 31st Infantry. That Unit is probably the most hard luck regiment in the US Army. Its first combat deployment was there in Siberia. Then it was fighting on Bataan in WW II. It next served in Korea and was at Chosin Reservoir. There is still one battalion of the 31st on active duty with the 10th Mountain Division.
Makes for fantastic war gaming! One of my favorite periods. (Plus the kaleidoscope of uniforms makes painting miniature figures far more exciting than most modern periods)
thank you for sharing history. i have only recently come to understand its importance. much like art, history should disturb, move, and inspire us. but like all growth it is suppose to be hard and sadly those who do not learn from it are doomed to repeat it.
Biden is repeating it now, save White Ukraine from Red Russia. Ready for some American boys on the scene yet? no? no we are not. Demand they defund WW3.
25 years ago, I visited the Smithsonian Museum of American History. On display was a set of KKK robes. I began to question why symbols of hate were on display, but I quickly realized that we need to learn the bad side of our history, as well as the good.
Honor and thanks to all those who have served and do serve in the US Armed Forces, no matter rank, job, or station. It is a debt we Americans can never fully pay, except to keep our country free for all, in memory of their sacrifice.
Remnants from that era are still in Ft. Custer west of Battle Creek, Michigan. When our new training center was built, construction had to be stopped because several 55 gallon drums were found with something in them. A clean up had to be done. There are still parts of the Ft. buildings, gates, etc. around.
All through primary and high school, I despised history as a subject. "History" class was just a bunch of names and dates and events in a thick, boring textbook. When I got to college, that all changed. Why? I got a wonderful, enthusiastic teacher who made it real for me. Now *you* teach me in my continuing education of a most interesting subject: History! Thank you so much for making history into something important and real. Forever grateful for your work and dedication. 📚😁
The Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin made an interesting shorter film (not a documentary) about this expedition from the perspective of a Canadian soldier, called "Archangel." Your exploration of this hidden history of the post-WWI period was incredibly detailed; thanks for posting!
Nice to see I’m not the only one in Las Vegas (SouthWest side of town in Rhodes Ranch which is actually Paradise, NV. at one time) who enjoys the History Guy’s work.
I remember when I was a teenager, I picked up a novel that was a semi fictional telling of this story from the troops point of view and I wondered if it was real for awhile.
My father, born in the late 1800s, was in this unit. I have a photo of him on a horse in Russia in his Army uniform. Wish I had known to ask him more questions about this.
White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery. Troy, Michigan. Many of the Polar Bears are buried there, under a statue of a white bear guarding a cross and a dough boy helmet.
@@TheHistoryGuyChannel Thx for that. Must have been just before I found your channel! Must check out your earlier stuff. Dad landed on Sword beach 10/06/44 with his 25 pdr and went all the way to Berlin in '46 with the polar bears.
Friend of mine was in a movie about the Polar Bears. There's a memorial in Detroit for the unit. One of those weird side stories away from the European theatre.
If I'm not mistaken, Upton Sinclair briefly touches on this episode of American history in Oil! His take was that America intervened to save American investments in Russian railroads.
Very near where I live in Michigan there is a cemetery called White Chapel Cemetery. Resting within are the soldiers of the 339th around a marble monument to commemorate their expedition and service and yes, the monument is in the form of a great polar bear.
This fubar expedition, resulting in the needless death of several hundred servicemen, reminds me of my own experience in the Marines when we were sent over to Lebanon in 1983. Just like that Polar Bear Doughboy, I'm left simply asking, "Why?" Repeating the mistakes of Forgotten History is a unnecessary and dangerous habit. I Thank You, History Guy...for helping to remind us of these forgotten follies.
Thanks for your service in a thankless task. The 200 plus Marines whose lives were lost in the Beruit bombing are a permanent stain on the leadership of the country. and I speak as someone who loved Reagan.
Thank you for the latest upload. As always excellently produced and narrated. This last lingering episode of the Great War is barely remembered in the UK now apart from the military history buffs who keep the memory alive . Happy New Year to all the viewers and of course to you also .
My grandfather PVT John Joseph St John Jr served in WWI , he was part of the Polar Bear Expedition in Russia, U.S. Army, 85th Division, 310th Engineers, Company A. They were the 85th Division: 339th Infantry Regiment, the 1st Battalion of 310th Engineers, and the 337th Ambulance & Hospital Companies, as well as the Provisional Companies: 167th Transportation Company (Operations) and 168th Transportation Company (Maintenance). There were also 510 men transferred as replacements who were from the 328th MG Battalion, 329th MG Battalion, 330th MG Battalion, 338th Infantry, 337th Infantry and the 340th Infantry.
Frankenmuth, MI had an exhibit that commemorated her local veterans of this particular intervention and the book The Ignorant Armies chronicled this campaign.
Currently working my way through Prit Buttar's The Splintering of Empires, the fourth of his history of the Great War on the Eastern Front. I highly recommend this series!
My father was a history teacher and he used to take me on weekend trips to research historical topics. When I was in probably 8th or 9th grade (so probably about 1970), we were researching the Babbs Switch Christmas day fire (a good topic for a THG episode BTW) when we incidentally ran across a 98 year old man who had served in this expedition. He described how his unit had been diverted from France to "Roosia" to fight the communists. My father took copious notes because he'd never before met someone who had participated. I, of course, had never heard of it before. It's been one of my favorite topics of forgotten history ever since.
Great story to accompany James Carl Nelson recent book, "The Polar Bear Expedition". Would love hear more on the Vladivostok side of this story if you have more material. My grandfather played some small part there with the Navy. He was career Navy serving in both WWI & WWII, so in his deployment to Vladivostok he was about 23-24. Wild to think what young people accomplished in that era, including a kid born in the hardscrabble plains near Sweetwater TX.
Amazing. Seems the beginning of going into harms way, with out a clue. When will we learn to do anything better. It's soon 2023, Over 100 years later,,we have not learned a dam thing yet.
Back in the 80s when I was young and thought I knew something I tried to be an insurance agent selling senior products. In my short and mediocre carrier I had the pleasure of meeting two gentleman that this reminded me off. The first gentlemen had been in the German army in the first world war and told me about guarding a large number of Russian soldiers who were surrendering in mass at that point and gave a pretty graphic description about how desperate the Russians were for food. The other gentlemen was an elderly American that had been part of the forces in Russia. He was proud of his service but did not talk so much about the fighting as he did about how hard it was to fight in the terrible cold.
My grandfather , Homer Smith, was 17 when he left his snug mountain home in NC to go off to war! Somehow he ended up in the 339th and guarded the Trans Siberian railroad! I never had a chance to discuss such things with him as he passed when I was 4, but I am sure that this mountain boy found it an adventure! Later in life he became a T-Man (Treasury agent) busting stills up and down the east coast along with other activities! As luck would have it, he probably worked with my husband's grandfather who was also a T-Man!
My great grandfather Walter Streit from Hart Michigan was a polar bear part of the 339th. He passed long before my birth, but I based on stories pasted down I know that it was a shit show. He was one of the recipients of the Croix de Guerre.
My grandfather and his 2 brothers fought with the AEF the youngest brother was sent to fight in Vladivostok Where he got frost bite and trench foot according to family legend
The Czech Legion were trapped in Russia but the Bolsheviks allowed them to return home. Unfortunately, the Central Powers blocked the easiest route back home. So they had to cross the vast expanse of Russia to get to Vladivostok to then sail back to Europe. The Bolsheviks attempted to disarm the Czechs, but the Legion brushed off the attempts, seized a section of the Trans-Siberian railroad, with rolling stock, and headed for Russia's east coast. The Legion acquired arms, women and treasure as they made their way to Vladivostok. For a time, they fought the Red Army under Admiral Alexander Kolchak, but never gave up the goal of getting home. Near the end of their trek, the Czech Legion was confronted by a large Red force. In exchange for the treasure hoard and Admiral Kolchak, the Legion was given a clear track to Vladivostok. In late 1920, after a journey of over 15,000 miles, the Czech Legion returned home to the new sovereign nation of Czechoslovakia.
My grandfather was in the military around that time, he was from Vanderbilt, Michigan. He was at Fort Custard near Battle Creek, this is where he met my grandmother because her family lived near by. I don’t know if he was to go to Russia or not. I just know he didn’t go over seas because he had contracted TB while at Fort Custard. Also he had four daughters at home who were living with relatives because their mother had passed away. He lived to be in his seventies. Oh, yes, my mother was his daughter from his second wife.
Thank you for this segment. I read the Russian Sideshow by RLWillet. The most horrendous story of modern warfare I have ever read. How surprised I was when it coincided with the story Will T. Brooks my granfather told me. He had volunteered to go on the exposition. The effects of mustard gas from France's trenches sent him home. He cried when he told me.
One of the memorials for this group of soldiers is at White Chapel, in Troy, MI, a cemetery relatively close to Detroit. There is a large statue of a polar bear, with a short description of the 339th, and the reason so many were buried there. I found it when visiting the grave of my father-in-law, who is a WWII veteran, who is also buried at White Chapel, but not in that section dedicated to these unfortunate souls.
wow this is a somber tale. As someone who fancies themselves a bit of a history buff i was shocked to learn of the american/british/french involvement in the russian revolution. Thanks History Guy for another illuminating expose.
I remember meeting my grandmother's next door neighbor, John Clock, as a child and being told he was a Polar Bear. At the time, I wasn't clear as to what, exactly, that meant. More recently I found his name in a search of the roster at the Bentley Historical Library, in service with the 337th Ambulance Company.
I absolutely love this channel and I have an idea for a topic you probably already covered it before but if not can you do the history of timing chains on airplanes so that we can shoot bullets in between propellers I bet that history was full of a lot of errors and moments. The mechanics of it all always fascinated me and how about the first guy that actually went up in a plane and tried it out talk about having balls of steel huh LOL
My grandfather participated in the campaign with the Polar Bear Division in Russia. The great war to end all wars was raging and Russia was having a civil war to boot. He told me the stories of the camapaign and how it effected him. He fought hoping to ensure his son wouldn't have to fight in a future war. My father, his son, ended landing on Omaha Beach with the Second Division on D-Day +1. Wars are never ending.
My great grandfather was there (oklahoma city). He died at 50, so I only know what great grandmother told me. She said they were there a long time. Many died of flu before stepping foot on russian soil. He and others got dysentary. Grandma said he came back tramatized, dark, and she used the word - deranged.
During one of our family reunions.. back when I was 10 or so, back in the early 60s, a discussion came up amongst the adults discussing the family burial plot. There were close to 50 family members buried there and the adults were discussing them, who they were, how many kids they had.. the usual stuff to keep memories alive. An uncle said " We are or will all buried here except for (name forgotten) and he is still somewhere in Russia and I recall "1919" mentioned. This was during the Cuban Missle Chrisis.. so that bit of info stayed with me all these years. Given that it was only about 40 yrs before, it was one of the uncles brothers.. it wasnt all that long a time for the family. Heck..I still remember stuff from the 80s.... so it wasnt very long. I need to dig into the family records and find out which uncle it was. The family is from the UP of northern Michigan..so the weather would have been just like home. A hell of a place to die. and a lousy reason.
It's definitely not lost on me how many generations of soldiers my generation will see the end of. All of which had family members included in the ranks. And at some point a generation will see the end of the troops from my wars.
@Kelly Harbeson my last duty station was Minot as Security Forces, formally Air Police. I was a confinement officer. I have to many family members who served from before WW1, to now to list. When I went in in 98 we were training for a European style war yet. We started training for counter insurgency in very early 2000's. From what I saw, and see now with friends who are still in. Is warfare for the US has changed. Very few countries would be willing to go toe, to toe in a conventional war. So they train for what we fought since Vietnam. Not really knowing who the enemy is. Problem is if we faced a conventional war with say China we'll be behind the 8 ball for a bit.
" ... they had done just enough to alienate the Reds,.." The memory of the US involvement in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution is much more present in the USSR. Nikita Chrusshev angrily referred to those events in a retort to US government officials sometime in the Fifties. The US officials had no idea what he was talking about, and had to return to the history books to learn about the US and allied actions during that period. That is how much the Polar Bear Expedition as well as its Siberian counterpart had faded from official memory.
This sounds so much like Vietnam. The Czechoslovaks got the best of it, a little recognition of their existence. Enough to get recognition as a state at the Versailles treaty.
There is a small cemetery where I grew up. Only 6 or 8 graves. All from the American expeditionary unit Polar Bears.
We local kids had a better understanding of the post WW1 events than our school teachers. Detroit’s own was under one of the names.
Thank you. It’s a great story!
As a Michigan boy myself this is fascinating. My grandpa was in the red arrow division in new guinea. Back when men were men.
My grandfather (mom’s dad) was a Detroit Polar Bear. His duty was to change the “cheese box” on a Lewis gun. There is a cemetery in Troy, Michigan (north of Detroit) called White Chapel where stands a statue of a Polar Bear with the graves of those who were killed in Russia buried around it. My grand parents took my there when I was 6 or7.
Never thought I’d see a video about this expedition. My grandfather was a Polar Bear from Detroit.
My grandfather was a member of the Canadian contingent of this expedition. He was gassed at/near Ypres in early 1918 and after his recovery volunteered for a “secret mission.” He returned to Canada in July 1919 after being extracted by the Americans…minus some toes.
@Kelly Harbeson No Kelly. He paid a cost. Perhaps not in cold, but certainly no misery and time lost.
My uncle is a grizzly
My Grandfather, Michael F. Burke, was a Polar Bear from Chicago. The citation that accompanied his award for the Silver Star Medal reads in part: Sergeant Burke distinguished himself by gallantry in action while serving with Company G, 339th Infantry Regiment, 85th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, in action at Karpogora, Russia, 4 December 1918, while operating a machine gun against the enemy.
Sadly, this action occurred three weeks after WW1 had ended.
Same w my great grandfather.
I've learned so much from THG. One of the very best channels on TH-cam, and one that this old man is so thankful for. Looking forward to seeing what THG has in store for us in 2023.
I could not agree more!!
“Churchill’s Secret War with Lenin: British and Commonwealth Military Intervention in the Russian Civil War, 1918-1920” is an absolutely great book about the history of the intervention. While focusing on the Commonwealth forces, it does cover the some of the actions of US forces.
I'm a bit confused why a lord of the admiralty board and minister of munitions was in charge of an almost entirely land based conflict.
@@arthas640 Churchill left the Admiralty after the disaster at Gallipoli. He enlisted in the Army, hoping to die at the front. He proved himself a valiant and able frontline officer.
I had a 2nd Great Uncle involved in this. He was a first generation German-American farm boy from Texas. The story I heard had him entering Russia from somewhere in the west and coming out in the east in China. While in China he met and married a young Russian woman who was the sole survivor of a large family murdered by the Bolsheviks. They settled in southern California and stayed there the rest of their lives. I greatly regret that I never got to meet them and hear their story. What a story it must have been.
as a small boy growing up in the 1960's, I would listen to the stories our local postmaster would tell of his time in the Polar Bears. They almost always ended with him saying I never understood why we were there or if we did any good.
We were there because bolshevik is just a code for Jewish. The same reason we fight all our wars.
I first heard of the US participation in the Russian civil war from Phillip Knightley’s book “The First Casualty.” I really appreciate your concise account of this unknown intervention.
I served in the Army Reserves after my time on active duty. The unit I served in was the 339th Infantry Regiment. When I served with the unit it was a training unit that would have opened basic training bases had WW III broken out, teaching draftees how to operate a tank. The unit crest for the unit had a polar bear on it and Cyrillic writing. It is the only unit crest in the United States military with Russian on it.
It has the motto; "Stik Ryoshayet" "Bayonet decides".
@@vonmazur1 thank you.
I too was in the 339th. 2nd Btn
I had a relative from Michigan who was part of this. He must have survived because I have one of the reunion medals.
There are pictures on the internet of reunions being held as late as 1964, so yes, your medallion would be in order.
My father attended 339TH reunions until he died in 1974.
First I learned that we had troops involved in the Russian revolution. Thank you for filing in this void in my knowledge as you do most days.
I knew that Americans had been involved, and that was about the extent of what I knew. I have no recollection of this episode ever having been covered in high school or college history classes.
Good morning from Ft Worth TX to everyone watching! Happy New Year to all
The "Polar Bears" are memorialized in the Michigan Military and Space Museum in Frankenmuth - well worth the visit. On a personal note, I was attached to the 4/31st Infantry Battalion in Afghanistan in 2002. The 31st Infantry is still nicknamed "Polar Bears" and traces its heritage back to the Russian Expedition.
My Grandfather's uniform is there on display.
Beautifully researched! Just to mention, the ship ‘ Olympia’ is on display in Philadelphia; it’s worth the trip!
Definitely worth a visit to the Olympia! Amazing how small she is compared to what would come a couple of decades later.
In Troy, Michigan, my home town, is White Chapel Cemetery. There is a Polar Bear memorial and the remains of many of the dead are interred there. Every 4th of July and memorial day the USAF does a flyover with A-10's from Selfridge ANG base and WW1 reenactors parade in period attire to honor them.
Hello from Royal Oak 👋
I knew of the US participation in Russia during this period. But I was unaware that this mission had not been fully explained to the troops. Having served in Afghanistan, I can sort of relate.
Thank you. My grandfather was in the 339th company C and was a sharpshooter. It is never mentioned that some were from Illinois, as he was a resident of Cicero outside Chicago. Thank God he made it and lived until 1962.
Nice job... For more, read my oral history, "A Well-Kept Secret: The Allied Invasion of North Russia, 1918-1919" by William Ward... While in graduate school, I had the great good fortune to interview 49 Americans and Canadians who were there... The French soldiers who mutinied ended up negotiating their surrender that allowed them to keep their guns... Also, I believe that the most common machine gun was the Lewis gun... There is a painting done by John Toornman of the Battle of Kopogora, the farthest point that Americans reached from Archangel... There is some support that the "suicide" was actually a murder (read the accounts of John Toornman)...
12:27-Lewis gun with ski troops!
@@olofjansson9356 There were very few ski troops... The skis had reindeer fur on the bottom so that they could ski uphill without sliding backward...
@@williamward446 Actually was quite surprised to see ski use by (non-Scandinavian) troops in such early footage! Being one who has used skins on my own skis, figured those guys were using them also, due to their decidedly slow forward progress!
Seems like a shitty secret, the western intervention in the Russian Civil War was brought up by Soviets and still gets brought up by some Russians in regards to anti-western sentiments and it basically created the cold war. Pre Russian Civil War many communists thought communism was a borderless ideology but after the intervention the ideology of international or world communism started to dimish in favor of communism in one nation with Russia at the heart of any future communist actions. The intervention had little impact on the war but big impacts on world politics and world history
You should do an episode on the Czechoslovak legion. They story is just as interesting.
I first learned about this years ago while collection Mosin Nagant rifles and noticing Winchester stamped rifles.
Yeah I'm a big mosin guy and same here as well as with the 54r chambered lever guns
Thanks for sharing this story with your viewers. My grandfather served as an infantryman in the 339th, E Company. I still have a jar with some hard tack that he kept in his pockets. From what I understand, that and melted snow were all they survived on for weeks.
My Air War College paper centered around American involvement in small scale actions and began with a description of the long forgotten Polar Bear Expedition. It is an early example of mission creep, or as others have said, "When you're up to your neck in alligators, it's hard to remember that your original objective was to drain the swamp". Somalia comes to mind.
Thank you for producing this post. My mother's father, H. O. Cottrell, was a veteran of the Polar Bear Expedition. This military expedition has always given our family some difficulty when trying to find information on the actions of the forces involved. Thank you for "remembering" this small but difficult conflict.
Wow, we really fought there and then. Thanks for the research. I'll watch this video a couple of more times I'm sure.
I've never heard of this until now!
I did enjoy it very much. I did some reading on this 30 to 49years ago. Thank you for the review!
My grandfather Arnold Carlson was drafted and sent to the Mexican border, as a company clerk he saw the orders for their company to be shipped to Vladivostok then requested and got a transfer to another company.
My grandfather, Charles Oliver Willard, participated in the campaign. I remember a picture in my grandparents’ kitchen of three men in furs. I recall him saying that he was given the cook position after the former cook was shot and that a local woman was executed by the Bolshevik’s for giving aid to the Americans. For further information, there is an exhibit at the Michigan Heroes Museum in Frankenmuth Michigan.
One of the US regiments in the Siberian expedition was the 31st Infantry. That Unit is probably the most hard luck regiment in the US Army. Its first combat deployment was there in Siberia. Then it was fighting on Bataan in WW II. It next served in Korea and was at Chosin Reservoir.
There is still one battalion of the 31st on active duty with the 10th Mountain Division.
Makes for fantastic war gaming! One of my favorite periods. (Plus the kaleidoscope of uniforms makes painting miniature figures far more exciting than most modern periods)
thank you for sharing history. i have only recently come to understand its importance. much like art, history should disturb, move, and inspire us. but like all growth it is suppose to be hard and sadly those who do not learn from it are doomed to repeat it.
You are correct on all Fronts.
It's the answer of the animosity of the comunist against the United States!
Well said, though I'm not sure that those who do not learn from art are doomed to repeat it.
Biden is repeating it now, save White Ukraine from Red Russia. Ready for some American boys on the scene yet? no? no we are not. Demand they defund WW3.
25 years ago, I visited the Smithsonian Museum of American History. On display was a set of KKK robes. I began to question why symbols of hate were on display, but I quickly realized that we need to learn the bad side of our history, as well as the good.
Honor and thanks to all those who have served and do serve in the US Armed Forces, no matter rank, job, or station. It is a debt we Americans can never fully pay, except to keep our country free for all, in memory of their sacrifice.
Thanks. I really enjoy your videos, having discovered it on Brian Lamb's/C-SPAN's Booknotes+ podcast.
Remnants from that era are still in Ft. Custer west of Battle Creek, Michigan. When our new training center was built, construction had to be stopped because several 55 gallon drums were found with something in them. A clean up had to be done. There are still parts of the Ft. buildings, gates, etc. around.
All through primary and high school, I despised history as a subject. "History" class was just a bunch of names and dates and events in a thick, boring textbook.
When I got to college, that all changed. Why? I got a wonderful, enthusiastic teacher who made it real for me. Now *you* teach me in my continuing education of a most interesting subject: History!
Thank you so much for making history into something important and real. Forever grateful for your work and dedication. 📚😁
The Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin made an interesting shorter film (not a documentary) about this expedition from the perspective of a Canadian soldier, called "Archangel." Your exploration of this hidden history of the post-WWI period was incredibly detailed; thanks for posting!
Good Morning from Las Vegas - We're _Betting_ that 2023 will be good for everyone!
Nice to see I’m not the only one in Las Vegas (SouthWest side of town in Rhodes Ranch which is actually Paradise, NV. at one time) who enjoys the History Guy’s work.
My grandfather fought there in the U.S. forces. He never would talk about any of it. Thank you for shedding light on what happened.
Same with great grandfather. He told my grandma about disease and that was it. He came back and was very abusive, perhaps schizophrenic.
I remember when I was a teenager, I picked up a novel that was a semi fictional telling of this story from the troops point of view and I wondered if it was real for awhile.
I love your channel, and the amount of energy you put into each lesson. Your the "cool" history teacher for the masses, keep it up!
I also like your red vest. Very dashing.
My father, born in the late 1800s, was in this unit. I have a photo of him on a horse in Russia in his Army uniform. Wish I had known to ask him more questions about this.
White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery. Troy, Michigan. Many of the Polar Bears are buried there, under a statue of a white bear guarding a cross and a dough boy helmet.
My dad, in WW2 was part of the British 49th West Riding Division, also called the Polar Bears due to their activities earlier in the war, in Iceland.
th-cam.com/video/mP53O9_V9sY/w-d-xo.html
@@TheHistoryGuyChannel Thx for that. Must have been just before I found your channel! Must check out your earlier stuff. Dad landed on Sword beach 10/06/44 with his 25 pdr and went all the way to Berlin in '46 with the polar bears.
Friend of mine was in a movie about the Polar Bears. There's a memorial in Detroit for the unit. One of those weird side stories away from the European theatre.
If I'm not mistaken, Upton Sinclair briefly touches on this episode of American history in Oil! His take was that America intervened to save American investments in Russian railroads.
Excellent episode THG, thank you and Crew for a great year, looking forward to 2023🙏🎆❣️
Very near where I live in Michigan there is a cemetery called White Chapel Cemetery. Resting within are the soldiers of the 339th around a marble monument to commemorate their expedition and service and yes, the monument is in the form of a great polar bear.
This fubar expedition, resulting in the needless death of several hundred servicemen, reminds me of my own experience in the Marines when we were sent over to Lebanon in 1983. Just like that Polar Bear Doughboy, I'm left simply asking, "Why?"
Repeating the mistakes of Forgotten History is a unnecessary and dangerous habit.
I Thank You, History Guy...for helping to remind us of these forgotten follies.
Thanks for your service in a thankless task. The 200 plus Marines whose lives were lost in the Beruit bombing are a permanent stain on the leadership of the country. and I speak as someone who loved Reagan.
Thank you for the latest upload. As always excellently produced and narrated. This last lingering episode of the Great War is barely remembered in the UK now apart from the military history buffs who keep the memory alive .
Happy New Year to all the viewers and of course to you also .
I’ve been aboard the Olympia! Never knew this part of her history! Thanks THG!
My grandfather PVT John Joseph St John Jr served in WWI , he was part of the Polar Bear Expedition in Russia, U.S. Army, 85th Division, 310th Engineers, Company A.
They were the 85th Division: 339th Infantry Regiment, the 1st Battalion of 310th Engineers, and the 337th Ambulance & Hospital Companies, as well as the Provisional Companies: 167th Transportation Company (Operations) and 168th Transportation Company (Maintenance). There were also 510 men transferred as replacements who were from the 328th MG Battalion, 329th MG Battalion, 330th MG Battalion, 338th Infantry, 337th Infantry and the 340th Infantry.
It would be interesting to see a story on the Black Americans who moved to Russia after the WWI.
I've done miserable formation marching, but I've never seen commands stupid enough to do it in snow skis...
Frankenmuth, MI had an exhibit that commemorated her local veterans of this particular intervention and the book The Ignorant Armies chronicled this campaign.
Thanks for writing about this! I have always wondered what the hell was up with this segment of history.
Currently working my way through Prit Buttar's The Splintering of Empires, the fourth of his history of the Great War on the Eastern Front. I highly recommend this series!
Thank you, this episode gives me some answers for where these pictures in my great grandfather cedar chest were...
My father was a history teacher and he used to take me on weekend trips to research historical topics. When I was in probably 8th or 9th grade (so probably about 1970), we were researching the Babbs Switch Christmas day fire (a good topic for a THG episode BTW) when we incidentally ran across a 98 year old man who had served in this expedition. He described how his unit had been diverted from France to "Roosia" to fight the communists. My father took copious notes because he'd never before met someone who had participated. I, of course, had never heard of it before. It's been one of my favorite topics of forgotten history ever since.
Lions Led By Donkeys did an amazing podcast on this campaign. I highly recommend you check it out.
Interesting how the issues with the Russian military then, are very similar to the issues they have now in Ukraine
I had the same thoughts as I watched the video. It seems they learned nothing from their own history.
Seems like Afghanistan was another "were here because were here" issue for the USA military
"Standing with Ukraine":
NO one is learning anything from history.
The Russians do seem to have artillery shells now.
@@oliverlaw02 well, at least Afghanistan could be blamed on 9/11.
Great story to accompany James Carl Nelson recent book, "The Polar Bear Expedition".
Would love hear more on the Vladivostok side of this story if you have more material. My grandfather played some small part there with the Navy.
He was career Navy serving in both WWI & WWII, so in his deployment to Vladivostok he was about 23-24.
Wild to think what young people accomplished in that era, including a kid born in the hardscrabble plains near Sweetwater TX.
Amazing. Seems the beginning of going into harms way, with out a clue.
When will we learn to do anything better.
It's soon 2023, Over 100 years later,,we have not learned a dam thing yet.
Back in the 80s when I was young and thought I knew something I tried to be an insurance agent selling senior products. In my short and mediocre carrier I had the pleasure of meeting two gentleman that this reminded me off. The first gentlemen had been in the German army in the first world war and told me about guarding a large number of Russian soldiers who were surrendering in mass at that point and gave a pretty graphic description about how desperate the Russians were for food. The other gentlemen was an elderly American that had been part of the forces in Russia. He was proud of his service but did not talk so much about the fighting as he did about how hard it was to fight in the terrible cold.
Thanks for this one. Truly appreciate the lessons I did not know existed.
Mike Duncan in his Russian Revolution podcast talks quite a bit about this. Well worth the time.
My grandfather , Homer Smith, was 17 when he left his snug mountain home in NC to go off to war! Somehow he ended up in the 339th and guarded the Trans Siberian railroad! I never had a chance to discuss such things with him as he passed when I was 4, but I am sure that this mountain boy found it an adventure! Later in life he became a T-Man (Treasury agent) busting stills up and down the east coast along with other activities! As luck would have it, he probably worked with my husband's grandfather who was also a T-Man!
My great grandfather Walter Streit from Hart Michigan was a polar bear part of the 339th. He passed long before my birth, but I based on stories pasted down I know that it was a shit show. He was one of the recipients of the Croix de Guerre.
My grandfather and his 2 brothers fought with the AEF the youngest brother was sent to fight in Vladivostok Where he got frost bite and trench foot according to family legend
Good morning from Miami happy new year
My late father-in-l;aw was in Vladivostok in 1919, in the US Navy.
The Czech Legion were trapped in Russia but the Bolsheviks allowed them to return home. Unfortunately, the Central Powers blocked the easiest route back home. So they had to cross the vast expanse of Russia to get to Vladivostok to then sail back to Europe. The Bolsheviks attempted to disarm the Czechs, but the Legion brushed off the attempts, seized a section of the Trans-Siberian railroad, with rolling stock, and headed for Russia's east coast. The Legion acquired arms, women and treasure as they made their way to Vladivostok. For a time, they fought the Red Army under Admiral Alexander Kolchak, but never gave up the goal of getting home. Near the end of their trek, the Czech Legion was confronted by a large Red force. In exchange for the treasure hoard and Admiral Kolchak, the Legion was given a clear track to Vladivostok. In late 1920, after a journey of over 15,000 miles, the Czech Legion returned home to the new sovereign nation of Czechoslovakia.
Executioner: Choose your manner of death!
Prisoner: Death by polar bear, 99 years from now!
I still have to send you all that ephemera I have from the Shackleton expedition... it would make such a great video
My grandfather was in the military around that time, he was from Vanderbilt, Michigan. He was at Fort Custard near Battle Creek, this is where he met my grandmother because her family lived near by. I don’t know if he was to go to Russia or not. I just know he didn’t go over seas because he had contracted TB while at Fort Custard. Also he had four daughters at home who were living with relatives because their mother had passed away. He lived to be in his seventies. Oh, yes, my mother was his daughter from his second wife.
Thank you for this segment. I read the Russian Sideshow by RLWillet. The most horrendous story of modern warfare I have ever read. How surprised I was when it coincided with the story Will T. Brooks my granfather told me. He had volunteered to go on the exposition. The effects of mustard gas from France's trenches sent him home. He cried when he told me.
Too cold for anything but a nice warm fire at home!!🥶🥶
I had two Great-great uncles in Company H, 339th. One was KIA.
One of the memorials for this group of soldiers is at White Chapel, in Troy, MI, a cemetery relatively close to Detroit. There is a large statue of a polar bear, with a short description of the 339th, and the reason so many were buried there. I found it when visiting the grave of my father-in-law, who is a WWII veteran, who is also buried at White Chapel, but not in that section dedicated to these unfortunate souls.
wow this is a somber tale. As someone who fancies themselves a bit of a history buff i was shocked to learn of the american/british/french involvement in the russian revolution. Thanks History Guy for another illuminating expose.
My father was in the 339TH, a generation later. He was in N. Africa, and fought in Italy (WW2). Their insignia was still the Polar Bear.
USS Olympia is docked on the Delaware River in Philadelphia.
"We're here because we're here"
Great video.
My paternal grandfather served in the Siberian expedition.
Amazing, I had never heard of any of that
I remember meeting my grandmother's next door neighbor, John Clock, as a child and being told he was a Polar Bear. At the time, I wasn't clear as to what, exactly, that meant. More recently I found his name in a search of the roster at the Bentley Historical Library, in service with the 337th Ambulance Company.
Thank you for the lesson.
I absolutely love this channel and I have an idea for a topic you probably already covered it before but if not can you do the history of timing chains on airplanes so that we can shoot bullets in between propellers I bet that history was full of a lot of errors and moments. The mechanics of it all always fascinated me and how about the first guy that actually went up in a plane and tried it out talk about having balls of steel huh LOL
Thank you. This was never taught in school. I was taught how Americans fought in Spain but never Russia
Thanks for the good show & for featuring those who fought when the Cold War 1st got hot.
you could just as easily have talked of Nam - as you know the tale, history repeats itself!
My grandfather participated in the campaign with the Polar Bear Division in Russia.
The great war to end all wars was raging and Russia was having a civil war to boot.
He told me the stories of the camapaign and how it effected him.
He fought hoping to ensure his son wouldn't have to fight in a future war.
My father, his son, ended landing on Omaha Beach with the Second Division on D-Day +1.
Wars are never ending.
My great grandfather was there (oklahoma city). He died at 50, so I only know what great grandmother told me. She said they were there a long time. Many died of flu before stepping foot on russian soil. He and others got dysentary. Grandma said he came back tramatized, dark, and she used the word - deranged.
During one of our family reunions.. back when I was 10 or so, back in the early 60s, a discussion came up amongst the adults discussing the family burial plot. There were close to 50 family members buried there and the adults were discussing them, who they were, how many kids they had.. the usual stuff to keep memories alive. An uncle said " We are or will all buried here except for (name forgotten) and he is still somewhere in Russia and I recall "1919" mentioned. This was during the Cuban Missle Chrisis.. so that bit of info stayed with me all these years. Given that it was only about 40 yrs before, it was one of the uncles brothers.. it wasnt all that long a time for the family. Heck..I still remember stuff from the 80s.... so it wasnt very long. I need to dig into the family records and find out which uncle it was. The family is from the UP of northern Michigan..so the weather would have been just like home. A hell of a place to die. and a lousy reason.
It's definitely not lost on me how many generations of soldiers my generation will see the end of. All of which had family members included in the ranks. And at some point a generation will see the end of the troops from my wars.
@Kelly Harbeson my last duty station was Minot as Security Forces, formally Air Police. I was a confinement officer. I have to many family members who served from before WW1, to now to list. When I went in in 98 we were training for a European style war yet. We started training for counter insurgency in very early 2000's. From what I saw, and see now with friends who are still in. Is warfare for the US has changed. Very few countries would be willing to go toe, to toe in a conventional war. So they train for what we fought since Vietnam. Not really knowing who the enemy is. Problem is if we faced a conventional war with say China we'll be behind the 8 ball for a bit.
The lesson was there for us to learn, but we did not.
" ... they had done just enough to alienate the Reds,.." The memory of the US involvement in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution is much more present in the USSR. Nikita Chrusshev angrily referred to those events in a retort to US government officials sometime in the Fifties. The US officials had no idea what he was talking about, and had to return to the history books to learn about the US and allied actions during that period. That is how much the Polar Bear Expedition as well as its Siberian counterpart had faded from official memory.
Top story! Thank you.
This sounds so much like Vietnam. The Czechoslovaks got the best of it, a little recognition of their existence. Enough to get recognition as a state at the Versailles treaty.