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American soldiers fighting not on the Western
Front. against the Germans in World War I, but
deep in the frozen landscapes of Russia. And
here's the really surprising part. Their mission,
well, it dramatically changed after they even
arrived. Yeah, that's the crux of it. Welcome
to the Deep Dive. Today, we're plunging into
a pretty little known chapter of American military
history. the American Expeditionary Force, North
Russia. More famously known as the Polar Bear
Expedition. Exactly, the Polar Bears. We've pulled
together insights from, you know, detailed historical
accounts to really map out the incredible journey
of these 5000 U .S. Army troops. Quite a story.
Our mission today is clear. We want to understand
the unexpected reasons these soldiers were sent,
what unbelievable challenges they faced up there
in the harsh Russian North, and, well, the lasting
impact of their truly forgotten fight. Forgotten
is the right word for it. Get ready for some
powerful insights because this story is far stranger
and more compelling than fiction. So let's start
at the beginning. Who exactly were these polar
bears? Well, you're talking about a contingent
of about 5 ,000 US Army troops. They became known
as the American Expeditionary Force in North
Russia. OK, 5 ,000 troops. Yeah. And they weren't
just any soldiers. They pretty quickly earned
some unique nicknames. Detroit's own was one.
Ah, because many were from Michigan. Exactly.
And of course, polar bears. Their motto really
encapsulates their spirit. We finish with the
bayonet. Wow. We finished with the bayonet. That
immediately tells you something about the kind
of grit they needed. For sure. They were active
for just over a year, from August 2, 1918 to
August 5, 1919. Just over a year. But what's
really striking here is why they were sent to
Russia in the first place. Expert, what were
the, like, the official intentions behind sending
them? That's the core question, really, because
the initial intentions were so different from
the reality they actually encountered on the
ground. President Woodrow Wilson sent them, but
it was at the specific request of Great Britain
and France. OK, so the Allies asked for them.
Yes. And the stated objectives for this Allied
intervention were basically twofold. First, to
prevent Allied war material stockpiled in Archangelsk
supplies originally meant for the Eastern Front,
which had collapsed from falling into either
German or, importantly, Bolshevik hands. And
just to clarify for everyone listening, when
we say Bolsheviks, we're talking about the communist
revolutionary forces gaining power in Russia
then. Exactly. The forces that would eventually
form the Soviet Union. And the second objective
was to mount an offensive to rescue the Czechoslovak
Legion. The Czech Legion. Who were they? They
were a group of former Austro -Hungarian POWs
and defectors trying to fight their way out of
Russia. They were sort of stranded along the
Trans -Siberian Railroad. OK, so two clear goals.
guard supplies, rescue the checks. But I know
there was a significant caveat from President
Wilson. What was his strict condition for American
involvement? Yeah, this is absolutely critical.
President Wilson agreed to American participation
only with the clear understanding, the explicit
stipulation that U .S. troops would solely be
used for guarding those stockpiled war materials.
Only guarding, nothing else. He was apparently
very firm about that. These specific units, like
the 339th Infantry Regiment and the 1st Battalion
of the 310th Engineers, they were actually pulled
from the pipeline heading to the Western Front
in France. So they were diverted? Diverted, yes.
They got trained and re -outfitted in England,
even given Russian guns, which is interesting.
Then they arrived in Arkhangelsk on September
4th, 1918, and were placed under British command.
OK, so they're diverted from France. get Russian
guns, train for this specific guarding mission,
and land in Arkangelsk September 4th. But you
mentioned the British commanders got there a
month earlier. Right, August 2nd. What did the
British find that just changed everything? This
is the real twist, maybe the first big aha moment
here. When the British commanders leading the
Allied intervention arrived in Arkangelsk on
August 2nd, they made a, well, a shocking discovery.
Which was? The Allied war material, the stuff
they were supposed to guard. It had already been
moved up the Divina River by the retreating Bolshevik
forces. Wait, moved before the Americans even
got the order? Before the British commanders
really got settled and definitely before the
Americans arrived. The very reason Wilson agreed
to send them was effectively gone. vanished.
So the supplies they were strictly told to guard
were gone before the American troops even set
foot in Russia. That must have been a seismic
shock. Absolutely. Imagine getting there for
a specific job and the job doesn't exist anymore.
So what did that immediate contradiction mean
for the troops arriving on September 4th, thinking
they were there to guard supplies? It meant an
immediate, like 180 degree turn in their mission,
despite President Wilson's very clear orders.
With nothing left to guard, when the American
troops arrived a month after the British, they
were immediately thrown into offensive operations
against the Bolsheviks. They were tasked with
aiding in that other objective, the rescue of
the Czech Legion. The 1st Battalion of the 339th
Infantry was sent up the Vivina River, and the
3rd Battalion went up the Vallogde Railroad line.
They were actively pushing back Bolshevik forces
for about six weeks. Hold on. So, diverted from
France, given Russian guns, told, guard supplies
only, they arrive... The supplies are gone, and
they're immediately sent into combat against
the Bolsheviks. That's exactly it. A total departure
from guarding supplies. What were the conditions
like on the ground once they were actually fighting?
Oh, brutal. Absolutely brutal. These two fronts
they were fighting on became incredibly stretched
out, hundreds of miles long in total. Hundreds
of miles. Yeah, in very narrow corridors through
forests and along rivers. It made them extremely
difficult, almost impossible to supply properly,
to maintain, and definitely to protect. That
sounds like a logistical nightmare. It was. And
by the end of October 1918, they just couldn't
sustain the offensive anymore. They hit a wall.
The allies had to switch to a defensive posture,
completely abandoning that goal of linking up
with the Czech Legion. And then winter hit. And
then the Russian winter hit hard. On top of that,
the Bolshevik army launched their own offensive,
especially along the Baga River sector. This
inflicted pretty significant casualties and forced
repeated allied retreats, all in these incredibly
harsh, freezing conditions. The human cost of
this, this completely transformed, almost impossible
mission must have been immense. What were the
casualty numbers looking like? They were stark,
really stark. More than 210 American forces suffered
casualties overall. That included at least 110
deaths directly from battle, about 30 listed
as missing in action. Missing in action in that
environment. Yeah, grim prospects. And then a
significant number, 70 deaths from disease. And
get this, 90 % of those disease deaths were due
to the Spanish flu. The pandemic reached them
even up there. Well, it did. There was a later,
more comprehensive report from October 1919 that
gave even higher figures. A total of 553 casualties.
So high of around 53. Yeah. Broken down, 109
killed in battle, 35 died of wounds later, 81
from disease, 19 from accidents or other causes,
305 wounded, and four who were prisoners of war
but eventually released. Those numbers are really
sobering, especially for a force of 5 ,000 in
that time frame. Beyond the physical toll, though,
what did this shifting mission and then the end
of the wider war do to the morale of the soldiers
still stuck fighting in Russia? That's such an
important question. After the armistice with
Germany was signed on November 11, 1918... The
main war is over. Exactly. The war they thought
they were part of was over. Morale among these
American soldiers in North Russia just absolutely
plummeted. You can imagine. They legitimately
questioned why they were still fighting Bolsheviks
in the middle of Russia. Yeah. Why are we here?
Precisely. Especially after the armistice was
signed. And on top of that, the port of Arkhangelsk
froze over for the winter, essentially trapping
them there. Trapped in fighting a war that wasn't
theirs anymore, technically. Right. And they
received no clear answers from command about
why they had to stay. Just... basically told
they had to keep fighting to survive. Imagine
that feeling, being stuck in a conflict that,
for everyone else, had ended months ago. In this
frustration, it wasn't just contained among the
troops, right? Didn't pressure start building
back home in the U .S.? Oh, absolutely. It became
a real issue stateside. Family members, friends,
they started writing these really passionate
letters to newspapers. They circulated petitions
to their congressmen, demanding the force be
brought home immediately. So public outcry was
growing. Definitely. Newspapers started running
editorials calling for their withdrawal. Congressmen
were raising the issue in Washington. The pressure
really mounted and it led to instances of rumored
and even some actual mutinies among the troops
in early 1919. Mutinies. Really. There's one
specific pretty poignant case involving four
American soldiers from Company B of the 339th
Infantry. They actually drew up a petition asking
when they were going home. Just asking? Just
asking, basically. And they were threatened with
court martial proceedings for doing it. Wow.
Threatened with court martial for asking to go
home after the war ended. That really highlights
the desperation and confusion they must have
felt. It does. It shows how tense things got.
So with all that pressure, both on the ground
and back home, what was the path home finally
like for these polar bears? Well, the long road
home was finally authorized. President Wilson
directed the War Department to start planning
the withdrawal of the AEF in North Russia on
February 16, 1919. OK, so Wilson gives the order
in February 19. Yes. Then U .S. Army Brigadier
General Wildes P. Richardson arrived in Arkangelsk
on April 17th. He had orders to organize a coordinated
withdrawal, basically as quickly as possible
given the conditions. Did they need help getting
out? They did. The British sent the North Russian
relief force, about 8 ,000 British volunteers,
who started arriving on May 26, 1919. Their specific
job was to relieve the American troops that they
could pull out. So relief finally arrived in
late May. When did the polar bears actually make
it back to U .S. soil? The bulk of the AEF were
finally able to sail. First they went to Brest
in France and then onward to New York City. For
about two -thirds of them though, their actual
home was Michigan, which is why they were called
Detroit's Own. Right. The first large group of
troops, 46 officers and nearly 1 ,500 men, arrived
back in Hoboken, New Jersey aboard the ship Von
Steuben on July 15th, 1919. July 1919. So almost
a year after they arrived. Exactly. And it was
actually during this withdrawal period on the
way home that the men themselves officially decided
to adopt the name polar bears. Ah, so they claimed
the name themselves. They did. And they were
authorized to wear that distinctive polar bear
insignia on their left sleeve. The force was
then officially disbanded on August 5th, 1919.
That's a powerful moment, isn't it? Taking ownership
of that unique, incredibly tough identity. But
looking at the bigger picture, how was this whole
expedition? ultimately viewed back home once
the dust settled. Well, connecting this to the
broader political landscape, the whole idea,
the very notion of this expedition was later
called into serious question right at the highest
levels. Several years after the troops returned,
President Warren G. Harding actually referred
to the expedition publicly as a mistake. Harding
called it a mistake. He did, yeah. And he directly
placed the blame for it on the previous administration,
on Woodrow Wilson's administration. Interesting.
And the aftermath of this, well, this forgotten
fight, it also involved a really long, tough
quest to honor the fallen, particularly those
soldiers left behind in Russia. Can you tell
us about that effort? It's an incredible story
of dedication, really. Starting around 1920,
the Polar Bear veterans themselves began this
tireless campaign. They lobbied their state governments,
the federal government, anyone who would listen,
basically, to retrieve the bodies of their comrades
they believe were still buried in Russia. How
many were thought to be left behind? Initially,
the estimate was around 125. That number got
refined over time. They thought maybe 226 had
been buried there originally. And by the time
they started this effort, maybe about 130 sets
of US soldier remains were still believed to
be in North Russia. That must have been incredibly
difficult, especially given the political situation
between the US and the new Soviet Union. Oh,
hugely difficult, primarily because the US didn't
even have diplomatic recognition with the Soviet
Union at the time. It made any official effort
extremely complicated. So how did they manage?
Despite the challenges, the veterans of foreign
wars, the VFW, actually sponsored a recovery
mission in the autumn of 1929 and remarkably
It was successful. They actually got remains
back. They did. They managed to find and bring
out the remains of 86 U .S. soldiers. Then a
few years later in 1934, the Soviet Union shipped
an additional 14 sets of remains. Wow. Yeah.
So that significantly reduced the number still
thought to be in Russia down to maybe about 30.
It's just a true testament to the dedication
of those veterans and their families. Never giving
up. That is a powerful legacy of remembrance,
and didn't it culminate in a specific memorial
back in Michigan? It did, yes. In a really deeply
moving ceremony on Memorial Day, May 30, 1930,
the remains of 56 of those returned AEF soldiers
were reburied together. They're interred around
the Polar Bear Memorial at Whitechapel Memorial
Cemetery in Troy, Michigan. A central place of
remembrance. Exactly. A powerful, tangible symbol
for a conflict that, for the most part, was largely
forgotten by the wider American public. And just
as final note on that human connection, the very
last known living American veteran who fought
in that intervention near Arkanelsk, a man named
Harold Guns. He was born way back in 1899. He
lived to be 103 years old, passing away just
in March 2003. 103, wow. The last witness to
that whole experience. Pretty incredible, isn't
it? So when we wrap this up, what does this deep
dive into the polar bear expedition really mean
for us today, looking back? What's the takeaway?
I think it really shows us that Even within these
monumental global conflicts like World War I
that we study so much, there are often these
lesser -known, incredibly complex, sometimes
confusing chapters. Hidden stories within the
big story. Exactly. And it's such a powerful
reminder that soldiers on the ground, the individuals,
can face these dramatically shifting objectives,
unimaginable conditions, and a really uncertain
return home. all while huge global events are
unfolding around them, it really highlights the
human element in military history, which sometimes
gets lost in the strategy talk. It really does.
This story makes you truly wonder, doesn't it?
Beyond the grand strategies and the official
pronouncements from presidents and generals.
How many other deep dives into history might
reveal similar missions? Missions where the soldiers
on the ground, maybe they truly didn't understand
why they were fighting anymore, only that they
had to survive? What other forgotten chapters
of courage and maybe confusion are just waiting
to be uncovered? And I want to thank everybody
for listening to Veterans Radio today. I am Jim
Fossone. It's been a pleasure to be your host.
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