Fighting Without a War: An Account of Military Intervention in North RussiaAlbertson, Ralph
History
Fighting Without a War: An Account of Military Intervention in North Russia
Albertson, Ralph
World War, 1914-1918 -- Soviet Union
No mention was made of this expedition in the armistice of November.
Hence it had in some subtle way ceased to be a part of our war against
Germany. It had become a new war, a war against Bolshevik Russia, an
unlegalized war, and this it continued to be as long as the expedition
lasted. Yet no declaration was forthcoming, either of war or of peace.
Particularly wanting was a declaration of purpose. Weary months of
stubborn fighting for our men were unrelieved by any single word of
definition of the fight from their government.
There consequently was antagonism to the campaign on the part of the
soldiers. I do not say loss of morale, because the term would be
misunderstood. Our men fought. Our infantry never lost a foot of
ground. But they hated the fight, they resented fighting without a
cause.
I made a trip in December, speaking to the men in their billets and the
Y.M.C.A. huts over a stretch of five hundred versts. Everywhere, on
every occasion, I was asked persistently and importunately, "What are we
here for?"
"The armistice is signed. Why are we fighting?"
"Did they forget about us in Paris?"
"We don’t want Russia. What have we against the Bolsheviki?"
Of course I tried to answer these questions, but I found it easier to
convince myself than I did to convince these men. They were not
convinced that I knew. The American and Canadian troops were
particularly outspoken in their resentment at being at war in a futile
fight against nobody and for nothing in particular when the rest of the
world had stopped fighting.
A real cause of this grand débâcle therefore was the silence of our
governments. I could not answer their questions. Nobody who came to
them could answer their questions. Their governments would not.
*II*
*THE ARCHANGEL GOVERNMENT*
When our governments sent out this expedition the government of
Archangel as of all Russia was Bolshevik. It was not a strong
government, that is, it did not have a strong and dependable army and
navy. It had not been regularly instituted by the people, nor had it
been recognized by other governments than those with whom we were at
war. We had no dealings with it, except the undeclared war of this
expedition. We negotiated with certain individual Russians in London,
took them to Archangel with us, and there set up a government to our own
taste.
[Illustration: Archangel has many excellent and substantial buildings.
The Archangel water-front has miles of good docking facilities.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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