Johnny Heller gives a fine narration of the United States’ participation in the Allied attempt to stop the Bolshevik Revolution. When Russia withdrew from fighting the Germans after the Bolsheviks took power, President Wilson dispatched U.S. troops to Northern Russia in the vicinity of Archangelsk and to the Far East around Vladivostok. This account describes the experience of the 5,000-strong American contingent in Northern Russia, the largest unit being the 339th Infantry Regiment of the Michigan National Guard, who were under the command of the British. These troops saw extensive combat with the Reds and suffered more than 200 casualties. Heller has a clear voice with a somewhat quick, staccato delivery, which does not take away from this forgotten incident. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
The Polar Bear Expedition: The Heroes of America's Forgotten Invasion of Russia, 1918-1919
Narrated by Johnny Heller
James Carl NelsonUnabridged — 8 hours, 7 minutes
The Polar Bear Expedition: The Heroes of America's Forgotten Invasion of Russia, 1918-1919
Narrated by Johnny Heller
James Carl NelsonUnabridged — 8 hours, 7 minutes
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Overview
An extraordinary lost chapter in the history of World War I: the story of America's year-long invasion of Russia, in which a contingency of brave soldiers fought the Red Army and brutal conditions during the fall and winter of 1918-1919.
In August 1918, the 339th regiment of the US Army — roughly 5,000 soldiers, most hailing from Michigan — sailed for Europe to fight in World War I. But instead of the Western Front, these troops were headed to Archangel, Russia, a vital port city 1,000 miles northeast of Moscow. There, in the frozen subarctic, amid the chaos of the Russian Civil War, one of the most extraordinary episodes of American history unfolded.
The American North Russia Expeditionary Force — self-dubbed “The Polar Bear Expedition” — was sent to fight the Red Army and aid anti-Bolshevik forces in hopes of reopening the Eastern Front against Germany. On the 100th anniversary of the campaign, award-winning historian James Carl Nelson recreates this harrowing, dramatic military operation in which Americans and Bolsheviks fought a series of pitched battles throughout a punishing fall and winter.
As the Great War officially ended in November 1918, American troops continued to battle the Red Army and an equally formidable enemy, “General Winter”. Subzero temperatures made machine guns and light artillery inoperable. In the blinding ice and snow, sentries suffered from frostbite while guarding against nearly invisible Bolos camouflaged by their white uniforms. Before the Polar Bears' withdrawal in July 1919, more than 200 perished from battle, accidents, and the Spanish flu.
But the Polar Bears' story does not end there. Ten years later, a contingent of veterans returned to Russia to recover the remains of more than 100 of their fallen comrades and lay them to rest in Michigan, where a monument honoring their service still stands: a massive marble polar bear guarding a cross that marks the grave of a fallen soldier.
Editorial Reviews
10/29/2018
Nelson (The Remains of Company D) narrates a largely forgotten chapter of WWI, when 5,000 American doughboys of the 339th Infantry Regiment were dispatched to northern Russia in 1918. The expedition’s mission was to support opponents of the Russian Revolution and recreate the eastern front against Germany, which had vanished after the Bolshevik government pulled out of the war. But the result was a weak American invasion some 1,000 miles north of Moscow that inexplicably extended past the armistice and “sowed the seeds for recriminations and distrust that would plague U.S.-Russian relations throughout the 20th century—and beyond.” Using books, articles, and newspaper accounts—and a crisp character-driven approach—Nelson narrates the expedition’s sung and unsung heroes (like Thomas Downs, who cheerfully marched through a seven-mile retreat after losing an eye to a gunshot), horrors, and other events, such as a minor but exaggeratedly reported mutiny that left one company’s reputation forever tarnished. Nelson’s engrossing narrative will engage military historians, political buffs, and general readers alike. Agent: James Carl Nelson, Hornfischer Literary Management. (Feb.)
The Polar Bear Expedition is a fascinating, vivid exploration of an erased moment of U.S. military history. Nelson tackles the material with expertise and clarity.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
“A master of narrative history, James Carl Nelson brings to light a long-forgotten story of America’s involvement during the Russian Civil War. The Polar Bear Expedition is exhaustively researched and rich in detail. A very fine book.” — Mitchell Yockelson, author of Forty-Seven Days: How Pershing’s Warriors Came of Age to Defeat the German Army in World War I
“James Carl Nelson deserves an A for his excellent book, The Polar Bear Expedition.” — Wall Street Journal
“[An] engrossing narrative. ... Crisp, character-driven.” — Publishers Weekly
“Urgent. … A wild ride through an American military campaign few know much about. … Nelson does yeoman’s work in telling the stories of these men and their exploits.” — Booklist
“Fast-paced. ... Intimate. ... Vivid, well-researched.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Nelson’s well-written and well-researched history brings this often overlooked war to life. … Intimate. … Heartbreaking. … The Polar Bear Expedition is more than a great celebration of this little-known conflict.” — New York Journal of Books
“The Russians invaded the United States [in 2016], but the Americans invaded Russia first. … How’d that happen? Nelson’s thorough history of the 3rd Battalion, 339th Infantry Regiment, empathetically explains the unexpected, unusual duty station.” — Military Times, “Spring Reading List: Top Nonfiction”
“[A] heartbreaking story of bravery. … Exhaustively researched and full of vivid detail.” — LeeWoodruff.com
The Polar Bear Expedition is a fascinating, vivid exploration of an erased moment of U.S. military history. Nelson tackles the material with expertise and clarity.
The Russians invaded the United States [in 2016], but the Americans invaded Russia first. … How’d that happen? Nelson’s thorough history of the 3rd Battalion, 339th Infantry Regiment, empathetically explains the unexpected, unusual duty station.
[A] heartbreaking story of bravery. … Exhaustively researched and full of vivid detail.
Nelson’s well-written and well-researched history brings this often overlooked war to life. … Intimate. … Heartbreaking. … The Polar Bear Expedition is more than a great celebration of this little-known conflict.
James Carl Nelson deserves an A for his excellent book, The Polar Bear Expedition.
Urgent. … A wild ride through an American military campaign few know much about. … Nelson does yeoman’s work in telling the stories of these men and their exploits.
A master of narrative history, James Carl Nelson brings to light a long-forgotten story of America’s involvement during the Russian Civil War. The Polar Bear Expedition is exhaustively researched and rich in detail. A very fine book.
Urgent. … A wild ride through an American military campaign few know much about. … Nelson does yeoman’s work in telling the stories of these men and their exploits.
James Carl Nelson deserves an A for his excellent book, The Polar Bear Expedition.
The Russians invaded the United States [in 2016], but the Americans invaded Russia first. … How’d that happen? Nelson’s thorough history of the 3rd Battalion, 339th Infantry Regiment, empathetically explains the unexpected, unusual duty station.
I love untold stories and James Carl Nelson serves up a great one by bringing to light a forgotten period of American history. Using primary sources, he skillfully weaves together the story of the Polar Bears and their unsung expedition to Russia. The Polar Bear Expedition is an exceptional book that vividly evokes the drama, chaos, and stench of battle.
With exceptional research and his proven story-telling brilliance, James Carl Nelson has brought us the gripping, untold true story of American soldiers fighting not on the Western Front but on the frozen battlefields of the Russian Civil War. The Polar Bear Expedition shines a long-overdue spotlight on one of the most neglected chapters of the First World War.
James Carl Nelson masterfully tells the incredible story of ‘Detroit’s Own’ Doughboys, who were sent a thousand miles north of Moscow to battle the Bolsheviks in minus-60 degree winds. How most of these unsung heroes survived, how five ‘Polar Bears’ returned to reclaim those who didn’t a decade later, and how the ripples from that conflict washed right up to the 2016 election, are all mysteries Nelson solves. You’ll wonder why you’ve never heard of this amazing story before.
Winter 2018
In 1918, the U.S. 339th Regiment was deployed to Murmansk, Russia, as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian civil war, in order to fight the Soviet Red Army and assist anti-Bolshevik forces. With this latest work, historian Nelson (I Will Hold: The Story of USMC Legend Clifton B. Cates, from Belleau Wood to Victory in the Great War) avoids a narrow focus on the minutiae of warfare, employing descriptions of the logistical nightmares that came along with a campaign near the Arctic Circle as well as the political entanglements the U.S. forces experienced. Interestingly, it was upon their return to the United States that the 5,000-team unit adopted the moniker the Polar Bears; unfortunately, nearly 200 died owing to harsh weather conditions before their withdrawal. While Nelson mined memoirs written by the Polar Bears, the bibliography is rather sparse on the most recent historiography of the war. VERDICT Nelson adeptly integrates the individual experiences of the regiment with the wider events of the expedition, though sometimes the narrative is overdramatized. Still, this largely overlooked event will interest readers of military history.—Frederic Krome, Univ. of Cincinnati Clermont Coll.
Johnny Heller gives a fine narration of the United States’ participation in the Allied attempt to stop the Bolshevik Revolution. When Russia withdrew from fighting the Germans after the Bolsheviks took power, President Wilson dispatched U.S. troops to Northern Russia in the vicinity of Archangelsk and to the Far East around Vladivostok. This account describes the experience of the 5,000-strong American contingent in Northern Russia, the largest unit being the 339th Infantry Regiment of the Michigan National Guard, who were under the command of the British. These troops saw extensive combat with the Reds and suffered more than 200 casualties. Heller has a clear voice with a somewhat quick, staccato delivery, which does not take away from this forgotten incident. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
2018-10-28
A little-known piece of World War I history in a "frozen Hades, [the] last place on earth at the top of the world."
Beginning in September 1918, 5,000 American soldiers spent a miserable year fighting Bolsheviks in the Russian Arctic. In this fast-paced account, journalist and historian Nelson (I Will Hold: The Story of USMC Legend Clifton B. Cates, from Belleau Wood to Victory in the Great War, 2016) delivers a detailed, often gruesome narrative of this century-old campaign. In March 1918, Russia's revolutionary government signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers and withdrew from the war, freeing more than 1 million German soldiers to attack Russia's former allies—Britain, France, and America—on the Western Front. Outraged, many Allied leaders yearned to reverse matters. Initially opposed to intervention, President Woodrow Wilson eventually agreed with the official explanation that it was required "to guard military stores which may be subsequently needed by Russian forces and to render such aid as may be acceptable to the Russians in the organization of their own self-defense." As a result, the 339th Infantry Regiment and several ancillary units landed in Archangel in northwest Russia. They served under English command, complaining bitterly of the unpalatable food and inferior cigarettes. Nelson has turned up enough journals, letters, newspaper accounts, and memoirs to give an intimate, blow-by-blow description of a nasty campaign fought under unspeakable conditions against the Red Army, an initially ragtag unit that grew increasingly competent. The author reminds readers that these Americans were citizen soldiers, not professionals, yet they continued to obey orders after the war ended and during the Arctic winter, when temperatures dipped far below zero. More than 200 died. By year's end, family, congressmen, and a few soldiers were complaining. In February 1919, Wilson directed the war department to plan their withdrawal, and by summer, they were gone.
A vivid, well-researched history of one of America's many misguided military expeditions.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940169979237 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins Publishers |
| Publication date: | 02/19/2019 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
| Sales rank: | 833,976 |
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