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    The Polar Bear Expedition: The Heroes of America's Forgotten Invasion of Russia, 1918-1919
    The Polar Bear Expedition: The Heroes of America's Forgotten Invasion of Russia, 1918-1919
    The Polar Bear Expedition: The Heroes of America's Forgotten Invasion of Russia, 1918-1919
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Polar Bear Expedition: The Heroes of America's Forgotten Invasion of Russia, 1918-1919

    Written by James Carl Nelson

    Narrated by Johnny Heller

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    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 U.S. 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 re-opening 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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateFeb 19, 2019
    ISBN9780062896988
    The Polar Bear Expedition: The Heroes of America's Forgotten Invasion of Russia, 1918-1919
    Author

    James Carl Nelson

    James Carl Nelson received the 2017 Marine Corps Heritage Foundation’s Colonel Joseph Alexander Award for Biography. He is the author of three acclaimed histories of the American experience in World War I: I Will Hold: The Story of USMC Legend Clifton B. Cates, from Belleau Wood to Victory in the Great War; Five Lieutenants: The Heartbreaking Story of Five Harvard Men Who Led America to Victory in World War I; and The Remains of Company D: A Story of the Great War. A former staff writer for the Miami Herald, he lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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    Reviews for The Polar Bear Expedition

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      The best non first hand account of the American Intervention in North Russian I have read for its attention to the soldiers’ lives and the campaign at a human level.

      It really does echo Vietnam and Afghanistan and shows what an army looks like without any real objectives and leadership.
    • 4/5
      This story of WWI is frequently mentioned in discussing the First World War. However, it is seldom if ever reported in depth. This book gives well written version of the events and experiences of the doughboys of the Polar Bears. A fast read; very interesting.