RUSSIA, CAMPAIGN IN NORTH. The campaign in north Russia continued long after the signing of the Armistice in 1918. It must not be regarded as an isolated incident of the World War, but as a definite part of the Allies' plan for the defeat of the Central Powers, and though the direction of the operations was entrusted to the British authorities the campaign was international. Contingents were sent from Great Britain, the United States, France, Italy and Serbia; detachments were formed from Polish, Finn, Czech, Russian and Chinese refugees.
Maj.-Gen. F. C. Poole, the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces in north Russia, arrived at Murmansk on May 24, 1918, and found that the Allies were holding the Kola peninsula with detachments at Kandalaksha. He pushed southwards down the Petrograd railway, and by the end of June had secured Kern and Soroka, the point where the road to Archangel via Onega branches eastwards. The ice-free port of Murmansk was thus fully pro tected against any possible raid by the German forces in Finland.
Poole then turned his attention to Archangel. He occupied the port on Aug. 3 with a force of 1,5oo men, supported by British and French warships, and a force of Serbs and Russians under Col. Thornhill moving overland via Soroka and Onega. The Bol shevik Government in Archangel was overthrown by the local inhabitants.
Early in Oct., 1918, Gen. Poole proceeded to England, and in Nov. Maj.-Gen. W. E. Ironside, who had been chief general staff officer in north Russia, succeeded him. The commands of Arch angel and Murmansk were then made independent of one another.
The question of the maintenance of the Allied forces in north Russia had been early considered by the authorities. Murmansk, being an ice-free port, could be used all the year round, and the troops based upon it could be withdrawn at any time. But
with Archangel the case was different. The port becomes frozen up from early November till late April. The War in France had not yet come to an end in Oct., 1918, nor could it be said with certainty that it would cease before the spring of 1919. It was of the utmost importance to prevent the resources of Russia be coming available to the Germans, should they be able to ,continue fighting throughout 1919. The decision was therefore made to remain at Archangel during the winter.
The expedition to north Russia in the summer and autumn of 1918 undoubtedly did much to complicate the plans of the Ger mans. There is definite evidence that the German military au thorities were unable to continue the transference of troops from east to west in the final stages of the World War, despite the urgent demands of Hindenburg and Ludendorff. The original object of the expedition was therefore fully achieved.
Peculiar Difficulties of the Campaign.—The winter cam paign in north Russia may well be termed unique in the history of war. Never before had troops been called upon to fight under such severe climatic conditions. The Armistice in Europe also, coming as it did just at the closing of the White sea with ice, could not be acclaimed joyfully as it was on other fronts. For the north Russian force a new campaign was beginning, and all knew that relief could not come for at least six months. The feeling that demobilization was being carried out on all other fronts had a demoralizing effect upon all ranks of the force. Furthermore, the object of the campaign was obviously no longer the same. Germany as an enemy had disappeared from the scene, and the Allied troops were never again quite clear as to the reasons for the continuance of the fighting. In their efforts to reconstruct the Eastern Front, the Allies had espoused the cause of the White Russians and had called upon the Czech ex-prisoner of war units in Siberia to march westwards to join them. In this action they had come into conflict with the Soviet Government and they could not now abandon the White Russians who had joined them in the campaign. It was thus that the Bolsheviks became the new adversaries of the Allies.