Russian Brigade in France, 1917

[Timothykready]

Hello- Richard Watt in his book "Dare Call It Treason" mentions the bizarre story of a Russian infantry brigade sent to fight on the Western Front. This seemed to me as curious as the two Portuguese divisions that somehow ended up in the front line during Operation Michael, 1918. Apparently they revolted, infected the French army w/ revolution and defeatism, etc. I'd love to know more about this story, especially who in blazes thought it was a good idea...    

[JWK]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Expeditionary_Force_in_France ?

[phil andrade]

Not being at home, I cite from memory and can’t refer to the book, but Churchill wrote about the participation of these Russian soldiers in the Nivelle Offensive, and he cited their heavy casualties ( thousands, I think ) which implied that they did get into the battle and suffered accordingly.  I’ll check to see if memory serves me when I can get hold of WSC’s history of The Great War.  I can vouch from my own visit to a cemetery in Artois that there was a unit of Czech soldiers used by the French in their 1915 offensive there, and that they made a decent account of themselves.  Not the same as the Russian contingent of 1917, obviously, but suggestive of significant liaison between the French and their allies in Eastern and Central  Europe .

After the February Revolution in 1917, weren’t the Russians keen to demonstrate their adherence to the war , with a new avowed aim to replace autocracy with democratic government ?

Hence Kerensky and his ill fated military venture in the summer.

 

I wonder if these Russians in France were being used to demonstrate this brief flirtation with western democratic governments.

 

Phil

 

 

Edited 19 July , 2022 by phil andrade

[cdr]

Malinovsky (one of Stalin's marshals ) fought in this unit 

 

[Terry_Reeves]

Will this help?  https://www.ww1cemeteries.com/st-hilaire-le-grand-franco-russian-military-cemetery.html
 

TR

[phil andrade]

Thanks, Terry.

And here, as promised, is the citation from Churchill’’s history of the Great War, page 1004 :

 

A Russian force of about 15,000 Infantry had before the Revolution been sent to be armed and equipped in France.  These men were affected by the political developments in their own country.  They had put it to the vote whether they should take part in the battle of April 16, and had decided by a majority to do so.  They were used by the French in a ruthless manner, and nearly 6,000 had been  killed or wounded.  The survivors went into open revolt. One sentence in their Manifesto reveals the propaganda of a master hand. “ We have been told, “ so the complaint begins, ‘ that we have been sent to France to pay for munitions sold to Russia.”   It was not until prolonged artillery  fire had been employed against these troops that they were reduced to submission and disbanded.”

Count Nikolai Tolstoy contributed an article to Purnell’s History of the First World War, which spanned pages 2,142 to 2,145, which I’ve got on my shelves, and was written about fifty years ago.  It more or less confirms what Churchill wrote, but goes into more detail about the whys and wherefores of the narrative.

 

Bearing in mind the severity of the losses suffered by these Russians in the Nivelle Offensive, it’s strange that so little is remembered about them.

 

Phil

Edited 20 July , 2022 by phil andrade

[James A Pratt III]

The book  "With Snow on their boots" by J Cockfield is  a fine book on this unit and it's fate.