Shanghai Russians, or How the White Guards faithfully served the Europeans in China

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In the 20th century, the Chinese Russian community was represented not only in Harbin, but also in Shanghai. After the Civil War, the ranks of the emigrants were replenished with the White Guards. Participants of the White movement were forced to leave Russia, dispersed around the world. The Chinese land has also become one of the new places of service for the experienced military. To guard and protect the European representatives who inhabited Shanghai, the Russian community supplied the best soldiers and police officers.

Post-war situation and the British-Chinese accord

According to the agreements reached after the end of the Opium War of 1842, the Qing Empire was in a losing position against the background of the British. The latter went into perpetual possession of the island of Hong Kong, and according to the Nanging Agreement, the Chinese were even supposed to open 5 ports in the country for the British: Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Ningbo, Shanghai. Soon, both the Americans and the French, who flooded Shanghai, concluded their treaties with the Qing government. By the early 1850s, a "city within a city" had formed there - a settlement, as the Europeans called this type of settlement. It turned out that the Chinese lands were not taken away for good, but, as it were, were in lease use. At the same time, Chinese laws did not operate in the settlement, only British legal order had legal force.

The Nanking Treaty allowed the Europeans to formally protect the borders of the settlement with their own army. In 1854, the British, French and Americans formed the Municipal Council to jointly govern the settlement. True, after a few years the French separated, deciding on the independent existence of their concession. Britain and the United States successfully continued their paired administration, giving their settlement a name - the Shanghai International Settlement. At the beginning of the First World War, citizens of 17 foreign countries, including Russians, lived here compactly. By the way, it was in Shanghai that the largest US insurance company AIG was born, and the largest British bank HSBC got a start in life.

The origin of the Russian regiment

When the revolutionary civil war broke out in China in 1927, the Guangdong revolutionary troops reached the Shanghai borders. The European municipality feared the seizure of its territory. The military reinforcement fell on the shoulders of the Far Eastern Cossacks, subordinate to Lieutenant General Glebov. In January 1927, the Separate Russian Volunteer Corps detachment was formed to protect the Shanghai settlement. Russian officers were given the ranks of the English service. A couple of companies carried out permanent service, staying on a salary, while the third company was called up for training. The personnel wore blue uniforms and armed with carbines. He had a regiment and his own Russian national banner. The soldiers and officers of the unit mainly represented the younger generation (23-27 years old). All of them had combat experience, being participants in the Russian civil war, and fought against the Bolsheviks.

The main tasks of the Russian regiment were considered to be the protection of the Shanghai prison, city shooting range and barracks. Some of the privates served at the regimental headquarters and in the rear, some guarded the armory, acted as telephone operators, drivers. If necessary, the Russians were used as an auxiliary force for patrolling the streets, suppressing riots, and conducting mass raids. The Russian regiment was also involved as a guard at the moments of visiting the municipality by distinguished guests.

Operations of the Shanghai Russians

The first commander was Captain 1st Rank Nikolai Fomin. He began his combat path in the Russian Empire in the Baltic Fleet. He had high awards and at the time of the revolution was already dismissed from the army. However, not wanting to recognize the Bolshevik regime in his homeland, he joined the white movement. After spending more than one year on the fronts of the Civil War, he emigrated to China with the fall of the tsarist power. Before the Chinese Communist offensive in 1949, he managed to evacuate from Shanghai. Having settled in Australia, he participated in the creation of the anti-communist center of the Russians.

The Shanghai British, as well as the command of the white detachment, more than once noted that the Russian soldiers demonstrated unquestioning discipline and faithfully served throughout the entire existence of the Chinese unit. The Europeans marveled at the discipline in the Russian ranks and the daily training according to the tsarist charter.

The first serious operation of the Russian Shanghai detachment was the defense of the Suzhou Canal from the southern Chinese in the spring of 1927. In the same year, the detachment was ordered to post a guard to encircle the Soviet consulate. The duties of the White Guard Russians included assistance to the municipal police in conducting searches, and at night - arrests of everyone leaving the building. For greater efficiency, the management of the settlement delegated these functions to the Americans, and the Russian unit was sent to guard the power plants. The Russians also served in the municipal city police. In July 1940, while on duty, Emelyan Ivanov, promoted to second lieutenant ex-midshipman, died.

The fate of a reliable Russian guard

In 1937, the Russian regiment defended Shanghai from the Japanese aggressors, but retreated to the borders of its settlement. But already at the end of 1941, when Japan entered World War II, its troops entered the borders of European Shanghai. It was announced that the Russian volunteer unit was being taken over by the Japanese command. From now on, the Russian regiment performed exclusively police duties. In 1943, the Americans and the British announced the return of Shanghai to China, but in fact this happened in 1945, after the collapse of the Japanese. And with the victory of Mao Zedong and the creation of the PRC in 1949, a new time has come for the Chinese Russians. Some decided to return to their native fold and take Soviet citizenship, while others had to emigrate again. This time, the White Guards and their descendants went to the USA and Australia. This was the end of the history of the Russian regiment, and with it the Russian Shanghai.

If China became famous all over the world for its inventions, then a dozen of these countries went down in history thanks to the lost treasures, which are of great cultural value and not only. And it is not at all surprising that they have been searched for for many years and centuries.