Table of contents:
- How Canadians were sent to Russia
- For what purpose and how many Canadians arrived in Vladivostok
- How Canadians were welcomed in Vladivostok, and how the city impressed foreigners
- How the mission of Canadians in Vladivostok ended and how was the road home
Video: What Canadians Did in Vladivostok during the Civil War
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Canadian troops spent eight months in Russia, arriving in Vladivostok, when American, French, British and Japanese units were already stationed there. In fact, the interventionists from Canada were more like idle tourists: they never took part in the battles of the Civil War, being engaged in a foreign country only patrolling the streets and looking for entertainment. According to the recollections of foreign soldiers, the period of stay in Vladivostok was remembered by the majority as a bright and easy time.
How Canadians were sent to Russia
After the October Revolution of 1917, the Civil War broke out in Russia. To help their allies in the Entente, a number of foreign states decided to introduce parts of military formations into the territory of the former empire. Among such countries was Canada, which, due to the lack of volunteers to send to Russia, announced a compulsory conscription.
The First World War claimed the lives of about 45.5 thousand Canadian citizens, and it is natural that the compulsory conscription did not inspire the population. For this reason, some of the newly minted soldiers staged a riot: this is how, for example, conscripts in Canadian Victoria did. On December 21, 1918, when servicemen of the 259th Expeditionary Battalion were being loaded onto the ship, some of the soldiers refused to board, protesting against being sent to Russia.
The rebels were supported by two companies of other conscripts, however, despite this, the disaffected were quickly pacified. With shots and whips from their belts, the officers, with the help of loyal soldiers, drove the rioters onto the ship, where they were shackled for the entire 3-week voyage to Vladivostok.
For what purpose and how many Canadians arrived in Vladivostok
The Canadian Expeditionary Force was one of the largest military formations in Russia. More than 4,000 people were based in Vladivostok alone, another 600 soldiers and officers were located in Arkhangelsk and 500 were in Murmansk.
The first Canadian formation arrived in the Far East in the fall of 1918; three months later, in January 1919, the bulk of the expeditionary forces entered the Golden Horn Bay. Called to help the White Army in the Civil War, the soldiers stationed in the suburbs of Vladivostok practically did not leave the location zone. They organized various sports competitions, learned Russian, watched vaudeville, sometimes visiting city cinemas for this purpose, and even published their own newspapers.
The only exception was 200 Canadian servicemen, who were sent together with the Japanese, French, Italians and Czechs to suppress the activity of the partisans led by Gavrila Shevchenko. After a successful operation carried out in the spring of 1919 in the vicinity of the village of Shkotova, displacing the enemy from a strategically important zone, the Canadians returned to Vladivostok.
Along with solving political problems, the Canadian authorities tried to organize the promotion of economic issues. For this, during the winter of 1918-1919. they contributed to the opening in Russia of a branch of the bank of their country. At the same time, five sales representatives also arrived in Vladivostok: their responsibility was to create an office and organize the work of the Canadian Economic Commission in Siberia. However, due to the chaos that arose during the civil war, the activities of commercial entities were not crowned with success.
How Canadians were welcomed in Vladivostok, and how the city impressed foreigners
The view of the city from the side of the ship always amazed foreigners who visited Vladivostok for the first time. The military doctor Eric Elkington recalled: “It was a truly beautiful sight - against the background of snow-capped hills, illuminated by the morning sun, the city was located along the bay in a crescent moon. Individual buildings that could be discerned with the naked eye were usually Greek churches: their domes, reflecting the rising sun's rays, sparkled with a bright golden light."
The population greeted the Canadians rather passively, showing noticeable discontent, only when the headquarters of the command of foreigners was located in the city Pushkin Theater. However, after the assurance about the temporality of the measure, the public calmed down and did not show any noticeable indignation in the future. At that time, Vladivostok was a rather motley picture. The townspeople, a third of which were Chinese, Koreans and Japanese, led an ordinary law-abiding life: they went to work, attended theaters, and organized family holidays. And at the same time, crime reigned in the city. Having got acquainted closer with the local situation, the aforementioned Elkington wrote: “In winter it was just scary to go out - there was constant shooting, someone was constantly robbed and killed”.
In addition to the high crime rate, foreigners were struck by the abundance of hungry people in Vladivostok. There were a lot of people dying, literally, from hunger, especially at the Trans-Siberian railway station in Vladivostok. For the most part, these were refugees - representatives of the old regime class who could not reconcile with the rule of the Bolsheviks. Having left their homes from the zone of "white" control, they hoped to establish a new life, but after "breaking through" personal values, they perished in poverty from hunger.
How the mission of Canadians in Vladivostok ended and how was the road home
Despite the initial indifference to Canadians, over time, the local population began to annoy the constant presence of foreigners in the city. In addition, in Canada itself, the forces that opposed the presence of the expeditionary force in Russia became more active. In order not to escalate the situation in two states at once, the Canadian authorities in the spring of 1919 decided to withdraw their servicemen from Russian territory.
By June 1919, all military formations on four ships sailed to their homeland, having officially finished participating in a military company alien to them. The losses of Canadians during their entire stay in Vladivostok amounted to 14 people, of which one committed suicide, others died from diseases. In memory of compatriots, before returning home, the military erected a memorial stone with a memorial inscription at the city's Sea Cemetery.
In general, this region has rarely become an arena of confrontation between countries. Most of the battles in the Pacific took place during the Second World War. Then, to the horror of ordinary Americans, the Japanese launched the largest Banzai attack ever, invading Alaska.
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