In world wars, Russia did not fight against the United States, never a Russian soldier entered American soil. But the Americans landed in Vladivostok in August 1918 and took part, together with England, France and Japan, in the occupation of Russia, engulfed in civil war.
And this despite the fact that after the revolution, Russia concluded a truce with Germany and declared a peace "without annexations and indemnities."
The collapse of the Russian army and the political chaos that began in Russia in the West was perceived with enthusiasm as a convenient excuse to dismember the largest country in the world and seize its untold riches. The intervention of the Entente countries, Russia's former allies in the war with Germany, began, some of whom she saved from defeat by the Germans. The USA also joined them.
They planned to divide Russia as follows: Ukraine, Bessarabia and Crimea were included in the French sphere of influence. England reserved the right to "Cossack and Caucasian regions", Armenia, Georgia and Kurdistan. As a result, the 8,000-strong American occupation corps landed in Vladivostok on August 15, 1918, in order to gain access to the rich resources of the Far East and prevent Japan, the US rival in the oceans, from gaining a foothold there.
Old plans
This decision was not at all spontaneous. To strike at Russia, its main economic rival (the rate of economic growth of Russia before the war of 1914 was ahead of the American one), the United States planned ahead of time. The desire to take possession of Russian territories appeared in Washington during the time of the Alaska deal. It was offered to "buy the Russians", plans of conquest were in the air. Even the hero of Mark Twain's novel, Colonel Sellers, outlined his plan to acquire Siberia and create a "republic" there.
Well, as soon as a bloody war broke out in Europe, and in Russia there was a smell of revolution, overseas it was considered that their hour had struck.
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Miles Poindexter, Republican Senator from Washington State, said bluntly: “Russia has become just a geographical concept, and it will never be anything else. Her power of cohesion, organization, and recovery was gone forever. The nation does not exist ….
As always, the Americans camouflaged their complicity in the robbery and aggressive plans with specious pretexts. Their corps was sent ostensibly to ensure the safe evacuation from Russia of the Czechoslovak corps - former prisoners of war of Austria-Hungary, who fought on the side of Germany. Later they began to explain their presence in Russia by the need to "fight the Bolsheviks." In all official documents and speeches, the leaders of the US government hypocritically declared their love for the Russian people and their intention to help them build democracy (they probably also wanted to “get along with Russia” back then!). In fact, the goal was completely different … The Americans were particularly attracted by Kamchatka and Sakhalin, which were rich in oil, ore and furs and had a favorable strategic position.
Capture Siberia
But the true plans of the United States were much broader - to seize the whole of Siberia, establishing control over the Trans-Siberian railway. By agreement with the Provisional Government, a mission was sent from the United States to Russia "to study issues related to the work of the Ussuriysk, East China and Siberian railways." And in mid-October 1917, the so-called "Russian Railway Corps" was formed, consisting of 300 American railway officers and mechanics. "Corps" consisted of 12 teams of engineers, foremen, dispatchers, which were to be deployed between Omsk and Vladivostok. Thus, the movement of all cargo, both military and food, was under the control of the Americans.
As the Soviet historian AB Berezkin emphasized, "the US government insisted that the specialists they send were invested with broad administrative power, and not be limited to the functions of technical supervision." In fact, it was about the transfer of a significant part of the Trans-Siberian Railway under American control.
Only one American company of Eyrington sent 15.7 thousand poods of wool, 20.5 thousand sheep skins, 10.2 thousand large dry skins from Vladivostok to the United States. Anything of any value was taken out.
Atrocities of the occupiers
At the same time, the Americans mercilessly suppressed any resistance of the local population, considering it as wild aborigines with whom there was nothing to stand on ceremony with. Colonel of the US Army Morrow in his memoirs complained that his soldiers … “could not sleep without killing someone that day. When our soldiers took the Russians prisoner, he wrote, they took them to Andriyanovka station, where the carriages were unloaded, the prisoners were brought to huge pits, from which they were shot from machine guns. " The "most memorable" day for Colonel Morrow was the day "when 1,600 people were shot in 53 wagons."
The Americans were doing amazing in their inhumanity deeds in Primorye. Russky Island became a concentration camp where prisoners were taken. There were other death camps, where the Americans exterminated the local population, but the camp created on the Russky Island lasted the longest - until October 1922. The tortured in the camp were drowned next to the island, separately and with whole barges, tying their hands with barbed wire.
There is evidence that after the end of the intervention, one of the divers, working at the flooded facilities near the Russkiy Island, came across one of these barges, inside which "stood, like living, tied people." Shocked by what he saw, the diver went mad.
The Russian State Historical Archives of the Far East preserved "Acts of tortured and executed peasants in Olginsky district in 1918-1920." Here is an excerpt from this document: “Having seized the peasants I. Gonevchuk, S. Gorshkov, P. Oparin and Z. Murashko, the Americans buried them alive for their connection with local partisans. And they dealt with the wife of the partisan E. Boychuk as follows: they stabbed the body with bayonets and drowned them in a cesspool. The peasant Bochkarev was disfigured beyond recognition with bayonets and knives: his nose, lips, ears were cut off, his jaw was knocked out, his face and eyes were stabbed with bayonets, his whole body was cut up. At Art. Sviyagino was tortured in the same brutal way by partisan N. Myasnikov, who, according to an eyewitness, first chopped off his ears, then his nose, arms, legs, and chopped him to pieces alive.
Inglorious leaving
After such atrocities and wild robberies, the resistance of the local population to the invaders grew. During the 19 months of its stay in the country, the American contingent in the Far East lost almost 200 soldiers and officers. Plans to continue the occupation were thwarted by resistance in Russia, as well as by protests in the United States. In May 1919, Rep. Mason said in his speech to Congress: “There are 600 mothers living in Chicago, which is part of my district, whose sons are in Russia. I received about 12 letters this morning, and I receive them almost every day, in which they ask me when our troops should return from Siberia."
On May 20, 1919, Senator from Wisconsin and future US presidential candidate La Follette submitted a resolution to the Senate, approved by the Wisconsin Legislature. It called for the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Russia. Somewhat later on September 5, 1919, the influential Senator Bora declared in the Senate: “Mr. President, we are not in a state of war with Russia. Congress did not declare war against the Russian people. The people of the United States do not want to fight Russia."
However, today Washington has declared an economic war in our country, the largest military budget in history has been drawn up, which is a vivid evidence of the preparation of a new aggression by the Americans. However, today there is an insurmountable obstacle to the landing of the new American occupation corps on our territory - the nuclear power of Russia and our revived army.
Vladimir Malyshev