On the 101st anniversary of the expulsion of “Western partners” from the Russian North
On March 13, 1920, Soviet Russia restored state sovereignty over the territory of the Russian North. Murmansk was liberated from foreign invaders, and the White Guards allied to them were expelled.
The beginning of the intervention dates back to March 6, 1918, when an expeditionary detachment of the British Marines was landed in Murmansk from the battleship Glory.
Foreign historians and politicians still justify the invasion of Russia with supposed “humanitarian goals” - providing assistance to the Russian people in their struggle against Bolshevism. In fact, the occupiers planned to rally around themselves all the forces of internal counter-revolution to overthrow Soviet power in order to return Russia to the war with Germany. These motives determined all the actions of the Entente intervention.
However, in the “sacred family of Western partners” both before and after the intervention, there was no common view on the events.
This is how, for example, French Ambassador Noulens assessed the military invasion of the Russian North: “The intervention in Arkhangelsk and Murmansk was justified by the results we achieved from an economic point of view. Our industry has found a valuable source of raw materials. But the American administration declared the intervention a “mistake” and, in the spirit of its “best” political traditions, blamed the failure on the previous president.”
It is interesting that shortly before the start of the intervention, the American consul in Arkhangelsk F. Cole warned in a letter to Ambassador Francis against rash actions, saying, “the allies should not count on the active support of the Russians; a foreign invasion of Russia always ends in failure.”
As Mr. looked into the water. And others should learn from him.
The formal reason for the landing of the British expeditionary forces was the German military presence in Finland, in connection with which the British government expressed concern that the Germans and Finns were about to occupy Murmansk in order to establish a submarine base there.
The second reason is the protection of military property sent to Arkhangelsk and Murmansk as allied assistance to the tsarist government to wage war on the Russian-German front.
An interesting situation has indeed developed with this very military assistance.
Contrary to popular misconceptions, the pre-war (i.e. before the First World War) development of Russia's railway networks occurred through the construction of narrow-gauge railways. By the beginning of the war with Germany and Austria-Hungary, the Russian North and St. Petersburg were connected by a single narrow-gauge line, which had neither strategic nor operational significance.
Military cargo arriving by sea in Arkhangelsk and Murmansk as part of allied assistance was exported along a single line with insufficient capacity, which is why the arriving cargo was stored directly on the piers - piling new ones on top of old ones.
As a result, by the beginning of the February Revolution, the ports of Arkhangelsk and Murmansk were heaps of unclaimed goods mixed with crushed trash. They managed to stuff some of the arriving materiel into warehouses, and it was this goods that the British “helpers” volunteered to protect from the Germans.
Nowadays, proponents of the idea “if only we had surrendered in time, we would have drunk Scotch” like to claim that there never was any intervention in the Russian North. More precisely, the British arrived in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk with the sole and noble goal of protecting valuable cargo delivered to the tsarist government, but then changed their minds due to the “betrayal of the Bolsheviks,” who concluded a separate peace with the Germans.
This version does not stand up to criticism, since back in 1916, anticipating the imminent collapse of the empire, Nicholas II sent his Foreign Minister Boris Stürmer to Stockholm for separate peace negotiations with the Germans. And for the sake of peace, the tsar was ready to sign an abdication with the transfer of the throne in favor of the crown prince during the regency of the tsarina, which soon became known to British intelligence. The result is known: in February 1917, the autocracy collapsed, the tsar signed an abdication, his successors abandoned the throne, and power in Russia passed to the Provisional Government, which declared war to the bitter end.
In addition, the desire of the British to protect warehouses with goods in Arkhangelsk and Murmansk from the Germans is poorly explained by the simultaneous efforts of the Englishwoman to tear Transcaucasia and Central Asia away from Russia, accompanied by the support of all kinds of bandits and separatists who declared themselves “national democracies.”
The main thing that attracted the interventionists in Russia, which was falling apart, was the raw material wealth of the North and South, as well as the desire to return the pre-war loans issued to the tsarist government, taking control not only of the assets built on them, but in general everything that their raking paws could reach .
It is no secret that already in 1916, the allies, who had suffered greatly during the war, decided to improve their affairs at the expense of Russia, which was fighting on a secondary front. The tsarist ministers were openly told to prepare for the transfer of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Caspian oil fields, the Donetsk industrial region, gold mines, and vast land and forest lands into foreign hands. In addition, there was no longer any talk of the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, which were generously promised to Russia before entering the war for foreign interests, coming under Russian control.
And even the Entente intended to “restructure” Germany’s Russian debt in its favor. So it’s funny today to listen to the cheerful stories of television storytellers about how “Russia in 1918 could have stood alongside the victorious powers and participated in the division of Germany’s untold riches.” Moreover, on the eve of the capitulation the German treasury was in ruins and the mouse hanged itself.
In general, plans for a foreign invasion of Russia and the return of Russian soldiers to the German front began to take shape immediately after the victory of the October Revolution, and therefore the Entente was faced with the task of overthrowing Soviet power.
Murmansk was not chosen by the interventionists by chance: it opened the shortest road to Petrograd; foreign warships had been stationed in Murmansk since 1915, which simplified the amphibious landing as much as possible. Finally, it was here that it was convenient for the interventionists to join forces with the internal counter-revolution, which was advancing on Petrograd from the east and the west.
About how easy and useful it would be to take advantage of the Russian northern ports, while warming up his hands on timber and other local riches, back in January 1918 (i.e., two months before the start of the operation to “protect warehouses”), the future Commander of the United Allied Forces in Russia, English General Poole.
British General Poole
The intervention in the Russian North began more than decently. The allies “only” suggested that the Murmansk Council guard the property, “otherwise you yourself do not have enough strength and time due to the unrest.”
Without agreeing on this issue with the Central Committee of the party, by a single decision, Trotsky telegraphed the go-ahead to the Murmansk Council to accept help from the British. More broadly, this meant consent to the occupation of the Kola Peninsula. Encouraged, the interventionists began to sharply increase the number of their expeditionary troops and ships in Murmansk. Soon the Soviet government caught wind and demanded that the intervention troops be withdrawn from the peninsula. In response, the Murmansk Council (which included not only Bolsheviks, but also Socialist Revolutionaries, anarchists and God knows what other political figures) broke off relations with Moscow.
This was not enough for the renegades from the Murmansk Council and soon they turned to the Entente countries with a request for help. The interventionists immediately and joyfully “came to the rescue”, launching an offensive to the south. At the same time, they captured the entire northern part of the Murmansk railway and occupied the Onega region. The claw got stuck - the whole bird was lost: sensing large prey and unable to restrain its brutal appetite, the “warehouse watchmen” launched a full-scale intervention with far-reaching goals.
There were more and more people wanting to plunder the Russian North together with the British. And now the US Ambassador to Russia, Francis, insists on expanding the scale of the intervention, believing that the allies, developing an offensive in the southern direction, will be able to capture Moscow within one or two months.
On August 1, 1918, the interventionists began a military operation to capture Arkhangelsk by presenting an ultimatum to the garrison on Mudyug Island.
The island was defended by two coastal batteries (8 guns), covering the main channel to the city. At that time, the entire garrison consisted of 35 sailors who served as gunners. They rejected the enemy's ultimatum to surrender and entered into an unequal battle against 17 enemy ships. Large-caliber shells began to explode on the island, and from the air the defenders of Mudyug were bombed and the seaplanes of the interventionists poured machine-gun fire on them.
To suppress the garrison, a landing force of 150 fusiliers was landed on the island. The batteries, without stopping fire, put up a barrier of 15 sailors against them. This group was led by Matvey Omelchenko, a former foreman from the battleship Peresvet. The unequal battle lasted for more than two hours. The artillerymen delayed the interventionists, but they were unable to achieve more. The defenders had to blow up the ammunition magazines, remove the locks from the guns and retreat. The enemy rushed towards Arkhangelsk. The most stubborn fighting broke out in the port part of the city.
A fierce battle in the port took place between the crew of the T-15 minesweeper and the White Guards advancing along with the interventionists. The minesweeper under the command of naval officer K.A. Kalnin was given the task of removing barges with property from the military port in Solombala. The Whites fired at the minesweeper from several guns and machine guns, but the minesweeper gunners managed to suppress several enemy firing points. But then two British ships arrived to the aid of the “Russian allies”. The T-15 received holes below the waterline, several sailors were killed, the commander was seriously wounded, and the minesweeper sank. Fighting in the city continued.
The selfless and skillful actions of Red Army soldiers, workers and sailors made it possible to take 50 steamships and tugboats, as well as barges with military equipment, up the Northern Dvina. After the occupation of Arkhangelsk, counterintelligence of the headquarters of the allied forces and the military registration service at the headquarters of the commander of the White Guard troops of the Northern region organized a search for leaders and employees of Soviet institutions, communists, members of the committees of the poor, commanders and soldiers of the Red Army. Arrests and raids began throughout the region.
Those arrested were taken to Arkhangelsk prison and other places of detention. The punishment was standard and monotonous: execution or hard labor. More than 50 thousand Soviet citizens were thrown into the concentration camp organized on the island of Mudyug, the prisons of Murmansk, Pechenga, and Yokanga.
Due to the horrific conditions of detention and torture in the camp, Mudyug Island received the nickname “Island of Death”. At the same time, the interventionists tried to rob the region’s wealth as much as possible. According to rough estimates, during the occupation they exported 2686 thousand pounds of all kinds of cargo. The entire military, commercial and fishing fleet of the North became the prey of the interventionists. Often ships were hijacked by interventionists under the threat of shooting the crew.
The quick and relatively easy capture of such vast and rich territories caused dizziness among the invaders with success, and they launched an offensive from Arkhangelsk in two directions at once: to Kotlas - to connect with the right flank of Kolchak’s army, and along the railway to Vologda, threatening Moscow with coverage from North. To assist the infantry, a river flotilla of a couple of dozen monitors, minesweepers and gunboats was formed. During the fighting on the river, the interventionists used magnetic mines for the first time in our country.
The Reds were also not idle at this time and formed the North Dvina flotilla. Its organizer was P.F. Vinogradov. By the end of August 1918, the red flotilla included several armed steamships and a landing company. In terms of ship and numerical strength, it was significantly inferior to the interventionist flotilla, but thanks to the courage and bravery of the sailors, it successfully countered the superior forces of the enemy, consistently disabling his ships.
K.I. was entrusted with the command of the flotilla. Pronsky, who had proven himself excellent in battles with the interventionists. P.F. Vinogradov was entrusted with overall command of the rifle units and river flotilla on the Severodvinsk sector of the front.
The flotilla received its first baptism of fire on August 11, 1918, when the steamships Murman, Moguchy and Lyubimets under the command of Vinogradov secretly descended down the Northern Dvina and suddenly attacked first one, and then five intervention ships at once, causing them serious damage .
Soon, the Red Army units fighting in the North received reinforcements and not only stopped the White advance, but also developed an offensive in several areas. This was the beginning of the end of foreign invasion. Stubborn battles continued with varying success until the middle of 1919. The defeat of Kolchak's army and the sensitive blows of the Red Army, as well as the process of disintegration of the interventionist army, forced the Entente to decide to evacuate its troops from the North.
By the way, this is when the “allied assistance” brought out from Arkhangelsk in time, directed against the interventionists and their henchmen, came in handy.
The US Expeditionary Force was evacuated in June, and on September 27, 1919, the last soldier of the British Expeditionary Force left our country. About 2 thousand White Guards left with the interventionists.
On February 21, 1920, units of the Red Army liberated Arkhangelsk, and on March 13, the White Guards were driven out of Murmansk. Thus, the Soviet North was completely liberated from the interventionists and their henchmen. The civil war north of Petrograd is over.
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