Who knows of a good reference about the invasion of Russia through
Vladivostok by us Americans while the British and another American force
invaded through Murmansk to support the White Russians? I understand the
Valdivostok force moved west crossing almost half of Siberia in chasing the
Reds.

Actually, very little! I once wrote an article about the western (and
eastern!) intervention in Russia's civil war. Fascinating stuff.

Basically, it was the British who landed in European Russia while the
Americans and Japanese landed in Siberia. Each country had its own
agenda (especially Japan, which had long coveted, and would continue
to covet, a foothold in Siberia) but the intention of the western
allies was to rescue the "Polish Legion."

The Poles had been fighting on the eastern front against Germany.
After the Bolshevik revolution, they were stuck. The allies wanted
them on the western front. The Russians demanded that the Poles down
arms; the Poles naturally refused, and instead began to fight their
way along the trans-Siberian railroad, 4,000 miles to Vladivostok. It
was to extricate the Poles that the Americans went into Siberia.

Of course the war ended before the Poles finished their anabasis, and
as often happens, the American intervention took on a life of its own.
We stuck around for a year or so. There wasn't any heavy combat, just
skirmishes. The Russians were fighting largely with armored trains:
they'd go charging up & down the trans-Siberian RR, firing cannon at
each other. (You can see these armored trains in the 1960s movie
spectacular Doctor Zhigavo.)

I don't think the Americans went very far east. When we pulled out,
the Japanese did.

I am less certain about the British (and I think a few Americans)
around Murmansk. I have a vague notion it was mostly RAF. The object
there of course would have been to give the Poles a short-cut out of
the country, if they could fight their way up to Murmansk.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: www.danford.net/letters.htm#9

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com