Allied Invasion of Russia in 1918

Far prior to the Cold War, even before the World War II alliance, the US and Russia had a short and minor war. In 1918, the Allies feared the rise of communism, and with the Great War winding down, the US and Great Britain mounted an Allied Expeditionary Force to invade Russia, landing on the north shore near Archangel. With a paltry force of around 6000 men, the A.E.F. wasn’t large enough to become very effective and was easily turned away by the Russians (the U.S. lost less than a thousand before withdrawing), who had withdrawn from the war after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, so they had an entire army at their disposal. Whether Bolshevik supporters or not, all Russians will fight against invaders, as everyone should know by now. In fact, “partisans” (read guerilla fighters) did more damage to the withdrawing French army during the Napoleonic Wars than the original fighting did during the actual invasion. Over ninety-percent of the retreating French army did not make it back to France, being easily picked off from the forests and treetops by Russians with hunting guns. This forced the army into a tightly packed unit, easily shelled by artillery – Napoleon fled quickly with a small detachment and scurried back to France well ahead of the army. Estimates are that over a million invaded Russia, about 10,000 returned! When he reached the Elbe River, he asked the ferryman if any deserters had come back. He replied, "no, sir, you're the first."