American Polar Bears in Russia: Soldiers of the 339th Infantry and the Archangel Campaign, 1918-1919 - Paperback

by William Thomas Venner (Author)

At the end of World War I, the U.S. Army 339th Infantry--nicknamed the "Polar Bears"--was deployed to northern Russia to prevent Allied supplies stockpiled near the port city of Archangel from falling into the hands of the Bolsheviks. Drawing on firsthand accounts from men in the regiment, their 18-month campaign is narrated from the point of view of the riflemen, NCOs and officers of companies I and M. Each chapter highlights an individual soldier's experience fighting the Red Army and the Arctic winter, a quarter century before the Cold War.

Author Biography

William Thomas Venner has researched and written widely about the American Civil War. His articles have appeared in Civil War Times Illustrated, Journal of Field Archaeology, and America's Civil War. A retired teacher of history and archaeology in schools and at the college level, he lives in Huntersville, North Carolina.