Five Questions for Mike Grobbel

Honoring “Detroit’s Own”: Polar Bear Memorial Association’s World War I Centennial Commemoration

By Will Kaiser
Staff Writer

Polar bears are known for their ability to survive and thrive in the most adverse conditions, all while being regarded as the tundra's most fierce predator. In a similar fashion, the American North Russia Expeditionary Forces (ANREF) in Russia were revered for being as resilient as polar bears. The men of the ANREF fought the newly formed Red Army while simultaneously battling the Russian winter’s sub-zero temperatures. These men and their stories have nearly been forgotten, but because of the incredible work of the Polar Bear Memorial Association, Americans are beginning to learn more about The United States’ intervention into the Russian Civil War. We spoke to Mike Grobbel, President of the Polar Bear Memorial Association, about the WWI Polar Bear Expedition, about his commemoration organization, and about their activities.

What prompted you and the organization to become involved with these commemorative efforts and what were some of the motivations behind researching, discovering, and showcasing the American Expeditionary Forces in Russia during World War I? How can we best honor these ANREF veterans?

Mike GrobbelWhen the veterans of the American North Russia Expeditionary Force (ANREF) returned home in 1919, they were concerned that only about half of their war dead had been repatriated, with the remainder still buried in Russian soil. That concern prompted them to form the Polar Bear Association (PBA) in 1922. Holding their reunions on even-numbered years, the PBA continued to meet over the next half century. During the 1920s the PBA lobbied the US government and the State of Michigan to organize a recovery mission to locate and repatriate the remainder of their dead. Because the United States and the Soviet Union did not have official diplomatic relations, a recovery mission was not able to be funded until 1929. This mission, funded by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the state of Michigan, was able to successfully acquire the remains of 86 American soldiers for proper burial in the United States. Forty-five of those individuals were able to be reburied at the Polar Bear Monument in White Chapel Memorial Cemetery, located in Troy Michigan. The burials took place during the dedication of the monument on Memorial Day in 1930 [names and diagram] and all who were fallen received their full military honors. Following the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1934, a US Army unit went to Russia and recovered another 14 bodies. Approximately two dozen bodies could not be found and remain in unmarked Russian graves to this day.

Because of the timing and circumstances surrounding the ANREF’s deployment to North Russia (a similar force of “Regular Army” infantry regiments was deployed to Siberia at the same time for similar reasons), the soldiers and their families back home felt that they had been forgotten by their country. Family members held petition drives in Feb. 1919 and lobbied Congress to have the ANREF brought home as soon as possible. The Secretary of War announced later that month that the ANREF would be leaving Russia at the earliest possible time, which turned out to be June 1919.

Due to their feelings of past abandonment, which stemmed from their military campaign that was quickly forgotten by both historians and the public, the Polar Bear Association veterans decided to ensure that their casualties were not forgotten. In order to do this the PBA erected the Polar Bear monument and decided to host an annual Memorial Day service in perpetuity for those who had fallen. Over a four-year period in the 1950s, the PBA collected more than $5,000 which was placed in a trust fund that would be used continue the Memorial Day service after the eventual disbanding of the PBA. During the fundraising effort, PBA President John Boran stated, “This is the least that those living who survived the campaign could do for those buddies who made the supreme sacrifice for a cause they never did understand. A cause which has been called ‘America’s greatest diplomatic blunder.’”

The few remaining PBA members held their last reunion in 1983. Honorary PBA member Stan Bozich (founder of the Michigan’s Military & Space Heroes Museum in Frankenmuth, MI) had been the active force in assisting PBA members to reunions and the conduction of their Memorial Day service. Bozich then pledged that he would ensure that the Salvation Army honored their commitment. However, the money gathered from the previous fundraisers did not sustain the services and Stan took over the responsibility of organizing and conducting the annual service. Over the next few years he contacted descendants of the “Polar Bears” and invited them to attend the annual service. Due to this invitation, those who were the successors of the “Polar Bears” formed a successor group to the PBA, the Polar Bear Memorial Association (PBMA) was formed. Thanks to the PBMA and with help from the White Chapel Cemetery, continued to host the traditional Memorial Day service. Since the formation of the PBMA the service has gone from a half-dozen attendees in the late 1980s to hundreds of attendees each Memorial Day.

What were some distinguishing aspects of the 339th regiment, who were they, and what did they accomplish in their fight against the Bolshevik Red Army? Moreover, why did President Wilson decide to send these Americans to Russia during The Great War?

Due to the onset of the Bolsheviks taking power in the Russian Civil War and then the later peace treaty signed with Germany, British and French deemed it necessary to take action against Russia.[i]Though the United State Army’s 85th division was already bound for Liverpool at the time of request of aid in July 1918, President Woodrow Wilson responded to requests from both British and French governments and agreed to a limited American participation in the military intervention of the Russian Civil War.. Wilson directed General John Pershing to create two new American Expeditionary Forces, the American Expeditionary Force North Russia (AEFNR) and the American Expeditionary Force Siberia (AEFS), which were to be sent to Archangel and Vladivostok, respectively. Objectives for the AEFNR were to:

• Protect Allied military supplies in North Russia from falling into Bolshevik or German hands
• Dissuade the German army from withdrawing more divisions from the Eastern Front
• Push Bolshevik forces to the south so that they could rescue the beleaguered Czech Legion, which were Allied forces that had become stranded along the Trans-Siberian Railroad while attempting to reach Vladivostok, Russia.

President Wilson’s directive to General Pershing made it clear that while these forces were to be placed under British command upon their arrival in Archangel, they were not intended to be used in battle. However, upon their arrival in Archangel on Sept. 5th, the British Major General Frederick C. Poole informed the American commander, Col. George E. Stewart, that the Bolsheviks had withdrawn from Archangel and had taken all the military supplies with them. He then ordered Stewart to send his men into battle against the Bolsheviks, alongside the British, Canadian and French troops that were already in North Russia.

U.S Army Signal Corps building dugout emplacementThe US Army’s 85th Division was in the mid-Atlantic at the time, bound for Liverpool, so that Division became the obvious choice to provide the manpower for the ANREF. When the 339th Infantry Regiment, the 1st Battalion of the 310th Engineers, the 337th Field Hospital and the 337th Ambulance Company disembarked, they were separated from the rest of the 85th Division. Instead of continuing to the Western Front, these units were sent to a camp near London to be re-equipped and re-trained. On 25 Aug 1918, they boarded trains for Newcastle-on-Tyne, where three troop transport ships were waiting to take them to Archangel, Russia.

The men of the ANREF fought well and succeeded in forcing the poorly trained Bolshevik forces to continue their withdrawal to the south. By January of 1919, the Bolshevik Army brought in highly-trained rifle regiments and went on the offensive during the next three months. During the winter period morale among the Allied troops were low, but a rise in both temperatures and morale were then able to be seen in the spring season. However, by then the ANREF troops had been replaced in the field by recently-arrived British volunteers and they were on their way home.

Could you tell us more about the daily routine of these men, their typical living-conditions? How did these Americans get along and cooperate with their allies in Russia upon their arrival? And what was their reception like at home when this regiment returned, after the Armistice?

ANREF troops were deployed on four main fronts, the Railroad, Dvina/Vaga River, Pinega and Onega Fronts. The remainder were kept in reserve at Archangel. Three infantry companies were assigned to the Railroad Front, those assigned here experienced the optimal living conditions. When a company was not at the immediate front lines - where they bunked in wood blockhouses - they were housed in boxcars parked on railroad sidings at the headquarters about six miles back from the front lines.

Some ANREF companies were housed in the homes of Russian peasants or in other village buildings. Peasant homes often were lice infested and also were the homes of farm animals during the winter months. Supplies delivered to the soldiers during the winter were by sleds pulled by Russian ponies and as much as one-third of their food supplies would be pilfered during the 200 mile journey. Therefore, they would have to supplement their reduced rations by shooting game and bartering with the Russian peasants.[ii]

Because the ANREF had been placed under British command, the British officers made sure there was never a time at the front lines where the highest-ranking officer was an American. The British accomplished this by issuing numerous temporary promotions to their junior officers. As a result, the American troops and officers held their British counterparts in low esteem, similar to the opinion the British had of them since the day of the ANREF’s arrival on Sept. 5th. Due to this common quarrel among the British and American forces, the relationships between the Americans, French and Canadians were much better.

The White Russian troops that had been recruited and trained in Archangel by the British were for the most part very unreliable in battle. The British expected to be able to raise a White Russian army equal in number to the Allied troops in North Russia. Ensuring difficulty to recruit Russian men to fight in a civil war against their own countrymen occurred. Against a combined total of 14,000 British, Canadian, American, French and Polish soldiers in the Archangel region, the British were never able to locally recruit more than 2,700 White Russian soldiers.

While on their voyage home, the men of the ANREF decided to start calling themselves "Polar Bears" and had sewn silkscreened white polar bear patches on their left shoulders.[iii] The first of three troop trains carrying the newly coined named “Polar Bears” arrived at Detroit’s Michigan Central Station in the early evening on July 3rd. The next day the citizens of Detroit held a “Welcome Home” party for the men and their families at the Belle Isle Park in the Detroit River. The next morning at 8:00 AM, they boarded trains which took them to Camp Custer and within three days they had all been discharged from the US Army. The remainder of the ANREF troops arrived in the US a couple of weeks later and they declined the offer of a similar reception so that they could get discharged and return to civilian life as soon as possible.

I understand you have a trip planned to visit Russia in August and you intend on following the paths of the ANREF, who do you plan on meeting with, what do you expect to accomplish while in Russia, and are you planning to visit any major historical sites during this trip?

I will be meeting with a Russian Civil War enthusiast, Alexey Suhanovsky, in Arkhangelsk. I will be arriving in Arkhangelsk on August 2nd, which coincidentally is also the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the British fleet and troops, but there are no official plants to publicly commemorate the arrival of the Allied Interventionists.

Company M, 339th Infantry, after resting an hour, following the 17 hours march through the woods and swamps, set out again for the front. They are seen in this picture starting out along the railroad line.  Oborzerskay, Russia Sept 29, 1918.Mr. Suhanovsky and his team of battlefield archaeologists will be taking me to my grandfather's base camp; at the base camp a log cabin as well as a Russian Orthodox chapel have been built. Our tentative plans are to spend two days/one night at the camp, where we will hike along a three kilometer stretch of the railroad to observe the front-line fortifications occupied 100 years ago this autumn by my grandfather, Clement Grobbel. My grandfather was a Corporal in Company I, 339th Infantry Regiment. He was in charge of a Lewis machine gun crew and during a Bolshevik attack on Nov. 2, 1918, he left his machine gun emplacement and moved his gun to an exposed position at the top of the railroad embankment so that he could more effectively direct his fire. His actions were credited with the successful defense of the front lines as well as the retreat of the enemy, earning him the French Croix de Guerre and the US. Distinguished Service Cross.

During my stay, I also have tentative plans to take a day trip with Mr. Suhanovsky to the village, Bereznik on the Dvina River, the fortified base of Allied operations on the River Front. Another possibility will be by boat to Mudyug Island, which was the location of a POW camp built by the British and then was later used as a prison by the Bolsheviks. Eventually the site would become a museum in the 1950s and 1960s as a way to teach school children about the Russian Civil War; this location was ideal as a sense of living history can be felt there as prisoners would carve their names along with dates into the bunk area, which are still visible today.

Could you go into details about future plans involving research, exhibitions, or public speaking events regarding the ANREF? What should we expect in the future, internationally and domestically, from the "Detroit's Own" Polar Bear Memorial Association?

Over the past decade I have been invited to speak about the Polar Bears to a number of local groups here in southeast Michigan and the number of speaking engagements is up significantly during this centennial year. Each Memorial Day the PBMA remembers the ANREF men who died in the service of their country. I do this willingly and free of charge because the “Polar Bears” didn’t want to be forgotten and this is my personal contribution towards keeping their memory alive.

Our Association’s officers are working to bring aboard a few younger “Polar Bear” descendants so that we can be assured that the Memorial Day services at White Chapel will continue for another generation. Moreover, Mr. Suhanovsky has a museum located in one of the rooms at his publishing house and through my involvement with both the PBMA and the Museum, I hope to establish long-lasting ties between our organizations.

On the evening of Sept. 5, 2018 our Polar Bear Memorial Association will be presenting a symposium to commemorate the centennial of the ANREF’s disembarkation in Archangel. It is open to the general public and admission is free, however advance registration is required to obtain an admission ticket and free parking. Our association wants to publicly express our goal and mission by recognizing the veterans who served in North Russia, those soldiers so desperately wanted that their service in this obscure “war” to not fall from the public view.

Polar Bear Monument, White Chapel Cemetery, Troy, MIThe symposium is being hosted by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan at their headquarters auditorium, 600 E. Lafayette Blvd in downtown Detroit. We deliberately sought a venue in Detroit because the 339th Infantry Regiment was originally called “Detroit’s Own” due to the fact that compared to the other three infantry regiments in the 85th Division, it was comprised of mostly of men who were residing in Detroit and the surrounding counties. We would also like to mention that the main focus of the symposium will be on both the veterans who served and those who were affected by American intervention and not as heavily on the intricate details of the battles. (See more about the September conference below).

Conference Details

The event begins September 5th, at 6:00 PM. During the first hour in the lobby, attendees can view the displays of approximately 20 Polar Bears that are from the Museum’s collection. We will also have a “Polar Bear” reenactor who will be wearing authentic uniform and equipment, plus contemporary music provided by “The Dugouts”. At 7:00 PM the program will begin in the auditorium, with a poem about the ANREF that will be read by the daughter of a Polar Bear.

We will have four speakers, followed by a Q & A session. In addition to myself, two of the other speakers are authors of books about the ANREF and the fourth is a professor at Wayne State University who teaches Russian Culture. During my time at the podium, I will present a brief description of how and why the ANREF was sent to Russian and, time permitting, mention my recent trip to Arkhangelsk. More details on the symposium and the registration form can be found here.

More about Mike Grobbel

My grandfather was a Polar Bear and I am the current president of the Polar Bear Memorial Association (I am also a member of the board of directors of the Michigan’s Military & Space Heroes Museum, which has an extensive collection of Polar Bear veteran’s uniforms, medals, letters, diaries, equipment, etc.).

My involvement with the PBMA and the museum, plus my grandfather’s service in the ANREF, has aroused my interest to study and learn as much as I can about the ANREF’s mission. In 2002 I created a web site for the PBMA and through it I’ve made contacts with people in not only the US, but also Canada, England, Australia and Russia who share my interest in the Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War. Additionally, last year I wrote his “Family Ties-Stories of Service” webpage.

Endnotes

[i] Following the abdication of the Russian Czar and the collapse of a provisional government, the Bolsheviks came to power in Nov. 1917 and four months later they signed a peace treaty with the Germans, which effectively ended all fighting on the Eastern Front.  The Bolshevik Red Army then turned its full focus on the remaining elements of the White Russian Army so they could consolidate their control throughout Russia. With the peace treaty in place, the German army began moving their divisions to the Western Front during the spring of 1918, where the Allied situation was tenuous.   British and French leaders decided that they needed to intervene in the Russian Civil War on the side of the White Russian forces by sending troops to Murmansk and Archangel, Russia.

[ii] All of the supplies for the ANREF troops were provided by the British, which meant they received no coffee or American tobacco products.  They mainly subsisted on hardtack and a British concoction known as M&V (a meat and vegetable stew). The British-supplied boots had hard leather soles which were unsuitable for the Arctic snow and ice conditions.  Many men bought locally-produced boots and mittens, or liberated them from the bodies of the dead.

[iii] On June 2, 1919, the first elements of the ANREF departed Archangel for Brest, France where they received delousing and new uniforms and equipment. From there they sailed to New York, and then by train to Detroit and Camp Custer for eventual discharge.

Will Kaiser is a Summer 2018 Intern with the U.S. World War One Centennial Commission.

 Reindeer teams. In the background of one of the churches of Archangel 339th Inf. 85th Div. Archangel Russia. March 7, 1919.