‘This is really the most godforsaken hole on Earth,; Lt Charles Ryan, an accountant by profession, wrote in his diary after he and his fellow American soldiers disembarked their ship in the northern Russian town of Archangel in the summer of 1918. He was among 8,000 members of the American Expeditionary Forces, also known as doughboys, who had been deployed to near-Siberia in the waning hours of World War One – only four months before the Armistice of November 11, 1918 that would officially put an end to four years of merciless fighting. But there would be no ceasefire for them. The nightmare was just about to begin for Lt Ryan and his fellow troops who would find themselves fighting the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War for nine months, struggling in temperatures reaching an unfathomable -60F in a war that claimed 235 American lives but is a forgotten chapter in U.S. foreign and military history. They became known as the Polar Bear Expedition. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO In the dying days of the First World War - and after Armistice on November 11 1918 - 13,000 American troops, known as doughboys, remained in the frozen expanse of Northern Russia where they fought both extreme cold and the Bolsheviks Snow shoe patrols became a daily occurrence for the men of Company B 339th infantry, pictured on December 31, 1918. Here they make their way across deep snow in snow shoes along the shore of the Dvina River in Archangel Company 'C' 310th Engineers pitched tents among trees in a forest near the front while fighting the Battle of Bolshie Ozerki. The battle, which began in March 1919, was the last to involve British troops and one of the last to involve American troops Officers of the United States Expeditionary Forces at their headquarters, Archangel, Russia, March 4, 1919 World War One had ravaged Western Europe and while an end was in sight, Allied forces did not believe that a definitive victory in their favour had totally been secured. After tremendous coaxing and pressure from Britain and France, President Woodrow Wilson officially ordered the deployment of US troops to Northern Russia on July 17, 1918 - only four months before the November 11, 1918 Armistice that officially put an end to the merciless fighting. Within days following Wilson’s order; the 339th Infantry Regiment known as ‘Detroit’s Own’ was redirected to London for training. The regiment of 3,800 car-factory workers, attorneys, farmers and shopkeepers from Michigan were given lessons on how to survive sub-zero conditions by Ernest Shackleton the famous Antarctic explorer and re-outfitted with new Russian rifles and gear to combat the bitter cold of northern Russia. After minimal training, the 339th Infantry embarked on a grueling eight day sojourn across the Arctic Circle to their new post in far corners of Siberia. A total of 8,000 troops arrived in the port town of Archangel in summer 1918 to a cheering crowd of White Russians, a loose group of anti-communist forces, liberals and loyalists of the deposed Tsar. A military band played the University of Michigan fight song as the 339th Regiment disembarked the gangplank. Their mission was to secure massive caches of Allied military equipment that had been stockpiled in warehouses across Siberian ports. Before the Vladimir Lenin’s Bolshevik party took control of the Russian government; Allied Forces sent 600,000 tons of munitions to the Tsar’s forces in a vain attempt to keep them fighting against the Germans. Now their goal was to redistribute the military supplies that were never used to White Russians soldiers fighting against the Red Army, the Bolsheviks. Support our troops: Americans on the home front were asked in 1918 to buy war savings stamps to help support U.S. soldiers fighting in Siberia. By December 1918, more than a month had passed since the Armistice of November 11, 1918 marking the end of the First World War yet America's doughboys, fighting in the Polar bear Expedition remained abroad with no end in sight Buried in the frozen depths: Troops of the Polar bear Expedition found themselves facing extreme conditions as they battled both the Bolsheviks and the weather. Pictured is the funeral of Wagoner James E. Byles, Supply Co. 339th Inf. 85th Division. His casket is lowered into a grave in Archangel, Russia, covered in an American flag. 239 men died during the nine-month operation The warm welcome did nothing to detract from the horrific situation on the ground. Starving Russians instantly descended upon the ship’s trash looking for scraps of food. First impressions were poor. After Lt Charles Ryan wrote it was a godforsaken place, he went on: ‘Never did I strike such a fine set of assorted odors. The people are filthy and seem starved to death.’ Things only got worse, within two weeks of arriving in Archangel, the deadly Spanish flu, which eventually killed between 50 and 100million people worldwide from 1918-1920, claimed 40 soldiers from the 339th. Simultaneously President Wilson deployed another American contingent to protect the Trans-Siberian Railway from Bolshevik forces. General William S. Graves was preparing his troops at Camp Fremont in California to ship out to France when he received a specially coded message on August 2, 1918 ordering him to a meeting in Kansas City as soon as possible. He was greeted by the Secretary of War who informed Graves that his career was taking a new turn: he was to lead a battalion of 5,000 troops into the deep, uncompromising interior of Russia to secure the Railway and assist the White Russian forces in their civil war with the Bolshevik Red Army. It would be the first, and only, time American troops were ever on Russian soil. Baker handed Graves an envelope that contained the ‘Aide Memoire,’ reasons for sending American soldiers to innermost Russia. ‘This contains the policy of the United States in Russia which you are to follow,’ said the Secretary. ‘Watch your step; you will be walking on eggs loaded with dynamite. God bless you and good-bye.’ Capt. Joel Moore is surrounded by men of his company in Obozerskaya, Russia, as he displays a sword which had belonged to a Battalion Commander of the 6th Saratov Regiment Officers of Company 'M': (left to right) Lt. Clarence J. Primm, 2nd Lt. Milton J. Carpenter, 2nd Lt. Weiszorek, Lt. Wesley K. Wright, Lt. James R. Donovan, Lt. George M. Stoner, and Capt. Joel Moore in Obozerskaya, Russia An American infantry camp in Siberia, Russia, December 1918 American infantry near Archangel, Russia, December 1918. Unfortunately, Newton Baker’s advice to General Graves was all too true. President Wilson’s ill-defined war was plagued with problems from the start. His infamously ambiguous and contradictory ‘Aide Memoire’ led to confusion in leadership made worse by Russia’s rapidly shifting political climate. Wilson’s stated aims were so obtuse that the two U.S. expeditions to Russia ended up carrying out very different missions. While the troops in north Russia became embroiled in the Russian Civil War, the soldiers in Siberia engaged in an ever-shifting series of standoffs and skirmishes, including many with their supposed allies. American troops were no match for the brutal weather conditions and their operations were hamstrung by a shortage in supplies in all fronts: medical, manpower and military. Temperatures would frequently drop to below 60F and frostbite was common, in some cases leading to amputation. General Graves quoted the Chief Surgeon in his diaries that ‘Practically no sanitary conditions existed.’ To boost morale the men watched Charlie Chaplin movies and danced with Red Cross nurses. They would drink at the popular vodka houses and visit prostitutes to escape the harsh conditions which only led to an inevitable epidemic in venereal diseases. Sailors from the U.S.S., Olympia, who formed a part of a landing force, are pictured upon returning from the line along the railroad to Vologda where they had been fighting Bolsheviks. The party got back to its starting point only after picking its way through swamps and forests. They were compelled to abandon everything but their rifles. They are surrounded by men of the 339th Infantry, who had just landed in Russia on September 6, 1918 Soldiers of 339th Infantry, A.N.R.E.F. leaving dock for camp in Bakharitza, Russia on September 5, 1918 US marines are pictured arriving in Vladivostock to support counter-revolutionary forces in Siberia. Shortly after the October Revolution, Russia plunged into a civil war between the Red Army ('Reds'), consisting of radical communists and revolutionaries, and the 'Whites', the monarchists, conservatives, liberals and moderate socialists who opposed the drastic restructuring championed by the Bolsheviks Company M of 339th Infantry are inspected by British Major General William Edmund Ironside, American Colonel George E. Stewart and American Charge D'Affaires Dewitt C. Poole Jr in Archangel, 1918 After a 17-hour march through woodland and swamps, Company M, 339th Infantry rested for an hour then . after resting an hour then set out again for the front. They are seen in this September 29, 1918 photograph starting out along the railroad line in Obozerskaya, Russia. One of the armored cars use by the Allies is seen in the distance Cold comfort: Pictured is the headquarters of the 3rd Battalion, housed in a box car on the Verst railroad line to Vologda on November 15, 1918. Thee 3rd Battalion were engaged on the Vologda Railroad Front continuously since the day they landed. In the picture right to left: Lieut. Lewis Jahns, Adjt., 2nd Lt. Adolph Anselmi, Signal Officer, Lieut. N.C. Hallock, Intelligence Officer; Corpl. C.J. Barnum, Pvt. J.W. Phillips, Pvt. Harold H. Holliday, Sergt. Maj. Ernest Reed Box cars on the railroad front in Archangel, 1919 Battle weary but still with a smile for the camera: Copmany 'M', 339th Infantry 85th Division on their return from a weeks fighting near Bolshie Ozerka (left to right Lt James R. Donovan, Cpl. Benjamin Jondre, Pvt. Jens Jenson) Decorated: Captain O.D Odjard, Commanding Officer of 'W' Company, 339th Inf. 85th Div, was decorated with the Military Cross for bravery in action. he was evacuated to the U.S. after suffering a shrapnel wound to the neck (pictured April 2, 1919) By September, American soldiers were engaged in their first firefight, Machine Gun Company spent a week knee-deep in swamp water. The town of Archangel was about six or seven miles long bit only a few hundred feet wide – wedged between the river bank on one side and a swamp that encroached on the town on the other. Bolshevik artillerymen began their barrage before daylight. One man was killed, three were wounded and one was sidelined with shell shock in the battle against the Bolos, as they called the enemy. The November 11 Armistice came and went with no consequence for the troops of the Polar Bear Expedition. Their reality was a stark contrast to the millions of Americans that boarded ships for their homecoming. The Bolsheviks launched a seven day offensive against the Polar Bears in January 1919, which saw the Americans outnumbered eight to one. The offensive attracted attention at home; leading to Senator Hiram Johnson of California ask the house: ‘What is the policy of our nation toward Russia? I do not know out policy, and I know no other man who knows out policy.’ As The Polar Bears became disillusioned on the Eastern Front, opposition to their deployment began to pick up speed back in the States. Finally on February 14, the Secretary of War, Newton Baker announced that the Polar Bears would sail home ‘at the earliest possible moment that weather in the spring will permit.’ President Wilson’s effort was a massive disaster, his nine-month campaigned cost the lives of 235 men. ‘When the last battalion set sail from Archangel, not a soldier knew, no, not even vaguely, why he had fought or why he was going on, and why his comrades were left behind – so many of them beneath the wooden crosses,’ wrote General Graves in his book Archangel. Years later the Secretary Baker said: ‘The expedition was nonsense from the beginning and always seemed to me one of those sideshows born of desperation.’ American Troops Belonging To Company 1, 339th Infantry march down a street in Archangel in October 1918 Archangel was described as a city of no more than 6 or 7 miles in length and a few hundred yards wide, wedged between the river on one side and a swamp and morass on the other side. The swamp pushed onto the edges of the town (as pictured in 1919). The children pictured were fed by the American Red Cross at their school The flag-draped coffins of 111 American servicemen killed in Russia are pictured as they arrived on board ship at Hoboken, New Jersey, circa 1920. After the October Revolution in Russia, the US sent troops of the American Expeditionary Force Siberia and American Expeditionary Force North Russia (aka the Polar Bear Expedition) to Russia to take part in Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War against the Red Army All rights reserved for this news site dailymail and under his responsibility