Russian Expeditionary Force in France

Common card · No. 494221

The Russian Expeditionary Force (REF; Russian: Экспедиционный корпус Русской армии во Франции и Греции, lit. 'The Russian Army Expeditionary Corps in France and Greece'; French: Corps Expéditionnaire Russe en France) was a World War I military force sent to France and Greece by the Russian Empire. In 1915, the French requested that Russian troops be sent to fight alongside their own army on the Western Front. Initially they asked for 300,000 men, an unrealistically high figure, probably based on assumptions about Russia's 'unlimited' reserves. General Mikhail Alekseyev, the Imperial Chief of Staff, was opposed to sending any Russian troops, although Nicholas II finally agreed to send a unit of brigade strength. The first Russian brigade finally landed at Marseille in April 1916. A second brigade was also sent to serve alongside other Allied formations on the Salonika front in northern Greece. In France, the First Brigade participated in the Nivelle Offensive; with news of the Russian Revolution...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Sports9494, Public domain