Vice Admiral Harry M. P. Huse, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations
TELEGRAM
PARAPHRASE OF TELEGRAM November 16, 1920
CONFIDENTIAL
FROM: FLAG, PITTSBURGH VIA CHATHAM
TO: OPNAV WASHINGTON
<7-33213 9045> 0115 The following received from Admiral Bristol:1 “Zero Zero Thirteen. I am sending all vessels to assist McCully2 in evacuation of Americans and some Russians for the sake of humanity/ Latest reports Wrangel Army3 defeated and unconfirmed report Bolshevists will occupy whole of Crimea in a few days 1046”
Am sending JASON and CHATTANOOGA to Constantinople signed Huse 9045
Source Note: Cy, DNA, RG 45, Entry 517B.
Footnote 1: RAdm. Mark L. Bristol, Commander, United States Naval Forces in Turkey, and United States High Commissioner, Turkey.
Footnote 2: RAdm. Newton A. McCully, Special Agent in Southern Russia, Department of State.
Footnote 3: Gen. Baron Pyotr N. Vrangel (also known as Pyotr N. von Wrangel). Formerly an officer in the Imperial Russian Army, Wrangel became the commanding general of the anti-Bolshevik White Army in southern Russia during the Russian Civil War (1917-1922), succeeding Anton I. Denikin following his resignation from the post 20 March 1920. After defeats in which he lost half his standing army, and facing a crushing reversal in Northern Tavria and the Crimea, Wrangel organized a mass evacuation on the shores of the Black Sea. Wrangel gave every officer, soldier, and civilian the choice to evacuate and go with him into the unknown, or remain in Russia and face the wrath of the Red Army. Wrangel evacuated the White forces in remnants of the Russian Imperial Navy that became known as Wrangel's fleet. The last military and civilian personnel left Russia with Wrangel on board General Kornilov on 14 November 1920 as part of the event described by Bristol herein. Forced into exile, Wrangel established himself as the head of all Russian refugees and one of the most prominent White émigrés in Europe until his death in 1928.
