James Elmsley

"'The situation here is an extraordinary one; one assumes that everyone distrusts everyone else: the Japanese being distrusted more than anyone else. The French distrust us and the Russians as a whole appear to be indifferent of their country's needs, so long as they can keep their women, have their vodka and play cards until daylight. The Czechs appear to be the only honest, conscientious party among our Allies.'" Major-General James Elmsley (13 October 1878 - 3 January 1954) was a Canadian cavalier, military administrator, military officer and solider. He was a veteran of the Second Anglo-Boer War, the First World War, the Russian Civil War and the Mongolian Civil War. During his career, he served as first Commander of the Canadian Cavalry Division, first Commander-In-Chief of the Imperial British Expeditionary Force and Adjutant-General of the Canadian Militia.

Elmsley's administration governed southeastern Siberia between 1918-1920, during which time the Russian Civil War began and was concluded, the armed forces of the British Empire & Allied Forces campaigned to reclaim the country from revolutionaries, the Russian Empire was usurped by the U.S.S.R. and the Khanate of Mongolia was reestablished by the warlord Roman von Ungern-Sternberg.

Elmsley's armies assisted in the conquest of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Department of France, conquered the Amur and Primorskaya Oblasts of the Empire of Russia, maintained an occupational administration in the Russian Far East for the duration of the Russian Civil War and supported Baron Ungern during the conquest of Mongolia. Between 1918-1920, he commanded a military government throughout southeastern Siberia, depriving the Bolshevik Army of access to the Pacific Ocean and supplying foodstuffs and munitions to the Imperial Russian Army, the Czechoslovak Legion, Baron Ungern's Asiatic Cavalry and the Czechoslovak Legion.

Personally, Elmsley fought alongside imperial forces during the conquest of the Transvaal, Flanders, Picardy and Amur and commanded the Imperial Expeditionary Force in Siberia, during which time he directed military operations in Amur, Mongolia and Primorskaya. As Commander-In-Chief of the I.E.F., he aided the efforts of Baron Ungern's Asiatic Cavalry and the Imperial Russian Army against revolutionary forces in the far east and supervised the distribution of supplies to Imperial & Allied Forces throughout Russia.