18. The American withdrawal ended the Allied intervention
Three weeks later the War Department concurred. Meanwhile an engagement between American troops protecting an arms shipment and an armored train operated by Semenov’s men led to several American and Russian casualties, though the Americans prevailed in protecting the train. It was the final engagement for the Americans, withdrawal via Vladivostok began in February, and in April General Graves and the final group of American troops evacuated, but not before observing and reporting the Japanese construction of fortifications along the borders of the territories they had occupied while paying Siberian warlords to disrupt the peacekeeping efforts of the Americans.
The Japanese remained for another two years before the Soviet government, supported by the League of Nations (which the United States had failed to join) forced them to withdraw from the areas they had occupied. In the early 1920s the Japanese began expanding their Navy, with several ships built for them by Great Britain, and their air force, in preparation for further adventurism in Asia. The Americans returned to their main western Pacific bases in the Philippines, from which their Asiatic Fleet maintained a watchful eye on the Japanese as they increased their naval power, and a militaristic government emerged in Japan.