During the Soviet intervention for the Chinese Eastern Railway, the Red Army led punitive expeditions into the Tryokhrechye in August and September 1929. It was reported that 150 emigrants were killed, and that there was a wave of refugees to Harbin. For some time before, White units had made small-scale raids onto Soviet territory. The Russian diaspora proved to be well-connected: The Russians of Shanghai pleaded to US President Hoover in a telegram to put an end to "the bloody nightmare of the Red henchmen".