4G
THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: AUGUST 31. 1919.
Americans In Russia Were
Forces, Says Omaha Officer Back From Arctic Fighting Front
Outnumbered
10 to 1 By Bolshevik
Reds Bombarded Yankees With Ammunition
Bearing Trade-mark "Made in U. S. "--Allies
tDrafted Civilians to Fight Bolsheviki
Lieut. Albert E. May Says American Soldiers, Conscripted at Home in June and
After Spending More Than Month on Sea, in Beginning f September Fought
-Vi Reds Under Most Adverse Weather Conditions, Felt Desetted by Own People
- ' Who Declined to Tell Them Why They Were Fighting Yankees Live on Brit-
ish Rations, British Equipment and Were Commanded by 'British Officers
When American Was Ranking Officer of Outfit, British Promoted Second
! Lieutenant to Higher Rank Than American in Order to Put British in Com
mand What the Boys Had to Stand for in Frozen North.
0
1 Wi g
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11
By ALBERT E. MAY,. Omaha.
1 , , Formerly First Lieutenant, Company. I, 339th Infantry, American Force in Ruia.
The writer of this most interesting article is Albert , E. May, Omaha attorney, , who
served the United States in the frozen north of the Archangel- district. None of his men
; ever knew why he was in Russia, what he was fighting for, and what object the United
States had to war on Russia without a declaration of war by the duly elected authorities
of this nation. ;",
Mr. May was born in Qrainard, Neb., educated, at the York High school and the
; State University of Nebraska and practiced 1 aw for two years prior to America's entry
into the war. He and his law partner here, L. R. Newkirk, were members of the second
officers' training corps at Fort Snelling and, after Mr. May was commissioned first lieu-
.tenant November 27, 1917, he was detailed to the 85th division, then stationed at Camp
, Custer, Mich. Later he was appointed senior first lieutenant of Company I, 339th In
fantry, which was sent to' Russia. Exaggerated reports of mutiny in this company were
sent to the United States last March.
' MUTINY REPORT FALSE. '
"This mullny report was absolutely false," 'said Mr. May. "The armistice had been
figned for several months and the morale of the entire allied troops in Russia was rather
low. The men were there but did not know what they were fighting for. Suddenly
the British, French and Russian (anti-bolshevik) troops refused to go to the front to en
gage with the reds. We were ordered to take their places. On March 31 our men sud
denly asked why they had to take over the front of the associate armies, after they had
been in the front line trenches all the time. The men were mostly foreigners, who prior
to their induction into the army had wcrked in the automobile factories of Detroit.
" "Col. E. W. Stewart, the commander of the regiment, addressed the men and was
asked why th- Americans were there and why they had to fight the bolsheviki when
their country vas not actually engaged in war against Russia.
F!GHT OR DIE.
'I don't bow why we are here,' the colonel said. 'I have as much information re
garding this expedition from the War department as you have, in other words none. All
I know is that we are here and that we are in great danger cf being driven into the sea.
All the reason for the continuance of the fighting I can give you, is that' we are fighting
for our very lives. It's either choosing between fighting the bolsheviki, or being driven
into, the sea. Is that answer enough to you?' '
. "The men said it was enough answer for them, for they fully realized the colonel's
explanation. That was all there was to that mutiny affair.
'One time Captain Martin of the military mission stationed in Russia came to us
and explained to us that time after time he had wired the War department for rein
forcement, but that he did not even receive an answer to his cablegrams.
OTHER NEBRASKANS THERE.
"Besides me there were two other Nebraskans in that outfit fiehtsne Russia's reds.
r Lt. Roy Phillips, a young Falls City, Neb., attorney, who was killed in tho latter part of
' Jast March (1919) and who was a member of Cpmpany H of the sarae regiment with
which ! served, and Captain Laird, of Blue Hill, Neb., a doctor. Captain Laird joined
', our outfit several months after our arrival in Russia."
V" The American expedition in Russia has always been more or less of aChinese puzzle
to the people of America, in the following article Mr. May tells the readers of The Bee,
just what terrible hardships this handful of Americans in frozen Russia had to over
come and how brave they were fighting, fighting without knowing why they were fight
ing apparently deserted by all, even their own people.
Coming into the beautiful Arch
angel harbor that splendid Septem
ber afternoon we passed a French
battleship and an English gunboat,
so at least there was a feeling that
we were among friends. These
ships, together with others, carry
ing a battalion of Royal Scots and
a battalion of French and a few
American sailors, had arrived about
a month before. On their coming
the bolsheviki fled ,from the city,
after first looting it; taking with
them practicaly everything of value
that they were able to carry off. All
of the military stores that were sup
posed to De tnere, ana which we
were to guard, were gone. There
was nothing left. The whole city
had the appearance of having been
gone through thoroughly by a large
gang of professional burglars. All
boats, railroad rolling stock, ammu
nition, guns, food, supplies, hard
ware, etc., which could possibly be
dragged away, had vanished. AH
that was left was the weather-beaten
hulk of a devastated city.
Allies Pursue Bolos.
The Scots and French, assisted by
about 60 United States sailors from
the United States ship , Olympia,
which was then at Murmansk, lost
no time in pursuing the fleeing bol-
sneviKi. At that time the bolsheviki
were very poorly organized, and,
though the allies succeeded in push
ing them back about 100 miles, it
was not without some severe losses.
So' when we arrived in Archangel it
might be said that there were two
fronts, one on the Dvina river and
the other on the Archangel-Vologda
railroad; both very thinly held by a
handful of troops who had been
fighting for a month without relief,
who were worn out, tired, and with
out power to continue further or to
hold on without reinforcements.
Archangel is the greatest lumber
I 1(1 -" nwnu. in peace limes H
poastea irom ou.uuu to 75.UU0 inhab
itants. When we arrived it was
flooded with some 75,000 refugees,
who had already tired of bolshevik
tyranny or had been driven from
their homes by that lawless band.
Business had practically ceased. A
few shops were open, but offered
scarcely anything for sale. There
was no food except fish or fish prod
ucis. len pounas ot sugar or a
sack of flour would buy a silver fox
lur worth $5UU in the United States.
But the. question was where to get
tne sugar or flour.
Money Has No Value.
The people were virtually starving
living mostly on hsh, black straw
bread and tea. There was nS coin
money. Paper money of the wall
paper variety ' and multitudinous
makes, from old Nicholi prints and
Kerensky issues to the provincial
greenback of Archangel, was plenti
ful, but it would buy nothing, as
there was nothing to buy. A rouble
was worth about 10 cents. There
was no work of any kind going on,
and all the people had to do was to
walk the streets and figure out some
way to start or to stop a revolution.
The country surrounding Arch-'
angel is one vast expanse of forest
1 .1 r i2u.-sm-i 1 ) ....... C 1 I
riety that sucked up those lotiVi
. I ' rvT-rc ' : . .
1 i i
J tnch -J00 miles
Voh$d
legions of Russia in the Manchurian
lakes region in the early days of
the war. Except along the streams.
the country was very sparsely popu
iaiea. nere ana tnere one iinas a
small clearing, inhabited by a few
wood cutters or trappers, or a few
peasants, lt is indeed a forest
primeval, with untapped treasures
beyond the dreams of man.
Revolt Prevented.
Immediately after the bolsheviki
departed from Archangel, a provin
cial government was established,
which was practically the same as
had existed under the Kerensky re
gime. A few days after the Amer
icans arrived this provincial gov
ernment was kidnaped by a Rus
sian colonel named Chaplan, bodily
taken aboard a boat, and shipped
out into the 'White sea. This coup
d'etat was really engineered by the
British, who were finding some
trouble in getting the government
to do just what they wished ttiem
to do, and they desired to estab
lish one more to their own liking.
In the meantime the street car em
ployes went'on a strike in protest,
and the British immediately ordered
the American engineers' to work
running the street cars to break the
strike. At this un-American act, our
ambassador, David R. Francis, edit
or ot i he M. Louis, Republic, pro
tested in ords both forceful and
full of meaning and "toot sweet"
forced Chaplan to return the gov
ernment and the strikers went bade
to work. Thus the first revolution
was nipped in the bud before it
really got a good 'start. Other at
tempts were made to overthrow the
government, but met with no better
success. '
There seemed to be an impres
sion among those who had been in
Russia the longest, that the' mere
sight of the allies, with their pres
ence and food, would cause the Rus
siaps to wildly scramble over one
another in a magnificent rush to.
arms against the mob that was
strangling- their country, and who,
it was stated, were being urged on
by Germans and by German propa
ganda. Such evidently had been the
report of these first comers to the
supreme allied command in France.
But the Russians did not flock to
arms. No, there was i not the
slightest scramble noticeable.
The English had sent up prob
ably 500 officers and as many non
coms to organize this vast Russian
army that was supposed to spring
to arms at the sight of the allies
and didn't spring. The feelers of the
pulse of Russia had just made an
other wild guess.
The truth is that the average Rus
sian -was pretty well "fed up" on
fighting. He'd been through the
war on the eastern front and a cou
ple of revolutions thrown in, and he
couldn't see where he had benefited
materially, and he wasn't exactly
what you could call enthusiastic.
This new-found freedom, with its
utter chaos, was something he
couldn't just understand. It was too
different from what he'd been used
to. What he wanted was enough
grub to live on and no work to do.
Wasn't that the bolshevik promise?
Then again, the Russian had a mis
giving as to just why the allies were
in Russia. He had been sold out so
many times in the last couole of
years that he wasn t quite sure just
who he could trust, and was reluc
tant to take chances.
Rumors were ramoant that the
allies were in Russia to get a slice
of it; to enforce payment of loans
made by the allies to the old im
perial government. In fact, some
British officers openly remarked
about the" wealth of the country
and its ability to recompense them
in amounts far in excess of Russia's
obligation. The allies had stated
that they did not intend to bother
the government in any way; that
they were there only to assist it and
not to meddle in local affairs. The
words were barely spoken when
they proceeded to establish martial
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiii
law and to regulate governmental,
private and personal affairs. Natur
ally the Russians "the ignorant
Russians" didn't warm up to the
British or the allies as they were
supposed to do. The British were
"running the show," as the saying
goes, and as the Americans were
directly under the British com
mand, naturally the Russians also
mistrusted the Americans. And so
the Russians didn't spring to arms
no. they simply didn't spring to
arms.
With these explanations you will
realize that if the bolsheviki we;e
to be kept out of the Archangel dis
trict and our original mission car
ried out he Americans were going
to have to jump right into the fight,
and do it quickly and that's about
the way the British high command
had it figured out.
Difficulties Before Start.
When about half way to Archan
gel from Newcastle an influenza ep
idemic broke out among the Amer
ican troops. From 30 to 50 men in
each company were serigusly ill
whep the boats pulled into Archan
gel.' There were no hospitals avail
able. The men were taken off the
ships into hastily improvised hos
pitals, and in some instances had to
sleep oa bafe floors with insufficient
blankets. ' Some 60 or 70 died dur
" ' 1 " 1 i '
1 ing the first couple of weeks in Sep
tember.
In England afl American rifles
and automatic weapons and grenade
equipment was taken away from the
American troops, ans they were
armed solely with the Russian rifle,
made by an American firm, and
which, the boys said, "would shoot
around a corner," These rifles were
far inferior to the American or Eng
lish Enfields and trie men had little
confidence in them. They jammed
and broke and were inaccurate.
There was not much boasting about
such American-made equipment,
and no doubt the word "profiteer"
floated across the minds of the us
ers more than once during the try
ing months that followed. When
we arrived in Russia this rifle wan
all we had to fight with, while the
enemy was equipped with all the
weapons a modern army usually has.
With this equipment, and weakened
by the influenza epidemic, the
American troops were sent out to
fight not with a months' training,
or a weeks' rest, or evc,n a day's
respite, ,but loaded directly from
the boats onto boxcars and '-arges
and shipped to the fronts. And
many of those boys had been
drafted the middle of June. 1918.
and had' spent one month of their
short army careers on the hich
seasl
Men Start Fighting.
My battalion, the Third, was the
first to debark. We were loaded on
train, of small Russian boxcars
that were waiting on the dock,
bumped along all night, and at dawn
the next morning we took over the
railroad front from the French, who
had just captured and were occupy
ing Obozerskaya. My company
pusnea aneaa ana established , a
front line about six versts (a verst
is about two-thirdsof a mile) Fouth
of Obozerskaya. Three days later,
we had our first fight with the
Bolos.
Another company of the battal
ion, in the meantime, had been sent
to the left flank to rescue Colonel
Hazelton and a party of about 300.
hnglish, bcots, Russians and Amer
ican sailors, who had been reported
as having been surrounded and cut
off. About 10 miles from Obozers
kaya they came upon Haielton's
empty wagon traiii, saw much evi
dence of recent battle, but found
no one. Hazelton's party had been
surrounded, but under cover of
darkness and with the aid cf Rus
sian guides, had slipped through
the enemy lines into the woods, and,
after hiking for three days by com
pass, finally reached our lines.
This company continued to the left
some 80 miles, joined up with a
platoon of Scots and a few French
machine gunners and established
what later became known as the
"kadish" front.
The first battalio was dispatched,
down the Dvina and Vaga rivers,
while Company H was hurried to
Onega and immediately started
south. On September 44, 1918, they
met and defeated the enemy at Che
kuevo. Later, in November, a company
was sent to Pinega. With about
300 Russian partisans they ad
vanced about 80 versts southeast to ..
Karpagora, but were forced to re
treat later to Pelegora, just a short
way from Pinega.
Thus six fronts were established,
forming a semi-circle around Arch
angel, with a circumference of about
500 miles arid a radius of from 150"
to 400 miles. The- country between
these fronts was all forest and
swamp, and was protected only by
isolated posts wherever a trail cut
through the woods. Some of these
posts were located 30 miles in the
deep woods.
Locate these fronts on your map,
as I shall refer to them later as
follows: Onega, Railroad, Kadish,
V a?8, lJvina, 1'inega.
Besides the Americans on these
fronts there were Russians, French,
Polish, British and Canadian troops
in small numbers. The total
troops on all fronts In Russia at
this time did not exceed 8000, with
possibly 2,000 more at the bases
and on the service of supply In
October 2,000 British reinforce
ments arrived, coming some 400
milesvacross country from Mur
mansk with reindeer teams.
(Concluded Nt ftunday)
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