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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1919)
8 THE BEE: OMAH'A, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1919. Americans In Russia Were 101-nl Rv RnkhPAnV Forces utaumbered Says Omaha Officer Back From Arctic Fighting Front : . ' , 9 ; i - C 7r rr. : '. rr- k ms - 2 IS. .sw- ' Reds Bombarded Yankees With Ammunition Bearing Trade-mark "Made in U. S."T-Allies Drafted Civilians to Fight Bolsheviki , , - ' X I "Lieut. Albert E. May Says American Soldiers, Conscripted at Home in June and After Spending More Than Month on Sea, in Beginning of September fought Reds Under Most Adverse Weather Conditions, Felt Deserted 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 becond Lieutenant to Higher Rank Than American in Order to Put British in Com mand What the coys Had to Stand for in Frozen North. (Du to a transpositon of type Saturday night, the first part of the story by First Lieutenant Albert . May on the "American Foreee in Russia" was unintentionally omitted. The initial installment of this remarkable story is reprinted in full in this issue. It will be concluded next Sunday.) The writer of this most interesting article is Alberf 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 Brainard, Neb., educated at the York High school and the State University of Nebraska" and practiced law 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. i MUTINY REPORT FALSE. 'This mutiny report was absolutely false,", said Mr. May! "The armistice had been -signed 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 worked in the automobile factories of Detroit. "Col. E. W. Stewart, the commander of the regiment, addressed the men and was asked why the Americans were there and why they had to fight the bolsheviki when their country was not actually engaged in war against Russia. FIGHT OR DIE. " i don't know why we are here,' the colonel said. 4I have as much information re- farding this expedition from the War department as you have, in other words none. All know is that we are here and that we are in great danger of being driven into the sea. AH 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 ata the sea. Is that answer enousrh to you?' j "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 fighting Russia's reds, ) j Lit. ''Roy Phillips, a young Falls City, Neb., attorney, who was killed in the latter part of last-March (1919) and who was a member of Company H Of the same regiment with - which I served, and Captain Laird, of Blue Hill, Neb., a doctor. Captain Laird joined our outfit several months after our arrival in Russia." The American expedition in Russia has always been more or less of a Chinese 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 islt apparently deserted by, all, even their own people. ' J ncA -J00 mtes Map showing the allied fronts in North Russia. By ALBERT E. MAY, Omaha . Formerly First Lieutenant, Company I, !3!th Infantry, American Forces In Kusnia. UNITED STATfeS history will - have no page in. it like the story of the campaign of the Am-ican forces in north Russia. In .-that vast arctic land of ice and snow and forest and swamp, suffering hardships almost unbelievable, a ' small force of 'American soldiers, scattered ovcr50,000 square miles of ' Russia, battlecTfor their lives against ; the hordes of bolsheviks, who had threatened and were determined to drive them into! the frozen White Sea. For-two months before and nearly seven mouths after the sign? in of the armistice, they fought. Why, tjiey did not know, except for self-preservation,- the first law of man. , ' I am convinced, beyond a reason s able doubt, after reading newspaper ' and magazine reports of the Amen ta n north Russian expedition before Jts withdrawal, that editors, politi-j cians, the war college and the peo- pie in general are generally in need of a brushing tip course in geogra phy. While in Russia we received a few newspapers and magazines and were amused to read about the American troops near Archangel "in Siberia" with Siberia 3,000 miles away I We gmiled -when we learned from these same newspapers that the American troops on the "Murman coast"did so and so when! we never had any American troops within -308 miles of the Murman coast until the late spring of 1919, when two companies of American engineers were sent to Murmansk from France to keep the railroad in . condition "to expedite and assure the immediate withdrawal of the American troops" who never were within 300 miles of that place, and who couldn't possibly have gotten Jo that railroad t6 be taken outl And this was after the newspaper agitation in the United States. Many Erroneous Ideas With such foggy and erroneous ideas, no wonder the stories brought home by the wounded men and . those that leaked through the Eng lish censors assumed, at times, pro portions in excess of the leal truth. If, you think this strange, what would you say if I told you that per haps the War department was also confused; that from all indications -it did not even know where the American troops were in Russia. ' If so, why should they send officers to report to the 339th Infantry and in struct them to join that organiza . tion "via Vladivostok" and instruct ' parents to cable their-sons in that organization "via Vladivostpk"; and whjr did they send those two com panies of engineers to Murmansk? I am not going to attempt to art 's vcr those questions, but I do wish to state a few facts to help clear up the situation, and to answer a thou sand questions that are put to me 'daily.'' -. " t " ' lu tht iktt place, get a map of Russia. Find Archangel on the White Sea at the mouth of Ae Dvina river. Run your .fiMer straight south on the railroad un til you come to Vologda. Then look about a 100 miles west of ArchangetH and you find Onega, on Onega Bay. Next trace down the Dvina and Vaga rivers, locating Beresnik, Tul gas and Shengursk. Now locate Finega, about 80 miles east of Arch angel, and I will begin my . story. Notice also, while you have your map handy,that the Murman coast is some 300 or 400 miles to the northwest, and that a railroad runs south from the port Kola to Petro- P'ad the appearance of having been 1 A I 1 ll 1 1 erad. About 5,000 in Russia. The American troops in Russia comprised the following units: the 339th Infantry (Detroit's Own), the 337th Ambulance company, the 337th Field Hospital company, and one battalion of the 310th Engineers, approximately 5,000 troops. All were originally a part of the 85th Division which trained at Camp Custer, Michigan. ' We left the United States July 22, 1918, and ar rived at Liverpool, England, August 4, 1918. We were detached from the division and encamped at Stoney Castle, England. Here our. Ameri can rifles and automatic weap ons were taken away from us and Russian rifles given to us, and we received the first inkling that we were to be sent to Russia. We left Newcastle, England, August 26, 1918, and on leaving England no one setmed to have any definite,idea as to just why American troops were being sent to north Russia. It seemed such a long "way frpm France and the big show. But soldiers do ask questions, regardless of opinions otherwise, and the infor mation leaked out, from what source no one seems to know, that our mission tonorth Russia was as fol lows: v First: To guard huge stores of war material and supplies at Arch angel, which had been sold by the allies to the. old imperial govern ment of Russia. ' , Second: To prevent the Germans from coming through Finland and establishing a submarine base on the White sea or on the Arctic ocean. ' Third: To assist the Russians in reorganizing their own army and to re-establish the eastern front, thus diverting some of the Hun's atten tion from the western front' and preventing his withdrawal of troops from the eastern front for service on the western front v After fully considering this mis sion and the size of the country, our little bunch of Americans were not long in deciding that we had "some" job cut out for us, and we afterwards found out that we "sure did." - . v Coming into the . beautiful Arch angel sharbor that splendid Septem ber afternoon we passed a French battleship and an English gunboa so at least there was a reeling th 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 militarNstores that were sup posed to be there, and which we were to guard, were gone. There was nothing left. The whole city 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. All that was left was the weather-beaten hulk of a devastated city. Allies Pursue Bols. ' The Scots and French, assisted by about 60 United States sailors from the United States ship Olympia, whici was then at Murmansk, lost no time, in pursuing the fleeing, bol shevikiT .At that time the bolsheviki were very poorly organized, and. though the fcllies 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 Cvina 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 port in the world. In peace times it, boasted from 50,000 to 75,000 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 ucts. Ten pounds of, sugar or a sack of flour would buv a silver fox fur worth $5Q0 in the United States. But the question was where Ao get the sugar or flour. , Money Has No Value. The people, were virtually starving living mostly on1 fish, black straw bread and tea. There was no-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, asv 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 ... . " and swamp and swamp of the va riety that sucked up those lost 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 lated. Here and there one finds a small clearing, inhabited by a few wood cutters or trappers, or a few peasants. It 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 them 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 of The St. Louis Republic, pro tested in words both" forceful and full of meaning and "toot sweet" forced Chaplan to return the gov ernment" and the strikers went back to work. Thifs the first revolution was nipped in the bud before it really got a good start. Other at tempts were made to overthrow thte 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 sians 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 propatj ganaa. oucn eviaentiy naa Deen me report' of these first comers to the supreme alliejl command in France. But the Russians did not flock to arms. No, there was not the slightest scramble noticeable. The English had sent ud 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 ted up on fighting. He'd beenl 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 couple of years that he wasn't quite sure just who he could trust, and was reluc tant to take chances. Rumors were rampant 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 hot to meddle in local affairs. The words were barely spoken when they proceeded to establish martial 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 -fo 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 weie to be kept out of the Archangel dis trict arid our original mission car ried out the 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 itjigured out. Difficulties Before Start. When about half way to Archan gel from Newcastle an influenza ep idemic broke out among the Amer ican troops, rrom 30 to 50 men in each company were seriously ill when 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 on bare floors ,Aith insufficient blankets. Some 60 or 70 died dur ing the first couple of weeks in Sep tember. In England all American' rifles and automatic weapons and grenade equipment was taken away from the American troops, ann they were armed solely with the Russian rifle, made by an American firm, and which, the boys said, J'would shoot around a corner." These rifles were far inferior to the American or Eng lish Enfields and the 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 was all we had lo fight with, while the enemy was equipped wrfli all the weapons a modern army usually has. With this equipment, and weakened by the influenza epidemic, the American troops were sent opt to fight not with a months' training, or a weeks' rest, or even a day's respite, but loaded directly from the boats onto boxcars and barges and shipped to the fronts. And many of those boys had been drafted the middle of June, 1918, and had spent one month cf their short army careers . on "'the high seas I j Men Start Fighting. My battalion, the Third, was the first to debark. We were loaded on a train of small Russian boxcars that were waiting on the dock, AMUSEMENTS. AMI7SEMENTS. AMUSEMENTS. K THE HOWE Cf PICNICS j fj FESTIVAL OF FUN Begins Tuesday W:th Clown Bands, Parades, Souvenirs, etc. Everybody Invited. TWO SHOWS IN ONE Virginia Belles Colonial Musical Offering "A Perfect Thirty,Six" Comedy Sketch Pope & Una Ferro A Coulter Photoplay Attraction 0 Hale Hamilton in "The Fourfluiher" Labor Day Matinee, 2:15 Night, 8:15 BLOSSOM SEELEY CICCOLINI ERWIN AND JANE CONNELLY; Epe Dutton; Clifford Walker; Gar cfnetti Bro.; The Sterling; Topics of the Day; tynogrami. FRI. AND SAT., SEPT. 5, 6 SAT. MATINEE Henry Miller-Blanche Bates pliTir "Moliere Nitht, 50c-$2-50; Matinee, S0c-$2JM. i LAKEVIEW PARK DANCING ".'ST TODAY TONIGHT CARNIVAL BALL A Coney Uland 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 cujupany pushed ahead and established a front line about six versts (a verst is about two-thirds of a mile) south of Obozerskaya. Three days later, we had our first fight with the Bolos. ' Another company of the battal ion, hj the meantime, had been sent to the left flank to rescue tolonel Hazelton and a party of about 300 English, Scots, 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 Hazelton's empty wagon train, 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 battalion was dispatched down the Dvina and Vaga rivers, while Company II was hurried to Onega and immediately started south. On September 24, 1918, they met and defeated the enemy at Che kuevo. k 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 and 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. Vaga, Dvina, Pinega. 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 8,000, with PHOTO PLAYS. BRILLIANT MUSICAL BURLESQUE Twice Daily week Mat. Today Final Performance Friday Nite ' THE GREAT STAR 6 GARTER SHOW Only the old title vrythlM ell li brand new. TWO BURIETTAS "IN GAY PAREE" "PUTTING IT OVER" JlftT GirIs Laughs. Girls, II OT US I Mirth. Girl. Girti Udl GRAND HOLIDAY MAT. TODAY AT 3:00 Dorothy Dal ton in "OTHER MEN'S WIVES" v possibly 2,000 more at the bases and on the service of supply.. In October 2,000 British reinforce ments arrived, cominir some 400 miles across country from Mur mansk with reindeer teams. (Concluded Next Sunday) 'C- Man Slugged by Burglar- s Charged With Drunkenness Police arrested R. M. Grady, steanihtter, 3319 South ' Twentieth street, Sunday morning when they found him cut and bruised in a va cant lot near Twenty-fifth and Vin ton , streets. He was intoxicated, police say. His pockets were found turned inside out. A deep cut on his chin and bruises about his- face show he had been slugged. A police surgeon attended his injuries. Grady was charged with drunkenness. , , ( , "i Unidentified Mexican -Attacks and Robs Woman 'A lone unidentified Mexican attacked and robbed Mrs. Keys, negro, 2762 Grant street, Saturday afternoon in her home. He escaped, after gagging the woman and bind ing her to, a chair. He stole, $15. Mrs. Keys told the police she Jabbed him in the stomach twice with a hat pin she used to fight him off. She was alone in the house at the time. Neighbors heard her screams and called the police. Alleged Auto Thieves Are Brought to Omaha for Trial Two men, giving the names of Roy Gregory. Wallace, Neb., and Clarence J. Burris, Kansas City, Mo., were brought fr;om St. Joseph, charged with the theft of an auto mobile belonging to Hans Petersen, 2212 St. Mary's avenue. They were arrested Friday eight miles outside of St. Joseph with the stolen car.. PHOTO PLAYS. U WWII lllllillllllllilllll'iHIIIlllllllllllillllliillll iCJr I 1 A 2S 1 DEAR READER: Tills title has meant 100 per cent good ness to all you customers for years snd I'm hoping the rating will still stick. Florence Darley's soprano voice rates a lot higher than 100 per cent so do Ray Head's Celtlsms. OLD MAN JOHNSON. Mgr. Civet y. Evening- A Sun. Mat., 25, SO, 75, $1 -25 Mats. 15c and 25c Chew cum if you like but no smoltinf LADIES' 10 AT ANY WEEK TICKETS ' WC DAY MATINEE Baby Carriage Carafe in the Lobby J PHOTO H.AYS. LOTHROP CHARLES RAY in "STRING BEANS" ARBUCKLE COMEDY CHESTER OUTING 24th and Lothrop SON Today to Saturday NAZIMOVA "THE BRAT" Her Latest and Greatest Production. SESSUE ' HAYAKAWA in the story of an Oriental artiat in America i who nee red the heights of success and feH through family honor, "THE GRAY HORIZON" S3 m Today to Wednesday - l J4USE ALL WEEK v You'll shed pessimism X y and forget troubles in y "BETTER g I TIMES" 1 PARAMOUNT ARTCRAFT WEEK PRESENTS CHARLES RAY "Bill Henry" r THE mOXT JTTUPENOOUX AMUXEMEMT ? MOVELTY EVER OFFERED AT POPULAR PRICES . - a MACK StfttimZTTS APPEARING i t -fgSwGrsr I ) Iff PERSON V COrtJUCTOfl WiTH YANKEE DOODLE j IN BERLIN To&easTSBtn TURPtn- chahle nuKKar FORD STEftUNfcCHBSTM CO1 KLIN T A R T S SEATS NOW SUN., SEPT JEPT. 7TH J .,..Mi..,.,...ej