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
