garrison, reminiscent of the days of the Czar. We prepared to settle
down very comfortably for the winter. Our dream of rest and quiet was
rudely shattered, however, for two days later we were notified that the
British command for the Vaga River troops was on its way to Shenkursk,
and that we were to push further on down the river to stir up the
enemy. Without question we were quite willing to leave the enemy rest
in peace as long as he did not molest us, but such was not the fortune
nor luck of war, and therefore, on September 1st, the small detachment
of American troops, reinforced by some thirty or forty S. B. A. L.
troops, went steaming up the Vaga River on the good ship “Tolstoy,” a
decrepit old river steamer on which we had mounted a pom pom and
converted it into a “battle cruiser.” The troops immediately christened
themselves the horse “marines” and the name was quite an appropriate
one as later events proved.
About noon that day Capt. Odjard and Lieut. Mead with two platoons
arrived opposite a village named Gorka when suddenly without any
warning the enemy, concealed in the woods on both sides of the river,
opened up a heavy machine gun and rifle fire. Our fragile boat was no
protection from this fire. To attempt to run around and withdraw in the
shallow stream was next to impossible, so after a hasty consultation
the commander grasped the horns of the dilemma by running the boat as
close to the shore as possible, where the troops immediately swarmed
overboard in water up to their waists, quickly gained the protection of
the shore and spreading out in perfect skirmish order, poured a hot
fire into the enemy, who was soon on the run. This advance continued
for some several days until under the severe marching conditions, lack
of food, clothing, etc., a halt was made at Rovdinskaya, a village
about ninety versts from Shenkursk, and a few days later more
reinforcements arrived under Lieuts. McPhail and Saari.
A number of incidents on this advance clearly indicated that we were
operating in hostile and very dangerous country. Our only line of
communication with our headquarters was the single local telegraph
line, which was constantly being cut by the enemy. At one time a large
force of the enemy got in our rear and we were faced with the
unpleasant situation of having the enemy completely surrounding us.
Capt. Odjard determined upon a bold stroke. Figuring that by continuing
the advance and striking a quick blow at the enemy ahead of us, those
in the rear would anticipate the possibility of heavy reinforcements
bringing up our rear. On October 8th we engaged the enemy at the
village of Puiya. We inflicted heavy casualties upon him. He suffered
no less than fifty killed and several hundred wounded. As anticipated,
the enemy in our rear quickly withdrew and thus cleared the way for our
retreat. We retired to Rovdinskaya, which position we held for several
weeks. The situation was growing more desperate day by day. Our rations
were at the lowest ebb; cold weather had set in and the men were poorly
and lightly clad, in addition to which our tobacco ration had long
since been completely exhausted, which added much to the general
dissatisfaction and lowering of the morale of the troops.
With the approach of the Russian winter a new and dangerous problem
presented itself. At the outset of the expedition it had been planned
that the troops on the railroad front were to push well down the
railroad to or beyond Plesetskaya. The Vaga Column was to go as far as
Velsk and there establish a line of communication across to the
railroad front. Unfortunately, their well-laid plans fell through and
perhaps fortunately so. The forces of the railroad had been checked
near Emtsa, far above Plesetskaya. The other troops on the Dvina had by
this time retired to Toulgas and as a consequence the smallest force in
the expedition, the Vaga Column, was now in the most advanced position
of these three fronts, a very dangerous and poorly chosen military
position.
[Illustration: WAGNER
_Artillery “O. P.,” Kodish._]
[Illustration: LANMAN
_Mill for Grinding Grain._]
[Illustration: U. S. OFFICIAL PHOTO
_Pioneer Platoon Clearing Fire Lane._]
[Illustration: U. S OFFICIAL PHOTO
_Testing a Vickers Machine Gun._]
[Illustration: U. S. OFFICIAL PHOTO (152813)
_Doughboy Observing Bolo in Pagosta—Near Ust Padenga._]
[Illustration: U. S. OFFICIAL PHOTO
_Cossack Receiving First Aid, Vistavka._]
[Illustration: LANMAN
_Ready for Day’s Work._]
[Illustration: DOUD
_Flax Hung Up to Dry._]
[Illustration: WAGNER
_310th Engineers at Beresnik._]
To make matters still worse, from the village of Nyandoma on the
Vologda railroad, there is a well defined winter trail, running
straight across country to the village of Ust Padenga, located on the
Vaga River, about half way between Shenkursk and Rovdinskaya. Rumors
were constantly coming in that the Bolo was occupying the villages all
along this trail in order to launch a big drive on Shenkursk as soon as
winter set in. On these frozen, packed trails, troops, artillery, etc.,
could be moved as easily and readily as by rail.
In order then to withdraw our lines and to add greater safety to the
columns, it was finally decided to withdraw from Rovdinskaya to Ust
Padenga.
At one o’clock on the morning of October 18th, as we lay shivering and
shaking in the cold and dismal marshes, which we chose to call our
front line, orders came through for us to hold ourselves in readiness
for a quick and rapid retreat the following morning. All that night we
had Russian peasants, interpreters, etc., scouring the villages about
us for horses and carts to assist in our withdrawal. At 6:00 a. m. that
morning the withdrawal began. The god of war, had he witnessed this
strange sight that morning, must have recalled a similar sight a
hundred years and more prior to that, at Moscow, when the army of the
great Napoleon was scattered to the winds by the cavalry and infantry
of the Russian hordes. Three hundred and more of the ludicrous
two-wheeled Russian carts preceded us with the artillery, floundering,
miring, and slipping in the sticky, muddy roads. Following at their
rear, came the tired, worn and exhausted troops—unshaven, unkempt and
with tattered clothing. They were indeed a pitiful sight. All that day
they marched steadily on toward Ust Padenga. To add to the difficulty
of the march, a light snow had fallen which made the roads a mere
quagmire. Late that night we arrived at the position of Ust Padenga,
which was to become our winter quarters and where later so many of our
brave men were to lay down their lives in the snow and cold of the
Russian forests.
With small delay for rest or recuperation we at once began preparation
for the defense of this position. Our main position and the artillery
were stationed in a small village called Netsvetyavskaya, situated on a
high bluff by the side of which meandered the Vaga River. In front of
this bluff flowed the Padenga River, a small tributary of the Vaga, and
at our right, all too close for safety, was located the forest. About
one thousand yards directly ahead of us was located the village of Ust
Padenga proper, which was garrisoned by a company of Russian soldiers.
To our right and about seventeen hundred yards ahead of us on another
bluff was located the village of Nijni Gora, to be the scene of fierce
fighting in the snow.
On the last day of October Company “A”, which had been on this front
for some forty days without a relief, were relieved by Company “C” and
a battery of Canadian Artillery was also brought up to reinforce this
position.
All was now rather quiet on this front, but rumors more and more
definite were coming in daily that the Bolo was getting ready to launch
a big drive on this front. From the location of our troops here,
several hundred miles and more from our base on the Dvina and with long
drawn out lines of communication, some of the stations forty miles or
so apart, it was apparent that if attacked by a large force, we would
have to give way. It was also plainly apparent that in case the Vaga
River force was driven back to the Dvina it would necessitate the
withdrawal of the forces on the Dvina from their strongly fortified
position at Toulgas—consequently, we received orders that this position
at Ust Padenga must be held at all cost. Such was the critical position
of the Americans sent up the river by order of General Poole on a
veritable fool’s errand. The folly of his so-called “active defense” of
Archangel was to be exposed most plainly at Ust Padenga and Shenkursk
in winter.
By the middle of November the enemy was becoming more and more active
in this vicinity. On the seventeenth day of November a small patrol of
Americans and Canadians were ambushed and only one man, a Canadian,
escaped. The ambush occurred in the vicinity of Trogimovskaya, a
village about eight versts below Ust Padenga, where it was known that
the Bolo was concentrating troops.
On the morning of November 29th, acting under orders from British
Headquarters, a strong patrol, numbering about one hundred men, was
sent out at daybreak, under Lieut. Cuff of “C” Company, to drive the
enemy out of this position. The only road or trail leading into this
town ran through a dense forest. The snow, of course, was so deep in
the forest that it was impossible to proceed by any other route than
this roadway or trail. As this patrol was approaching one of the most
dense portions of the forest they were suddenly met by an overwhelming
attacking party, which had been concealed in the forest. The woods were
literally swarming with them and after a sharp fight Lieut. Francis
Cuff, one of the bravest and most fearless officers in the expedition,
in command of the patrol, succeeded in withdrawing his platoon.
A detachment of the patrol on the edge of the woods skirting the Vaga
River was having considerable difficulty extricating itself, however,
and without faltering Lieut. Cuff immediately deployed his men and
opened fire again upon the enemy. During this engagement, he, with
several other daring men, became separated from their fellows and it
was at this time that he was severely wounded. He and his men, several
of whom were also wounded, although cut off and completely surrounded,
fought like demons and sold their lives dearly, as was evidenced by the
enemy dead strewn about in the snow near them. The remains of these
heroic men were later recovered and removed to Shenkursk, where they
were buried almost under the shadows of the cathedral located there.
During this period the thermometer was daily descending lower and
lower; snow was falling continually and the days were so short and dark
that one could hardly distinguish day from night. These long nights of
bitter cold, with death stalking at our sides, was a terrible strain
upon the troops. Sentries standing watch in the lonely snow and cold
were constantly having feet, hands, and other parts of their anatomy
frozen. Their nerves were on edge and they were constantly firing upon
white objects that could be seen now and then prowling around in the
snow. These objects as we later found were enemy troops clad in white
clothing which made it almost impossible to detect them.
About this time an epidemic of “flu” broke out in some of the villages.
In view of the Russian custom of keeping the doors and windows of their
houses practically sealed during the winter and with their utter
disregard for the most simple sanitary precautions, small wonder it was
that in a short time the epidemic was raging in practically every
village within our lines. The American Red Cross and medical officers
of the expedition at once set to work to combat the epidemic as far as
the means at their disposal would permit. The Russian peasant, of
course, in true fatalist fashion calmly accepted this situation as an
inevitable act of Providence, which made the task of the Red Cross
workers and others more difficult. The workers, however, devoted
themselves to their errand of mercy night and day and gradually the
epidemic was checked. This voluntary act of mercy and kindness had a
great effect upon the peasantry of the region and doubtless gave them a
better and more kindly opinion of the strangers in their midst than all
the efforts of our artillery and machine guns ever could have done. And
when in the winter horses and sleighs meant life or death to the
doughboys, the peasants were true to their American soldier friends.
After the fatal ambush of Lieutenant Cuff’s patrol at Ust Padenga, “C”
Company, was relieved about the first of December by Company “A.”
During the remainder of the month there was more or less activity on
both sides of the line. About the fifth or sixth of the month, the
enemy brought up several batteries of light field artillery in the
dense forests and begun an artillery bombardment of our entire line.
Fortunately, however, we soon located the position of their guns and
our artillery horses were immediately hitched to the guns, and
supported by two platoons of “A” Company under Captain Odjard and
Lieut. Collar, swung into a position from which they obtained direct
fire upon the enemy guns with the result that four guns were shortly
thereafter put out of commission.
From this time on, there were continual skirmishes between the outposts
and patrols. The Bolo’s favorite time for patrolling was at night and
during the early hours of the morning when everything was pitch dark.
They all wore white smocks over their uniforms and they could easily
advance within fifteen or twenty feet of our sentries and outposts
without being seen. They were not always so fortunate, however, in this
reconnoitering, as a picture on a following page proves which shows one
of their scouts clad in the white uniform and cap, who was shot down by
one of our sentries when he was less than fifteen feet away from the
sentry. Outside of the terrific cold and the natural hardships of the
expedition, the month of December was comparatively quiet on the
Padenga front.
However, in the neighborhood of Shenkursk there was a growing feeling
that a number of the enemy troops were in nearby villages and that the
enemy was constantly occupying more and more of them daily. In order to
break up this growing movement and to assure the natives of the
Shenkursk region that we would brook no such interference or happenings
within our lines, on the fifth of December, a strong detachment,
consisting of Company “C” under Lieut. Weeks, and Russian infantry,
mounted Cossacks, and a pom pom detachment, set out for Kodima about
fifty versts north and east of Shenkursk toward the Dvina River.
It was reported that there were about one hundred and fifty or two
hundred of the enemy located in this village, who were breaking a trail
through from the Dvina River in order that they could send across
supporting troops from the Dvina for the attack on Shenkursk. Our
detachment, after a day and a half’s march, arrived in the vicinity of
Kodima and prepared to take the position. At about the moment when the
attack was to begin, it was found that the pom poms and the Vickers
guns were not working. The thermometer at this time stood at fifty
below zero and the intense cold had frozen the oil in the buffers of
the pom poms and machine guns, rendering them worse than useless.
Fortunately, this was discovered in time to prevent any casualties, for
it was later found that there were between five hundred and one
thousand of the enemy located in this position and that they were
intrenched in prepared positions and well equipped with rifles, machine
guns and artillery.
Our forces, of course, were compelled to retreat, but this maneuver
naturally gave the enemy greater courage and the following week it was
reported that they were advancing from Kodima on Shenkursk. We at once
dispatched a large force of infantry, artillery, and mounted Cossacks
to delay this advance. This maneuver was also a miserable failure, and
it is not difficult to understand the reason for same when one
considers that this detachment was composed of Americans, Canadians,
and Russians, of every conceivable, type and description, and orders
issued to one body might be and usually were entirely misunderstood by
the others.
Shortly after this, however, the Cossack Colonel desired to vindicate
his troops and a new attack was planned in which the Cossacks,
supported by their own artillery, were to launch a drive against the
enemy at Kodima. After a big night’s pow-wow and a typical Cossack
demonstration of swearing eternal allegiance to their leader and
boasting of the dire punishment they were going to inflict upon the
enemy, they sallied forth from Shenkursk with their banners gaily
flying. No word was heard from them until the following evening when
just at dusk across the river came, galloping like mad, the first
news-bearers of our valiant cohorts. On gaining the shelter of
Shenkursk, most of them were completely exhausted and many of their
horses dropped dead from over-exertion on the way, while others died in
Shenkursk.
Our first informants described at great detail a thrilling engagement
in which they had participated and how they had fought until their
ammunition became exhausted, when they were forced to retreat. Others
described in detail how Prince Aristoff and his Adjutant, Captain
Robins, of the British Army, had fought bravely to the last and when
about to be taken prisoners, used the last bullets remaining in their
pistols to end their lives, thus preventing capture. More and more of
the scattered legion were constantly arriving, and each one had such a
remarkably different story to tell from that of his predecessor, that
by the following morning, we were all inclined to doubt all of the
stories.
However, it is true that Colonel Aristoff and Robins failed to return,
and we were compelled for the time being to assume that at least part
of the stories were true. The Cossacks immediately went into deep
mourning for the loss of their valiant leader and affected great grief
and sorrow. This, however, did not prevent them from ransacking the
Colonel’s headquarters and carrying off all his money and jewelry and,
in fact, about everything that he owned. Four days later, however, in
the midst of all this mourning and demonstrations, we were again
treated to a still greater surprise, for that afternoon who should come
riding into the village but the Colonel himself along with his
adjutant. It can be readily imagined what scrambling and endeavor there
was on the part of the sorrowing ones to return undetected to the
Colonel’s headquarters his stolen property and belongings. For days
thereafter, the garrison resounded to the cracking of the Colonel’s
knout, and this time the wailing and shedding of tears was undoubtedly
more real than any that had been shed previously to that time. These
various unfortunate affairs, while harmful enough in themselves, did
far greater harm than such incidents would ordinarily warrant, in this
respect, that they gave the enemy greater and greater confidence all
along, meanwhile lowering the morale of our Russian cohorts as well as
our own troops.
And here we leave these hardy Yanks, far, far to the south of
Archangel. When their story is picked up again in the narrative, it
will be found to be one of the most thrilling stories in American
military exploits.
VIII
PEASANTRY OF THE ARCHANGEL PROVINCE
Russian Peasant Born Linguist—Soldiers See Village Life—Communal Strips
Of Land Tilled By Grandfather’s Methods—Ash Manure—Rapid Growth During
Days Of Perpetual Daylight—Sprinkling Cattle With Holy Water—“Sow In
Mud And You Will Be A Prince”—Cabbage Pie At Festival—Home-Brewed
“Braga” More Villainous Than Vodka—Winter Occupations And Sports—North
Russian Peasants Less Illiterate Than Commonly Supposed.
The province of Archangel is in the far north or forest region of
Russia. It is a land of forest and morass, plentifully supplied with
water in the form of rivers, lakes and marshes, along the banks of
which are scant patches of cultivated land, which is invariably the
location of a village. Throughout the whole of this province the
climate is very severe. For more than half of the year the ground is
covered by deep snow and the rivers are completely frozen. The arable
land all told forms little more than two per cent of the vast area. The
population is scarce and averages little more at the most than two to
the square mile, according to the latest figures, about 1905.
During the late fall and early winter, shortly after Company “A” had
been relieved at Ust Padenga, we were stationed in the village of
Shegovari. Here we had considerable leisure at our disposal and
consequently the writer began devoting more time to his linguistic
studies. Difficult as the language seems to be upon one’s first
introduction to it, it was not long before I was able to understand
much of what was said to me, and to express myself in a vague
roundabout way. In the latter operation I was much assisted by a
peculiar faculty of divination which the Russian peasant possesses to a
remarkably high degree. If a foreigner succeeds in expressing about
one-fourth of an idea, the Russian peasant can generally fill up the
remaining three-fourths from his own intuition. This may perhaps be
readily understood when one considers that a great majority of the
upper classes speak French or German fluently and a great number
English as well. Then, too, the many and varied races that have united
and intermingled to form the Russian race may offer an equally
satisfactory explanation.
Shegovari may be taken as a fair example of the villages throughout the
northern half of Russia, and a brief description of its inhabitants
will convey a correct notion of the northern peasantry in general. The
village itself is located about forty versts above Shenkursk on the
banks of the Vaga river, which meanders and winds about the village so
that the river is really on both sides. On account of this location
there is more arable land surrounding the village than is found in the
average community and dozens of villages are clustered about this
particular location, the villages devoting most of their time to
agricultural pursuits.
I believe it may safely be said that nearly the whole of the female
population and about one-half the male inhabitants are habitually
engaged in cultivating the communal land, which comprises perhaps five
hundred acres of light, sandy soil. As is typical throughout the
province this land is divided into three large fields, each of which is
again subdivided into strips. The first field is reserved for one of
the most important grains, i.e., rye, which in the form of black bread,
is the principal food of the population. In the second are raised oats
for the horses and here and there some buckwheat which is also used for
food. The third field lies fallow and is used in the summer for
pasturing the cattle.
This method of dividing the land is so devised in order to suit the
triennial rotation of crops, a very simple system, but quite practical
nevertheless. The field which is used this year for raising winter
grain, will be used next summer for raising summer grain and in the
following year will lie fallow. Every family possesses in each of the
two fields under cultivation one or more of the subdivided strips,
which he is accountable for and which he must cultivate and attend to.
The arable lands are of course carefully manured because the soil at
its best is none too good and would soon exhaust it. In addition to
manuring the soil the peasant has another method of enriching the soil.
Though knowing nothing of modern agronomical chemistry, he, as well as
his forefathers, have learned that if wood be burnt on a field and the
ashes be mixed with the soil, a good harvest may be expected. This
simple method accounts for the many patches of burned forest area,
which we at first believed to be the result of forest fires. When
spring comes round and the leaves begin to appear, a band of peasants,
armed with their short hand axes, with which they are most dextrous,
proceed to some spot previously decided upon and fell all trees, great
and small within the area. If it is decided to use the soil in that
immediate vicinity, the fallen trees are allowed to remain until fall,
when the logs for building or firewood are dragged away as soon as the
first snow falls. The rest of the piles, branches, etc., are allowed to
remain until the following spring, at which time fires may be seen
spreading in all directions. If the fire does its work properly, the
whole of the space is covered with a layer of ashes, and when they have
been mixed with the soil the seed is sown, and the harvest, nearly
always good, sometimes borders on the miraculous. Barley or rye may be
expected to produce about six fold in ordinary years and they may
produce as much as thirty fold under exceptional circumstances!