house is the huge Russian stove. In the larger houses there are
several. These stoves are constructed of masonry and are built before
the partitions of the house are put in and before the walls are
completed. In the main stove there are three fire-boxes and a maze of
surrounding air-spaces and smoke-passages, and surmounting all a great
chimney which in two-story houses is itself made into a heating-stove
with one fire-box for the upper rooms. When the house is to be heated a
little door is opened near the base of the chimney and a damper-plate
is removed, so that the draft will be direct and the smoke escape
freely into the chimney after quite a circuitous passage through the
body of the stove. A certain bunch of sergeants nearly asphyxiated
themselves before they discovered the secret of the damper in the
stove. They were nearly pickled in pine smoke. And a whole company of
soldiers nearly lost their billet in Kholmogori when they started up
the sisters’ stoves without pulling the plates off the chimney.
Then the heating fire-box is furnished with blazing pine splinters and
an armful of pine stove-wood and left alone for about an hour or until
all the wood is burnt to a smokeless and gasless mass of hot coals and
fine ash. The damper plate is then replaced, which stops all escape of
heat up the chimney, and the whole structure of the stove soon begins
to radiate a gentle heat. Except in the coldest of weather it is not
necessary to renew the fire in such a stove more than once daily, and
one armful of wood is the standard fuel consumption at each firing.
Another of the fire-boxes in the main stove is a large smooth-floored
and vaulted opening with a little front porch roofed by a hood leading
into the chimney. This is the oven, and here on baking days is built a
fire which is raked out when the walls and floor are heated and is
followed by the loaves and pastry put in place with a flat wooden
paddle with a long handle. See the picture of the stove and the pie
coming out of the oven in the American convalescent hospital in
Archangel. The third fire-box is often in a low section of the stove
covered by an iron plate, and is used only for boiling, broiling and
frying. As there is not much food broiled or fried, and as soup and
other boiled food is often allowed to simmer in stone jars in the oven,
the iron-covered fire-box is not infrequently left cold except in
summer. The stove-structure itself is variously contrived as to outward
architecture so as to leave one or more alcoves, the warm floors of
which form comfortable bed-spaces. The outer surface of the stove is
smoothly cemented or enameled. So large are these stoves that
partition-logs are set in grooves left in the outer stove-wall, and a
portion of the wall of each of four or five rooms is often formed by a
side or corner of the same stove. And radiation from the warm bricks
heats the rooms.
Washing of clothes is done by two processes, soaping and rubbing in hot
water at home and rinsing and rubbing in cold water at the river-bank
or through a hole cut in the ice in the winter. Although the result may
please the eye, it frequently offends the nose because of the common
use of “fish-oil soap.” Not only was there dead fish in the soap but
also a mixture of petroleum residue. No wonder the soldier-poet
doggereled:
“It’s the horns of the cootie and beg-bug,
The herring and mud-colored crows,
My strongest impression of Russia,
Gets into my head through my nose.”
Bathing is a strenuous sport pursued by almost every individual with
avidity. It is carried on in special bath-houses of two or more rooms,
found in the yard of almost every peasant family. The outer door leads
to the entry, the next door to a hot undressing-room, and the inner
door to a steaming inferno in which is a small masonry stove, a
cauldron of hot water, a barrel of ice-water, a bench, several
platforms of various altitudes, several beaten copper or brass basins,
a dipper and a lot of aromatic twigs bound in small bunches. With these
he flails the dead cuticle much to the same effect as our scouring it
off with a rough towel. Such is the grandfather of the “Russian Bath”
found in some of our own cities. After scrubbing thoroughly, and
steaming almost to the point of dissolution on one of the higher
platforms, a Russian will dash on cold water from the barrel and dry
himself and put on his clothes and feel tip-top. An American would make
his will and call the undertaker before following suit. In the summer
there is considerable open-air river bathing, and the absence of
bathing-suits other than nature’s own is never given a thought.
The people of this north country are shorter and stockier than the
average American. The prevailing color of hair is dark brown. Their
faces and hands are weather-beaten and wrinkle early. Despite their
general cleanliness, they often look greasy and smell to high heaven
because of their habit of anointing hair and skin with fats and oils,
especially fish-oil. Not all do this, but the practice is prevalent
enough so that the fish-oil and old-fur odors are inescapable in any
peasant community and cling for a long time to the clothing of any
traveler who sojourns there, be it ever so briefly. American soldiers
in 1918–1919 became so accustomed to it that they felt something
intangible was missing when they left the country and it was some time
before a clever Yank thought of the reason.
Before the great world war, a young peasant who was unmarried at
twenty-two was a teacher, a nun, or an old maid. The birth-rate is
high, and the death-rate among babies not what it is in our proud
America. Young families often remain under the grandfather’s rooftree
until another house or two becomes absolutely necessary to accommodate
the overflow. If through some natural series of events a young woman
has a child without having been married by the priest, no great stir is
made over it. The fact that she is not thrown out of her family home is
not consciously ascribed to charity of spirit, nor are the villagers
conscious of anything broad or praiseworthy in their kindly attitude.
The result is that the baby is loved and the mother is usually happily
wed to the father of her child. The North Russian villager is an
assiduous gossip, but an incident of this kind receives no more
attention as an item of news that if its chronology had been thoroughly
conventional by American standards.
Marriages are occasions of great feasting and rejoicing; funerals
likewise stir the whole community, but the noise of the occasion is far
more terrifying and nerve-wracking. Births are quiet affairs; but the
christening is quite a function, attended with a musical service, and
the “name-day” anniversary is often celebrated in preference to the
birthday anniversary by the adult Russian peasant. Everybody was born,
but not everybody received such a fine name from such a fine family at
such a fine service under the leadership of such a fine priest; and not
everybody has such fine god-parents. The larger religious festivals are
also occasions for enjoyable community gatherings, and especially
during the winter the little dances held in a large room of some
patient man’s house until the wee small hours are something not to be
missed by young or old. Yes, the North Russian peasant plays as well as
works, and so keen is his enjoyment that he puts far more energy into
the play. Because of his simple mode of existence it is not necessary
to overwork in normal times to obtain all the food, clothing, houses
and utensils he cares to use. Ordinarily he is a quiet easy-going
human.
Perhaps there is more of sense of humor in the apparently phlegmatic
passivity of the Russian _nitchevo_ than is suspected by those not
acquainted with him. There is also a great timidity in it; for the
Russian moujik or christianik (peasant farmer) has scarcely been sure
his soul is his own, since time immemorable. But his sense of humor has
been his salvation, for it has enabled him to be patient and pleasant
under conditions beyond his power to change. Courtesy to an extent
unknown in America marks his daily life. He is intelligent, and is
resourceful to a degree, although not well educated.
The average North Russian is not dishonest in a personal way. That is,
he has no personal animus in his deviousness unless someone has
directly offended him. He will haul a load of small articles unguarded
for many versts and deliver every piece safely, in spite of his own
great hunger, because he is in charge of the shipment. But he will
charge a commission at both ends of a business deal, and will accept a
“gift” almost any time for any purpose and then mayhap not “deliver.”
Only a certain small class, however, and that practically confined to
Archangel and environs, will admit even most privately that any gift or
advantage is payment for a given favor which would not be extended in
the ordinary course of business. This class is not the national
back-bone, but rather the tinsel trimmings in the national show-window.
One time a passing British convoy commandeered some hay at
Bolsheozerki. Upon advice of the American officer the _starosta_
accepted a paper due bill from the British officer for the hay. Weeks
afterward the American officer found that the Russian had been up to
that time unable to get cash on his due bill. Naturally he looked to
the American for aid. The officer took it up with the British and was
assured that the due bill would be honored. But to quiet the feeling of
the _starosta_ he advanced him the 92 roubles, giving the headman his
address so that he could return the 92 roubles to the American officer
when the British due bill came cash. Brother officers ridiculed the
Yank officer for trusting the Russian peasant, who was himself waiting
doubtfully on the British. But his judgment was vindicated later and
the honesty of the _starosta_ demonstrated when a letter travelled
hundreds of miles to Pinega with 92 roubles for the American officer.
XX
HOLDING THE ONEGA VALLEY
December Fighting—Drawn Struggle Near Turchesova—Fighting Near Khala In
February—Corporal Collins And Men Are Ambushed Near Bolsheozerki—“H”
Company In Two Savage Battles—Lieuts. Collins And Phillips Both
Mortally Wounded.
The enemy, who was massing up forces in the upper Pinega valley and, as
we have seen, caused British G. H. Q. to send one company of Americans
hurrying up the valley for a 150-mile march Christmas week, was also
fixing up a surprise for the G. H. Q. on the other end of the great
line of defense. That same Christmas week “H” Company found itself
again up against greatly superior forces who, as they boasted, were
commencing their winter campaign to drive the invaders of Russia to the
depths of the White Sea.
On December 20th one squad of “H” men were in a patrol fight with the
enemy which drove the Reds from the village of Kleshevo. On the
following day Lt. Ketcham with twenty Americans and a platoon of R. A.
N. B., Russian Allied Naval Brigade, proceeded south for reconnaissance
in force and engaged a strong enemy patrol in Priluk, driving the Reds
out, killing one, wounding one, and taking one prisoner. On December
22nd Lt. Carlson’s platoon occupied Kleshevo and Lt. Ketcham’s platoon
occupied the village on the opposite side of the river. The next day at
a village near Priluk Lt. Carlson’s men on patrol encountered a Bolo
combat patrol and inflicted severe losses and took five prisoners.
Christmas Day and several other days were occupied with these patrol
combats by the two opposing forces, each of which thought the other had
gone into winter quarters.
In conformity with the general advance planned on all fronts by the
British Command to beat the enemy to the attack and to reach a position
which would nullify the enemy’s tremendous advantage of position with
his base at Plesetskaya, the British Officer in command of the Onega
Valley Detachment, planned an attack on Turchesova. Lt. E. R. Collins
with the second fourth platoons left Pogashitche at 4:00 a. m. December
29, proceeding up the Schmokee River in an attempt to get around
Turchesova and strike the enemy in the flank. It was found, however,
that the woods on this side were impassable and so the force left the
river by a winter trail for Pertema, proceeding thence to Goglova, to
reinforce the Polish company of Allies who had captured that village on
the same morning.
This was wise. The next morning the enemy counter-attacked Goglova in
great force, but, fortunately, was repulsed without any casualties on
our side. He had, however, a threatening position in the village of
Zelyese, about a mile to the left flank and rear of our position and
was discovered to be preparing to renew the battle the next day. Lt.
Collins was obliged to divide his force just as again and again the
American officers all along that great Russian winter front again and
again were compelled to divide in the face of greatly superior and
encircling forces.
Taking Lt. Ketcham’s platoon early the next morning, he boldly struck
at the enemy force in his rear and after an hour’s fighting the “H” men
had possession of the village. But the enemy was at once reinforced
from Turchesova and delivered a counter-attack that the “H” men
repulsed with severe losses. Our wounded in the action were two; none
killed. Horseshoes again. The enemy dead and wounded were over fifty.
The enemy continued firing at long range next day, New Years of 1919,
and wounded one “H.”
Indications pointed toward an inclination of the enemy to evacuate
Turchesova. Therefore, a message received by Lt. Collins at 5:00 p. m.,
January 1, from British O. C. Onega Det., ordering a withdrawal within
two hours to Kleshevo, came as a surprise to the American soldiers. In
this hasty retreat much confusion arose among the excited Russian
drivers of sleighs. Some horses and drivers were injured; much
ammunition, equipment, and supplies were lost.
The enemy did not follow and for the remainder of January and up to
February 9th the “H” Company men performed the routine duties of patrol
and garrison duties in the Onega Valley in the vicinity of Kleshevo
without any engagement with the enemy who seemed content to rest in
quarters and keep out of the way of the Americans and Allies.
On February 10th Lt. Ketcham with a combat patrol drove the enemy from
Khala whom he encountered with a pair of machine guns on patrol. He
defeated the Reds without any casualties, inflicting a loss on the
enemy of one killed and two wounded.
For more than a month the sector of defense was quiet except for an
occasional rise of the “wind.” Active patrols were kept out. Captain
Ballensinger assumed command of the company and moved his headquarters
from Onega to Chekuevo. As the mail from and to Archangel from the
outside world as well as supplies and reinforcements of men were now
obliged to use the road from Obozerskaya to Bolsheozerki to Chekuevo to
Onega to Kem and so on to Kola and return, it became part of the duty
of “H” Company to patrol the road from Chekuevo to Obozerskaya; taking
two days coming and two days going with night stops at Chinova or
Bolsheozerki.
The last of these patrols left Chekuevo on Sunday, March 16, fell into
the hands of the advance patrols of the Bolo General who had executed a
long flank march, annihilated the Franco-Russian force at Bolsheozerki,
and occupied the area with a great force of infantry, mounted men, skii
troops, and both light and heavy artillery, as related elsewhere in
connection with the story of the defense of the railroad.
The next day Lt. Collins with thirty men and a Lewis gun started toward
Bolsheozerki to discover the situation with orders to report at Chinova
to Col. Lucas, the French officer in command of the Vologda Force.
Travelling all night, he reached Col. Lucas in the morning and the
latter determined to push on under escort of the Americans and attempt
to reach Bolsheozerki and Oborzerskaya, being at that time ignorant of
the real strength of the force of Reds that had interrupted the
communications.
About noon, March 18th, the detachment in escort formation left Chinova
and proceeded without signs of enemy till within four versts of
Bolsheozerki, where they were met by sudden burst of a battery of
machine guns. Luckily the range was wrong. The horses bolted upsetting
the sleighs and throwing Col. Lucas into the neck-deep snow. The
Americans returned the fire and slowly retired with the loss of but one
man killed. Crawling in the snow for a great distance gave many of them
severe frost bites, one of the most acute sufferers being the French
Col. Lucas. The detachment returned to Chinova to report by telephone
to Chekuevo and to organize a defensive position in case the enemy
should advance toward Chekuevo. The enemy did not pursue. He was
crafty. That would have indicated his great strength.
By order of Col. Lawrie, British O. C. Onega Det., Lt. Phillips was
sent with about forty “H” Company men to reinforce Lt. Collins. It was
the British Colonel’s idea that only a large raiding party of Bolos
were at Bolsheozerki for the purpose of raiding the supply trains of
food that were coming from Archangel to Chekuevo. Phillips reached
Chinova before daybreak of the twentieth. Lt. Collins was joined at the
little village of Chinova by three companies of Yorks, enroute from
Murmansk to Obozerskaya, a U. S. Medical corps officer, Lt. Springer,
and four men joined the force and an attack was ordered on Bolsheozerki
by these seventy Americans and three hundred Yorks. They did not know
that they were going up against ten times their number.
At 2:00 a. m. the movement started and at nine in the morning the
American advance guard drew fire from the enemy. Deploying as planned
on the left of the road the “H” men moved forward in line of battle.
One company of Yorks moved off to the right to attack from the woods
and one on the left of the Americans. One York company was in reserve.
After advancing over five hundred yards in face of the enemy machine
gun fire, the Americans were exhausted by the deep snow and held on to
a line within one hundred yards of the enemy. The Yorks on the right
and left advanced just as gallantly and were also held back by the deep
snow and the severity of the enemy machine gun fire.
The fight continued for five hours. Lovable old Lt. Collins fell
mortally wounded by a Bolo bullet while cheering his men on the
desperate line of battle. At last Lt. Phillips was obliged to report
his ammunition exhausted and appealed for reinforcements and
ammunition. Major Monday passed on the appeal to Col. Lawrie who gave
up the attack and ordered the forces to withdraw under cover of
darkness, which they all did in good order. Losses had not been as
heavy as the fury of the fight promised. One American enlisted man was
killed and Lt. Collins died of hemorrhage on the way to Chekuevo. Eight
American enlisted men were severely wounded. The Yorks lost two
officers and two enlisted men killed, and ten enlisted men wounded.
Many of the American and British soldiers were frostbitten.
During the next week the enemy, we learned later, greatly augmented his
forces and strengthened his defenses of Bolsheozerki with German wire,
machine guns, and artillery. He was evidently bent on exploiting his
patrol action success and aimed to cut the railroad at Obozerskaya and
later deal with the Onega detachment at leisure. Our troops made use of
the lull in the activities to make thorough patrols to discover enemy
positions and to send all wounded and sick to Onega for safety,
bringing up every available man for the next drive to knock the Bolo
out of Bolsheozerki. This was under the command of Lt.-Col. Morrison
(British army).
Meanwhile the Bolo General had launched a vicious drive at the
Americans and Russians who stood between him and his railway objective,
encircling them with three regiments, and on April 2, after two days of
continuous assault was threatening to overpower them. In this extremity
Col. Lawrie answered the appeal of the British officer commanding at
Obozerskaya by ordering another attack on the west by his forces.
Captain Ballensinger reports in substance as follows:
In compliance with orders he detailed April 1, one N. C. O. and ten
privates to man two Stokes mortars, also one N. C. O. and seven
privates for a Vickers gun. Both these details reported to a Russian
trench mortar officer and remained under his command during the
engagement. The balance of the available men at the advance base Usolia
was divided into two platoons, the first under Lt. Phillips and the
other under the First Sergeant. These platoons under Capt.
Ballensinger’s command, as part of the reserve, joined the column on
the road at the appointed time.
They arrived at their position on the road about four versts from
Bolsheozerki about 1:00 a. m. April 2. Zero hour was set at daybreak,
3:00 a. m. The first firing began about thirty minutes later, “A”
Company of the Yorks drawing fire from the northern or right flank of
the enemy. They reported afterward that the Bolos had tied dogs in the
woods whose barking had given the alarm. That company advanced in the
face of strong machine gun fire and Capt. Bailey, a British officer
went to his death gallantly leading his men in a rush at the guns on a
ridge. But floundering in the snow, with their second officer wounded,
they were repulsed and forced to retire.
At 5:00 a. m. Lt. Pellegrom, having hurried out from Archangel,
reported for duty and was put in command of a platoon.
At 6:00 a. m. “A” Company Yorks was in desperate straits and by verbal
order of Col. Lund one platoon of Americans was sent to support their
retirement. Lt. Phillips soon found himself hotly engaged.
The original plan had been to send the Polish Company in to attack the
southern villages or the extreme left of the Bolo line, but owing to
their lateness of arrival they were not able to go in there and were
held for a frontal attack, supported by the American trench mortars.
They were met by a severe machine gun fire and after twenty minutes of
hot fire and heavy losses retired from action.
Meanwhile “C” Company Yorks which had been sent around to attack on the
north of Bolsheozerki got lost in the woods in the dark, trying to
follow an old trail made by a Russian officer and a few men who had
come around the north end of the Bolsheozerki area a few days
previously with messages from Obozerskaya. The company did not get into
action and had to return. Thus the attack had failed, and the force
found itself on a desperate defensive.
The “A” Yorks, who had suffered severely, retired from action
immediately after the first counter-attack of the Bolo had been
repulsed. Then the whole defense of this messed-up attacking force fell
upon the American platoon and a dozen Yorks with a doughty British
officer. Phillips, through the superb control of his men, kept them all
in line and his Lewis guns going with great effectiveness and gave
ground slowly and grudgingly, in spite of casualties and great severity
of cold.
When Phillips fell with the wound which was later to prove fatal,
Pellegrom came up with his platoon to relieve the exhausted platoon,
and “C” Company Yorks arrived on the line from their futile flank march
just in time to join the Americans at 9:00 a. m. in checking the
redoubled counterattack of the hordes of Bolos.
Meanwhile the Polish troops refused to go back into the fighting line
to help stem the Bolo attack. Peremptory order brought two of their
Colt automatics up to the line where for forty-five minutes they
engaged the enemy, but again retired to the rear and assisted only by
firing their machine gun over the heads of the Americans and British
battling for their very lives all that afternoon in the long thin line
of American O. D. and British Khaki.
The Bolo was held in check and at dusk the Americans and British and
Poles withdrew in good order.
This ill-fated attack had met with a savage repulse but no doubt it had
a great effect upon the Bolshevik General at Bolsheozerki. On his right
he had himself met bloody disaster from a company of Americans who had
fought his attacking battalions to a standstill for sixty hours and
here on his left flank was another Company of Americans who had twice
attacked him and seemed never to stay defeated. April sun was likely to
soften his winter road to mush very soon and then these Americans and
their allies would have him at their mercy.