gradually begun relieving American troops at Toulgas and supplanting
them, about five to one, by fresh Russian troops from Archangel, who
subsequently fell before the most vicious and deadly of all the enemy
weapons—Bolshevik Propaganda.
During the night of April 25 and 26, these Russian troops who had been
secretly conniving with the Red spies and agents, suddenly revolted,
turned their guns on their own as well as the British officers there,
and allowed the enemy lurking in the woods to walk unmolested into the
positions that months of shelling and storm attacks had failed to
shake. True, some of the Russians, especially the artillery men,
remained loyal and by superhuman efforts succeeded in withdrawing with
some equipment and guns to Shushuga on the same side of the river.
Yorkshire troops and machine gunners were quickly rushed up to bolster
up these loyal men and a few days later retribution swift and terrible
was visited upon the deserters and their newly made comrades.
Shortly prior to the defection of the troops in Toulgas, and unknown to
them, a battery of large six-inch guns had been brought up to the
artillery position at Kurgomin on the opposite side of the river,
which, with the guns already in position there, made it one of our
strongest artillery positions. The enemy was given ample time in which
to fully occupy the position at Toulgas, which he at once proceeded to
do.
On the 26th day of April our artillery suddenly opened fire on Toulgas
and at the same time dropped a curtain barrage on the far side of the
village, making retreat practically impossible. During this time
thousands of shells of high explosive gas and shrapnel were placed in
the village proper with telling effect. Unable to go forward or back,
we inflicted enormous losses upon the enemy, and shortly thereafter the
loyal Russians, supported by English infantrymen, entered the village,
putting the remaining numbers to flight and once again Toulgas was
ours.
With the settling of the roads and trails the enemy was able to mass up
forces and continue his harrying tactics but could make no impression
on the Allied lines. Americans were gradually withdrawn from the front
lines and Russians served along with the Liverpools and Yorks, who were
now looking every week for the promised volunteers from England who
were to relieve not only the Americans but the Liverpools and Yorks and
other British troops in North Russia. “F” Company was active in
patrolling during the month of May and reported last combat patrol with
enemy near Kitsa on May twentieth. This company of Americans had been
the last one to get into action in the fall and enjoyed the distinction
of being the last one to leave the front, leaving on June 5 for
Archangel.
Meanwhile the spring drive of the Red Guards who had massed up near
Trufanagora on the Pinega River was menacing Pinega. After the
Americans had been withdrawn from that area in March for duty on
another front, Pinega forces under command of Colonel Deliktorski were
augmented by the previously mentioned “Charlie” Tschaplan, now a
Russian colonel with three companies, and supported by another section
of Russian artillery. Also an old British veteran of the Mesopotamian
campaign, personal friend of General Ironside, was sent out to Leunova
to take command of a joint drive at the Bolsheviki. He had with him the
well-known Colonel Edwards with his Asiatic troops, the Chinese coolies
who had put on the S. B. A. L. uniform, and a valorous company of
British troops equipped with skiis and sleds to make the great
adventurous forest march across the broad base of the big inverted V so
as to cut the Reds off far in their rear near Karpogora.
But that British-Russian adventure resulted disastrously. Two British
officers lost their lives and their troops were nearly frozen in the
woods and badly cut up by the Reds who had been all set for them with a
murderous battery of machine guns. Too late the British-Russian command
of the Pinega Valley found that the Americans had been right in their
strategy which had not failed to properly estimate the Bolo strength
and to properly measure the enormous labor and hardship of the
cross-forest snows. Again the enthusiastic and fearless but woefully
reckless Russian Colonel and English Colonel threw their men into death
traps as they had done previously on other fronts. With success in
defense the Reds gained their nerve back and again, as in December,
January and February, began a drive on Pinega.
Then the stoutness of the city’s White Guard defenses and their morale
was put to the test. “K” Company men at Kholmogori waited with anxiety
for the decision, for if Pinega fell then, Red troops would press down
the river to threaten Kholmogori, which, though safe from winter attack
because of the blockhouses built by American Engineers and doughboys,
would be at the mercy of the gunboats the Reds were reported to have
rigged up with guns sent over from Kotlas. But the Pinega artillery and
machine guns and the stout barricades of the Pelegor and Kuligor
infantrymen held out, though one of the gallant Russian officers, who
had won the admiration of the Americans in the winter by continuing
daily on duty with his machine gun company after he had been wounded
severely in the arm, now fell among his men.
Later Allied gunboats ascended the Pinega River and that area was once
more restored to safety. Spring thaw-up severed the Red communications
with Kotlas, which was on the Dvina. The Bolsheviki in the upper Pinega
could no longer maintain an offensive operation. Archangel was relieved
from the menace on its left.
With the Vaga and Dvina Rivers now so well protected by the naval
forces of the Allies, the Bolo drives up the Kodish-Seletskoe road were
now no longer of much strategic importance to them. In the latter part
of the winter they had hopes of themselves controlling the water. Then
they had put on drives at Shred Mekhrenga and at the Kodish front but
with severe losses and no gains. Now in the spring the warfare was
reduced to combat patrol actions with an occasional raid, most of the
aggressive being taken by our Allies, the Cossacks, and Russian
Archangel troops.
On the Onega the spring was very quiet after the Reds withdrew their
huge force from Bolsheozerki April 19. They withdrew under cover of a
feinted attack in force on Volshenitsa, which was on the other flank of
the railroad force. With the opening of Archangel harbor the
Onega-Oborzerskaya road was no longer of so vital importance to us and
the Reds’ one savage thrust at it just at the close of winter, as
related already, was their last drive. “H” Company had a quiet time
during the remaining April and May days. And that company of men
deserved the rest.
On the railroad the coming of spring meant the renewal of activities.
For us it meant constant combat patrols and daily artillery duels.
However, the Bolshevik seemed to be discouraged over his failure at the
end of winter. His heralded May Day drive did not materialize. We
brought our Russian infantrymen and machine gunners up to the front
sectors, gradually displacing Americans until finally on May seventh
Major Nichols was relieved at Verst 455—it should have been
re-christened Fort Nichols—by Colonel Akutin, whose Russian troops took
over the active defense of the front, with the Americans at Obozerskaya
in reserve. At this place and at Bolsheozerki, “G”, “L”, “M”, “I”, and
“E” Companies in the order named at the end of May, together with
machine gun company platoons, were relieved by British and Russian
troops. American Engineers also withdrew from this front just about the
time that the First Battalion and “F” Company were embarking from
Beresnik and “K” Company was steaming out of Yemeskoe and Kholmogori
for Archangel. Most of the boys of the First Battalion had been up the
river for months and had never seen the streets of Archangel.
One of the interesting features of the spring defensive was the arrival
of General Wilds P. Richardson from France to take command of all
American forces during the remainder of the time we were in North
Russia. He arrived on a powerful ice-breaker which cut its way into
Archangel on April seventeenth. At that time we were still running
trains across the Dvina River on the railroad track laid on the ice,
and continued to do so for several days.
General Richardson, veteran of many years of service in Alaska,
immediately made his way to the various fronts. At Verst 455 on the
railroad he said in part to the soldiers assembled there for his
inspection:
“When I was detailed to come to North Russia, General Pershing,
Commander-in-Chief of the A. E. F., told me that he desired me to come
up to command the troops, help out if I could, and to cheer them up, as
he had an idea that you thought you had been overlooked and forgotten,
and were not part of the A. E. F. When I arrived here I found a
telegram from General Pershing stating briefly all that I could have
said, more and, better, and I only want to emphasize to you that which
was sent out and published, that your comrades in France have been
doing wonderful work just as well as you have up here. Your people are
pleased and proud of you. They have not forgotten you, nor has the A.
E. F. in France. They want to see you come home as soon as you can,
with the right spirit and without any act by company or individual that
you will be ashamed of. You are here to do a certain duty, determined
by the highest authority in our country and in others of our Allies,
and by the best minds in the world in connection with this great war
which we have been waging and were drawn into through no fault of our
own.
“While the 339th and other detachments that have come with them to
perform a share of the work in North Russia seemed far away and at
times you perhaps felt lonely and that you were not getting the same
consideration, you still were as much a part of the game, as far as
forces stand, as any portion of the Western Front.
“Remember, you are Americans in a foreign country taking part in a
great game, making history which will be written and talked of for
generations, doing your duty as best you can so as to maintain the
highest standard that the Army has attained in Europe.”
General Pershing’s telegram as transmitted to the Americans fighting
the Bolsheviki in, North Russia was as follows:
“Inform our troops that all America resounds with praise of the
splendid record that the American Expeditionary Forces have made. The
reputation of the American soldier for valor and for splendid
discipline under the most trying conditions has endeared every member
of the Expeditionary Forces not only to his relatives and friends but
to all Americans. Their comrades in France have not forgotten that the
Americans in Northern Russia are part of the American Expeditionary
Forces, and we are proud to transmit to you the generous praise of the
American people. I feel sure that every soldier in Northern Russia will
join his comrades here in the high resolve of returning to America with
unblemished reputations. I wish every soldier in Northern Russia to
know that I fully appreciate that his hardships have continued long
after those endured by our soldiers in France and that every effort is
being made to relieve the conditions in the North at the earliest
possible moment.”
The Americans had let go the tail holt. The spring defensive had been
surprisingly easy after the desperate winter defensive with the
persistently heralded threats of Trotsky’s Northern Army to punish the
invaders with annihilation. In fact, there was a suspicion that the
Reds were content to merely harry the Americans, but not to take any
more losses going against them, preferring to wait till they had gone
and then deal with the Archangel regiments of some twenty-five thousand
and the British troops coming out from England. Probably if the truth
were known Kolchak and Denikin were in the spring of 1919 taking much
of Trotsky’s attention. They were getting the grain fields of Russia
that the Reds needed, which was of more importance than the possession
of the Archangel province.
Then there was the political side of the case. The Peace Conference was
struggling with the Russian problem. Lenine and Trotsky could well
afford to deal not too violently and crushingly with the Allied troops
in the North of Russia while they were with both open and underground
diplomacy and propaganda seeking to get recognition of their rule.
Anyway, we found ourselves letting go that tail holt which in the
winter had seemed to be all that the _Detroit News_ cartoonist pictured
it, “H—- to hang on, and death to let loose.” And we did not get many
more bad scratches or bites from the Bolo bob-cat.
[Illustration: “Come on home, Yank! What did you grab him for in the
first place?”
“It is hell to hang on, but it’s death to let loose.”
_The Hard Job Is To Let Go. From Detroit News._]
XXV
THE 310TH ENGINEERS
Engineers Busy Right From Start—Seen On All Fronts—Great Aid To
Doughboys—Occasionally Obliged To Join Firing Line—Colonel Morris Gives
Interesting Summary Of Engineer Work—General Ironside Pays Fine Tribute
To 310th Engineer Detachment.
The 310th Engineers went into quarters at Bakaritza, September 7th,
where it was said German agents two years before had blown up Russian
munitions even as they had blown many a dock in our own country. They
looked mournfully at the potato fields the retreating Bolos had robbed
and destroyed and they fished for the one hundred motor trucks said to
have been sunk in the Dvina River by the Reds, hoping to get the reward
offered by the British.
They fixed up their quarters, built sheds for the commissary and
quartermaster stores of the Americans and began preparations for their
construction work upon the Railroad and River fronts. On a dark night
in October one platoon crossed the Dvina in the storm thinking of G. W.
crossing the Delaware, and took station in Solombola and began building
“Camp Michigan.” The third week in October the engineers saw the Russki
sleighs running about, but then came an Indian Summer-like period. The
greater part of November was spent in making the Russian box cars
habitable for the soldiers and engineers on the Railroad front.
One American company on the railroad had hated to give up its
_taploo-shkas_ which they had fitted up for quarters, to the British
units that had been weeks at Archangel while they were overworked at
the front. But Col. Stewart raised a fine hope. He ordered a detail of
men from that company, resting ten days at Archangel, to go to
Bakaritza to assist the American Engineers to make a protected string
of troop taplooshkas for the company. And while they were at it the
engineers “found” an airplane motor and rigged up electric lights for
the entire train. They set up their tiny sheet iron stoves, built there
three tiers of bunks and were snug, dry, warm and light for the winter.
Some proud company that rode back to the front, feeling grateful to the
engineers.
It was zero weather when they went south just before Thanksgiving to
help build blockhouses and hospitals, Y. M. C. A. and so forth, on the
Railroad. Christmas found them at Obozerskaya holding mass in a Y. M.
C. A. to usher in the day. In January this Company “B” exchanged places
with “A” Company 310th Engineers, who had been further forward on the
railroad. There they constructed for Major Nichols the fine dugouts and
the heavy log blockhouses which were to defy the winter’s end drive and
the spring shelling of the Bolsheviki. On January 19th and 20th they
found themselves under shell fire but suffered no casualties.
In the latter part of February this “B” Company of Engineers responded
to the great needs for new defenses on the Vaga front, travelling by
way of Kholmogorskaya, Yemetskoe and Beresnik to reinforce the
hard-working engineers then assisting the hard-pressed doughboys
fighting their bitter retreat action.
They were building defenses at Kurgomin and getting ready for the
opening of the river when Toulgas fell, due to the treachery of the
disaffected Archangel Russian troops. They saw the ice go out of the
Dvina, April 26th, snap shot of which is shown, and witnessed the first
engagement between the British boat fleet and the Red fleet in May.
The greatest of _camaraderie_ and loyalty were manifested between
engineers of the 310th and doughboys of the 339th. They have been
mentioned repeatedly in the narrative of battles and engagements. From
the official report of Lt.-Col. P. S. Morris, who commanded the 310th
Engineer Detachment in North Russia, we present the following facts of
interest:
The 310th Engineers arrived in England, August 3rd, 1918. The First
Battalion, under Major P. S. Morris, was detached from the regiment by
verbal order of Major-General Biddle immediately upon arrival to
Cowshot Camp, Surrey, England, where we were equipped for the
expedition. We remained under canvas until August 26th, 1918, at which
time we entrained for Newcastle, England. On August 27th, the entire
command left England on board H. M. S. “Tydeus.” The mess and quarters
were clean and the food was good. The health of the men was
exceptional, as none of the men contracted influenza which was very
prevalent on the other three ships of the convoy. We anchored at
Archangel on September 4th, 1918. and debarked on September 7th.
When detached from the 310th Engineers the entire Headquarters
detachment was taken with the Second Battalion, leaving this battalion
without a non-com staff for headquarters; even the Battalion
Sergeant-Major was taken, as we were told there was no place in the
table of organization for a battalion sergeant-major when the battalion
is acting separately. No extra officers were furnished us. Upon our
arrival it was found necessary to open an Engineer depot. Capt. William
Knight, Battalion Adjutant, was put in charge. Lieut. R. C. Johnson,
Company “C,” was detached from his company and assigned to duty as
Regimental Adjutant, Topographical Officer and Personnel Adjutant.
Lieut. M. K. Whyte, Company “B,” was assigned as Supply and
Transportation Officer. As the Northern Russian Expedition covers a
front of approximately five hundred miles and the 310th Engineers were
the only engineering troops with the expedition, the shortage of
officers was a very great handicap. It was necessary to put sergeants
first-class and sergeants in charge of sectors, with what engineers
personnel could be spared. The shortage of officers was not relieved
until April 17th, 1919, when six engineer officers reported.
All the engineering equipment went straight to France. We were
re-equipped in England with English Field Company tools. The English
table of organization does not include mapping or reconnaissance
supplies, which were purchased in small quantities in London.
Upon arrival, the battalion was placed under the direction of
Lieut.-Col. R. G. S. Stokes, C. R. E., Allied Forces, North Russia, for
Engineer operations and distributions of personnel. We remained under
command of Col. Stewart, 339th Infantry, senior American officer, for
all administrative matters.
There were very few engineers here at the time of our arrival and an
immense amount of work to be done at the base besides furnishing
engineer personnel for the forward forces in operation at the time. It
was decided to place one company at the front and the two companies at
the base until some of the important base work could be finished. “A”
Company was then ordered to the front and “B” and “C” Companies
remained at the Base. “B” Company at Bakaritza and “C” Company at
Solombola.
On our arrival the forward forces consisted of three main columns or
forces known as “A” force, operating on the Archangel-Vologda Railroad,
with Obozerskaya as a base; “C” force, operating on the Dvina and Vaga
Rivers, with Beresnik as a base; and “D” force, with Seletskoe as a
base. It was necessary to attach engineers to each of these forces; so
one platoon of “A” Company, commanded by an officer, joined “A” force;
one sergeant and ten men joined “D” force, and the remainder of “A”
Company consisting of five officers and approximately one hundred
eighty men joined “C” force, where they were divided into small
detachments with each operating force.
The base work consisted mainly of construction of warehouses and
billets and operation of sawmills, street car systems, water works and
power plants. This work was divided among “B” and “C” Companies.
Later in the fall it became necessary to have two more columns in the
field, one on the Onega River with Onega as a base and one on the
Pinega River with Pinega as a base. By the time this became necessary,
the rush on base work was over and “B” Company was moved forward,
having one detachment of one sergeant and twelve men with “D” force and
one platoon with Onega River Column. The remainder of the company was
doing construction and fortification work on the lines of communication
along the railroad and roads to flanking forces.
In spite of our shortage of personnel and equipment, the morale of the
engineers has been the highest. They have gone about their work in a
most soldier-like manner and have shown extreme gallantry in the
actions in which they have participated.
The engineers were found on every front, as well as at Archangel, the
various sub-bases, the force headquarters of the various columns, and
also were found in winter at work on second and third line defenses.
They often worked under fire as the narrative has indicated. At night
they performed feats of engineering skill. Never was a job that
appalled or stumped them. They generally had the active and willing
assistance of the doughboys in doing the rough work with axe and shovel
and wire. The writers themselves have killed many a tedious hour out
helping doughboy and engineer chop fire lanes and otherwise clear land
for the field of fire.
Here is Colonel Morris’ summary of the engineer work done. This
includes much but not all of the doughboy engineering also. One thing
the engineers, doughboys and medics did do in North Russia was to
demonstrate American industry:
Blockhouses (some of logs and some of lumber) 316
Machine gun emplacements 273
Dugouts 167
Double Apron Wire 266,170 yards
Knife Rests (wire entanglement) 2,250 yards
Concertinas (wire entanglement) 485
Barricades (some of earth, some logs) 46
Billets (mostly of lumber) 151
Standard Huts (of lumber) 42
Latrines 114
Washhouses (of lumber) 33
Warehouses (of lumber) 30
Stables (of lumber) 14
Clearing (fire lanes and field of fire) 1,170 acres
Railroad Cars (lined and remodelled) 257
Rafts 12
Bridges (of lumber and of logs) 4,500 lineal feet
Roads 11,000 lineal yards
Trenches 14,210 yards
Topography—total copies of maps and designs 109,145
Topography—plane table road traverses 1,200 miles
In connection with their mapping work engineers took many pictures,
several of which are included in this volume. All the mapping work of
the expedition was done by the American engineers. See the one in this
volume.
The longest bridge constructed was the 280-foot wooden bridge which
spanned the Emtsa River. At Verst 445, close to No Man’s Land, a
sixty-foot crib bridge was constructed by Lieut. W. C. Giffels. This
work was completed in two nights and was entirely finished before the
enemy knew that an advance was anticipated. Not a single spike or bolt
was driven on the job. Railway spikes were driven into the ties behind
our own lines and ties carried up and placed. Finally the rails were
forced in under the heads of the spikes and were permanently fastened.