Russian Sideshow

by Robert L Willett

  Eventually, Toornman’s section returned to Pinega where he continued to man his machine gun in the defensive perimeter around Pinega. Although records are sketchy about exact dates, the two platoons of Company G were ordered back to Archangel, leaving the Pinega front to the Russians. A report of U.S. troop disposition for April 17, 1919, indicated the two platoons were then in Archangel.28 The march back was much harder than the boat trip up to Pinega and lacked the rum supplied on the original passage. It was spring, probably April. Much of the march was on the frozen Pinega River, which unfortunately had begun to thaw, leaving a layer of slush and water covering almost all of the river. Toornman said that the men slept in villages at night, marching all day to the next population center.

  The bad part was that not all the villages were on the same side of the river. The river had several feet of water on top of the thick ice. When we had to cross everyone climbed on the heavily loaded sleighs to keep feet and legs dry. The rivers are very wide and the poor horses would be part way across and stop. It would take only a couple of minutes before the wide wooden runners would be frozen to the ice.29

  Then it was “everybody off the sleigh” and back to the soggy river ice and wet feet.

  Toornman’s description of the men of Company G was a pathetic one:

  Some of us looked like tramps—our clothing torn, worn out, or with complete parts missing. Some, like me, wore boots made from reindeer skins. They were up to our knees and warm, bought from Eskimos. Those of us who left Pinega and went upriver where the fighting was never had a good night’s sleep, or one good meal. We were always hungry. We had no time off. If one of us got hit, there were no doctors, no nurses, no hospitals, no baths, no shaving, no haircuts, no candles or any light, no matches, no toilet paper, no newspapers, no clean underwear, no new clothes to replace worn out uniforms, no pay (until we reached France), no drinking water unless we hauled it from the river through a hole in the ice, no bandages, and no mail from home to relieve a gloomy winter that was dark from mid-afternoon until late morning the next day. We put up with all of this for $30.00 a month, less the cost of our insurance.30

  Eventually, the two platoons of Company G arrived in Archangel, set up camp, and did little until it was time for the trip home.

  During the company’s stay in Pinega, a new shipment of machine guns arrived from Archangel, but they were Russian-style and unfamiliar to the gunners of the American unit. Ivan, a young lad who had recently been discharged from the White Russian army for wounds he had received in South Russia, was able to assemble the new weapons and give simple instructions in how they could best be used. Ivan became attached to Company G, complete with uniform, mess kit, helmet, and all the Yankee equipment. When it came time for the company to leave, Ivan marched alongside, looking to all the world like a Yankee doughboy, and stayed with the unit as they camped in Archangel. He was one of many young Russians who came to the aid of the Americans, learned their methods, and made themselves useful in many ways.

  When the Americans of the Pinega Force returned to Archangel after months of duty on the front, they saw an Archangel that was vastly different from the other cities they had visited.

  11

  In Archangel

  But those companies, like in the First and Third Battalions that did get out in the field, they didn’t see much of Archangel.

  —Cleo Coburn

  BEFORE any Americans arrived, Archangel had already seen its share of excitement. In January 1918, the Bolshevik Soviet took complete control of Archangel.1 Although the Murmansk Soviet was friendly toward the Allies, the Archangel Soviet was not.

  Because of the hostile Bolshevik government in Archangel, as the Allied invasion force was leaving Murmansk to occupy Archangel, a coup arranged by George Chaplin was under way to depose the local Soviets and replace them with a new government with Chaikovsky at its head. The coup was highly successful; the Reds fled south on every conceivable type of watercraft, believing the Allied force to be much larger than it was. There was only light firing in the south part of the city on the afternoon of August 2 as the Allied fleet moved toward the city. “By the evening the town was in the hands of a strong underground force. The old national flag was once again fluttering over the town hall.”2

  The consuls of Britain, France, and the United States, who were in Archangel, learned of the invasion when they were arrested by Cossack cavalry, who later claimed it was to protect them from the departing Bolsheviks. The arrest was so sudden that the consuls felt compelled to burn codes and records before being carted off to a detention center. The next day, the U.S. consul wired the State Department, “Between hours August 3, 4 A.M. and August 3 11 A.M. counter revolution completed and Allied consuls freed. August 3, 5 P.M. allied forces entered city unopposed and greeted with blowing whistles, cheers and flowers.”3

  One month later, on September 4, the three ships of the American contingent landed at their respective berths near Archangel, causing a new wave of enthusiasm by the natives of Archangel. As the three battalions of infantry, one of engineers, and their supporting medical troops came ashore, a new confidence swept the city. They were convinced the Allies would drive the Reds from their doors.

  Archangel itself is only one part of the long waterfront of the port. First, there is Economie at the north fork of the Dvina River; then, upriver past Solombola, the river widens substantially; then, there is the city of Archangel. Bakharitza is several miles to the south and west on the opposite side of the river, and the town of Isaaka Gorka is in the southern part of the metropolitan area. First impressions were varied, but several mentioned the sight of the city’s largest cathedral, the Troitski Cathedral, with its impressive five domes. The troops would grow to know the city’s good points and its shortcomings during the approaching winter.

  In the city, thirteen-year-old Eugenie Fraser, a young Scottish-Russian girl, remembered her first sight of the Allied ships.

  They were all there—Russian, British, French, American. They sailed serenely, majestically, one after the other, in perfect formation, against the pink glow of the setting sun. There was a breathless hush followed by tremendous cheering, growing louder as each ship passed before our eyes. . . . Never before had the banks of our river seen such a glorious armada.4

  Chaikovsky’s new government had only been operating a few weeks, but in those weeks, British commanding general Poole made it clear that the new government existed only because of his support, and the British were in control. Then, just one day after the doughboys arrived, Chaplin staged a new coup to make himself head of the government. On the evening of September 5, he gathered a group of ex-Tsarist sympathizers, surrounded the Chaikovsky governing body as it met in Archangel, took them prisoner and marched them off to a waiting ship. They were taken to Solovetski Island, where they were held for several days, as Chaplin, with Poole’s apparent consent, prepared to assume leadership of the local government.

  Ambassador Francis heard about the action the next day in a casual conversation with General Poole, who told him, “There was a revolution here last night.” Francis replied with astonishment, “The Hell you say!”5 He was incensed by the action, and convinced Poole to return the kidnapped government, while Chaplin was led off to exile. To say that the citizens of Archangel were left confused by the bizarre actions would be a considerable understatement.

  Later, according to the American newspaper in Archangel, several Cossack officers were tried for the theft of four million rubles taken during the second coup. The Cossacks had been aligned with the Bolshevik Army before the Allies arrived, but decided to take advantage of the confusion during the coup and the arrival of Allied forces. They seized a safe with the rubles from the war department and planned to join the White forces, but were arrested. Captain Bers and Colonel Potapof were accused of the crime and tried. They were found guilty, but granted leniency, based on ancient Russian law justifying war spoils and the unsettled conditions in the city.6

  As t
he American 339th Infantry landed and was shipped out to the fighting fronts, a strange aura seemed to cloud all the communications between Washington and Archangel. The president wished to avoid interfering in Russian affairs, yet American infantry were already fighting the Red troops. Much of the confusion was caused by U.S. ambassador David Francis. Francis, an avowed anti-Bolshevik, initially sided with General Poole in his aggressive campaign against the Reds. In one communication with Ambassador Francis on September 30, 1918, Secretary of State Lansing repeated the policy of the United States:

  As it is, in the opinion of the Government of the United States, plain that no gathering of any effective force by the Russians is to be hoped for, we shall insist with the other governments so far as our cooperation is concerned that all military efforts in Northern Russia be given up except the guarding of the ports themselves and as much of the country around them as may develop threatening conditions. . . . You are advised that no more American troops will be sent to the Northern ports.7

  As clear as that message was, Ambassador Francis, with an agenda of his own, determined military action could be justified by the vague language describing ports, and, ignoring Stewart, allowed General Poole to send American men on his overly ambitious plan to move south. The ambassador, in his eagerness to fight Bolshevism regardless of his government’s desires, was the strong American voice in Archangel at the time. It was no secret that the British government considered Bolshevism the enemy in Russia, an enemy to be fought whenever and wherever possible.8 To his credit, however, it should be stated that Francis kept Washington informed of the units being sent to the various fronts as the AEF landed, and Washington provided him with little criticism.

  Col. George Stewart’s orders were plain. He was to report and be subject to Allied commander Poole.9 From the arrival in Archangel, American troops would have little contact with their regimental commander, as all orders passed from British headquarters, through British field commanders, to the units in the field.

  Given the circumstances, it was not surprising that friction developed as soon as the doughboys disembarked. The greatest hostility was not against the Russians, but against the British. In addition, General Poole had already alienated many of his Russian subjects. Although the Chaikovsky government was in place, Poole made sure everyone knew it was the British who ruled. The simple subject of flags became an item of contention; Poole refused to let the Russians fly their flags and replaced them with British flags. The Americans would have the same problem with their own flags.

  One consistently annoying policy was to promote British officers, often young and inexperienced, to higher ranks in order to make them senior to any other Allied officer. It was claimed that British junior officers carried pips in their pockets, which could be attached at a moment’s notice to establish seniority. The British, it is true, had a much more liberal temporary-rank policy than other Allied forces, but it was established without doubt that the promotion of officers at times depended only on their own whims.

  In a review of the campaign, American general W. P. Richardson, who later commanded the Americans in North Russia, wrote a scathing summary of British policy in Archangel. Among his criticisms was one directed toward the temporary promotion policy. He noted that British officers commanded almost every unit, even the smallest: “To meet this situation, the practice was instituted and has been followed throughout, of appointing officers to temporary rank without pay, apparently to insure the seniority of British Officers in all cases, but perhaps also as a species of reward.”10 The general then illustrated his criticism with a list of several temporary promotions.

  Richardson had further cause for complaint when he visited London on his way to North Russia. A report issued by the British War Office contained a paragraph that said:

  On the 4th of September, the American force (1 Regiment of 3 Battalions and 3 companies of engineers) landed, but as it was composed of almost entirely untrained troops, was not of much value, and the bulk of the fighting still fell on the small numbers of French and British troops, who were consequently unable to make any rapid process.11

  That brought an angry rejection by Richardson, “This comment is a wholly gratituous libel on the American forces and unwarranted by the facts.”12

  Further bitterness developed over rations supplied by the British. Their boring diet consisted of hardtack, meat and vegetables (M&V), and bully beef, or mutton. Stewart, to his credit, complained to both Poole and his seniors in the AEF in Britain, requesting that Americans be allowed their more familiar ration programs. His answers from England were very specific.

  1. The British War Office Have Definitely ordered after consultation with French and U.S. Authorities, that only 2 scales of rations be maintained.

  1 for Western European Troops

  1 for Russian Troops

  2. It is regretted that no alterations can be made as regards this arrangement.13

  Virtually every letter or diary of soldiers on the expedition made reference to the poor quality and quantity of food at the front. The Red Cross and YMCA periodically provided additional food variety in the rear areas, but at the front, where the added food was essential, the British prevailed. As mail began to arrive, packages from home would give some relief from the monotony of the M&V, but mail was often delayed, and in one case, the ship Adventure was sunk with the loss of three hundred sacks of mail.14

  In spite of rather strained relations between the Allies, Archangel was a fascinating city. In the first days of the expedition, Companies E, F, G, and H of the Second Battalion were assigned duties within the Archangel metropolitan area, but soon those units departed for various fronts. On September 15, two platoons of Company H left for Onega and were joined by the rest of the company in October. Two platoons of Company G were sent to Pinega on October 20; Company E went to Isaaka Gorka and then to the railroad front; and Company F was split up and sent on various missions along the Dvina River. There were still plenty of Americans in Archangel, mingling with the various troops from France and England, and occasionally with the jaunty Canadian gunners when they were relieved at the front. It was a colorful sight when the British and Russian officers, dressed in their finest uniforms, strolled down Troitski Prospect to the admiring stares of the young ladies of Archangel.

  Soon after the Second Battalion landed, it was called upon to perform some unique services that called into play some civilian occupations. While Chaplin had the government in custody on Solovetski Island, the workers in Archangel staged a strike in protest against what they viewed as an attempt to establish a pro-tsar government. The trolley cars on Troitski were halted, and both the power station and the water station were shut down. The doughboys were asked to fill in for the missing workmen, which they did with gusto. “American troops manned the cars and by their good nature and patience won the respect and confidence of the populace, excited as it was.”15 It was a lark for the troops, who had been cooped up in camps and on troopships, but the strike was soon over and Archangel settled into a wartime routine.

  One reason for the Second Battalion’s assignment to Archangel was the presence of a group of Bolshevik sailors who had been manning the Soviet ships captured by the British. They were not prisoners, but they were a sullen, unhappy lot as they prowled the streets of Archangel. Many of them had fled south to join the Red forces and proved to be some of the most vicious of Soviet fighters, but those who stayed on seemed to be a constant menace to both Allied soldiers and civilians who accepted Allied rule without complaint.16 The battalion acted as a protective force against possible problems.

  Before the Allies arrived, food and equipment were in short supply. Almost all of the Allied goods stockpiled there for Russia’s war effort had been shipped by the Soviets to Petrograd or Moscow; the little that the city itself stocked for its citizens had been stripped from local shelves as well. While the foreign troops and their officers provided dashing sights and sounds, life was hard for the Russians of the city.
The American and other troops were generous; but the stores were bare of the familiar Russian products. Bartering became the fashion for both the occupied and the occupier. Eugenie Fraser remembered that at Christmastime 1918 there were few presents to buy in local markets, but they had gained much better food supplies through the friendship of two American sergeants.17 These two sergeants she remembered as Sergeant Grey and Sergeant Boverley. She wrote in her memoir, “Life, on the whole, was good that winter. British, Americans, and a sprinkling of French flocked to our house. In return there were invitations to receptions, parties and other functions.”18 Sgt. Charles Grace of Headquarters Company wrote in his papers, “Almost every evening I would go to some Russian home. Now I knew two Russians up there very, very well.” He added that he went frequently to the home of Dr. Papauf, the head of the Russian hospital. “They had a green house they hadn’t used for several years. I had my family send garden seeds in letters. I took them to Mrs. Papauf. She grew lettuce, etc. and gave me some.”19 Dr. Papauf (Popov) was Eugenie’s step-grandfather, Mrs. Papauf was her grandmother, and the garden belonged to the house on the Dvina that was written about with such affection. Sergeant Grace was probably the Sergeant Gray she remembered.

  Some of the men told a slightly different version to Dorothea York, author of The Romance of Company A:

  With the arrival of the transports, the city took on an unnatural gaiety. Teas, luncheons, dinners, dances, followed each other in quick succession. These were not for the men of the lines but for troops permanently stationed at Archangel. The eight hundred English officers who had nothing to do and all winter to do it in, proceeded to enjoy themselves, as did the two thousand batmen who attended them, and what Russian people could afford it. . . . During the long winter, bottles lay in stacks outside the English Officers’ Clubs in Archangel, and within, club members attended to the emptying of such bottles.20