The month of September 1918 brought the war home to Archangel, as the funerals for the flu victims filled the city with the sound of dirges. Eugenie Fraser wrote, “Daily throughout the summer, the funeral processions were seen winding along the Troitsky Prospekt on their way to the cemetery. We got to know the sad refrain of the funeral march, the solemn beat of the drum.”21 Many of the men in the Second Battalion remembered those days, too. “September 19—Big funeral we buried twenty-seven men,” wrote Fred Krooyers of Company E in his journal.22 Donald Carey wrote of the physical discomfort of the funeral process. He was recovering from the flu himself when he and other members of Company E were detailed to follow the caskets on a long march to the burial ground. He went on:
We finally began one hell of a march. I thought it would never end. With the caskets in the lead, followed by the regimental band, we traversed the length of Archangel. Far to the north of the city we entered a cemetery where Private Harold Maybaum and Private John Bigelow of Company E, and seven others were buried with full military honors.23
In October the flu epidemic stopped for the Americans as suddenly as it had begun; there were no American flu deaths in Archangel after October. The Russian peasants living in the villages outside Archangel had their own epidemic, which began in November.24 American doctors organized Russian medical help and assisted the stricken Russian peasants as the epidemic began.
Several American units were permanently based in Archangel, including the regimental supply company, as well as the regimental headquarters. The 310th Engineers had two companies in the area; they were kept busy constructing barracks, mess halls, laundries, recreational buildings, and hospitals. The supply company, however, prospered at the expense of the front-line troops. Shortly after arrival, they set up a thriving business—the sale of American military supplies by some members of the supply unit to anyone who had money. They ransacked barracks bags held in Archangel for delivery to units on the various fronts, selling any items of value. General Richardson’s July 23, 1919, supplemental report included a strong condemnation of some members of the supply company, including its officers, who were trafficking in stolen U.S. material and making themselves wealthy men. Several investigations were conducted, but the only concrete evidence of the activity was the large sums of money being sent home by members of the company. Richardson said:
If Colonel Stewart had had with him a capable and energetic officer as Inspector, this condition could have been dealt with properly long before it reached the proportions to which it evidently grew before the end of the winter; or, in my opinion, Colonel Stewart himself, could have, by proper initiative, prevented its continuance. It is this fact that makes it impossible for me to recommend Colonel Stewart for an award for meritorious service in this Northern Russian Campaign, to which, in my judgment, he would otherwise be entitled.25
The only battle casualty suffered by the supply company was Wagoner Carl Berger, who was decapitated by a shell at Visorka Gora while trying to deliver much-needed supplies. Numbers of comments were made by men at the front about the lack of concern for their welfare by officers and supply people in Archangel. One officer, Maj. J. Brooks Nichols, stood out as a protector of his men, who otherwise might have suffered more casualties and hardship. He was heralded as one of the senior officers who would not proceed under orders that seemed to have no logic. After he took over the Third Battalion, he rejected several of the more objectionable orders of the British and found ways to obtain supplies that other front-line forces lacked for his battalion.26
The replacement of inept Maj. Charles Young by Major Nichols was a sound tactical move, but Young was then assigned to Archangel, where he continued to trouble the infantrymen of the 339th. As Second Battalion commander, he was given responsibility for courts-martial; this apparently was a responsibility he relished. Of the numerous courts-martial that took place over the nine months of the expedition, two are of particular interest.
Pvt. Julius Stalinski was a twenty-three-year-old Polish immigrant drafted in early 1918 and later assigned to Company I, 339th Infantry. While at Camp Custer, he became Major Young’s “dog robber,” or personal valet. The major was an ex–first sergeant in the regular army, recently commissioned; a rigid disciplinarian, he was very hard on men in his command. He apparently was dissatisfied by Private Stalinski’s work, complaining one time about his unpolished boots. He was so annoyed with Stalinski that he pulled a gun and threatened to shoot the private unless he improved. This scared the poor soldier so much, he reported the episode to his executive officer, Lt. Albert May. May told him it was just Young’s way of impressing Stalinski as to the importance of his work and to forget it. Some days later, Stalinski received a letter from his mother pleading with him to come home because she was sick. Camp Custer was not far from his mother’s home in Hamtramack, so he applied for and was granted a three-day pass by Lieutenant May. He never returned from his pass.
After the regiment arrived in England, several of Company I’s men were detailed to London to escort another soldier to the hospital. While they were in Piccadilly, they spotted Stalinski in a Canadian Army uniform and brought him back to camp to face Lieutenant May. During his questioning, Stalinski told the lieutenant that Major Young had threatened him again, pulling a gun on him, and the soldier was convinced Young was going to kill him. He said he had no idea of deserting when he left Camp Custer, but was afraid to return. So he crossed the Canadian border at Detroit and enlisted in a Canadian infantry regiment. May refused to press charges since Stalinski had been in action with the Canadians against the Germans in France, but Young insisted.
Stalinski was held in custody and brought before a court-martial on December 5, 1918, and charged with desertion.27 He asked for May to defend him, and May agreed, but the request was denied. May wrote a full explanation of the matter for the court, but it had no effect. Stalinski pled not guilty, but was convicted and sentenced to eighteen months hard labor at Fort Leavenworth and dishonorably discharged. The story later had a happy ending, when Stalinski met May at the gangplank in New York on June 30, 1919, as May debarked on his way home. Stalinski told May that the sentence had been reversed; he was released from Leavenworth, his back pay was reinstated, and an honorable discharge replaced his dishonorable one.28
The second unusual court-martial was that of Pvt. Henry Jones, Company E, also held on December 5, 1918. Jones was charged with the murder of Cpl. Martin John Campbell, Company E, 339th Infantry. Jones pled not guilty, but the court found him guilty. He was sentenced to confinement and hard labor at Fort Leavenworth for the rest of his natural life.29 The case was not as clear-cut as it seemed. Jones, from Trail City, South Dakota, was depressed by the recent loss of his ranch. He had decided to end it all by shooting himself. He loaded his rifle and put the trigger on a nail; he planned to place himself at the muzzle, yank the rifle, and end his unhappy life. Unfortunately, before he could get himself in position, the rifle fired; the bullet passed through his sleeve, hitting Campbell who was lying on the bunk under him. Campbell, who had recently returned from the hospital at Smolny after recovering from the flu, died shortly after the shooting.30 Later, a member of Company F painted another picture of Jones. “I happened to draw Pvt Jones of E Company regarded as the most formidable inmate. He had a scar on the right side of his mouth like a knife slash. . . . We got along beautifully, though.”31
Officers were court-martialed as well, although not many. Capt. Louis Coleman of the 339th was tried and convicted for selling 840 pounds of flour illegally, as well as for “having a Russian woman occupying the same room with him for several days, to the scandal and disgrace of the military service.” The sentence, a dishonorable discharge, was reviewed and approved by General Pershing.32
There were many other courts-martial as well, in part due to the zealousness of Major Young. There were several trials for self-inflicted wounds, mainly a result of the deteriorating morale and the bleakness of the winter. It became so common th
at a special board was convened by Colonel Stewart to determine whether wounds that were suspicious were accidental or willfully self-inflicted. The board reported on January 17, 1919, that the wounds of twenty-six men indicated that they might have been self-inflicted. The board determined that nine of the men investigated were wounded by the enemy or by accident; seven confessed to wounding themselves; five were found guilty of the act, based on circumstantial evidence; and five were confirmed to have wounded themselves, but not necessarily willfully.33
As late as May two cases remained open, but both soldiers had been returned to their units. The board was not a court-martial, but it did refer those appearing guilty to special courts-martial, where they were judged, and if found guilty, sentenced. Sentences were fairly standard: forfeiture of pay, reduction in rank (if possible), and four to six months’ hard labor.34 One doughboy wrote of his experience:
December 14, 1918
Food at Selesco was poor and I, Pvt George Paulsen was always hungry. The time came to advance so we marched all day, about thirty versts with six hard tacks and one can of corned beef each. When we camped that night I was hungry and tired and I guess all the men were. I stood guard on outpost that night and got some rest but couldn’t sleep because it rained all night and a dry spot couldn’t be found. The next day we marched to the riverbank and opened fire on the Bolshevicki. I lay down in a patch of moss and stayed there for twelve hours, hungry cold and tired and I hadn’t had a smoke in two days. During a lull in the battle the thought of home came with all its cheerfulness and the warm bed I used to lay in and while in that mood I wished I could go back for something to eat and a rest and under the impulse of the moment I wounded myself.
I realized I was doing something wrong but the thought of clearing myself seemed so easy that before I thought of the consequences, the deed had been done.35
Paulsen turned himself in, but the surgeon reported that his wound “will not interfere with firing of rifle or carrying same.” That apparently was enough to keep him off the self-inflicted wound (SIW) list submitted to Colonel Stewart. On the Vaga front, Lt. Henry Katz of the Medical Corps reported on January 29 that he had treated six cases of self-inflicted wounds. “Some seemed intentional.”36
There were also many other types of courts-martial: summary, special, and even general, for all kinds of misconduct. Being AWOL, drunken- and disorderliness, and failure to obey a superior were typical of the myriad offenses that occur with military forces in overseas locations. There were no recorded executions of Americans, British, or French; although the mutineers of the Yorkshire Regiment were sentenced to be shot, that sentence was commuted by General Ironside. The Russians were a different story. On October 18, one of the engineers noted in his diary that seventeen Bolshevik prisoners were shot that day.37 Russian executions on both sides were numerous even during the Allied occupation.
Major Young provided other curious programs that proved to the men that he was slightly paranoid about the possibility of danger. In the spring, as the Reds made their aggressive move on Bolshe-Ozerkiye, he became convinced that there were hordes of secret agents and enemy sympathizers in Archangel; he set about issuing a series of orders and required numerous drills to prepare for the anticipated uprising. His complex and detailed instructions in case of riot or civil disobedience were used to drill the doughboys, even those just in from the front. The units coming into the city were almost glad to get back to the more stable fronts, where there was at least some logic to the actions taken.38
There were numerous unique characters that appeared and disappeared during the Intervention period. One of the most intriguing was Mme. Maria Botchkareva, formerly commanding officer of the Women’s Battalion of Death, who appeared for a short time, dressed as a Russian army officer. She had recently arrived from the United States, where she had lectured on the Russian Revolution, and was returning to offer her services to the Archangel Government. General Ironside felt sorry for her, but sent her to General Marousheffsky, then the commander of North Russian White forces. Marousheffsky had no empathy for the lady, saying:
I only consider it my duty to declare, within the limits of the northern region, thank God, the time has already come for quiet creative work, and I consider that the summoning of women for military duties, which are not appropriate for their sex, would be a heavy reproach and a disgraceful stain on the whole population of the northern region.39
Botchkareva had already been wounded twice on the eastern front and was penniless, but the general stripped her of all rank and army privileges, and she disappeared from the Archangel scene.
Many of the clashes between the British and the other Allies seemed to stem from the attitude demonstrated by General Poole. He was a typical British colonial military officer, accustomed to the role of the British in their colonies where the military ruled over all; he tended to view anything with which he disagreed as a threat. Finally, the word reached London that Poole was endangering any hope of military or political success by his high-handed actions. His decisions to send his small force in so many directions so many miles from their base was fraught with hazard, and the units were in increasing danger. The farther the two main forces went south, the more they were separated, and communications became almost impossible between fronts. Finally, the Chaplin coup was the last straw.40 Francis, even though he had fully agreed with Poole’s original expeditions, realized that Poole was destroying much of the Intervention’s effectiveness and requested that the State Department suggest that American troops be placed under a separate command.
That request stirred London enough to begin a search for Poole’s replacement. They soon found one in General Ironside.41 He arrived on September 30 to be greeted by Poole, who was not at all certain why the War Office would be sending another general officer to Archangel. However, he told Ironside it was fine timing since he was planning to take leave and return to England on October 14.
With the arrival of General Ironside, relations became better among the Allies, but the rift would never be completely healed. Ironside came across as a more tolerant superior, willing to listen to the problems of all his Allied forces. He also recognized the exposure of his various troops, isolated in the midst of a country where the populace might be for or against the Allies. And he was visible; he visited the various fronts personally, talking to the men and their commanders, and listening to their complaints. He was very critical of American forces at first, but soon felt they had warmed to the job at hand and were performing well. His arrival was welcomed by most American officers, who felt that he was a more understanding military officer than his predecessor. Poole never did return from his leave; early in November, Ironside was officially named commander in chief of all Allied forces in North Russia. Poole had been a poor choice for such a force, and Ironside tried to make amends. Ambassador Francis said of Poole that the British had bullied Hindus for so long it was hard for them to put up with Socialists.42
One of the new general’s first concerns was mutiny in the ranks. It was a problem that would plague the expedition until its final days. Shortly after his appointment as commander in chief, on October 29, he was to review Russian troops in Archangel. When the Russian officers ordered the men to fall in, they flatly refused. They thought that Americans and British had better food and resented having to salute officers, since this was a democratic army. Russian officials and officers scurried around for two days and finally flew in two loyal Russian colonels from the Dvina front, who curtly ordered the men to parade; they sheepishly performed for the British general.
The next incident was much more serious. On December 11 at 11:30 A.M., the Headquarters Company of the 339th was notified of another Russian mutiny. At 1:30 P.M. Colonel Sutherland ordered Headquarters Company to surround the Alexandra Novsky barracks, quarters for the British-led SBAL regiment, and prepare to fire on the Russians, who were shooting indiscriminately from the barracks windows. At 2:00 P.M. the order came to open fire with the company’
s three trench mortars and two of their Lewis guns. After fifteen minutes, the mutineers raised a white flag and came out of the barracks. They were guarded by the Americans until the British arrived.43 The doughboys were unhappy that they had to enforce discipline on troops trained and outfitted by the British.
A few minutes later to the immense disgust of the doughboys, a company of English Tommies who by all rules of right and reason should have been the ones to clean up the mutinous mess into which the British officers had gotten the S.B.A.L.’s, now hove into sight . . . singing their insulting version of “Over There the Yanks are Running, Running, Everywhere.”44
Ironside, however, remembered things differently. He wrote in 1953 that the machine guns and mortars were manned by Russians. He states specifically that no Allied troops were involved in the affair and that only Russians fired on the mutineers.45 Other reports seem to belie that version. Also disputed was the fate of the ringleaders of the abortive attempt. Colonel Stewart affirmed, in Taylor’s “Report of Engagement,” that thirteen ringleaders were executed immediately for their part in leading the revolt. Several other versions refer to the executions, carried out by Russian riflemen, but Ironside insists he commuted the sentences and sent the thirteen across to Bolshevik lines.46 There were numerous other executions that took place in Archangel, according to Naval Intelligence:
There have been in Archangel, since occupation by the Allies, 56 executions by shooting, of which 17 have been irregular. . . . At the Fighting Fronts there have also been a number, but exact figures are not known. A certain number were inevitable under the conditions, but the total, said to be 270, seems unduly large.47
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