Spasskoye was the main base for troops along the Ussuri line of the Trans-Siberian. Actually the troops were about two miles from Spasskoye in Yerfgenyefka, which was not on the railroad, but the camp became known officially and unofficially as Spasskoye, a much easier name to deal with. The first to arrive were Companies F and G of the Thirty-first Infantry; in November the First Battalion of the Twenty-seventh Infantry was dispatched from Khabarovsk to provide men to staff the various areas between Ussuri and Nikolsk.39 They were housed in old Russian barracks built originally for Russian Army Siberian troops. After much cleaning, the barracks became very livable. Other similar buildings were quarters for Russian and Japanese troops sharing the Allied responsibilities with the Americans. The Russians were aviators from a nearby Russian airbase and a few engineers. The regimental history of the Thirty-first Infantry recorded that the Russians and Americans got along well in the early days. “However, in the late spring and in the summer of 1919 this relationship changed.”40
Throughout the expedition, troops were frequently moved from one station to another. Sviyagino, not far from a railroad tunnel, was typical of the towns that housed American units. A normal small village, reached virtually only by train, it was described by one doughboy: “35 miles from nowhere, or introducing Sviyagino, an unknown spot in Siberia located on the railroad about 35 versts north of the end of the earth (called Spasskoye by the Ruskies).”41
Shmakovka, much farther up the line, was home for a short time to Lt. Sylvian Kindall, who became a rather outspoken critic of the Japanese allies. One of his complaints was that the Japanese sanitary conditions were disgusting:
The Japanese across the railroad from our camp were even more careless than the Russians about the requirements of nature, using the open ground in plain view of everybody with no more shame about themselves than a herd of swine. Whenever a breeze blew from the direction of their camp, sheets of crumpled toilet paper, like a flock of white butterflies, would come flying over into our area.42
He also noted the bathroom facilities at the train stations on the main line left much to be desired. Most stations had two-seater accommodations in the stationhouses, described by Kindall as “limited to two bellyaches at one time.” Whenever a train stopped, there was a race to those two-seaters; the losers were forced to ease their discomfort in the open ground behind the station. “Privacy here, the same as privacy at the bathing places along the Ussuri River, depended largely on how well the other person kept his head turned.”43 The village was peaceful enough, with some entertainment locally provided. One Chinese magician baffled the doughboys by pulling a live snake out of his nose!
It was here that Kindall visited a true Cossack village, one that provided warriors loyal to the Whites. He was impressed by their dignity and pride, unlike the Semenov/Kalmykof variety of Cossack. While Kindall was in Shmakovka, the Kalmykof Cossacks rode into town on an armored train. They jumped down from their cars, went to the station market, and grabbed food and bread from the old ladies tending their stalls. Without any pretense of paying, they then marched off to a Chinese moneylender, who was changing American dollars for rubles. Since they forbade exchanging money of any kind, the Cossack officer grabbed the Chinese man, took out his saber, and cut off part of the man’s nose, slashed the rest of his face and lip, and took his money. Then, they threw him in their boxcar and prepared to leave. Kindall drew his pistol, jumped on the car, and rescued the old man, then found the Cossack officer and dragged him across the station so he could return the stolen money.44 It was a vivid demonstration of Kalmykof’s callous treatment of his fellow Russians, with a little taste of American justice.
All through Siberia, roads were merely paths unable to support the expedition’s vehicles, so the train was vital for bringing supplies from the south to the troops along the railroad. In the beginning, the villagers were friendly and life was bearable. Some men were quartered in tents, others in local houses, but many lived in boxcars that had been taken off the rails, stripped of their wheels, and insulated by ingenious methods to prepare for winter’s subzero temperatures. These quarters were much like the boxcars used in North Russia, lacking only mobility.
In Khabarovsk, the Japanese Twelfth Division was housed in barracks similar to those of the doughboys, although they remained aloof from the Americans. Khabarovsk in the past had been part of a garrison along the Chinese border, which was only a short distance from the city, and had housed various Tsarist units in bygone days. As the Allied troops wintered there, the drill fields rang with the various units honing their skills: machine gun practice, close-order drill, bayonet practice, and even mounted Cossacks with their saber charges across the drill fields. North of the city, Japanese gunboats plied the Amur River between the river’s mouth at Nikolaevsk and Khabarovsk, providing cover for Japanese troops north of Khabarovsk, who were driving out the few Bolshevik units still causing problems.45
Desertion was a periodic problem. Desertion would seem an unattractive alternative given the language barrier, climate, ongoing revolution, and the different lifestyle of the Russians, but official records indicate that fifty U.S. soldiers deserted during the expedition.46 Many of the expedition members were native-born Russians, chosen for the Intervention force for that very reason. None of the defections was more devastating to American units than the desertion of Anton Karachun. Karachun, a coal miner from Minsk, Russia, emigrated to the United States in 1914 and enlisted in the army in 1917. At Camp Fremont he was selected for the Siberian expedition because of his fluency in Russian. His first assignment was as a censor in the post office in Vladivostok, where he became friendly with a number of Russians, mostly of the Bolshevik persuasion. After he began to distribute their Red literature against Army policy, he was transferred to the Suchan Mine area as a gunner with Machine Gun Company K of the Thirty-first Infantry. It was from his post at the Suchan that Karachun deserted to play a significant role in the tragic days ahead.
The winter was a cold but quiet one for most of the men stationed in the various cities along the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Spring was just around the corner, however, and spring would change everything.
21
Spring Comes to Siberia
The Siberian railroads belong to the Russian working people, not to the Kolchak Gvoernment, [sic] which usurped the people’s power and will on the territory of Siberia and which is not recognized by anyone.
—Partizan Detachment of Olga County
WITH spring came the first open acts of aggression against the Allies. Initially, they consisted of sniping at the railroad trains, a result of the strong feelings that the Russian people were expressing against almost everything. It was not necessarily a pro-Bolshevik emotion that galvanized them, but an anti–everything else sentiment. They hated the tsar, they hated Kolchak, they hated the Cossacks Semenov and Kalmykof, they hated the Japanese, and now they hated the Americans. Those emotions peaked in the late spring, bringing confrontations and hostility to the troops of the AEFS. This feeling was encouraged by the anti-American sentiments that prevailed in Japanese newspapers.
A significant event in the spring of 1919 was the signing of the Railroad Agreement by representatives of the various Allied forces. This agreement was signed in March and implemented in April.1 The document made “Russians” the chairman of the Inter-Allied Committee, and all railway heads were to be “Russian.” According to Graves, these various officials were rapidly appointed by Kolchak; thus, most of the railway employees were strong supporters of the Omsk government.2
The agreement also required that various sections of the railroad be guarded by military forces, separate and distinct from the railroad operators. The assignments split the two routes, the Chinese-Eastern and the Trans-Siberian, into several areas of responsibility. Both the British and French announced that they would not have any troops available for such guard duty.3
The United States was assigned to guard the following:
1. Vladivostok to Ni
kolsk including the Suchan Mine line—a total of 144 miles
2. Spasskoye exclusive to Ussuri inclusive—70 miles
3. Verkhne-Udinsk to Baikal City (later changed to Mysovaya)—316 miles
Japan would be responsible for:
1. Nikolsk to Spasskoye, both inclusive—81 miles
2. Guberovo exclusive to Verkhne-Udinsk exclusive and from Manchuria Station to Karymaskaya—2,220 miles
China would be responsible for:
1. Ussuri, exclusive, to Manchuria Station inclusive, including the line to Chanchun—1,225 miles
The Russians were given the road between Mysovaya and Baikal City, and the Czechs the roads west of Baikal. It was hoped that the agreement would end the frustrations and inactivity of the members of the RRSC, as they would be empowered to play a more important role in railroad affairs. This turned out to be an empty hope; the Kolchak government and the White military continued to stymie the efforts of this dedicated group of experts.
The railroads, even when maintained by well-trained American railroaders, remained in a state of chaos and disrepair. In part it was pure politics, with Japanese, Russians, and Americans disagreeing on almost everything. In addition, partisan raids were stepped up during the springtime, wreaking havoc on the already mangled railroad.
The Americans assigned to the Baikal area arrived to find Russian troops already there, and intending to stay. Graves protested to the Omsk government; that body, after considerable procrastination, admitted that a mistake had been made, apologized, and allowed the Americans to take their proper places. On the Manchurian line, the Chinese had responsibility for the largest section, but shortly after they arrived, the Japanese dropped off troops in almost every Chinese installation, citing their need to build and maintain a telegraph line.4 The records are full of protests, explanations, and apologies, all diplomatically worded, but having few positive results for those trying to maintain the railroads.
The railroads had been increasingly monopolized by the two Cossack brigands, Semenov and Kalmykof. They acquired a number of armored trains, which bristled with weapons and were protected by sandbags, or in some cases, actual armor plating. These trains roamed the countryside virtually uncontrolled in the spring and summer months. In these trains, they housed their troops, entertained them with captured prisoners, held court, and in some cases actually carried out their sentences. Since both Cossack groups were supported by the Japanese, many of the complaints filed by Russians and Americans were directed toward the Japanese, who maintained they had little control over the horsemen and could do nothing. In some cases, the Cossacks expressed their contempt for Americans by driving their armored trains through American sections and throwing dead horses into the doughboy’s camps near the railroad.5
The Railroad Agreement had one positive effect: the Americans now had a specific assignment, rather than the vague goals that had never really been fully understood or accepted. Unfortunately, the Americans were now guarding a railroad that was used exclusively by the White forces. The armored trains of the Cossacks and the movement of military goods were all destined to help Kolchak; there was never any pretense that the railroads could be used by the Bolsheviks. So even the appearance of noninterference was eroding. General Graves, although unhappy with the agreement, tried to explain the new U.S. role in a proclamation issued on April 21, 1919, just days after the agreement was put into effect.
TO THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE
Whereas, under existing disturbed and distressed conditions in Russia, it appears of general benefit and to the equal advantage of the Russian people, irrespective of political connections or belief, to insure the safe, prompt and regular movement of freight and passengers over the railroads in Siberia, and,
Whereas, for such desired accomplishment, agreement has been made between the Allied Powers having military forces in Siberia, including Russia, for the safe-guarding of the operation of the railroads by means of troops within the territory in which Allied military forces are now at work, and,
Whereas, pursuant to such agreement, the railway from Vladivostok, exclusive, to Nikolsk, exclusive, and including the branch line from Ugolnia to and including Souchan mines; from Spasskoye, exclusive, to Ussuri, inclusive, and from Verkhne-Udinsk to Baikal City, both inclusive, has been placed under the protection of troops of the United States of America.
Now, therefore, the Russian people are notified and advised, that in the performance of such duty, the sole object and purpose of the armed forces of the United States of America, on guard between the points above stated, is to protect the railroad and railway property and insure the operation of passenger and freight trains through such sector without obstruction or interruption. Our aim is to be of real assistance to all Russia protecting necessary traffic movements with the sectors on the railroad assigned to us to safeguard. All will be equally benefited, and all shall be treated alike by our forces irrespective of persons, nationality, religion or politics. Cooperation is requested and warning given to all persons whomsoever, that interference with traffic will not be tolerated.6
The Russians saw through the pretense of equal treatment. In a memo to Graves in May, the Olga County partisans praised the United States for its concerns for the Russian people, but they made their real feelings plain:
The Siberian railroads belong to the Russian working people, not to the Kolchak Gvoernment, [sic] which usurped the people’s power and will on the territory of Siberia and which is not recognized by anyone. This certainly is known to the American Government.
In spite of this the latter reckons with the Government of Kolchak as if it were the Russian authority, makes different agreements with him, among them the guarding of the Siberian railways. It is necessary to call attention to the fact that the working population of Siberia, including the population of Olga County in whose name we are speaking, does not recognize any of the above-mentioned agreements, and will act as the interests and demands of the revolution move them.7
The proclamation ended with a pledge of full noninterference with railway traffic as long as the railroads were truly accessible to all Russians. The partisans made it plain that they would like to believe in the sincerity of Graves’s words, but the actions of the Allies in their obvious support of Kolchak “makes us, to our regret, disbelieve.” The message from Olga County in the Suchan area seemed to speak for all Siberia. It was a remarkable document that rationally put forth the very dilemma that the United States had tried to avoid.
Fulfilling the requirements of the Railroad Agreement meant shifting troops farther west than any American troops had been previously. The first deployment sent parts of the Twenty-seventh Infantry to cover the section between Verkhne-Udinsk and Mysovaya on Lake Baikal. Orders came from Vladivostok for the Third Battalion to take up station on the Baikal route; they joined Companies A and B, which had been sent there in March, before the agreement was signed. Regimental headquarters and the medical staff went with the Third Battalion to Verkhne-Udinsk, where Colonel Morrow established his new center of operation.8 Shortly afterward, the Second Battalion was ordered to Spasskoye’s railroad territory, joining Companies C and D, leaving Khabarovsk to the Russians and the Japanese. As the companies moved to their headquarters area, they were soon split into smaller units and sent out to safeguard the railroads against any intruders. One of the little villages became home to a platoon of Company M. Pvt. Pat O’Dea found it a place of peace and beauty:
Many of the men did not know it when they were there but later when they were home again they missed that beautiful north country. Its beauty and difference crept into their being without them even being aware of it at the time. You would see it and feel it all around you and you would still not know what it was. It was something that just took hold of you. I remember the moonlight too. It was so bright at midnight we could read a newspaper outside our barracks. . . .
I used to get up sometimes at night and watch out the window of the barracks just to see that clear b
eautiful moonlight night and ponder at the mystery of all the peace. Perhaps I would hear a few distant wolves howl but that would be all—not another sound.9
But not all was so peaceful in the sector. The armored trains of Ataman Gregorii Semenov, known as Broneviks, had rolled virtually unchecked through that territory until the Twenty-seventh Infantry arrived. Americans had witnessed with disgust the atrocities of Kalmykof in the Ussuri area, but his brutality was equaled by the wholesale slaughter accomplished by Semenov. Semenov was not a favorite of Admiral Kolchak when he took over in November of 1918, but Semenov’s control of a number of anti-Bolshevik troops became increasingly important. As recently as January, Kolchak had declared Semenov a traitor and ordered his arrest, but in May he revoked that order and made him a corps commander in the White Army.10 Reports indicated that Semenov’s promotion was entirely the result of Japanese pressure, the Japanese being the force behind both Cossack leaders.11
On May 22, Private Karas of Company K, serving with the Military Police, shot and killed Corporal Kyakoff of Semenov’s command while attempting to stop a drunken rampage by the Cossack, an act that increased friction between Cossacks and Americans. “Full and complete investigation fully exonerated Private Karas,” according to Colonel Morrow.12
In May, Semenov created more tension by demanding a railroad car from Captain Gilliland of the RRSC. Semenov’s demand was denied, and a guard was assigned to the car. The next day, however, Gilliland released the car. On June 1, a detachment of Russian engineers (6 officers and 105 soldiers) was en route to the front at Perm under orders from Kolchak himself, when its train was stopped by Semenov. “All members of the Engineer Company except those who escaped, were arrested. About 34 of them were forced to serve on the armored train, the whereabouts of the others is not known.”13
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