Norwich bulletin., 1919-11-22


 No chapter of American history which deals with the separate oper- ations of Americans in Italy is more fascinating than some of the stories which might be told of the other reg iment of Americans who guarded the northern lights for a winter and wrestling with the jawbrealSing lam guage, while holding off the over whelning forces of bolsheviks, who constantly menaced their flung lines of. communication and threatened at times to drive them out into the White Sea.
 It was my fortune to be in Paris awaiting orders at the time when the last few greetings from Big Bertha were still to be heard, writes Grier M.' Shotwell. Late in July our special orders came and I found myself in the comparly of lieutenant Charles I. Reid with whom I had sailed from New York, scheduled to join the 539th regi- ment of infantry and one battalion of the Sl8th engineers bound for, Rus sia. We two formed the official photo- graphic unit of the American expedi- ton to north Russia.
 The. military campaign failed in it's primary purpose, which was to re- juVenate the old Russian army or ral- ly a.sneW one, and, with 8 small allied army, as a nucleus establish new eastern front. The whole expedition consisted of about 22,OeO men pit fully inadequate force, and it did not take long to show that a new Russian army could not be formed of volunteers. 1 In a region where was hoped that an army of nearly 1eo, 900 could be rais- I ed, less than 5000 volunteered. It was evident that the Russians were not anxious to fight in any army if they could escape military service.
 During the early days of Septem-
 her, 1918, the small allied force was scattered over hundreds of miles oi territory, q military blunder, whicl made ten times greater the difficult ties of the little force during the win ter and spring that followed. Thor came the signing of the armistice Int l Americans at heart felt that their work was done and wished to return
 home. They had gone to Russia to ait
 in establishing new front agains Germany-to fight the Germans. Ther
 was no longer need for that.
 | On arriving in Russia we had ou
 first surprise when our convoy an
 
 Archangel. From what we had hear and imagined, we looked for a scat II tered group of log cabins, half -burie in snow drifts. Every newcomer 1 talked to seemed to have some idle of that sort, and we were all pleas antly surprised at finding some fairl
 large brick buildings, numerou. churches of brick and mortar con , struetions, which with their white paint and gilded domes,, and glide | spires, rise above the red tin roof : of large, well constructed log houses. a There is not space in which to te
 in detail of the winter, the closing (
 the port of Archangel, the arrival ( : the Laplanders from the frozen tun : dras from the north with their score 2 of reindeer teams, and of the man . unusual experiences we had.
 : remained in Russia until after tk e middle of July and experienced tf : brief, hot summer, when the who : population seeks relief in the dirt x Dwina by day and fights mosquits = and flies both by day and night. ,. The middle of last December I s' S out on 8 500-nile trip by sled, wfic : ranks by far the most wonderful of a F the experiences I had in Russia. / ], times my sled travelled in compar
 with other sleds, but more than ha ieo ;tiie distance I covered alone. Ridir Is on a marrow wooden. sled with broa s runners of a type that had been use e in. that part of Russia for generation
 went to the most distant of all u e American outposts. At this point y found one company of Americans it Ten days after I. feft the Vaga frol this company was heavily attacked II bolsheviks, and I will describe brief le what happened because it is typical III score of engagements in whit Q Americans figured.
 ,el The 250 Americans of Company IS 3Ssth infantry, were defending. ther r selves in blockhouses of logs tn n. American engineers had constructe