New-York tribune., 1919-04-13
Bolsheviki Sing yankee
Doodle and Put on
Vaudeville Shows at the
Bridge Near Archangel
English Banners Hoisted
American Officers Met Reds,
hut Soldiers Cener-
ally Scoff at Propaganda

II yesterday disclose how tn
Il Il Russian Boisheriki sprea(
their propaganda among the Ame'7
can troops fighting u7,der the North
ern Lights. The Associated Press
bas had q correspondent With the A l.
lied forces m Northern Russia
throughout the campaign. HIS DIS
patches By cabie and mail hare green
the only detoiied accounts Of the
activities Of the American forces
He also told erclustgeiy the story Of
the recent refusal Of one American
infantry company TO 90 TO the front
line trenches
4 letter from the correspondent
receired yesterday l. particularly
timely, since 1t thro,os a clear light
on the BolsherM; methods, 1chich
General March discussed in Wash
iaqton IN this week's conferences
rcith newspnpe1men. The letter,
phich tells OF the Bolshevih propa
qandc from the first efforts, tchen
overt,res iron, the enemy Were re-
cctred with ridlc7tle, doUn to the mo-
rsept uhen homesickness made some
OF the dougbboys more receptive to
the nsidiolts oratory and literature,
/ folIows:
Made Speeches TO Americans
ARCHANGEL, Feb. 12.-That the
Bolsheviki are the worlds best propa-
gandsts was demonstrated during the
long, cold nights that occur in this
region.
Down on the line of the highway to
Pet7ograd, along which are the graves
of the Americans who have fallen and
where the Yankees had been fighting
for months around little five house
village called Kadish, the Bolshevik
orators showed how expert they were
in spreading their views.
Generally they talked in Russian,
their speeches being translated by in
terpreters in the American ranks.
Occasionally they sent to Petrograd
and got some ex-American immigrant
to give lecture in English on the rea-
sons for Bolshevism to a more or less
interested audience OF doughboys on
the other side of No Mans Land.
Give vaudeville Show
For long time, when our lines on
the Kadish sector were separated from
the Bolsheviki only by a 75-yard- wide
stream, over which there was wooden
bridge which neither side wished to
destroy, both figuring on using it some
day, almost nightly there occurred a
strange entertainment.
Sometimes it was only 2 monologue.
In which a Bolshevik orator on one side
Of the stream would loudly harrangue
the Americans. Sometimes it was a
sort Of duet, in which the American
would reply with Can that stuff"
w hats eating you?" and other similar
American expressions. Once, when the
no'snevik were feeling particularly
lNely' they gave propaganda vaude
Fll4e show. following their English.
speaking orators plea to come over and
JOIN them with an accordeon solo. the
'Hue OF which vas Yankee Doodlev
Americans Meet Them
mere were formal state occasions
'~Asn bolshevik officer would cry out
from the dark that ne wanted to talk
4 an american officer. A lieutenant
u captain would 20 down to the mid
T. o. the bridge TO meet him. The
= HierlcaH ofhcer would take his intar
r. ever with him, and the three would
ARC out IN the cold. arguinc Tbesa
'ss.D..ierences usually began with n,,1t,,sI
-Hq"iries about the state of hea1+h -
prisoners held b. the respective forces
S.,a ehded with the Bolshevik oficers
r.',4iy requesting that an arnload of
boO'snevik ~ printed propaganda matte
~ nanoeo to the American troons
ss'4pS Vnls vas against all rules of
msriare' but the American officars
generally speaking, could see no obiec
s.'h 70 IT, as they were much in need
gs Sss paper and the propaganda helped
Asep me troops happy. The YAM YAM
~o~io iaugn all night at it and then %
out out and fight in better humor the fsS, next sf
Used English Banners
p ~ vas on this same sector that .ho
~ Do'ssaeeV1kl, thinking that it rnight st;r
~ ~ oiscontert among the Americans Is
snsy knew that the war in France Wa
TTaleed, decided to advertise the fat
ms the Bolsheviki did in the nigbt
pranglns large red banners, printed in
EtngHsn, TO trees. These banners
,.4<'nsd forth in great white letters
rr. a. me workingmen of France and
I'd and Germany had made a,ia
Ss@ee' and urged the Americana ~
S0,ne and do likewise. '''' -
- 'he printed prcpaganda-most n
"aien' by the way, either bears tho
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