New-York tribune., 1919-07-12
Rolsheviki Are Beaten Back
in Attempt to Repeat Sur.
prise Attack i'm Which 2l
Doughboys We're Killed
Homesickness Forgotten
Allied Forces Operating in
Cooperation With Kol-
chalk on Extended Line

RoMANOVKA, Siberia. July 2 (By
The Associated ess).-1t was at this
little village, fifty miles northeast of
vladivostok, that, at dawn on June 25,
4 force of 500 Bolsheviki attacked an
American camp in which were seventy
four men of Company A, 31st In
fantry, killing nineteen of the Ameri-
cans and wounding twenty-seven
others, two of whom died of their
wounds. CA Washington dispatch on
June 80 carried the official report of
this engagement)
The men of Company A were guard
ing the railway from Vladivostok, oc-
cupying a row Of tents pitched near
the railroad. The Bolsheviki crept up
and hid in the dense underbrush and
woodpiles near the camp. At o'clock
they fired volley which killed many
Of the sleeping Americans.
Others, who had been wounded by
the first discharge, staggered outside
and we're shot down as they left their
tents
Fight Scantily Clad
Of those who escaped the first vol
ley unscathed some pulled on only a
light garment or two, clapped on their
steel helmets and organized a centre
Of resistance in a log cabin, firing at
puffs of smoke from the bushes.
Then for three hours the Americans
fought as in an Indian battle of the
frontier days, relief finally coming to
them when seventeen men rolled in on
train after an American volunteer
had run from the bcsieged cabin to
Novonzhino, the nearest American
camp, five miles distant.
The Bolsheviki, thinking large rein
forcements were arriving then with
drew toward the hills, dragging their
Wounded and some of their dead with
them, but leaving behind eight of their
number who had been killed.
Reds Keep up Attacks
The Romanovka attack was the first Of
series that had. evidently been
planned by the Bolsheviki to be car
red out along the Suchan railway.
On the following day Bolshevik
force attacked Novonezhino, the next
station on the road, using the same
methods as those employed on the
10Th, firing on the tents at dawn. This
time the Americans were ready, how
ever. They were not sleeping in their
tents. but in log huts, from which they
poured in a hot flanking fire and in
fticted severe losses on the attacking
party. Again, on the 9th, 200 Boil
sheviki attacked an American supply
train near Sitza. Two Americans were
wounded, but, on the other hand,
twenty-five Bolsheviki were killed, one
American marksman with an automatic
rifle killing no less than eleven of the
attackers
Intermittent sniping and minor at
tacks, with the destruction here and
there of railway bridges and telegraph
lines, have continued between Shkotova
and Suchan for week, communication
with the Anne rican forces having been
cut. except for service by native
couriers
The Associated Press correspondent,
making the trip from Vladivostok to
the Kangaus River, where the last
American detachment in the direction
of Suchan is stationed, slept two nights
with the soldiers in their huts and
marched from Novonezhino to the
Kangaus River with the troops. This
close touch with the American SOL
diers revealed the bitterness among
them against the Bolsheviki. virtually
the only subject of conversation being
their desire to avenge the deaths of
their companions who had been killed.
During these three days not single
conversation about going home was
heard among the men, although this
until recently had been the main topic.
The Americans are closely cooper
ating with the Kolchak forces in the
Suchan district, where the small num-
bers of the anti -Bolshevik forces make
the task of protecting the railway
lines adequately an impossible one.