The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-04-19
BY LIEUT.. y and SERGEANT J.

l,Iembers OF SS9th Mich. Infantry in ArchangeD
DURING the first TWO weeks OF August, 1913
u an American force Of 5000 men embarked on
the British transports "Tydeus,' 'Samou ana
.Nagoya" from Newcastle-on-Tyne, England
bound for Archangel Russia.
The detachment consisted Of the 339th MI
chigan Infantry a battalion OF, the 3lOth En-
.ineers. the 337Jh Field Hospital and the 55'th
Ambulance Company-ail OF as from the 691h
Division. We were under the direct command
of the British. Why no one knew.
Before our departure the American COM
laanders had been assured by the British that
adequate medical supplies were on board for all
American troops. Half the journey had been
completed when influenza, which was actively
raging throughout the world, broke out on board
all ships on the fifth day every bed was oc-
cupied by sick; on the sixth day mans tenn
,,erature had 10 be above 1902 to get sickratlng;
on the eighth day all American supplies were
exhausted and g call on the British command
revealed that the British had forgotten (exact
rsport TO put any medical supplies on board!
Or Sept. / 1918, the troopships carrying
The American forces dropped anchor in the
Dvina River, opposite Archangel
BY Sept. 9Th the Third Battalion had been
entrained and taken to Obozerskaya, sixty miles
south on the railroad (Archangel to Vologoa
Railroad.
The First Battalion debarked at Bakaritza,
across the river from Archangel, and went on
board barges being towed upstream on the
Dvina TO Berenik Many men Of this battalion
we're too i'll to walk and we're carried on board
the old barges, dying on the way. The Second
Battalion was left to guard ArchangeL
Colonel George E Stewart was in command OF
the American forces in North Russia, but even
he did not know where his troops we're when
the British High Cnc) Command" finished
ordering us here, hither and yon. friend OF
the writer states he does not believe the British
G. H. @. itself knew! Gas my friend was
British officer on the G.. H. @. Jason, he is
qualified to judge.
We learned that, in addition to the American
forces, there we're 5000 English troops, all the
rank and file being Glass sc men, who were
rightly entitled to be home. The English G. H Q.
idea being to make the inferior people do the
lighting their forces contained nearly as many
officers as men!
There were also 1000 French and several
hundred each Of Italians Serbians few Cana
dams, and some "Cossacks" and white" Rus
slams. the total white forces numbering,
finally about $4,000.
French Troops Balk
The French troops baked on hearing Of the
Armistice from the Bolshevik leaflets, threw
down their arms and walked out. The Italians
troops refused to fight from the start nor did
they AT ANY TIME fight.
The Serbs sayagely disliked the British and
the British arrogance; against the Reds they
held no enmty; they would have liked to fight
the italians "a holdover from the Western 'front.'
but their main desire was to go home
The Cossacks most OF whom we're "CoSsacks"
by virtue of their uniform only, proved sickening
"duds" and couldn't be trusted the length Of a
bayonet in a scrap against the Reds. In the
first skirrnish their speed was positively mar
4ous!
Finally, the "nunberless patriotic (sic) Rus
SLAMS" who were to spring to arms in defense
81 the fatherland-as interpreted by the British
showed up in battles some 10000 strong and
anything but strong at thatl
OF these two battalions mutined in Arch
angel, ard under orders again of the English
Command. the Second Battalion Americans
turned their guns on them while the white"
officers executed thirteen of the mutineers
This caused savage resentment among the An
orleans, including some Of the officers, not only
against ouch hangman's work asked of soldiers,
but also against the English for not using their
own troops. Afterwards we learned the English
troops had refused to such work!
Three Battalions Go Red
On another occasion, three battanons, in heavy