toons, "L" and the English
marines crossed the river, where the Reds had held them so many days.
And during the following day the right of the Bolo position was turned
by a movement through the woods.

But at four o'clock in the afternoon the enemy's second, position, a
mile north of the village, developed surprising strength. In fact, the
Reds counterattacked just at dark and once more the doughboys lay down,
on their arms, in the rain-flooded swamp, where the dark, frosty morning
would find them stiff and ugly customers for the Reds to tackle. In fact
they did rise up and smite the Bolshevik so swiftly that he fled from
his works and left Kodish in such a hurry that he gave no forwarding
address for his mail. Captain Donoghue set up his headquarters in Kodish
and sent detachments out to follow the Reds and to threaten the Red
Shred Makhrenga and Taresevo forces. During this fight, or rather after
it, the Canadians taught our boys their first lesson in looting the
persons of the dead. Our men had been rather respectful and gentle with
the Bolo dead who were quite numerous on the Emtsa River battlefield.
Can you call a tangle of woods a field? But the Canadians, veterans of
four years fighting, immediately went through the pockets of the dead
for roubles and knives and so forth and even took the boots off the
dead, as they were pretty fair boots.

The officer who reports this says he has often heard of dead men's boots
but had to go to war to actually see them worn.

In passing let it be stated that many a footsore doughboy helped himself
to a dry pair of boots from a dead Red Guard or in winter to a pair of
valenkas, or warm felt boots. One of "Captain Mike's" nervy sergeants
protested against being sent back to Seletskoe to get him a new pair of
shoes, for he hated the ill-fitting British army shoe, as all Americans
did, and prevailed upon Donoghue to let him wait a few days till after a
battle when he sure enough helped himself to a fine pair of boots.

One thing the American never did take from the dead Bolo was his Russian
tobacco, for it was worse even than the British issue tobacco. A good
story is told on one of Donoghue's lieutenants. During the excitement of
burning the bridge over the Emtsa at Tiogra, time when the two forces
fled from one another, the officer, greatly fatigued, sat down on the
bridge during the preparations by the men. He was missed later on the
march and the man whom the captain sent ba