were no
reinforcements available. About 4:00 p. m. we launched a small counter
attack under Lt. Dennis, which rolled up a line of snipers which had
given us considerable annoyance. We then shelled the rear villages
occupied by the Bolos, and they decamped. Meanwhile the Royal Scots, who
had been formed for the counter attack, went forward also under the
cover of the artillery, and the Bolo, or at least those few remaining,
were driven back into the forests.

The enemy losses during this attack were enormous. His estimated dead
and wounded were approximately four hundred, but it will never be known
as to how many of them later died in the surrounding forests from wounds
and exposure. This engagement was not [only] disastrous from the loss of
men, but was even more disastrous from the fact that some of the leading
Bolshevik leaders on this front were killed during this engagement. One
of the leading commanders was an extremely powerful giant of a man,
named Melochofski, who first led his troops into the village hospital in
the rear of the gun positions. He strode into the hospital, wearing a
huge black fur hat, which accentuated his extraordinary height, and
singled out all the wounded American and English troops for immediate
execution, and this would undoubtedly have been their fate, had it not
been for the interference of a most remarkable woman, who was christened
by the soldiers "Lady Olga."

This woman, a striking and intelligent appearing person, had formerly
been a member of the famous Battalion of Death, and afterwards informed
one of our interpreters that she had joined the Soviets out of pure love
of adventure, wholly indifferent to the cause for which she exposed her
life. She had fallen in love with Melochofski and had accompanied him
with his troops through the trackless woods, sharing the lot of the
common soldiers and enduring hardships that would have shaken the most
vigorous man. With all her hardihood, however, there was still a touch
of the eternal feminine, and when Melochofski issued orders for the
slaughter of the invalided soldiers, she rushed forward and in no
uncertain tones demanded that the order be countermanded and threatened
to shoot the first Bolo who entered the hospital. She herself remained
in the hospital while Melochofski with the balance of his troops went
forward with the attack and where he himself was so mortally wounded
that he lived only a few minutes after reaching her side. S