The Reds in this fight reached the second line of defense with their
flanking forces, and bombarded it with new guns brought up from
Plesetskaya. Meanwhile, all along the front they attacked in great force
and succeeded in taking one blockhouse, killing the seven gallant
Liverpool lads who fought up all their ammunition and defied the Bolo
steel to steel. But the remainder of the front held, largely through the
effective work of the American trench mortar and the deadly machine
gunners shooting for revenge of the death of Ballard, their nervy
leader, held fast their strongholds.

At last the Reds found their losses too severe to continue the attack.
And they had been constantly worried by the gallant Russian Couriers du
Bois, who fearlessly stayed out in the woods and nipped the Bolo forces
in flank or rear. And so they withdrew. There was little more fighting
on this front. The Reds were content to let well enough alone. Kodish in
ruins was theirs. Plesetskaya was safe from threats on that hard fought
road.

This was the last fight for the Americans on the Kodish Front. "K"
Company had already looked for the last time on the old battle scenes
and at the wooden crosses which marked the graves of their heroic dead,
and had gone to Archangel to rest, later to duty on the lines of
communication at Kholmogori and Yemetskoe. Now the trench mortar platoon
and "M. G." platoon went to the railroad front, and Major Donoghue was
the last one to leave the famous Kodish Front, where he had won
distinction. It was now an entirely British-Russian front and the
American officer who had remained voluntarily to lead in the last big
fight because of his complete knowledge of the battle area now went to
well-earned rest in Archangel.

In closing the story of the Americans on the Kodish Front we turn to the
words written us by Lt. John A. Commons:

"Thus the Kodish Front was really home to the men of "K" Company, for
most of their stay in the northern land. To "E" and "L" and Machine Gun
and Trench Mortar "Hq" platoon it was also, but for a shorter period,
their only shelter from the rains of the fall and the bite of the
winter. "K", however, meant Kodish. There they had their first fight,
there their dead were buried. There they had their last battle. And
there their memories long will return, mostly disagreeable to be sure,
but still representing very definitely their part, performed with
honesty, courage and distinction, in the big