e month of March.

By constant shelling during the month of February the enemy had
practically reduced Vistavka to a mass of ruins. With no stoves or fire
and a constant fare of frozen corned beef and hard tack, the morale of
the troops was daily getting lower and lower, but still we grimly stuck
to our guns.

On the evening of March 3rd the Russian troops holding Yeveevskaya got
possession of a supply of English rum, with the result that the entire
garrison was soon engaged in a big celebration. The Bolo, quick to take
advantage of any opportunity, staged a well-planned attack and within
an hour they had possession of the town. Ust Suma had been abandoned
almost a month prior to this time, which left Vistavka standing alone
with the enemy practically occupying every available position
surrounding us. As forward positions we now held Maximovskaya on the
left bank and Vistavka on the right.

The following day the enemy artillery, which had now been reinforced by
six and nine-inch guns, opened up with renewed violence and for two days
this continued, battering away every vestige of shelter remaining to us.
On the afternoon of the fifth the barrage suddenly lifted to our
artillery about two versts to our rear, and simultaneously therewith the
woods and frozen river were swarming with wave after wave of the enemy
coming forward to the attack. To the heroic defenders of the little
garrison it looked as though at last the end had come, but with grim
determination they quickly began pouring their hail of lead into the
advancing waves. Attack after attack was repulsed, but nevertheless the
enemy had succeeded in completely surrounding us. Once more he had cut
away our wires leading to Kitsa and also held possession of the trails
leading to that position. For forty-eight hours this awful situation
continued--our rations were practically exhausted and our ammunition was
running low. Headquarters at Kitsa had given us up for lost and were
preparing a new line there to defend. During the night, however, one of
our runners succeeded in getting through with word of our dire plight.
The following day the Kings Liverpools with other troops marched forth
from Kitsa in an endeavor to cut their way through to our relief. The
Bolo, however, had the trails and roads too well covered with machine
guns and troops and quickly repulsed this attempt.

Late that afternoon those in command at Kitsa decided to make another
attempt to bring assi