t of Americans. Three dead, three missing in
action, one wounded and three shell shocked. The Yorks and Russians
suffered no casualties. The ground was covered with Bolshevik dead.

On the night of April 4th the American Company was relieved by a company
of Yorks and an additional company of Russians, and for a few more days
the Bolos occupied Bolsheozerki but they had shot their bolt. They made
no more attempts to break through to the railroad and take Obozerskaya.
Savagely the Red Guards had three times resisted attempts to dislodge
them from Bolsheozerki. Just as stubbornly and with terrible deadliness
the little force at Verst 18 had held the Reds in Bolsheozerki when they
tried to move upon Obozerskaya. And when the April sun began to soften
the winter roads into slush he had to feint an attack on Volshenitsa and
escape between two days from Bolsheozerki, returning to Shelaxa.

The Americans had never had such shooting. They knew the enemy losses
were great from the numbers of bodies found and from statements of
prisoners and deserters. Later accounts of our American soldiers who
were ambushed and captured, together with statements that appeared in
Bolshevik newspapers placed the losses very high. The old Russian
general massed up in all over seven thousand men in this spectacular and
well-nigh successful thrust. And his losses from killed in action,
wounded, missing and frost-bitten were admitted by the Bolshevik
reports to be over two thousand.

It was in this fighting that Bolshevik prisoners were taken in almost
frozen condition to the American Y. M. C. A. man's tent for a drink of
hot chocolate which he was serving to the Americans, Yorks, Russians and
all during those tight days. And the genial Frank Olmstead was
recognized by the prisoners as a "Y" man who had been in the interior of
Russia in the days when Russians were not fighting Americans but
Germans.

To the doughboy or medic or engineer who stood there at bay those three
invincible days, Bolsheozerki means deep snow, bitter cold, cheerless
tents, whiz-bangs, high explosive, shrap, rat-tat-tat interminable, roar
and crash, and zipp and pop of explosive bullet, with catch-as-catch-can
at eats, arms lugged off with cases of ammunition, constant tension,
that all ended up with luck to the plucky.

[Illustration: Sentry in forest outlined by bright light (fire?) in
background.]
RED CROSS PHOTO
Flashlight of a Doughboy Outpost at Verst 455

[Ill