quiet after the Reds withdrew their
huge force from Bolsheozerki April 19. They withdrew under cover of a
feinted attack in force on Volshenitsa, which was on the other flank of
the railroad force. With the opening of Archangel harbor the
Onega-Oborzerskaya road was no longer of so vital importance to us and
the Reds' one savage thrust at it just at the close of winter, as
related already, was their last drive. "H" Company had a quiet time
during the remaining April and May days. And that company of men
deserved the rest.

On the railroad the coming of spring meant the renewal of activities.
For us it meant constant combat patrols and daily artillery duels.
However, the Bolshevik seemed to be discouraged over his failure at the
end of winter. His heralded May Day drive did not materialize. We
brought our Russian infantrymen and machine gunners up to the front
sectors, gradually displacing Americans until finally on May seventh
Major Nichols was relieved at Verst 455--it should have been
re-christened Fort Nichols--by Colonel Akutin, whose Russian troops took
over the active defense of the front, with the Americans at Obozerskaya
in reserve. At this place and at Bolsheozerki, "G", "L", "M", "I", and
"E" Companies in the order named at the end of May, together with
machine gun company platoons, were relieved by British and Russian
troops. American Engineers also withdrew from this front just about the
time that the First Battalion and "F" Company were embarking from
Beresnik and "K" Company was steaming out of Yemeskoe and Kholmogori for
Archangel. Most of the boys of the First Battalion had been up the river
for months and had never seen the streets of Archangel.

One of the interesting features of the spring defensive was the arrival
of General Wilds P. Richardson from France to take command of all
American forces during the remainder of the time we were in North
Russia. He arrived on a powerful ice-breaker which cut its way into
Archangel on April seventeenth. At that time we were still running
trains across the Dvina River on the railroad track laid on the ice, and
continued to do so for several days.

General Richardson, veteran of many years of service in Alaska,
immediately made his way to the various fronts. At Verst 455 on the
railroad he said in part to the soldiers assembled there for his
inspection:

"When I was detailed to come to North Russia, General Pershing,
Commander-in-Chief of the A. E. F., to