We finish with the bayonet.

The motto of the Doughboys who fought in the Polar Bear Expedition of the 339th in North Russia.

SITUATION REPORT:

It’s 0300 on 1 April 1919. My company – Company E – is stationed near Arkhangelsk, Russia. Temperatures are frigid. The snow is waist deep. It’s a new moon. I can barely see in front of my face but I know they’re coming. I can hear them. The Bolos – Bolsheviks – aim to kill us, one way or another. They’ll begin shooting at us soon. I can feel it. I pray. I think of Fred BRUMM in Company H. Are they attacking him, too? I pray for him as well. I pray for all the Detroit boys. And then it happens. At 0330…a frontal bayonet assault on the blockhouses! God help us!

An imagined scenario that depicts Otto MOELLER on 1 April 1919.

Otto Moeller

On 1 April 1919 at 0330 in the vast nothingness of Arkhangelsk, Russia, just below the Arctic Circle, Otto MOELLER battled the Bolsheviks in a war that seemingly would not end for his unit. Armistice had already been signed in late 1918 but here he was – along with the rest of the 339th – still in battle against the Bolsheviks in North Russia and for what? The ‘why’ was never clear. No end goal, no consistent mission, no clear motive. Even after he returned to the United States he would never really know why they continued on in Russia.

I’ll be posting a full blog post about Otto this coming week and I’ll include information about Fred BRUMM who was in the 339th with Otto, but in Company H. For today, I just wanted to set the scene for you for Otto’s April 1st in 1919. Happy April 1st to you. Stay tuned. You won’t want to miss Otto’s and Fred’s experience in North Russia.