Learning Russian

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Contained in one of George's hand written journals is a section with page after page after page of English to Russian translation of a variety of words. He learned the Russian terms for oysters, rainbow, ice, iron and so on. Above is a scan of a couple of the pages. Click it to enlarge.
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Vladivostok To Nikolskoye

October 2nd we were loaded in small box cars about a third as large as ours, in these we loaded 40 to the car. At midnight we left Vladivostok through a few big cuts and follows the Ussuri River to Razdolnoye. We were on the road all night and only made 60 miles, at 8am we made Nikolsk. Here two (?) ago the Zeckoslovaks had a big battle with the Bolshevik, and had something like 1200 men killed.

Some were still laying along the railroad as they had not covered them, and dogs were eating them. This was hard to look at, but it did not take long before we got to seeing so much.

The country around here is very level and was at one time a great wheat country. Here at Nikolsk the main line of the Trans-Siberian Railroad runs southwest to Harbin, Manchuria China. We took the line running North. We were here five hours when we got orders to hurry north to Spasskoe as the Japs wanted some help. At noon we left we had guard on the front of our engine day and night. The next morning we reached Spasskoe. Here the railroad was supposed to cross the Ussuri River but the bridge was gone and it was no small bridge for the river was over a half a mile long.

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You'll notice above that George mentions a battle between Czech Legions and Bolsheviks however in the journal itself it is unclear if the time frame was two days, two weeks, or two months. Also notice the way he spells "Zeckoslovaks".

The town mentioned by George as Nikolsk is actually Nikolskoye (although there is a Nikolsk in Russia, Nikolskoye is just over 100km from Vladivostok and is clearly the town George is talking about). The name of the city has been changed twice since George was in Siberia. The current name of the city is Ussuriysk, read more about the town here.

Also, thanks again to Matt Boyle for his drawing depicting a train station on the Trans-Siberian Railroad.
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Impressions of Vladivostok, Siberia

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Above is a scan of George's hand written impressions of Vladivostok. He wrote entries containing his thoughts on a variety of different cities and towns. These impressions were largely left out of the typed consolidated journal. Below is the content of the entry. Click the above pages for a close up view.
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This city is inhabited by Russians, Chinese and Japanese. A population of about 100,000. The city lay on mostly hills and small mountains, which protect the city from the Bay of Peter the Great.

It has a large harbor with many bays and an island called Russian Island, with a wireless tower. The mountains are all heavily fortified by large guns, which are fed by underground passways, which reach back for many miles. The weather here is pretty mild in comparison with the outlaying towns. The harbor freezes a little in winter. There is one street car which runs from the Trans Siberian Railway Station to the U.S. Base about three miles, it is of narrow gauge, about 35 inches. The town has many droskies. There are many buildings in this town of different descriptions and has several fine churches.

The waterfront has many boats out of commission and a large glut of gun boats. In the Spring the shores are lined with fishing boats and large catches of herring and crawfish. Out of town about ten miles the big rail road yards are called Second River where all American cars are put together, incoming from the U.S.

The roads around this country are military roads and are in fair shape. The railroad runs around the bay making a few cuts West toward Nikolsk. The country not much good for cultivation, lots of sand.

George's Map

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Here is a scan of George's hand modified map indicating by black lines the routes he took while in Asia. You also get a glimpse of the condition of this particular journal, the typed consolidated version George created after his time in the service. Click the image for a more detailed look.

There will be more scan of actual journal pages in the near future.
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Vladivostok. Siberia Part II

Some of us got sick staying around all day with out a thing to do so right after mess we broke through the guard line and went up to see what Vladivostok looked like.

The city has a population of one hundred thousand, which consist of Russians, Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. The city is built on mountain sides which help to locate and protect it all the highest places are fortified by large guns. The ammunition is sent up to the batteries by under ground tunnels which reach back into the hill for many miles.

Vladivostok. Siberia

Original artwork by Matt Boyle

The 28th (Sept. 1918) we saw a pretty rough sea and the boys were feeding the fishes. I guess I did myself for about ten days from Japan I had a good dose of dysentery and I did not care if the whole boat sunk.

The 28th we saw land though a heavy haze and made our way through the Bay of Peter The Great. We were piloted by an officer off the Battleship Brooklyn pass the Golden horn to the U.S. base where we were onloaded to some warehouses to await transportation to Khabarovsk.

We stepped foot on Siberia at 5:30 pm for how long was a thing to look at and maybe for ever. We were to leave the next day but could not as a bridge 30 miles away was destroyed.

Three days went by and still we could not go or leave the barracks as we might leave any minute as the Japanese were in need of reinforcements.

While In Otaru

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After leaving Hakodate in search of coal, George and the other troops arrived at Otaru. Robert Willet's detailed account, Russian Sideshow, once again provides a very interesting context for George Voegeli's journal entry from his brief time in Otaru.

According to Willet most of the men were not allowed to leave the ships for fear of a similar incident to that that had just occurred in Hakodate. However, the few that were allowed ashore quickly found trouble that ultimately ended up in something of an international incident.

First, a few of the men had turned Philippine one cent coins into convincing counterfeit gold coins and were using them in different places around the city. Eventually, the scam was discovered and reported to local police. After being confronted by local police one of the men broke a bottle over the officer's head.

The same day this incident occurred a typhoon came roaring into the town and ran the USAT Logan aground causing minor damage. Four days later, after the offended parties were compensated the American were allowed to leave Japan and headed, finally, for Siberia. It is unclear whether George was aware of the incident in Otaru. He did not leave the ship while in Otaru and does not mention anything about either the counterfeiting issue or the quarrel with local police.

As a side note, the next post will mark George's arrival in Siberia and will feature more original artwork by Matt Boyle.
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Otaru, Japan

The 25th a day well remembered we just got started about 8 o'clock when the whole sky started to turn black, all over the natives were making it for shore and red flags were flying all over, and we did not have to wait long to find out that a Typhoon was coming up. I was up on deck and could hardly breath. Leaves, trees, and everything was flying in the air. Small houses were floating in the bay. We did not have any steam up the Sherman did and they were making it all right. Our anchors were both out but would not hold so away we did go and landed about fifty feet from shore right up on the breakwater in six feet of clay which saved us from being smashed to pieces on the breakwater. Here we stayed all day jumping up and down on the bottom. We lost our wireless and four life boats tore away one of our gangways.

Original artwork by Matt Boyle

Three Japanese were killed on a barge that was between us and the breakwater. At sun down the Typhoon let up and with the help of five tugs we were safe in deep water.

At daybreak we were safe and pulled anchor and left Outari (Otaru) into the sea of Japan headed west for Vladivostok 600 miles away. In this sea we saw large herds of sharks and quite a few whales.

September 24th 1918: Hakodate to Otaru

At daybreak the next day we turned into the narrows of Ishikari Bay and anchored about a mile from the shore of Outari* (Otaru) a mining town of about 70,000 Japanese. Here we found coal and started to load. They had a very ancient way of loading, the whole harbor seemed to be out to load us. Each boat had about forty Japanese women on them. They built platforms from the water to the deck and on each platform there was a woman. At the bottom they loaded the small bags which were made out of rice straw and was passed from one on until the coal was placed in the bunkers.

They loaded all day and only got us half loaded.

*George consistently spells Otaru as Outari. This is probably just a simple spelling error.