861.00/5721: Telegram
The Chargé in China (Tenney) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:45 a.m.]
From [Harris at] Tomsk.
477, November 18, 12 a.m. Omsk has been chiefly destroyed by shell gunfire as well as explosion of magazines. Town was scene of severe street fighting and the wealthier inhabitants fled into the country with the object of seeking refuge or losing themselves in the country villages. During the process of evacuation fifteen trains filled with wives and children of Siberian officers or about 8,000 persons were captured by Bolsheviki. It is not known what their fate will be, but thousands of people are without shelter and food which means that there will be indescribable suffering. The temperature averages 12° below Reaumur.
[Page 226]General Staff is approaching Novo Nikolaievsk. Ambassador Kato and Japanese mission have arrived Novo Nikolaievsk. There is a panic in Tatarskaia. Polish troops are evacuating whole region extending from Tatarskaia to Novo Nikolaievsk. Process of evacuation and the movement troops greatly impeded by lack of locomotives and much wreckage. Vice Consul Hansen has left Tatarskaia and is probably now approaching Barabinsk. I am proceeding Irkutsk but moving slowly. Latest news indicates that Bolsheviki have halted their rapid advance. Harris.