3. The Battle of Tulgas was fought while troops on the Western Front celebrated Armistice Day
On November 11, 1918, at eleven o’clock in the morning, the cease-fire on the Western Front officially ended the hostilities between the Central Powers and the Allies, and in the trenches on both sides men celebrated their survival of the war. At the same time, American, British, and Canadian positions in North Russia positioned along the Dwina River at an area known as the Tulgas villages came under a heavy attack by Bolshevik infantry, which quickly overwhelmed the Allied positions from sheer weight of numbers. The Allies were forced back into defensive positions around the center of the three villages, and by nightfall were surrounded by Red army forces.
The following morning the Bolsheviks were supported by gunboats in the river itself, as well as howitzers, which bombarded the Allied positions prior to infantry attacks launched against them. The battle continued throughout the day and the day following before the gunboats withdrew as the river began to freeze. American troops launched attacks which drove back Red Army units and captured their supplies, including critically needed ammunition. On the 14th of November, the Red Army withdrew. The Battle of Tulgas was a defensive victory for the Allied troops, though news of the fighting was overlooked in the celebration of the end of the war in Europe.