soil is king- even in Red Russia... But the spirit of the townspeople is broken- their brains and wills are as weak and starved from lack of food as are their bodies- sufferings have left them exhausted. Once these townspeople get sufficient food inside them to restore stamina, and when the interior weakness of bolshevism gives them an opportunity, they must restore commerce and industry, yet the latter would also restore the towns- and strengthened, people would no longer submit to the tyranny they have suffered for years. So even in its success, bolshevism contains the elements of its downfall. The millworker in Alimovka expressed the idea of thousands when he said that formerly the Russians had a czar, a fool, to rule them, [and] taxes were very bad, but bread was five kopeks a pound and plentiful, and a man could get all the shirts, and shoes, and sugar and tea and tobacco he wanted. Now Russia was ruled by very clever men, [and] there were no taxes at all, but bread was 500 rubles a pound and scarce, and neither shirts nor shoes nor sugar nor tea nor tobacco were to be had." Crimea, September–October 1920 Koehler was back at the front two weeks later, taking the train to Melitopol and meeting with General Kutepov, who told of the White's capture of Alexandrovsk and seizing military assets of armored trains, 14 steamboats, 2,000 horses, 1,000 railroad cars and 33 "hot" (operational) locomotives, along with scores of Red prisoners. Wrangel had reorganized his White army into Kutepov's First Army, consisting of the Volunteer Army, old Don Cossacks and the Second Army under General A.P. Dratsenko, consisting of the old Second and Third Corps and a Terek Cossacks brigade. Wrangel also formed two independent cavalry units, led by General Ivan Barbovich and the Kuban Cossack General Nikolai Babiev. At that time, Wrangel's forces totaled 43,900. Kutepov was confident that there were no significant Bolshevik forces between Alexandrovsk, Ekaterinoslav or Kharkov, and felt he could take either town without great effort. He expected to hold Mariupol that he had captured only long enough to destroy the Red naval base, capturing or killing all but 500 of the troops operating in the town. Retreating from there, Kutepov drew Red forces north of Mariupol after him, and captured 4,000 Red troops on October 12, after outflanking them. After meeting with Second Army General