the forces of the Red Army approached the log jam of trains backed up before Novo-Nikolaevsk (Novosibirsk) in early December, the Poles had to put down a local revolt by White troops. Soon after this the last Polish forces left the area and joined the withdrawal. At Taiga 22 December 1919 the Polish Legion made a stand against the Red Army but were badly beaten losing many of their trains. After this defeat the Polish Legion began to disintegrate. Many of their trains began to break down, and the Poles were forced to abandon them and join the exodus that streamed along the frozen tracks beside the railway. Fights broke out between the Poles, Romanians and Serbs for any engines that still worked. As the remaining trains limped towards Krasnoyarsk, the town was occupied by the Siberian Partisans of Shchetinkin 4 January 1920, even though the Poles still controlled the station. The leading echelons got away but ran out of fuel and supplies at Klyukvennaya (now Uyar) east of Krasnoyarsk. The Czechs were better equipped and strong enough to later fight their way through Kansk to Irkutsk, where in conference with the Allies and the new Soviet they were allowed to withdraw without further destruction of the railway (17 February 1920). However the Polish Legion had no choice but to negotiate with the Red Army and asked to be allowed to return to Poland through Russia, but the Bolsheviks demanded that they surrender. Some then mutinied and went over to the Red Army, others who had wives and children surrendered: formal surrender of the remaining 5000 strong force was agreed 8 January 1920, and all the trains that had left Krasnoyarsk were captured by the Reds. The Poles were interned at the Viona Gorodock P.O.W camp at Krasnoyarsk, where many subsequently died in the typhus epidemic that was devastating Siberia at that time. The Soviet authorities put them to work clearing the railway yards of refuse. Others were marched off to perish in forced labour in the mines. Those that survived were later repatriated under the terms of the Treaty of Riga in March 1921. Evacuation A large part of the once 16,000 men strong division were taken as POWs. However a group of about 900 led by Colonel Kazimierz Rumsza managed to evade capture and reached Irkutsk and from there escaped to Manchuria arriving at Harbin (February 21, 1920)