The Poles, under General President Pilsuzki, advised by French General Weygand, initiated a bold surprise counter attack from the south that turned the far superior Bolshevik Army and cut them off, creating a route and taking over 100,000 prisoners, forcing the Russians to withdraw out of Poland. The Battle in Poland was a decisive one because at that time of the Soviet revolution Europe was in chaos after WWI. Had the Soviets taken Warsaw, Lenin had planned to drive on through Germany into France and spread the communist revolution to all of western Europe. Had this happened, which is likely would have if Warsaw had fallen, then all of Europe would have been part of the Communist world from 1920 on.

Lt. Col. Elbert E. Farman. US Army Colonel Farman was a graduate of West Point, Class of 1909. Going into duty at a time when officers were rarely stationed long at one place, Col. Farman never completed a calendar year at one post until after the World War I.  Early stations were Fort Robinson, Nebraska and the Philippines, with short tours in the Mediterranean, Mexico and elsewhere.  After a tour at West Point as a Spanish instructor, he was sent to the Mexican border, then the scene of exciting duty for Cavalry officers.

He began a tour as the military attache in Poland from 1919 to 1923. Going to Warsaw as attache with the first US legation in the new country, his duties were to keep the United States informed of all military affairs - industries, railway development, politics, and actual military operations.  Poland was in the throes of national rebirth, setting up a new government where none had existed.

When Col. Farman retired, in August 1928, he returned to West Point and became the Librarian at the Academy.

The Thompson s/n 17 stayed with Col, Farman, until his death when it passed to Gen. Richardson's father. The Thompson was registered in the 1950's.  His father had a very hard time trying to convince the bureaucrats in Washington that he did have a Thompson with such a low serial number. The IRS ended up assigning the firearm a IRS prefixed serial number.

Gen. Richardson remembers being allowed to take the Thompson out to go squirrel hunting on some of the military posts where his father was stationed.  My how times have changed.