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diff --git a/76109-0.txt b/76109-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a80f013 --- /dev/null +++ b/76109-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4955 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76109 *** + + +[Illustration: + + _Frontispiece_ + + THE BATTLEGROUND OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR +] + + + + + A PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD + OF THE + RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR + + + EDITED AND ARRANGED BY + + JAMES H. HARE, War Photographer + + WITH PHOTOGRAPHS BY + + VICTOR K. BULLA, ROBERT L. DUNN, JAMES F. J. ARCHIBALD, RICHARD BARRY, + ASHMEAD BARTLETT, JAMES RICALTON + + TOGETHER WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE OF THE SEA OF JAPAN BY CAPTAIN A. + T. MAHAN, U. S. N., RETIRED + +[Illustration: [Logo]] + + NEW YORK + P. F. COLLIER & SON + 1905 + + + + + COPYRIGHT 1905 BY P. F. COLLIER & + SON + + The photographs reproduced in this + volume are fully protected by + copyright in the United States and + Great Britain. Their reproduction, + without express permission, is + hereby forbidden. + + The work of Messrs. Hare, Dunn, + Archibald, and Barry, under adverse + conditions in the field, was greatly + facilitated by the use of the films + and developing machine of the + Eastman Kodak Company, to whom they + feel this acknowledgment is due. + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + + The Battleground of the Russo-Japanese War—_Frontispiece_ 2 + + Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia 7 + + Mutsuhito, Emperor of Japan 7 + + Vice-Admiral Alexieff 8 + + Marquis Ito Hirobumi 8 + + Typical Street Scene in Russia’s Capital City 10 + + An Everyday Scene in One of the Large Cities of Japan 11 + + Japanese Troops Preparing for War 13 + + Training Japanese Cavalrymen at the Tokio Barracks 14 + + Changing Guard at the Oyama Barracks in Tokio 15 + + Swapping Stories in the Guard House at Oyama Barracks 16 + + Cleaning and Oiling Rifles in Preparation for War 17 + + Departure of Baron Rosen from Yokohama 18 + + Russian Minister to Korea Departing from Seoul 19 + + Newspaper Bulletins on the Chemulpo Battle 20 + + Patriotic Citizens Awaiting Their Turn to Enlist 21 + + Building Temporary Stables in Tokio 21 + + Mobilization of Troops in Tokio at the Outbreak of War 22 + + Troops Marching to Station Through the Streets of Tokio 23 + + Departure of Japanese Troops for Korea 24 + + Japanese Troops Detraining at Hiroshima 25 + + Cavalry Train Leaving Shimbashi Station 26 + + Men of the Army Service Corps Ready to Entrain 27 + + “Sayonara!”—Good-By 27 + + Engineers at Hiroshima, Practicing Building Bridges 28 + + Bridge at Hiroshima Ready for the Pontoons 29 + + “Tikoku Banzai!”—“Long Live the Empire!” 30 + + Destruction of the “Variag” and “Korietz” 32 + + Wrecks of the Russian Warships in Chemulpo Harbor 33 + + Japanese Salvage Corps on the Wreck of the “Variag” 34 + + The Night Landing of the Japanese Troops at Chemulpo 35 + + Coolies Handling Japanese Supplies 36 + + Mrs. Pavlov, Wife of the Russian Minister to Korea 37 + + Dr. H. N. Allen, United States Minister to Korea 37 + + The Japanese Advance Through Korea 38 + + The Japanese Occupation of Seoul 39 + + Japanese Troops Waiting to Cross at Ping-Yang 40 + + Koreans Watching the Entry of the Japanese at Seoul 41 + + The Japanese Red Cross Hospital at Chemulpo 42 + + Russian Ladies Sewing for the Red Cross 44 + + With the Russian Army on its March to the Front 45 + + The Autocrat of Russia and the Royal Family 46 + + The Czar Leaving the Winter Palace to Bid Farewell to Troops 47 + + Departure of Red Cross Nurses from St. Petersburg 48 + + The Czar Reviewing an Infantry Regiment 49 + + Procession in Honor of the Chemulpo Sailors 50 + + Twenty-Third Artillery Brigade About to Leave Gatchina 51 + + The Czar Bidding Farewell to Commanders 52 + + Grand Duke Alexandrovitch Leading His Marines in Review Before + the Czar 53 + + International Balloon Contest at St. Petersburg 54 + + Landing the Men who Fought at the Yalu 56 + + Artillerymen Landing at Chenampo 57 + + Japanese Bluejackets Coming Ashore at Chenampo 58 + + Grooming Cavalry Horses at Chenampo 59 + + Japanese Troopers Caring for a Sick Horse 60 + + Koreans and Japanese Salesman at Chenampo 61 + + With the Japanese on the Advance to the Yalu 62 + + Screens which Hid the Movements of the Japanese 63 + + General Kuroki and His Staff at Headquarters 64 + + Russians Crossing Lake Baikal in Midwinter 66 + + With the Russian Forces on Their Way to the Front 67 + + Caissons and Sledges About to Cross Lake Baikal 68 + + Russian Soldiers Marching Across Frozen Lake Baikal 69 + + Russian Infantry Warming Up with Hot Tea 70 + + The Russian Advance to the Front 71 + + Traveling Soup Kitchen and Soup-Kettle Ovens 72 + + With the Russians During the Advance to the Front 73 + + Chinese Coolies with Russian Overseer Ready for Work 74 + + Cossacks Dismounted and Lined Up for Inspection 75 + + General Herschelmann’s Division of Cavalry at Antung 76 + + Russian Artillery Advancing Toward the Yalu 77 + + Russian Cobblers at Work in the Field on Soldiers’ Boots 78 + + Dinner Time with the Nineteenth Siberian Rifle Corps 79 + + General Sassulitch and Staff at the Battle of the Yalu 80 + + Incidents of the Battle of the Yalu 82 + + The Crossing of the Yalu 83 + + With the Wounded After the Fight at the Yalu 84 + + Hospital Corps and Wounded Japanese 85 + + Japanese Reserves Watching the Battle 86 + + Artillery Spoils Captured by the Japanese 87 + + Some of the Wounded Russian Prisoners 88 + + Japanese Burying a Russian Captain 89 + + Japanese Transportation Trains and Infantry 90 + + Fire and Devastation in the Wake of the Retreating Army 91 + + The Japanese Occupation of Feng-Wang-Cheng 92 + + English Nurses Sent by the Queen to Inspect the Workings of the + Japanese Red Cross 93 + + Shinto Ceremony Held by the Japanese 94 + + Feng-Wang-Cheng After the Japanese Occupation 95 + + Japanese Getting Ready to Push on into Manchuria 96 + + Recreations of the Japanese Between Battles in Manchuria 97 + + Japanese Battery Going into Action at Feng-Wang-Cheng 98 + + With the Japanese Invaders in Manchuria 99 + + Whiling Away the Time Between Battles 100 + + Incidents of the Advance from Feng-Wang-Cheng 101 + + Crossing the So River in the Advance on Liao-Yang 102 + + General Nishi and His Staff Halting to Study Maps and Scouts’ + Reports 103 + + With the Victorious Japanese at Lienshankwan 104 + + Arrival of Mail for the Army in the Field 105 + + Into Manchuria with the Japanese Invaders 106 + + Kwantei Temple Near Motien Pass 107 + + Detachment of Japanese Coming Up at the Double-Quick 108 + + Sharpshooters Covering the Advance 109 + + Scenes During the Battle of Motienling 110 + + General Kuroki and His Chief of Staff, Lieutenant-General Fuji, + Watching the Fight at Motienling 111 + + Bringing Wounded Russians to the Dressing Station 112 + + Russian Red Cross Soldier Wounded at Motien Pass 113 + + Russian Wounded and Dead at Motien Pass 114 + + With the Wounded and Captured at Motien Pass 115 + + Japanese Skirmishers Advancing to Flank the Enemy 116 + + Prisoners and Captors at Motienling 117 + + Incidents of the Attempt to Recapture Motien Pass 118 + + General Okasaki, who Defeated the Russians 119 + + Field Dressing Station for Those Severely Wounded 120 + + With the Japanese Advance from the Yalu 121 + + With the Japanese During the Fighting Near Anping 122 + + Japanese and Captured Russians in Manchuria 123 + + Smokeless Batteries Hidden in Fields of Kowliang 124 + + In the Neighborhood of Towan During the Fighting 125 + + Difficulties of Campaigning During the Rainy Season 126 + + Russian Guns Captured at Nanshan Used by the Japanese 127 + + Along the Line of Battle in the Manchurian Passes 128 + + Pressing the Russians in the Neighborhood of Liao-Yang 129 + + With the Japanese on August 30 130 + + View of the Harbor Entrance of Port Arthur 132 + + Looking Southward Across the Docks at Port Arthur 133 + + Scenes Along the Water Front at Port Arthur 134 + + Naval and Civilian Activity in Port Arthur 135 + + Russian Warships in the Harbor at Port Arthur 136 + + Getting Ready for the Japanese on a Russian Warship 137 + + Russian Ships at Port Arthur 138 + + Part of Russia’s Fighting Fleet at Port Arthur 139 + + The Man who Bottled Up Port Arthur, and His Flagship 140 + + Russian Troops Detraining at Mukden Early in March 142 + + Mukden when the Japanese were Still Many Miles Away 143 + + Russians at Mukden on Their Way to the Front 144 + + With the Russians in Manchuria 145 + + Passing General Herschelmann’s Division 146 + + With the Russian Advance in Manchuria 147 + + In the Field with the Russians in Manchuria 148 + + General Kuropatkin at the Telescope 149 + + With the Russians on the Way to the Front 150 + + General Kuropatkin Inspecting the Staff of the Fourth Army + Corps 151 + + Part of the Movement of Forty Thousand Men 152 + + Scenes at Liao-Yang on the Arrival of the Russians 153 + + Courtyard of Rich Manchurian’s House at Liao-Yang 154 + + When News from the Firing Line Came Back to Those who had not + yet Met the Japanese 155 + + A Disheartened Japanese Spy 156 + + Russian Battery Getting into Position at Kansuitan 157 + + One of the Shrewdly Screened Russian Batteries 158 + + The Sixth East Siberian Regiment Calculating the Range 159 + + Russian Infantry Marching to Their Position 160 + + With the Russian Troops Near Haicheng 161 + + With the Russian Troops During the Engagement with the Japanese + in the Neighborhood of Haicheng 162 + + Battery of the Sixth East Siberian Artillery in Position 163 + + With the Russian Officers and Fighting Men 164 + + With the Russian Troops During the Early Campaigning 165 + + With the Russians at Towan Pass 166 + + Russian Firing Line Just Before the Battle at Yushuling 167 + + Japanese Shells Bursting Near the Yushuling Battery 168 + + Rewards of Valor with Kuropatkin’s Army in Manchuria 169 + + With the Russian Forces in Manchuria 170 + + Russian Skirmishers Advancing Against the Japanese 171 + + With the Tenth Russian Army Corps at Yushuling 172 + + With the Russian Troops During the Early Campaigning 173 + + With the Russian Red Cross Service in Manchuria 174 + + War Balloon and Gas Bag Used by the Russians 175 + + In the Russian Trenches During the Fighting at Taling 176 + + Japanese Resting on the Banks of the Tang River 178 + + On the Last of the Hills, on September Third 179 + + Searching Out and Burying the Dead 180 + + Incidents of the Evacuation of Liao-Yang 181 + + Views of Fortifications and Entanglements 182 + + Liao-Yang the Morning of Its Occupation by the Japanese 183 + + The First Entry of the Japanese into Liao-Yang 184 + + Scenes in Liao-Yang After Its Capture 185 + + Liao-Yang After Its Occupation by the Japanese Forces 186 + + Liao-Yang Immediately After the Capture of the City 187 + + Dr. Westwater, Medical Missionary 188 + + Dr. Westwater and Rev. T. McNaughton in a Bomb-Proof 188 + + Operating on Manchurian who had Forty-Seven Wounds 188 + + Innocent Manchurian Victims of the War 188 + + Liao-Yang Before and After the Arrival of the Japanese 189 + + After the Russians Evacuated Liao-Yang 190 + + Japanese Activity at Liao-Yang 191 + + Liao-Yang After Oyama’s Armies had Taken the City 192 + + General Kuroki, Staff, Correspondents, and Attachés 194 + + Correspondents with the Russian Forces in Manchuria 195 + + Civilians and Military Attachés with the Russian Forces 196 + + The Target-Shoot Given for the Military Attachés 197 + + Military Attachés Firing at a Target-Shoot 198 + + With the War Correspondents in Korea and Manchuria 199 + + Attachés and Correspondents with General Kuroki’s Army 200 + + Scenes During the Fighting Early in October 202 + + Close to the Firing Line Near Yentai Coal Mines 203 + + Russian Shells Bursting Close to Japanese Battery 204 + + Photograph Showing Shrapnel Shells Bursting 204 + + With the Japanese on October Tenth at the Sha-Ho 205 + + On the Sha-Ho Battlefield with the Japanese 206 + + Victors and Vanquished of the Sha-Ho 207 + + The Aftermath of Battle in the Neighborhood of Yentai 208 + + Preparing Charcoal for the Army while it was Encamped 209 + + Winter Quarters with the Japanese Army on the Sha-Ho 210 + + Japanese Army in December in Camp on the Sha-Ho 211 + + Between Battles with the Japanese Near the Sha-Ho 212 + + With the Japanese in Winter Quarters at the Sha-Ho 213 + + Typical View of Manchurian Peasants 214 + + Scenes at Newchwang After the Fall of Port Arthur 215 + + Josses of an Ancient Chinese Temple 216 + + With the Japanese During the Last Days of the Siege 218 + + The Great Siege Guns Throwing Eleven-Inch Shells 219 + + Two of the Great Twenty-eight Centimeter Siege Guns 220 + + Shells Waiting to be Hurled into Port Arthur 221 + + Scenes Near Port Arthur During the Long Siege 222 + + Infantry Hidden by Cornfields and Ravines 223 + + Japanese Infantry Creeping Through a Cornfield 224 + + Japanese War Balloon Near Port Arthur 225 + + General Nogi and His Staff, Conquerors of Port Arthur 226 + + With the Japanese as They Closed in Around Port Arthur 227 + + Incidents of the Surrender of Port Arthur 228 + + One of the Many “Bomb-Proofs” Used by Civilians 229 + + Engineers’ Stores Set on Fire by Japanese Shells 230 + + Japanese Shell Bursting in the Basin 231 + + View of the Old Town After a Bombardment 232 + + The Price of Victory 233 + + Russian Dead Awaiting Burial 234 + + Photographer’s Studio at Port Arthur After it had been Struck + by Japanese Shells 235 + + Views of Port Arthur in October 236 + + Inside Some of the Russian Forts After the Surrender 237 + + Scenes at Port Arthur After the Surrender 238–239 + + Sunken Russian Battleships 240 + + Harbor of Port Arthur when the Japanese Took Possession 241 + + Convalescent Russian Sailors and Japanese Nurses 242 + + Views at Port Arthur and with a Russian Battery on the Hun + River 244 + + Russian Cavalry and Native Horsemen in the Neighborhood of + Mukden 245 + + Muster of One of Kuroki’s Divisions After the Battle of Mukden 246 + + Mukden Neighborhood Before the Japanese were Near 247 + + Where Some of the Shells Burst During the Artillery Duels Near + Mukden 248 + + Desolation in the Path of the Japanese Attack 249 + + Scenes in the Vicinity of Mukden 250 + + Fighting Ships of Various Classes in Russia’s Baltic Fleet 253 + + Formidable Fighting Ships of Russia’s Baltic Fleet 254 + + Four of the Battleships of Russia’s Baltic Fleet 255 + + The Battleground of the War and the Victorious Progress of the + Japanese 256 + + + + + INTRODUCTION + + +[Illustration: + + NICHOLAS II + + EMPEROR OF RUSSIA, WORRIED BY THE WAR +] + +The Russo-Japanese War was notable for the fact that, although there +were more men on the spot ready to transmit the news to the world than +there have been in any other war in modern times, there never has been a +war since the days of the telegraph and the professional correspondent +the daily news of which the world at large knew so little. There is, +therefore, a unique interest in so vivid and comprehensive a pictorial +history as that gathered by Collier’s correspondent photographers and +presented in the following pages. Practically all the photographs, with +the exception of a very few of those depicting scenes in Russia’ and +with the Russian forces, were taken originally and exclusively for +Collier’s, and they have not appeared elsewhere except by special +arrangement and permission. A large number of these photographs have +never been printed in Collier’s, and they are published in this book for +the first time. Even these were chosen from many hundreds of others, and +they represent but a small part of the great mass of photographs which +were secured by Collier’s indefatigable representatives at the front. In +each weekly issue of Collier’s it was obviously impossible to devote +more than a few pages exclusively to war pictures, and in such a small +space it is a task of exceeding difficulty to convey to the casual +reader any adequate realization of the unique value and the +comprehensive extent of Collier’s Russo-Japanese War service. In this +book the cumulative effect of many pictures helps to give at least a +partial idea of the amount of material gathered by Collier’s +correspondents, and it should be further explained that almost every one +of the pictures herein reproduced is chosen from perhaps a dozen or +score of photographs of similar scenes. + +[Illustration: + + MUTSUHITO + + EMPEROR OF JAPAN, WHO BEGAN THE WAR +] + +Since the days of the telegraph and the modern war correspondent, there +has never been a war in which the work of the chroniclers was beset with +such difficulties. During the early months of hostilities practically +all of the correspondents were bottled up in Tokio, chafing at their +delay, beseeching this official and that, buying winter outfits only to +be compelled to change them for summer equipment, and wasting their +energies during this fretful period of uncertainty in the description of +conventional phases of Japanese life or of the entertainments given them +by their inscrutable hosts of the Japanese war departments. It was only +by some rare stroke of forehandedness, daring, or luck, by which he +escaped temporarily from the Japanese watchfulness and censorship, that +any correspondent was able at this time to do effective work. Of the +little army of men who tried to chronicle the war, with pencil or +camera, none more really “made good” than Collier’s photographer, James +H. Hare. Mr. Hare worked in Tokio before war was declared, and he +followed Kuroki’s army from its landing in Korea through the Yalu +campaign and until the battle of the Sha-Ho. Mr. Hare is a specialist +not in any sense a “button-pusher,” as he calls the amateur who carries +a camera as an incidental. “When we stood on the heights of Wiju,” wrote +Collier’s correspondent, Frederick Palmer, “the soldiers appeared only +as the veriest specks to a camera lens. Jimmy wanted to see the charge +as much as the rest of us. But the detail had to be shown and the +photographer must be near the detail, so Jimmy slipped away when the +censor wasn’t looking. I wonder if those who saw the realistic pictures +of the groups of wounded around the hospital tents at the Yalu realized +at all what they cost this little man, who is nearing his fiftieth year. +He was the first of the correspondents’ corps to cross the river. He +trudged through miles of sand up to his knees. His pony was worn out; +his weary servant promptly resigned. But Jimmy himself was up the next +morning at daybreak, ill and pale, developing the first photographs of +the army at the front to be published.” + +[Illustration: + + VICE-ADMIRAL ALEXIEFF + + RUSSIAN VICEROY IN THE FAR EAST +] + +[Illustration: + + MARQUIS ITO HIROBUMI + + JAPAN’S GREATEST LIVING STATESMAN +] + +Another of Collier’s photographers, Robert L. Dunn, was sent to Chemulpo +before hostilities broke out and “beat” the newspaper and periodical +world with his pictures of the first battle of the war and the landing +of Japanese troops. The greater portion of the Russian pictures were +taken by Victor K. Bulla, whose work in this country was controlled +exclusively by Collier’s. Dozens of photographs which the reader may +survey at his ease were taken only after long marches over frozen and +wind-swept country. Films were developed in the field with the help of +Korean coolies or Japanese commissary officers, and they reached +Collier’s office only after being carried scores and perhaps hundreds of +miles by coolie runners through a country where a mail service was +unknown. Every one of the photographs printed in this book represents an +outlay of time, energy, and money of which the uninitiated reader can +have only a slight understanding. + + + + + CHAPTER I + THE CAUSES OF THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR + + +The war between Russia and Japan was a fight for disputed territory. Its +immediate cause was the failure of the two nations to agree on the +relation which each should maintain toward Korea and Manchuria. The +underlying cause of the struggle was the mighty clash that was bound to +come when those measures which Japan believed were necessary to her +self-existence met the glacier-like progress of Russia eastward toward +the Pacific. Through nearly three centuries the Russian Empire had +advanced from the Ural Mountains to outposts and outlets on the Pacific +Coast. Her mighty plans met no serious check until they came athwart the +ambitions and policy of the modernized Japan, which saw in this alleged +expansion for industrial development a menace to her integrity as a +kingdom. Korea, a buffer between these two powers, became involved in +the dispute by the results of the war between Japan and China in 1894. +The intervention of the European Powers in the terms of treaty +settlement robbed Japan of her chief spoil, the Liaotung Peninsula, +whose stronghold was Port Arthur. Russia, Germany, and France intimated +that Japanese occupation of this base must be regarded as a permanent +threat to the independence of China and Korea. Three years later, Russia +began to fortify Port Arthur, on the pretext that German acquisition of +Kiaochau would otherwise disturb the balance of power in North China. + +The Boxer outbreak of 1900 furnished Russia reasons for vastly +increasing her military strength in Manchuria, to safeguard her railway +across Siberia and her rapidly expanding commercial and colonization +interests. Promises were made, and broken, that Manchuria would be +evacuated and restored to Chinese control as soon as peaceful conditions +were resumed in accordance with the joint agreements of the powers that +the integrity of China should be preserved. When it became certain that +Russia had no intention of loosening her grip on Manchuria, the Japanese +Government proposed a conference, in July of 1903, for the purpose of +assuring the lasting peace of Eastern Asia, by agreeing upon a working +basis for settlement of the points at issue with Russia. Japan wished +guarantees of the territorial integrity of China and Korea, and the +“open door” in both countries for commercial opportunity. Russia replied +that she was ready to recognize the rights of Japan as the predominating +influence in Korea, but refused to discuss further pledges regarding the +future of China and Manchuria. The Russian attitude was influenced most +strongly by the facts that Russia wanted an outlet to the Pacific, and +that the outlay of three hundred million dollars in Manchuria, to make +that province both Russian and prosperous, called for some tangible +return. Japan refused to consider herself outside the sphere of active +interest in Manchuria, and negotiations came to a deadlock early in +1904. + +On January 4, Japanese advices said that a conflict with Russia was +inevitable, that the newspapers were urging the opening of hostilities, +and that the Government was massing troops ready to embark on +transports. The diplomats in St. Petersburg were delaying over the final +reply to the Japanese note and were not expecting war, according to +their assurances. + +[Illustration: + + TYPICAL STREET SCENE IN RUSSIA’S CAPITAL CITY + + This photograph represents a procession leaving St. Catherine’s + Church, in St. Petersburg, to + go down to the Neva to bless the river waters, an example of that + picturesque mediaevalism + which survives in so many forms, and as such a real part of the + everyday life of the people +] + +During the following week, Russia was hurrying troops toward the +frontier and buying horses, while the Argentine cruisers, _Nisshin_ and +_Kasuga_, bought by Japan, were making ready to leave Genoa with rush +orders to proceed to Yokohama. Meantime, the negotiations were continued +with proposals and counter-proposals that made no progress. + +On January 13, a conference before the Throne in Tokio decided upon the +final terms to be sent to Russia, the only conditions which could avert +war. Russia started two divisions of troops over the Trans-Siberian +Railway to China, an obvious war measure. Two days later two transports +crowded with Russian troops for the Far East sailed through the +Bosphorus. Russia asked Turkey for permission to send the Black Sea +fleet through the Dardanelles, and Lord Lansdowne said that such action +would be considered a breach of treaty in which Great Britain could not +acquiesce. + +There was a lull of nearly two weeks, while Tokio fretted over the delay +of the Russian reply. Japan adopted plans for raising seventy-five +million dollars of an emergency war fund. + +The long-drawn tension of January ended with a pretence of negotiations +oscillating between Tokio and St. Petersburg, but by this time the +pursuits of diplomacy had become a farce, and both nations were making +all possible preparations for a long struggle at arms. Although the +Russian ultimatum had not been officially delivered, its contents were +forecasted, and it was known that Japan’s final demands had been evaded. +On February 2, the mobilization of the Manchurian reserves was +announced, and on the next day a semi-official despatch from Vladivostok +reported that the Russian squadron there had been stripped for action, +and that the ships in the harbor of Port Arthur had joined those in the +outer roadstead to unite the fighting strength for aggressive action. +The Russian General Staff granted to Alexieff the right to declare war. +Nearly a week before the first blow was struck, it was seen that the +prolonged tension had reached the breaking point. At one of the last +Cabinet conferences in Tokio hope of peace was abandoned, for the reason +that, while Russia was unreasonably delaying her reply to the last +Japanese note, she was daily increasing her warlike activities. It was +known in advance that while Russia partly conceded the demands of Japan +regarding Korea, important reservations were made, and that as regards +Manchuria the reply would refuse to place on record recognition of the +sovereignty of China, or even to discuss that question with Japan. + +Japanese residents were told to leave Vladivostok, and 20,000 Russian +troops were moving with the view of occupying Northern Korea. Japan +continued extraordinary preparations for instant action, but the plans +of her army and navy were so carefully guarded that no news of them was +published up to the day war was declared by the first overt act. + +[Illustration: + + AN EVERYDAY SCENE IN ONE OF THE LARGE CITIES OF JAPAN + + These are the little people whose surface daintiness covers a martial + spirit more truly Spartan + than that manifested by any other nation of the modern world. This + street, gay with Japanese + flags, is the “Isezakicho,” which has sometimes been called the Bowery + of Yokohama +] + +On Saturday, February 6, the Russian note was already in the hands of +Baron de Rosen, the Russian Minister at Tokio, for delivery to Baron +Komura, the Japanese Foreign Minister, when at four o’clock in the +afternoon, M. Kurino, the Japanese Minister at St. Petersburg, called +personally to inform the Russian Government that, in view of the delays +in connection with the Russian replies, and the obvious futility of the +negotiations, Japan considered it useless to continue diplomatic +relations. Japan would take such steps as she deemed proper for the +protection of her interests, therefore M. Kurino asked for his +passports. The Russian Minister, a few hours later, prepared to leave +Tokio as soon as possible. + +The startling action of Japan, in severing diplomatic relations before +the actual delivery of the Russian note, came like a bolt from a clear +sky at St. Petersburg. It was expected that Japan would invade Korea and +seek a naval battle within the next twenty-four hours. This was an +accurate surmise, for in even less time forty Japanese transports were +loaded with troops to be landed at various points in Southern and +Central Korea. One naval division sailed from Japanese waters for +Chemulpo, and another for Port Arthur, as soon as the news that there +could be no peace was sent by wireless telegraphy to the waiting ships. + +In the afternoon of February 8 a fleet of Japanese transports, escorted +by a squadron of battleships and powerful cruisers, appeared off the +harbor of Chemulpo. The Russian gunboat _Korietz_, on its way to Port +Arthur with despatches, sighted the hostile craft; the commander cleared +for action, fired a shot at the Japanese torpedo scouts, then returned +at full speed to shelter near the Russian cruiser _Variag_, inside the +Korean harbor. This proved to be the first shot of the war, and was so +claimed by the Japanese when accused of attacking Port Arthur without +formal declaration of war later in the same day. Early on the morning of +February 9, Admiral Uriu, commander of the Japanese fleet, notified the +two Russians that they must surrender or leave the harbor by noon, else +he would attack them where they lay. The Russians did not surrender, but +sailed out of the bay, with bands playing, to certain destruction. By +four o’clock that afternoon the _Variag_ and the _Korietz_ were at the +bottom of Chemulpo Harbor, and the war was on. + +The man who judges things by weight, bulk, and dollars may well wonder +at Japanese temerity. To Japan, with her 147,000 square miles, the +annexation of Korea, with 82,000 square miles, meant what the annexation +of Mexico would to the United States. To Russia, with her 8,666,000 +square miles, it meant less than Southern California to us. Russia’s +population was 140,000,000; Japan’s 44,000,000. On a peace footing the +Russian army had 1,000,000 officers and men; the Japanese, 175,000. On a +war footing, the Russian 4,600,000 and the Japanese 675,000. + +Russia is the Christian nation which has been slowest in development. +Mentally, she is just out of the Dark Ages, equipped with the mechanical +progress of modern times. Japan is the pagan nation which has been +foremost in adopting the worldly essentials of a civilization which is +Christian in its origin. Russia is a union of nomadic races, but lately +ushered into feudalism, which have, in turn, conquered many other races. +Japan has had a stable, organized government longer than England, and +the Japanese were a free people when the Saxons were the serfs of the +Normans. The Czar is a pope; the Mikado divinity itself. If the Jews +were still a nation and a descendant of Moses were their king, he would +mean to them what the Mikado means to the Japanese. For all the +centuries of the nation’s existence the Japanese had known no +acquisition of territory. The Russians have lived by this. + +[Illustration: + + RECRUITS GOING THROUGH FIRING DRILL WITHOUT RIFLES +] + +[Illustration: + + INFANTRY DRILLING IN HEAVY MARCHING ORDER +] + +[Illustration: + + SOLDIERS LEARNING HOW TO CARRY WOUNDED COMRADES +] + +[Illustration: + + RIFLE PRACTICE ON THE PARADE GROUND +] + + JAPANESE TROOPS PREPARING FOR WAR + +These photographs were taken on the parade ground at the Oyama Barracks +in Tokio just before the outbreak of the war. Japan had already been +practically on a war footing for months, and the busy work of +preparation here suggested was typical of the spirit that prevailed +throughout the nation and brought Japan’s army to a state of +preparedness perhaps never before duplicated in the history of war. + +[Illustration: + + LEARNING HOW TO JUMP +] + +[Illustration: + + PRACTICING THE SABRE THRUST +] + +[Illustration: + + CAVALRY RECRUIT LEARNING TO RIDE WITHOUT STIRRUPS OR BRIDLE +] + +[Illustration: + + TRAINING JAPANESE CAVALRYMEN AT THE TOKIO BARRACKS +] + +The Japanese cavalry was the weakest branch of the service. The Japanese +are not natural horsemen, and both the men and their mounts were +inferior, in a military sense, to the other branches of the service. The +horses were scrubby little beasts with neither speed nor tractability. +The trooper whose mount finally succeeded in clearing the bar shown +above thought the feat very remarkable + +[Illustration: + + CHANGING GUARD AT THE OYAMA BARRACKS IN TOKIO +] + +[Illustration: + + SWAPPING STORIES IN THE GUARD HOUSE AT OYAMA BARRACKS +] + +In spite of his inscrutable manner the Japanese soldier when with a +crowd of his comrades becomes almost as loquacious as the typical +regular of other countries. In the Oyama Barracks, where this photograph +was taken, a large number of troops were quartered ready to be rushed to +the front as soon as hostilities were declared + +[Illustration: + + CLEANING AND OILING RIFLES IN PREPARATION FOR WAR +] + +[Illustration: + + DEPARTURE OF BARON ROSEN, THE RUSSIAN MINISTER, FROM YOKOHAMA +] + +On the breaking off of diplomatic relations the Russian Minister took +passage for Marseilles on the French steamship “Yarra.” He left Yokohama +on February 12, when war had actually been begun by the actions at +Chemulpo and Port Arthur. The French and Belgian Ministers and attaches +and a few other friends from the diplomatic circle accompanied him to +the dock to bid him farewell + +[Illustration: + + MINISTER PAVLOV LEAVING LEGATION UNDER ESCORT +] + +[Illustration: + + REPRESENTATIVES OF NEUTRAL POWERS TALKING WITH M. PAVLOV AT THE WHARF +] + + RUSSIAN MINISTER TO KOREA DEPARTING FROM SEOUL + +[Illustration: + + NEWSPAPER BULLETINS ON THE CHEMULPO BATTLE IN THE MAIN STREET OF TOKIO +] + +[Illustration: + + PATRIOTIC CITIZENS STANDING IN THE RAIN WAITING THEIR TURN TO ENLIST +] + +[Illustration: + + BUILDING TEMPORARY STABLES IN TOKIO IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE + DECLARATION OF WAR +] + +[Illustration: + + ENLISTED TROOPS, NEWLY ARRIVED IN TOKIO, WAITING THEIR TURN TO BE + FITTED OUT +] + +[Illustration: + + IN HEAVY MARCHING ORDER READY TO DEPART +] + +[Illustration: + + TROOPS BILLETED AT PRIVATE HOUSES IN TOKIO +] + + MOBILIZATION OF TROOPS IN TOKIO AT THE OUTBREAK OF WAR + +[Illustration: + + TROOPS MARCHING TO STATION THROUGH THE STREETS OF TOKIO +] + +[Illustration: + + ENTRAINING AT THE SHIMBASHI STATION, TOKIO +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE CAVALRYMEN ABOUT TO TAKE THE TRAIN +] + +[Illustration: + + TROOPS ASSEMBLING IN STREETS NEAR THE STATION +] + +[Illustration: + + INDUCING A FRACTIOUS CAVALRY HORSE TO BOARD THE TRAIN +] + + DEPARTURE OF JAPANESE TROOPS FOR KOREA + +[Illustration: + + EXAMINING CAVALRY HORSES AFTER ARRIVAL AT HIROSHIMA +] + +[Illustration: + + UNLOADING THE LIGHT PORTABLE TRANSPORT CARTS +] + +[Illustration: + + UNLOADING CAVALRY HORSES FROM BOX CARS +] + +[Illustration: + + TRANSPORT CARTS LOADED WITH SUPPLIES +] + + JAPANESE TROOPS DETRAINING AT HIROSHIMA + +At Hiroshima the troops were detrained for the port of Ujina, whence a +large part of the Japanese forces were embarked for Korea. Many of the +cavalry horses were injured during their railroad journey by kicking +each other or their stalls. The light “collapsable” carts shown here +were one of the features of the mobile Japanese equipment. They kept +pace with the marching column + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE CAVALRYMEN IN RAILWAY CARRIAGE +] + +[Illustration: + + TROOPERS IN CHARGE OF CARS CONTAINING HORSES +] + +[Illustration: + + OFFICERS IN COMMAND OF CAVALRY REGIMENT +] + + CAVALRY TRAIN LEAVING SHIMBASHI STATION + +[Illustration: + + MEN OF THE ARMY SERVICE CORPS READY TO ENTRAIN +] + +[Illustration: + + “SAYONARA!”—GOOD-BY +] + +It was not until the troops had been departing from Tokio for several +days that the general populace showed any such resemblance to Occidental +enthusiasm as this. When some of the members of the staff left Tokio, +they awakened and behaved like any other crowd at such a time. They +shouted good-bys and the band, in a quaint imitation of Western customs, +played “Auld Lang Syne” + +[Illustration: + + FIFTH DIVISION ENGINEERS STUDYING PLANS +] + +[Illustration: + + FIRST SECTION FINISHED SHOWING MANNER OF CONSTRUCTION WITH TIMBER AND + ROPES +] + +[Illustration: + + PUSHING THE FIRST STAGING OUT INTO THE RIVER +] + + ENGINEERS AT HIROSHIMA PRACTICING BUILDING BRIDGES LIKE THOSE USED AT + THE YALU + +[Illustration: + + BRIDGE AT HIROSHIMA READY FOR THE PONTOONS +] + +The bridges used at the Yalu were all planned and constructed in +practice in Japan long before war was declared. After being built they +were taken apart, carried along with the rest of the equipment, and put +together when the time came. The Japanese engineers had complete maps +and measurements of the streams in Manchuria, so that they always knew +just what difficulties were to be met + +[Illustration: + + “TIKOKU BANZAI!”—“LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE!” +] + +Enthusiasm at Kobe upon the departure of a troop train for Ugina, a port +of embarkation for Korea. On leaving for the front the Japanese soldier +suppressed all emotions of sorrow. Not to be impassive was unmanly. It +was only at such times as this that the collective enthusiasm showed +itself, and it was not until a number of trains had passed en route for +the front that it awoke. + + + + + CHAPTER II + THE FIRST BATTLES OF THE WAR + + +It was on the night of February 8, 1904, that all hope of a peaceful +solution of the Russo-Japanese entanglement was blown to the winds by +the startling attack of Admiral Togo’s torpedo-boats on the Russian +fleet at Port Arthur. The Russians were quite unready for so swift an +onslaught; many officers were on shore, while the lookouts and scouting +service were scarcely more vigilant than in time of peace. The Japanese +torpedo flotilla sped in among the close-huddled battleships, launched +their missiles, and were scurrying to sea before the Russian crews began +to repel the attack. The first-class battleships “Retvizan” and +“Czarevitch” and the cruiser “Pallada” were so badly injured that they +had to be beached. The Japanese fleet returned the next day and +bombarded the Russian ships and forts. In this attack the battleship +“Poltava,” and the cruisers “Diana,” “Novik,” and “Askold” were +temporarily disabled. + +Before the news of the battle of Port Arthur had fairly reached the eyes +of the Western world came the more tragic story of the destruction of +the “Variag” and the “Korietz” in Chemulpo Harbor. Admiral Uriu, +commanding six Japanese battleships, six cruisers, and twelve torpedo +craft, appeared off Chemulpo and demanded the surrender of the two +Russian ships. Captain Behr of the “Variag” and Captain Roudnoff of the +“Korietz” refused to surrender, and on the morning of February 9, the +“Variag,” with bands playing, steamed out of the harbor to meet the +hopeless odds. She met the Japanese fleet eight miles out, the enemy +using long-range 12-inch guns, and pounding away at distances which made +the “Variag’s” batteries harmless. Ten large projectiles riddled the +cruiser, and in fifty minutes not a gun could be worked, the ship was on +fire, engines crippled, and 109 officers and men of a complement of 540 +lay dead and wounded on the decks. The “Variag” crept back into port, +her crew was removed to the British cruiser “Talbot” and the French +cruiser “Pascal,” and she was set on fire. Three hours later, the +“Variag,” after only eighteen months’ service, was at the bottom, a +shattered and blackened mass of steel. The “Korietz” was a slow gunboat +of only 1,200 tons, mounting one 6-inch gun and two 8-inch guns, with no +armor protection. She was untouched, but after the fight her commander +decided to destroy his ship, because Admiral Uriu had promised to renew +the attack at four in the afternoon. Precisely at four o’clock, two +deafening explosions came from the “Korietz.” As the smoke cleared, +where the “Korietz” had been, only bits of wreckage and about four feet +of her funnel could be seen. + +On the day after the Russian ships had been destroyed a division of the +Japanese army was thrown ashore at Chemulpo. The landing was made in +perfect order. The army was dependent for nothing upon the port. A large +force was sent to occupy Seoul, and within two days Japan was in +complete control of the most advantageous strategic bases of Korea. + +[Illustration: + + THE RUSSIAN SHIPS AT CHEMULPO BEFORE THE BATTLE +] + +[Illustration: + + THE RUSSIAN GUNBOAT “KORIETZ” AT THE MOMENT OF THE EXPLOSION +] + +[Illustration: + + THE RUSSIAN CRUISER “VARIAG” ON FIRE AT CHEMULPO +] + + DESTRUCTION OF THE “VARIAG” AND “KORIETZ” IN THE HARBOR OF CHEMULPO + +[Illustration: + + FUNNEL OF THE GUNBOAT “KORIETZ” +] + +[Illustration: + + TOPMASTS OF THE CRUISER “VARIAG” +] + + WRECKS OF THE RUSSIAN WARSHIPS IN CHUMULPO HARBOR + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE SALVAGE CORPS WORKING ON THE WRECK OF THE “VARIAG” AT + CHEMULPO +] + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + + THE NIGHT LANDING OF THE JAPANESE TROOPS AT CHEMULPO + +All through the night of February 9 boatloads of these little soldiers, +with their inscrutable, unimpassioned faces, were landed in the snow on +the Korean shore. This landing was one of the first proofs the Western +world had of the wonderful preparedness of the soldiers of the Mikado. +In spite of the darkness, fitfully punctuated by blazing torches, fires, +and braziers, the task went on like clockwork + +[Illustration: + + COOLIES HANDLING JAPANESE SUPPLIES AFTER THE LANDING AT CHEMULPO +] + +[Illustration: + + MRS. PAVLOV, WIFE OF THE RUSSIAN MINISTER TO KOREA, AT THE SEOUL + RAILWAY STATION +] + +[Illustration: + + DR. H. N. ALLEN, UNITED STATES MINISTER TO KOREA +] + +Mrs. Pavlov, the wife of the Russian Minister, is a cousin of the +Countess Cassini. When the Minister was invited to leave on the arrival +of the Japanese, she was accompanied to the station not only by the +Japanese guard, but by all the gallant young men of the diplomatic +circle. Dr. Allen, the United States Minister, is shown standing at the +door of the Legation at Seoul + +[Illustration: + + KOREAN SENTRY AT SEOUL +] + +[Illustration: + + BRINGING LANDING STAGES ASHORE AT CHEMULPO +] + +[Illustration: + + PACKING HORSES WITH BAGGAGE KITS AT CHEMULPO +] + + THE JAPANESE ADVANCE THROUGH KOREA + +[Illustration: + + UNITED STATES MARINES NEAR THE LEGATION AT SEOUL +] + +[Illustration: + + SAPPERS AND MINERS STARTING FOR NORTHERN KOREA +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE INFANTRY MARCHING THROUGH THE MAIN STREET OF SEOUL +] + + THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION OF SEOUL + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE TROOPS WAITING TO CROSS THE RIVER AT PING-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + KOREANS WATCHING FROM THE GREAT GATE THE ENTRY OF THE JAPANESE AT + SEOUL +] + +[Illustration: + + COMMISSARY TENTS IN THE JAPANESE CAMP AT CHEMULPO +] + +[Illustration: + + EXTERIOR OF THE HOSPITAL BUILDING, RED CROSS FLAGS OVER THE GATE +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE RED CROSS NURSE ATTENDING RUSSIAN SAILORS WOUNDED IN THE + BATTLE OF FEBRUARY 9 +] + + THE JAPANESE RED CROSS HOSPITAL AT CHEMULPO + +As soon as the Japanese landed after the battle between the warships in +Chemulpo Harbor, a hospital was improvised and the more dangerously +wounded Russians brought ashore from the foreign battleships, where they +had been cared for temporarily, and nursed by the Japanese Red Cross +service. As a mark of appreciation Russia contributed 2,000 yen ($1,000) +to the Japanese branch of the Red Cross] + + + + + CHAPTER III + RUSSIAN PREPARATIONS FOR WAR + + +Not only were the available Russian forces ill prepared for meeting the +agile and ready Japanese, not only was their equipment ponderous and +unwieldy, their knowledge of the strategic difficulties and advantages +of the country in which the fighting was to be done scant and +inaccurate, but the big fact which put Russia at a disadvantage during +the early months of the war was the immense distance between her +military bases and the front. Across the trackless wastes of Siberia the +only path was a single-track railroad—a line of communication none too +well equipped in times of peace, and open to complete and immediate +disablement should the enemy succeed in cutting it at any point along a +comparatively vulnerable stretch of many hundreds of miles. By sea—that +is to say, by the way of the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal, and the +route round the southern coast of Asia—Russian ships and soldiers were +over 12,000 miles, or about fifty-one days, away from the seat of +hostilities. When to these material difficulties were added the +dissensions, jealousies, and shifting policies of St. Petersburg, the +effective strength of Russia in these early days of the war could in no +way be measured by her vast extent and apparently illimitable power. + +In Japan, on the other hand, preparedness was the keynote of the +situation. Although nominally at peace, Japan had been practically on a +war footing for months, yet so secretly was this preparation made that +even after war was declared a casual and incurious visitor in Tokio +would have seen little to indicate that he was in one of the great +military centres of the world, and that all round and about him was +being planned one of the greatest struggles of modern times. + +The results of this preparedness were vividly enough shown when the +“Variag” and the “Korietz” were sunk in Chemulpo Harbor, before the +world was really aware that war was seriously intended and inevitable. +They were no less convincingly demonstrated by the perfection of the +Japanese field equipment, and by the almost microscopic exactness with +which every possible contingency had been foreseen and provided for. +Ever since their war with China the Japanese had been perfecting their +military organization, as though the coming war with Russia were a +certainty. They had military maps of every nook and corner of Korea and +Manchuria; they had spies working as coolies on the Russian railroads, +and in Russian ports and shipyards; they had their light equipment +especially adapted for the heavy Manchurian roads. Their baggage was so +arranged and distributed that it made compact cube-shaped bundles which +could be packed like so many building blocks, or made into easily +carried packs for coolies. The collapsable boats with which a pontoon +bridge was thrown across the Yalu were made for that special purpose +months before, when the Korean peninsula was yet to be invaded. In fact, +the whole early part of the war was an almost grotesque struggle between +preparedness and unpreparedness, extreme mobility and clodhopping +heaviness, cleverness and stupidity. + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN LADIES SEWING FOR THE RED CROSS IN THE PALACE OF THE GRAND + DUKE VLADIMIR +] + +Under the auspices of the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, a circle of +titled ladies met regularly at the Grand Ducal residence to sew for the +men at the front. The Grand Duchess herself equipped and sent to the +front an entire train fitted out for hospital purposes. At the Winter +Palace the Czarina sewed with nearly a thousand ladies and the Dowager +Empress presided over another sewing circle + +[Illustration: + + WITH THE RUSSIAN ARMY ON ITS MARCH TO THE FRONT +] + +A division of regular troops mobilizing in Southeastern Russia for +transportation northward. The infantry regiments may be seen marching +along the main road, while the artillery and transport wagons are moving +up in the middle distance. A large body of cavalry, half hidden in dust +clouds, is visible near the horizon. These troops were among the first +mobilized + +[Illustration: + + THE CZAR OF RUSSIA AND HIS FAMILY +] + +[Illustration: + + THE CHRISTENING PROCESSION FOR THE CZAREVITCH +] + +[Illustration: + + CHILDREN OF THE CZAR AT A MILITARY REVIEW +] + + THE AUTOCRAT OF RUSSIA AND THE ROYAL FAMILY + +[Illustration: + + THE CZAR LEAVING THE WINTER PALACE TO BID FAREWELL TO TROOPS STARTING + FOR THE FRONT +] + +The most sorrowful figure in the Russian Court at the beginning of the +war was the Autocrat from whom all the Muscovite power and splendor +radiated. Helpless among the cliques of the bureaucracy, he knew not +what course to pursue and was beset with apprehensions not only of the +fidelity of those about him, but for the safety of his own life + +[Illustration: + + DEPARTURE OF RED CROSS NURSES FROM ST. PETERSBURG FOR THE FRONT +] + +[Illustration: + + THE CZAR REVIEWING AN INFANTRY REGIMENT ON ITS DEPARTURE FOR THE FRONT +] + +[Illustration: + + PROCESSION IN HONOR OF THE CHEMULPO SAILORS MARCHING TO THE WINTER + PALACE +] + +The Russian sailors were treated as heroes wherever they went after +their return from the disastrous engagement at Chemulpo. There were +fêtes and processions in their honor at Odessa, Moscow, and St. +Petersburg. A banquet was held at St. Petersburg, the officers received +costly mementos and the sailors souvenirs and money rewards. The welcome +was like that given to a victorious army + +[Illustration: + + TWENTY-THIRD ARTILLERY BRIGADE ABOUT TO LEAVE GATCHINA FOR THE FRONT +] + +[Illustration: + + THE CZAR BIDDING FAREWELL TO COMMANDERS ABOUT TO LEAVE FOR THE FRONT +] + +[Illustration: + + GRAND DUKE ALEXANDROVITCH LEADING HIS MARINES IN REVIEW BEFORE THE + CZAR PREVIOUS TO LEAVING ST. PETERSBURG +] + +[Illustration: + + CAPTAIN VIEDUSTOIPE OF AUSTRIA AND HIS WIFE SURROUNDED BY RUSSIAN + OFFICERS +] + +[Illustration: + + ASCENT OF RUSSIAN BALLOON WITH GENERAL WARINOWSKY IN THE CAR +] + + INTERNATIONAL BALLOON CONTEST AT ST. PETERSBURG + + + + + CHAPTER IV + WITH THE JAPANESE IN KOREA + + +Having secured a safe landing-place at Chemulpo, Japan poured troops +into Korea and along the old Peking Road through Seoul to Ping-Yang and +on to the northward toward the Yalu. Russia abandoned all hope of +effective aggression by sea with her crippled fleet, and, except for the +elusive Vladivostok squadron of four powerful cruisers, Japan was free +to rush her troops into Korea. Russia bent all her energies toward +hurrying her levies and supplies into Manchuria. Seoul was occupied and +the Russian minister invited to leave. He complied at once. + +Moving at the rapid pace of from fifteen to twenty-five miles a day, the +mobile Japanese pushed on to Ping-Yang. No opposition was met with, the +native Koreans staring dumbly at the invaders without much curiosity and +with no desire to make resistance. The march from Seoul to Ping-Yang was +made along the ancient road to Peking, which was a quagmire most of the +distance, crowded with cavalry, infantry, pack-trains, bullock-carts, +and long trains of white-clad natives burdened with bags of provisions, +plodding knee-deep through slush and mud. Half-frozen at night, +stumbling and slipping all day, each soldier carrying sixty pounds of +equipment, this infantry column swept along at a speed of from fifteen +to twenty-five miles a day. That such speed was possible was due to the +lightness of the Japanese baggage and wagon equipment, which had been +specially prepared for the heavy Korean and Manchurian roads. + +It was apparent even to casual observers that immense military +operations were under way, yet the civilized world was wholly in +ignorance of their scope or direction. On February 15, for example, +scores of crowded transports were leaving the Japanese naval bases, and +a small army of alert correspondents from the world over could only +guess whether these thousands of troops were going to Korea, to the Yalu +region, or within a hundred miles of the Liaotung Peninsula. While the +Japanese troops were pushing northward, the advance guard of the Russian +army crossed the Yalu into Korean territory and occupied Wiju. The +Russian headquarters were established at Harbin, the chief strategic +centre of railway communication in inland Manchuria. + +Chenampo is one hundred and thirty miles north of Chemulpo on Korea Bay, +and correspondingly nearer to the Yalu. Early in April, after the troops +which had landed at Chemulpo two months before had completed their +arduous march northward through the Korean Peninsula, and had captured +the town of Wiju, on the east bank of the Yalu River, what was known as +the main army, under General Kuroki, landed from transports at Chenampo. +The success of the advance column had given the Japanese control of the +mouth of the Yalu before Kuroki began to mobilize his co-operating +columns, and two forces were thus ready by the end of April to force the +passage of the Yalu and fight their way into Manchuria. + +[Illustration: + + LANDING THE MEN WHO FOUGHT AT THE YALU +] + +The Japanese troops were ferried from the transports to the shore at +Chenampo in heavy, blunt-nosed sampans. These sampans are sculled from +the stern ordinarily with huge sweeps. The boatmen can be seen over the +heads of the seated soldiers, standing over their sweeps like +gondoliers. At Chenampo the sampans were in most cases lashed together +in groups of three or four and towed by tugs + +[Illustration: + + ARTILLERYMEN IN HEAVY MARCHING ORDER LANDING AT CHENAMPO +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE BLUEJACKETS COMING ASHORE AT CHENAMPO +] + +[Illustration: + + GROOMING CAVALRY HORSES AT CHENAMPO AFTER LANDING THEM FROM TRANSPORTS +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE TROOPERS CARING FOR A SICK HORSE +] + +[Illustration: + + KOREANS AND JAPANESE SALESMAN AT CHENAMPO +] + +The lone Japanese pedler is shown at lower right-hand corner of the +picture sitting behind his wares. The men at the left of the picture are +not armless, as it might appear, but have their arms inside their +kimonos, as is their habit on cold days. The march of the Japanese +through their country and the whole excitement of war stirred the placid +Koreans to little more unrest than they show here + +[Illustration: + + KOREAN COOLIES CARRYING RICE AND BEEF FOR JAPANESE ARMY +] + +[Illustration: + + BRINGING LUMBER INTO WIJU FOR BRIDGING THE YALU +] + +[Illustration: + + COLLIER’S PHOTOGRAPHER AND COOLIES WITH MILITARY BICYCLES +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE EXTINGUISHING FIRE CAUSED BY RUSSIAN SHRAPNEL +] + + WITH THE JAPANESE ON THE ADVANCE TO THE YALU + +[Illustration: + + SCREENS WHICH HID THE MOVEMENTS OF THE JAPANESE +] + +General Kuroki not only misled the Russians as to the point at which he +would probably cross the Yalu, but masked the march of his forces to the +point north of the Wiju, where the crossing was made, by these grass +screens and by marching behind hills. The Russians knew that some +movement was going on, but could not make out the extent of it + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL KUROKI AND HIS STAFF AT THEIR FIELD HEADQUARTERS IN ANTUNG +] + +On the left of General Kuroki sits General Fuji, his chief of staff, on +the right Prince Kuni. Next to Prince Kuni is Colonel Hageno, the +Russian scholar of the staff. One of Kuroki’s absolute prohibitions to +correspondents was the mention either of the general’s name or of the +place from which they wrote, lest news of the army’s location should be +brought to the Russians + + + + + CHAPTER V + THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE TO THE FRONT + + +The supreme difficulty under which Russia labored during the early +months of the war was the enormous distance from her military base to +the battle front. The only line of land communication between Russia and +Manchuria was the single-track Siberian railroad, and when war began +this line was broken by the ice-locked Lake Baikal. Russia had need of +300,000 men in Manchuria as soon as they could be rushed there, and with +Lake Baikal frozen to the depth of nine feet, less than four thousand +and more often not more than one thousand men could cross it in a day. + +Lake Baikal, this weakest link of a very weak chain, is the largest body +of fresh water in the Old World, except the Victoria Nyanza in Africa. +It is nearly 15,000 square miles in extent, and therefore inferior only +to Superior and Huron among the great American lakes. It is 600 versts +long, with a width varying from 27 to 85 versts. It is 3,185 feet deep. +The railroad was broken by the southern end of this lake, where it is +about 40 miles wide. This is the gap that disastrously impairs the +utility of the Trans-Siberian for the moving of troops and war supplies +to the Manchurian and Korean frontier. + +The lake begins to freeze in November, is completely ice-bound by the +middle of December, remaining so for five months. The ice freezes to a +thickness of nine feet, which would make sledge traffic perfect, were it +not for the fact that wide fissures break its surface, which have a way +of frequently closing up and piling the ice high into impassable +windrows. These crevices have a width of three to six feet, and are +often more than a verst in length, forming a serious impediment to +progress on the ice and rendering next to impossible the marching of +troops across the lake or the safe sledging of supplies. A thunderous +crash, as of an explosion, marks the forming of the crevice, followed by +a long, rolling reverberation. The rift instantly fills with water to +the level of the ice, and is so agitated at the surface by currents or +other forces that eight to fourteen days are required for it to freeze +over, when the operation of cracking begins anew, and is repeated +throughout the coldest portion of the winter. + +The obvious solution to this difficulty was to build a railroad round +the end of the lake, a detour of nearly 150 miles, and necessitating the +construction of four tunnels. This was out of the question. A powerful +ice-crusher, the “Baikal,” modeled after the ice-crushers successfully +used in the Straits of Mackinac, had been built. She could break ice +four feet thick, but on the nine-foot ice of the Russian inland sea she +made no successful impression. The result was that a line of track had +to be laid across the lake, and that before this was completed the +troops had to be marched across the forty-mile stretch of wind-swept +ice, while their supplies and baggage had to be dragged after them in +sledges. Many of the men, wandering on to treacherous ice, were drowned; +many were frost-bitten, and all suffered extremely from the arduous +labor of the march and the bitter cold. + +[Illustration: + + UNLOADING ARMY TRANSPORT WAGONS AT THE LAKE +] + +[Illustration: + + OFFICERS CROSSING THE ICE IN RUSSIAN SLEDGES +] + +[Illustration: + + DETACHMENT OF INFANTRY STOPPING FOR A MEAL OF HOT SOUP WHILE ON THE + MARCH +] + + RUSSIANS CROSSING LAKE BAIKAL IN MIDWINTER + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN CAVALRY CROSSING LAKE BAIKAL +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN CAVALRY READY TO CROSS THE LAKE +] + +[Illustration: + + DRAGGING FREIGHT CARS ACROSS THE ICE +] + +[Illustration: + + MOUNTED COSSACKS AT LAKE BAIKAL +] + + WITH THE RUSSIAN FORCES ON THEIR WAY TO THE FRONT + +[Illustration: + + ARTILLERY CAISSONS AND SLEDGES ABOUT TO CROSS LAKE BAIKAL +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN SOLDIERS MARCHING ACROSS FROZEN LAKE BAIKAL +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN INFANTRY WARMING UP WITH HOT TEA BEFORE STARTING ACROSS LAKE + BAIKAL +] + +[Illustration: + + A “PEKING CAR,” THE MOST LUXURIOUS METHOD OF TRAVELING +] + +[Illustration: + + TYPICAL RUSSIAN INFANTRYMEN IN HEAVY MARCHING ORDER +] + +[Illustration: + + DETACHMENT OF RUSSIAN INFANTRY ENTERING NEWCHWANG +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN SOLDIERS SWINGING THROUGH THE STREETS OF MUKDEN +] + + THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE TO THE FRONT + +[Illustration: + + THE TRAVELING SOUP KITCHEN AND SOUP-KETTLE OVENS USED BY THE RUSSIANS +] + +[Illustration: + + THE ENTRY OF THE RUSSIAN FORCES INTO NEWCHWANG +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN INFANTRY, IN SUMMER UNIFORMS, MARCHING THROUGH LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN TROOPS ENTERING YINKOW EARLY IN APRIL +] + + WITH THE RUSSIANS DURING THE EARLY ADVANCE TO THE FRONT + +[Illustration: + + CHINESE COOLIES WITH RUSSIAN OVERSEER READY FOR WORK +] + +[Illustration: + + SQUAD OF COSSACKS DISMOUNTED AND LINED UP FOR INSPECTION +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL HERSCHELMANN’S DIVISION OF RUSSIAN CAVALRY AT ANTUNG +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN ARTILLERY ADVANCING TOWARD THE YALU +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN COBBLERS AT WORK IN THE FIELD ON SOLDIERS’ BOOTS +] + +[Illustration: + + DINNER TIME WITH THE NINETEENTH EAST SIBERIAN RIFLE CORPS +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL SASSULITCH AND STAFF IN COMMAND AT THE BATTLE OF THE YALU +] + + + + + CHAPTER VI + THE BATTLE OF THE YALU AND THE JAPANESE ADVANCE + + +The battle of the Yalu was the first great land action of the +Russo-Japanese War. The Russians were outnumbered by their opponents, +but they were also outwitted and outmanœuvred, and the result was an +overwhelming victory for the Japanese. In the crossing of the Yalu the +Japanese exhibited the decided superiority of their shell-fire, they +accomplished the brilliant strategic feat of crossing a river in the +face of an intrenched enemy, and their commander, General Kuroki, proved +himself a tactician of the first rank. + +The first triumph of Japanese cleverness was in deceiving the enemy as +to the probable place of crossing. Bridge materials were brought to the +shore below Wiju and preparations were apparently made for building a +bridge at that point. Under cover of night most of these materials were +rushed to the north of Wiju and above the extreme left of the Russian +line. From this position the main body of the Japanese army crossed to +the Manchurian side with comparatively little opposition. On the Russian +left (up the river) the bank rose in a precipitous rocky formation to a +height of a thousand feet. At the base was a path and a line of sand +left by the falling current. Stretching along this for a mile or more, +like so many blue pencil marks on brown paper, were the Japanese. Any +Russians above them could have done more damage with tumbling bowlders +than with rifle fire. Once on this, the Japanese were under a shelf. +They could be reached only by shooting straight down the stream, and had +gun or rifle ventured this the Russians would have found no cover save +the smoke of shrapnel from the batteries which would have sent them +back. The crossing of the Yalu was effected by a few rounds of +musket-fire. The impregnable position of the enemy became cover for the +Japanese advance. + +Once on the western bank and far enough north of the Russian line to be +safe from attack on his own right flank, Kuroki’s plan was to execute a +series of flank movements and attacks from the rear which would drive +the Russians from their position and render what slight fortifications +they had made on the heights along the river valueless. In spite of the +reckless bravery of the Russians and the stubbornness of their defence, +the impetus of the Japanese attack and the marvelous speed and +effectiveness of the Japanese shell-fire could not be withstood, and the +Russians were routed all along the line. They made a last stand at +Hamatan Hill, a few miles to the rear of their original position, but +the Japanese surrounded them on three sides and before the force +retreated nearly four hundred men were compelled to surrender. Of the +Japanese forces, 5 officers and 160 men were killed, while 29 officers +and 666 men were wounded. The Russian dead, buried by the Japanese, +numbered nearly 1,400, and 475 wounded Russians were taken to Japanese +hospitals. Probably 500 wounded Russians, at least, escaped with the +retreating army. The Japanese captured 28 guns, 50 ammunition wagons, +and many other munitions of war. + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE CAVALRY FORDING A TRIBUTARY OF THE YALU +] + +[Illustration: + + CORRESPONDENTS AND KOREANS WATCHING THE SHELLING OF KU-LIEN-CHENG +] + +[Illustration: + + CROSSING THE YALU ON MAY 1, AT THE DOUBLE-QUICK +] + +[Illustration: + + THE STAFF VIEWING THE FIGHT FROM THE HEIGHTS AT WIJU +] + + INCIDENTS OF THE BATTLE OF THE YALU + +[Illustration: + + BRINGING THE PONTOONS UP TO THE YALU +] + +[Illustration: + + POLING PONTOONS TO THE AI RIVER FROM THE YALU +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE INFANTRY CROSSING THE RIVER +] + +[Illustration: + + COOLIES CARRYING SECTIONS OF A PONTOON BRIDGE +] + + THE CROSSING OF THE YALU + +[Illustration: + + FIELD HOSPITAL ON THE SANDS AT THE EDGE OF THE RIVER +] + +[Illustration: + + CARRYING SOLDIER TO HIS QUARTERS AFTER HIS WOUND HAD BEEN DRESSED +] + +[Illustration: + + WOUNDED JAPANESE WAITING THEIR TURN AT THE OPERATING TABLE +] + + WITH THE WOUNDED AFTER THE FIGHT AT THE YALU + +[Illustration: + + WOUNDED JAPANESE RETURNING TO THE HOSPITAL AT WIJU +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE STRETCHER-BEARERS CARRYING WOUNDED RUSSIAN TO THE HOSPITAL +] + +[Illustration: + + HOSPITAL CORPS WAITING DURING THE ACTION OF MAY 1 +] + +[Illustration: + + THE HOSPITAL AT ANTUNG TWO DAYS AFTER THE YALU BATTLE +] + + HOSPITAL CORPS AND WOUNDED JAPANESE AT THE BATTLE OF THE YALU + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE RESERVES WATCHING THE BATTLE FROM THE SOUTH BANK OF THE RIVER +] + +The fence behind which these reserves are standing was one of those with +which the Japanese concealed their march, from the point south of Wiju +where they first made a feint at crossing to the point north of the town +where the brilliant crossing was finally made. The impetus of this final +attack was such that the Russians were soon routed all along the line. + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN GUN-CARRIAGE DEMOLISHED BY JAPANESE FIRE +] + +[Illustration: + + RAPID FIRE MAXIMS CAPTURED AT HAMATAN HILL +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN FIELD GUNS CAPTURED AND TAKEN TO ANTUNG +] + + ARTILLERY SPOILS CAPTURED BY THE JAPANESE DURING THE YALU BATTLE + +[Illustration: + + SOME OF THE RUSSIAN PRISONERS WOUNDED DURING THE YALU FIGHT +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE BURYING A RUSSIAN CAPTAIN WITH MILITARY HONORS AT ANTUNG +] + +The care of the Russian wounded by the Japanese after the Yalu battle, +and the burial of several Russian officers with military honors, were +things which surprised many sceptical observers of Japanese +civilization, who had predicted that, once in hand-to-hand conflict with +the enemy, the veneer of European civilization would quickly drop off +and reveal the barbarian + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE TRANSPORTATION TRAINS AND INFANTRY LEAVING FOR THE FRONT + AFTER THE YALU BATTLE +] + +[Illustration: + + FIRE AND DEVASTATION IN THE WAKE OF THE RETREATING ARMY +] + +[Illustration: + + CHINESE MANDARIN GOING OUT TO MEET GENERAL KUROKI +] + +[Illustration: + + FIELD POST-OFFICE ESTABLISHED IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE OCCUPATION +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL KUROKI AND STAFF ENTERING FENG-WANG-CHENG +] + +[Illustration: + + OFFICIAL CHINESE ESCORT TO GENERAL KUROKI AT FENG-WANG-CHENG +] + + THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION OF FENG-WANG-CHENG + +[Illustration: + + ENGLISH NURSES SENT BY THE QUEEN TO INSPECT THE WORKINGS OF THE + JAPANESE RED CROSS +] + +These representatives of the Queen, Miss St. Aubyn and Miss McCall, +accompanied by Madame Kuroda, a Japanese lady, and Dr. Tamura, visited +the hospitals at Feng-Wang-Cheng. They found everything so satisfactory +that they remained with the army only a few days. The photograph shows +them about to enter their palanquins, after visiting one of the +hospitals. Miss McCall is at the right + +[Illustration: + + INFANTRY DRAWN UP TO VIEW THE CEREMONIES +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE CAVALRY VIEWING FUNERAL CEREMONIES +] + +[Illustration: + + SHINTO CEREMONY HELD BY THE JAPANESE IN HONOR OF THOSE WHO FELL AT THE + YALU +] + +This impressive funeral ceremony was held at Feng-Wang-Cheng while the +army was gathering its breath after the Yalu victory to push on into +Manchuria. The whole army was drawn up in a vast body on the plain, +while on the hilltop, in view of all, the officers and priests stood, +going through the curious Shinto ceremonies in honor of the dead who had +fallen in battle + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE EXPLAINING TO MILITARY ATTACHÉS TACTICS USED AT THE YALU +] + +[Illustration: + + CAPTAIN OKADA INSPECTING BOMB-PROOF AT FENG-WANG-CHENG +] + +[Illustration: + + BUGLE SQUAD AT THE FUNERAL CEREMONY AT FENG-WANG-CHENG +] + +[Illustration: + + UNITED STATES ARMY ATTACHÉS AND COLLIER’S SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT +] + + SCENES AT FENG-WANG-CHENG AFTER THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION + +[Illustration: + + ISSUING KHAKI UNIFORMS TO JAPANESE TROOPS AT FENG-WANG-CHENG +] + +[Illustration: + + ENGINEERS OF KUROKI’S ARMY BRIDGING A STREAM AT FENG-WANG-CHENG +] + + JAPANESE GETTING READY TO PUSH ON INTO MANCHURIA + +[Illustration: + + SOLDIERS AMUSING THEMSELVES WITH IMITATION GEISHA DANCES WHILE IN CAMP +] + +[Illustration: + + SOLDIERS OFF DUTY WATCHING AMATEUR THEATRICALS +] + +[Illustration: + + DUMMY FIGURES CONSTRUCTED BY SOLDIERS AT FENG-WANG-CHENG +] + + RECREATIONS OF THE JAPANESE BETWEEN BATTLES IN MANCHURIA + +[Illustration: + + DETACHING THE LIMBERS AND GETTING GUNS INTO POSITION BEHIND THE + BREASTWORKS +] + +[Illustration: + + GUNNERS WHEELING GUN INTO POSITION +] + +[Illustration: + + GETTING THE RANGE AND ADJUSTING THE SIGHT +] + + JAPANESE BATTERY GOING INTO ACTION AT FENG-WANG-CHENG + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE GUIDE-POST AT FENG-WANG-CHENG +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE VISITING RUSSIAN GRAVES AT FENG-WANG-CHENG +] + +[Illustration: + + CHINESE FARMERS VIEWING AN ENGAGEMENT FROM ABANDONED TRENCHES +] + + WITH THE JAPANESE INVADERS IN MANCHURIA + +[Illustration: + + WHILING AWAY THE TIME BETWEEN BATTLES AT FENG-WANG-CHENG WITH + INTER-COMPANY WRESTLING BOUTS +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE INFANTRY LEAVING FENG-WANG-CHENG +] + +[Illustration: + + CARRYING A WOUNDED RUSSIAN PRISONER ACROSS A STREAM +] + +[Illustration: + + BATTERY FORDING ONE OF THE STREAMS THAT CROSS THE PEKING ROAD +] + +[Illustration: + + CHINESE BRINGING WOOD FOR THE JAPANESE ARMY +] + + INCIDENTS OF THE ADVANCE FROM FENG-WANG-CHENG + +[Illustration: + + INFANTRY CROSSING THE SO RIVER IN THE ADVANCE ON LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL NISHI AND HIS STAFF HALTING TO STUDY MAPS AND SCOUTS’ REPORTS + ON THE MARCH FROM FENG-WANG-CHENG +] + +[Illustration: + + CHINESE READING PROCLAMATION ISSUED BY THE JAPANESE +] + +[Illustration: + + OUTPOST HIDDEN IN FOLIAGE AND UNDER A SUNSHADE +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE CHEERING NEWS OF A VICTORY NEAR LIENSHANKWAN +] + + WITH THE VICTORIOUS JAPANESE AT LIENSHANKWAN + +[Illustration: + + ARRIVAL OF MAIL FOR THE ARMY IN THE FIELD AT LIENSHANKWAN +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE OUTPOST ON DUTY +] + +[Illustration: + + VETERAN, WITH COIL OF ROPE AT HIS BELT FOR TYING PRISONERS +] + +[Illustration: + + PIONEERS BUILDING MILITARY ROAD FOR THE ARMY +] + + INTO MANCHURIA WITH THE JAPANESE INVADERS + +[Illustration: + + KWANTEI TEMPLE NEAR MOTIEN PAS +] + +This temple was the scene of two severe fights between the advancing +Japanese and the Russians, in which the Russians were routed and driven +back. The temple was built by the Chinese after their last war with +Japan because they thought that the gods of another temple had prevented +the Japanese from taking the pass. The gods and the Russians together +could not stop the enemy this time. + +[Illustration: + + DETACHMENT OF JAPANESE COMING UP AT THE DOUBLE-QUICK DURING THE FIGHT + AT MOTIEN PASS +] + +[Illustration: + + SHARPSHOOTERS COVERING THE ADVANCE AGAINST THE RUSSIANS ON THE RIDGES +] + +The Japanese in the trenches in the foreground are firing on the +Russians retreating up the hillside in the distance clear across the +valley. The Japanese advance is concealed in the timber in the middle +distance just beyond the farmhouses. The Russians are too far away to be +seen. Collier’s photographer, J. H. Hare, took this unusual picture from +a tree-top just behind the Japanese trenches + +[Illustration: + + COLONEL BABA OF THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT AT MOTIENLING +] + +[Illustration: + + BRINGING AMMUNITION UP TO THE FIRING LINE +] + +[Illustration: + + IN THE TRENCHES AT MOTIENLING ON JULY 4 +] + +[Illustration: + + DISTRIBUTING AMMUNITION TO THE MEN IN THE TRENCHES +] + + SCENES DURING THE BATTLE OF MOTIENLING + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL KUROKI AND HIS CHIEF OF STAFF, LIEUTENANT-GENERAL FUJI, + WATCHING THE FIGHT AT MOTIENLING +] + +[Illustration: + + BRINGING WOUNDED RUSSIANS TO THE DRESSING STATION AT THE KWANTEI + TEMPLE ON JULY 4 +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN RED CROSS SOLDIER WOUNDED AT MOTIEN PASS +] + +[Illustration: + + BADLY WOUNDED AND DELIRIOUS RUSSIAN UNABLE TO WALK +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE BURYING A DEAD RUSSIAN AFTER THE FIGHT +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN DEAD COVERED WITH BRANCHES BY JAPANESE AT MOTIEN PASS +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN DEAD AND WOUNDED LYING TOGETHER AT MOTIENLING +] + + RUSSIAN WOUNDED AND DEAD AT MOTIEN PASS + +[Illustration: + + WOUNDED PRISONERS HOBBLING INTO THE JAPANESE CAMP +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN PRISONER TOO SEVERELY WOUNDED TO WALK +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE CARRYING WOUNDED RUSSIAN TO DRESSING STATION +] + +[Illustration: + + BADLY WOUNDED IN THE LEG, BUT CHEERFUL +] + + WITH THE WOUNDED AND CAPTURED AT MOTIEN PASS + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE SKIRMISHERS ADVANCING TO FLANK THE ENEMY AT MOTIENLING +] + +[Illustration: + + WANDERING IN HIS HEAD AND WOUNDED IN THE ARM +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN PRISONERS SITTING ON THE TEMPLE STEPS +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN PRISONERS TIED TO TELEPHONE POLE FOR SAFE-KEEPING +] + +[Illustration: + + THE BIG PRISONER AND THE LITTLE CAPTORS +] + + PRISONERS AND CAPTORS AT MOTIENLING + +[Illustration: + + LIEUTENANT WHO CUT DOWN FOUR RUSSIANS WITH HIS SABRE +] + +[Illustration: + + MAJOR TAKUSAGO EXAMINING A MAP OF THE FIELD +] + +[Illustration: + + JOVIAL JAPANESE COLLECTING THE SPOILS OF BATTLE +] + +[Illustration: + + CAVALRYMAN RETURNING TO THE FIGHT AFTER HAVING HIS WOUND DRESSED +] + + INCIDENTS OF THE RUSSIAN ATTEMPT TO RECAPTURE MOTIEN PASS + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL OKASAKI, WHO DEFEATED THE RUSSIANS AT MOTIENLING +] + +The Japanese commander is shown standing on the steps of the Kwantei +temple during the battle of July 4, receiving reports from his staff and +sending out orders. Motien Pass was one of the places on the line of +march taken by Kuroki’s army which was thought before the battle to be +practically impregnable. The Russians attempted to recapture it +afterward, but were defeated with great loss + +[Illustration: + + THE FIELD DRESSING STATION FOR THOSE TOO SEVERELY WOUNDED TO BE + CARRIED TO THE BASE HOSPITAL +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE MARCHING ON ONE OF THEIR MILITARY ROADS +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL NISHI AND HIS STAFF HALTING TO LOOK OVER MAPS WHILE ON THE + MARCH +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE COLOR SERGEANT GUARDING THE REGIMENTAL FLAG +] + + WITH THE JAPANESE ADVANCE FROM THE YALU THROUGH THE MANCHURIAN MOUNTAINS + +[Illustration: + + TAKING SHELTER BEHIND A HILL WHILE AWAITING THE OPPORTUNITY TO ATTACK +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE CREEPING ACROSS AN OPEN SPACE ON THE WAY TO THE FIRING LINE +] + +[Illustration: + + WHERE THE KHAKI UNIFORMS BECOME ALMOST INDISCERNIBLE AGAINST A + HILLSIDE +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE RESERVES COMING UP TO THE FIRING LINE ACROSS THE TANG RIVER +] + + WITH THE JAPANESE DURING THE FIGHTING NEAR ANPING + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE SOLDIERS BREAKFASTING IN THE RAIN NEAR KANSUITAN +] + +[Illustration: + + A COMPANY OF THE SIXTEENTH REGIMENT HALTING AFTER A NIGHT ATTACK +] + +[Illustration: + + TROOPS WRAPPED IN RAIN-COATS REPORTING FOR INSPECTION +] + +[Illustration: + + THE CHINESE COOLIE DROPPED HIS BURDEN WHEN THE CAMERA WAS OPENED +] + + JAPANESE AND CAPTURED RUSSIANS IN MANCHURIA DURING THE RAINY SEASON + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE BATTERY FORDING THE SHALLOW TANG RIVER +] + +[Illustration: + + THE ONLY SMOKE VISIBLE—THAT OF THE CARTRIDGE WITHDRAWN FROM THE GUN +] + +[Illustration: + + CARRYING SHELLS FROM THE CAISSONS TO THE GUNS +] + +[Illustration: + + ARTILLERYMEN CLEANING OUT GUNS AFTER AN ACTION +] + + WITH THE SMOKELESS BATTERIES HIDDEN IN FIELDS OF KOWLIANG + +[Illustration: + + SECOND DIVISION OF THE FIRST ARMY MARCHING ON THE OLD PEKIN ROAD +] + +[Illustration: + + PAGODA FROM WHICH THE RUSSIAN STAFF SAW THEIR DEFEAT +] + +[Illustration: + + SIXTEENTH JAPANESE REGIMENT IN SHELTER AWAITING ORDER TO MARCH +] + + IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF TOWAN DURING THE FIGHTING IN THE FIRST WEEK OF + JULY + +[Illustration: + + CHINESE COOLIES FORDING A MANCHURIAN STREAM SWOLLEN BY RAINS +] + +[Illustration: + + COOKING SUPPER UNDER DIFFICULTIES IN THE RAIN +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE SOLDIERS EATING SUPPER UNDER A SHELTER TENT IN THE RAIN +] + +[Illustration: + + SHELTERED FROM THE RAIN AND A SAFE DISTANCE FROM THE GROUND +] + + DIFFICULTIES OF CAMPAIGNING DURING THE RAINY SEASON IN MANCHURIA + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN GUNS CAPTURED AT NANSHAN USED BY THE JAPANESE AT SHUZAN-HO +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN BATTERY POSITION AT YUSHULING, WITH PROTECTING INFANTRY TRENCH + CAPTURED BY THE JAPANESE +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE HORSES KILLED AT BATTERY POSITION NEAR TOWAN +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN GUN OVERTURNED AND ABANDONED IN RETREAT FROM TOWAN +] + + ALONG THE LINE OF BATTLE IN THE MANCHURIAN PASSES SOUTH OF LIAO-YANG + +[Illustration: + + SCOUT BRINGING INFORMATION ABOUT THE ENEMY TO GENERAL OKASAKI +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE MOUNTAIN BATTERY IN ACTION NEAR LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + SOLDIERS MAKING THEMSELVES COMFORTABLE ON A HOT, WET DAY +] + + PRESSING THE RUSSIANS CLOSE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF LIAO-YANG + +[Illustration: + + GATHERING THE WOUNDED RUSSIANS WHO HAD LAIN ALL NIGHT IN THE RAIN +] + +[Illustration: + + SOME OF THE SPOILS GATHERED IN JUST BEFORE THE CAPTURE OF LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + BODIES OF JAPANESE SOLDIERS READY FOR CREMATION +] + +[Illustration: + + BURNING THE BODIES OF THE DEAD IN THE FIELDS NEAR LIAO-YANG +] + + WITH THE JAPANESE ON AUGUST THIRTIETH CLOSE TO LIAO-YANG + + + + + CHAPTER VII + BEGINNING THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR + + +As soon as the Japanese learned of Kuroki’s success at the Yalu, they +hurried troops ashore at Takushan and Pitsewo, on the eastern shore of +the Liaotung Peninsula north of Port Arthur. This was on May 5. The +landing was quite unexpected by the Russians; there was no sufficient +force to attempt any resistance, and in three days an army was marching +southward to begin the closing-in movement that ended in the fall of +Russia’s supposedly impregnable fortress. On May 26, after fighting in +and about Kinchow for nine days, Nanshan Hill, on the narrow isthmus +joining the Port Arthur Peninsula to the main part of the Liaotung +Peninsula, was captured by assault. Every device of modern warfare—the +railway, telegraph, telephones, a captive balloon, mine-fields, barbed +wire network, iron-roofed trenches, searchlights, illuminating +star-shells—was used at Nanshan Hill to increase the natural strength of +the fort. The ranges were known and the approach was from but one +direction. There had been three months and a half since the war began +and three weeks since the landing at Pitsewo. If Russian troops could be +driven from such a position, and under such circumstances, by the +Japanese, it seemed perfectly certain that no fortifications that Russia +could devise could withstand the enemy. One last and unsuccessful +attempt was made to cut the Japanese off before it was too late. The +Russian army at Tashichao, under General Stakelberg, made a sortie +southward and met General Oku’s army on June 14 at Wafengtien. The +Russians were completely defeated. The Liaotung Peninsula was then open +to the Japanese, and as soon as General Nogi and his army arrived to +hold it and to begin to close in on Port Arthur, Oku was free to wheel +north, and to co-operate with the armies of Kuroki and Nodzu in the +general movement toward Liao-Yang. By the middle of June parallel +columns of Japanese were moving northward through the valleys of +Manchuria like so many fingers of one giant hand. + +Meanwhile Admiral Togo had maintained a strict blockade of the harbor +and the Russian fleet had been practically destroyed. Beginning with the +destruction of the “Variag” and “Korietz” in February, and including the +tragic sinking of the “Petropavlovsk,” and the death of Admiral Makaroff +and the painter Verestchagin on April 13, the Japanese successes +gradually wore down the Port Arthur fleet until the Russian naval power +in the East was no longer a factor in the reckoning. Up until the end of +April the Japanese losses were practically nothing at all. Then came the +sinking, by submarine mines, of the battleship “Hatsuse,” the third +class cruiser “Miyako,” and Torpedo Boat No. 48. The battleship +“Yoshino” was sunk in a collision. These losses came too late, however, +for the Russians to take advantage of them, and the death of Admiral +Makaroff may be said to mark the climax of the naval campaign against +Port Arthur. After that the land campaign against the “Gibraltar of the +East” began in earnest. + +[Illustration: + + VIEW OF THE HARBOR ENTRANCE OF PORT ARTHUR FROM THE LAND SIDE, THE + RUSSIAN FLEET IN THE OFFING +] + +[Illustration: + + LOOKING SOUTHWARD ACROSS THE DOCKS AT PORT ARTHUR TO THE HEIGHTS AND + ONE OF THE RUSSIAN FORTS +] + +[Illustration: + + DRY DOCK AT PORT ARTHUR VIEWED FROM THE PUBLIC GARDEN +] + +[Illustration: + + ENTRANCE TO DRY DOCK AND MACHINE SHOPS AT PORT ARTHUR +] + +[Illustration: + + CHINESE SAMPANS AT THEIR LANDINGS AT PORT ARTHUR +] + + SCENES ALONG THE WATER FRONT AT PORT ARTHUR BEFORE THE DECLARATION OF + WAR + +[Illustration: + + CHINESE SAMPANS USED AS LIGHTERS FOR UNLOADING VESSELS AT PORT ARTHUR +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE FUGITIVES LEAVING PORT ARTHUR IN CHINESE SAMPANS +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN WARSHIPS STEAMING OUT OF PORT ARTHUR ON FEBRUARY 1 +] + +[Illustration: + + FUGITIVES ARRIVING IN PORT ARTHUR JUST AFTER THE DECLARATION OF WAR +] + + NAVAL AND CIVILIAN ACTIVITY IN PORT ARTHUR AT THE OUTBREAK OF WAR + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN WARSHIPS IN THE HARBOR AT PORT ARTHUR JUST BEFORE THE OUTBREAK + OF WAR +] + +[Illustration: + + SAILORS AMUSING THEMSELVES WHILE OFF DUTY WITH BOOKS AND GAMES +] + +[Illustration: + + GUN DRILL ON A RUSSIAN BATTLESHIP—“LOAD!” +] + +[Illustration: + + SAILORS GOING THROUGH A DRILL IN LOWERING THE TORPEDO NETTING +] + +[Illustration: + + GUN DRILL ON A RUSSIAN BATTLESHIP—“FIRE!” +] + + GETTING READY FOR THE JAPANESE ON A RUSSIAN WARSHIP AT PORT ARTHUR + +[Illustration: + + UNARMORED CRUISER “PALLADA,” DISABLED DURING THE FIRST WEEK OF THE WAR +] + +[Illustration: + + BATTLESHIP “POLTAVA,” SISTER SHIP OF THE “PETROPAVLOVSK” +] + +[Illustration: + + THE PLUCKY LITTLE “NOVIK,” DISABLED IN THE FIRST FIGHT OF THE WAR +] + +[Illustration: + + BATTLESHIP “RETVIZAN,” TORPEDOED IN THE FIRST WEEK AND BEACHED +] + + RUSSIAN SHIPS AT PORT ARTHUR BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF THE JAPANESE + +[Illustration: + + UNARMORED CRUISER “ASKOLD,” SISTER SHIP OF THE “VARIAG” +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN CRUISER “BOYARIN,” SUNK ON FEBRUARY 12 +] + +[Illustration: + + BATTLESHIP “POBIEDA,” DISABLED BY A MINE ON APRIL 13 +] + +[Illustration: + + THE ARMORED CRUISER “BAYAN,” ONE OF THE LAST TO YIELD +] + + PART OF RUSSIA’S FIGHTING FLEET AT PORT ARTHUR + +[Illustration: + + THE FLAGSHIP OF THE SQUADRON, THE “MIKASA” +] + +[Illustration: + + ADMIRAL TOGO ON THE QUARTER-DECK OF THE “MIKASA” +] + +[Illustration: + + DECK VIEW OF THE “MIKASA” FROM THE FIGHTING TOPS +] + + THE MAN WHO BOTTLED UP PORT ARTHUR, AND THE FLAGSHIP OF HIS FLEET + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + EARLY CAMPAIGNING BEFORE THE BATTLE OF LIAO-YANG + + +With Port Arthur cut off from the north, the three Japanese armies +pushed rapidly northward in a general closing-in movement on Liao-Yang. +General Nodzu’s army on June 26 captured Fengshuiling, on the main road +northward from Takushan to Newchwang, and the Russian forces began to +fall steadily back. At the same time, Kuroki, on the north, was +capturing two passes of even greater importance, Motienling and Taling, +and Oku, to the southward, was driving the Russians back with similar +success. On July 17 the Russians, under General Count Keller, did make a +desperate effort to retake Motienling, but were repulsed with heavy +loss. Keller made another attempt to force the Japanese back a fortnight +later, but it was equally disastrous and the general himself was killed. +Meanwhile, on July 22 and 23, General Oku, on the extreme south and west +of the long Japanese front, closed in upon Tashichao, and, with the +assistance of Nodzu’s army, which had pushed up from Fengshuiling, +captured the town and compelled the 40,000 Russians there to retreat. +This, together with the unsuccessful battle in which Keller was killed, +was practically the last of the Russians’ attempts to make a forward +movement. General Kuropatkin devoted himself to preparing for a decisive +battle at Liao-Yang, meanwhile keeping up all along the line just enough +resistance to delay and hamper the Japanese advance. + +At the outset of the war Russia had in Manchuria about 45,700 men and +120 field guns. Of this force about 20,000 men were at Port Arthur, +4,400 at Talienwan, 1,400 at Yinkow, 1,150 at Haicheng, 1,900 at +Liao-Yang, 2,750 at Tieling, north of Mukden, 1,250 at Ninguta in +northeast Manchuria, 4,550 at Harbin, 1,950 at Tsitsihar in northwest +Manchuria, and the rest in the smaller garrisons scattered through the +territory from northeast Manchuria to Port Arthur. In addition there was +a separate organization of railway patrol troops stationed in small +bodies at many points on and near the railway. On January 1, 1904, the +number of these railway troops was estimated at 15,200 with 32 guns, so +that the grand total at the beginning of the war was about 60,000 men +with about 150 field guns. In spite of the pressure on the Siberian +Railroad and the hard marches cross Lake Baikal in the winter, Russia +soon found that, however many millions she might have in Europe, she +could not maintain in the field, at the end of 6,000 miles of single +track, more than 300,000 troops, and keep them fully supplied with food, +ammunition, and fresh men to take the place of the killed, wounded, and +sick. + +During all this campaigning in Manchuria the Japanese showed the same +preparedness and mobility which had been so strikingly characteristic of +them during the earlier months of the war. They knew at all times the +strength of their enemy as well as they knew the country, and to the +information gathered by their spies and outposts was added that supplied +by a generally friendly native population. + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN TROOPS DETRAINING AT MUKDEN EARLY IN MARCH +] + +[Illustration: + + GATEWAY IN MUKDEN’S PRINCIPAL STREET +] + +[Illustration: + + CHINESE CARTS USED BY OFFICERS AND CIVILIANS +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN OFFICERS AT THE STAFF HEADQUARTERS, MUKDEN +] + +[Illustration: + + MUKDEN STREET DURING THE EARLY DAYS OF THE WAR +] + + MUKDEN, WHEN THE JAPANESE WERE STILL MANY MILES AWAY + +[Illustration: + + ARRIVAL OF THE FIFTH ARMY CORPS AT MUKDEN +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN COSSACKS FROM THE CAUCASUS +] + +[Illustration: + + ADMINISTERING THE SACRAMENT TO SOLDIERS BEFORE THEIR DEPARTURE FOR THE + FRONT +] + + RUSSIANS AT MUKDEN ON THEIR WAY TO THE FRONT + +[Illustration: + + A FLYING COLUMN OF RED CROSS SURGEONS +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN FIELD TELEPHONES IN TRENCHES +] + +[Illustration: + + NINETEENTH EAST SIBERIAN RIFLE CORPS AT PRAYER +] + +[Illustration: + + EVENING SERVICE FOR THOSE FALLEN IN BATTLE +] + + WITH THE RUSSIANS IN MANCHURIA + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL KUROPATKIN PASSING GENERAL HERSCHELMANN’S DIVISION +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL LEVISTAIN GIVING ORDERS TO HIS STAFF +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL PLESCHKOFF INSPECTING HIS COMMAND +] + +[Illustration: + + THE REGIMENTAL BAND PLAYING IN THE WILDS OF MANCHURIA +] + + WITH THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE IN MANCHURIA + +[Illustration: + + PRINCE TROUBESKAY AND HIS STAFF +] + +[Illustration: + + MEN OF THE SEVENTH SIBERIAN COSSACK REGIMENT +] + +[Illustration: + + NINETEENTH SIBERIAN RIFLE CORPS AT DINNER +] + +[Illustration: + + COOLIES CARRYING WOUNDED RUSSIAN TO EMERGENCY HOSPITAL +] + + IN THE FIELD WITH THE RUSSIANS IN MANCHURIA + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL KUROPATKIN AT THE TELESCOPE SCANNING THE COUNTRY ABOUT + LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIANS ERECTING WIRE ENTANGLEMENTS AT EDAGAN +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN OFFICER INSPECTING COMMISSARY ARRANGEMENTS IN HIS CAMP +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN REGIMENTAL BAND PLAYING IN CAMP +] + +[Illustration: + + COMMISSARY MEN DRAWING WATER FOR THE ARMY +] + + WITH THE RUSSIANS ON THE WAY TO THE FRONT + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL KUROPATKIN INSPECTING THE STAFF OF THE FOURTH ARMY CORPS +] + +[Illustration: + + ONE OF THE DROSKIES IN WHICH COMMANDING GENERALS RODE +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIANS FORDING A SHALLOW STREAM NEAR LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + THE BIG, BROAD-SHOULDERED SOLDIERS OF THE CZAR +] + + PART OF THE MOVEMENT OF FORTY THOUSAND MEN SOUTHEAST OF LIAO-YANG + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN TROOPS MARCHING THROUGH THE STREETS OF LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + THE GREAT EASTERN GATE AT LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN SOLDIERS TRADING WITH CHINESE PEDLERS +] + + SCENES AT LIAO-YANG ON THE ARRIVAL OF THE RUSSIANS + +[Illustration: + + COURTYARD OF RICH MANCHURIAN’S HOUSE AT LIAO-YANG—THE HOST AND HIS + ENFORCED RUSSIAN GUESTS +] + +[Illustration: + + SOLDIERS OFF DUTY LISTENING TO ONE OF THEIR COMRADES +] + +[Illustration: + + SOLDIERS CROWDING ABOUT HOSPITAL TRAIN TO HEAR THE NEWS FROM THE FRONT +] + + WHEN NEWS FROM THE FIRING LINE CAME BACK TO THOSE WHO HAD NOT YET MET + THE JAPANESE + +[Illustration: + + A DISHEARTENED JAPANESE SPY AND HIS QUIZZICAL RUSSIAN CAPTORS +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN BATTERY GETTING INTO POSITION AT KANSUITAN JUST BEFORE THE + BATTLE +] + +[Illustration: + + ONE OF THE SHREWDLY SCREENED RUSSIAN BATTERIES WHICH WROUGHT HAVOC + BEFORE BEING CAPTURED BY THE JAPANESE +] + +[Illustration: + + ARTILLERYMEN OF THE SIXTH EAST SIBERIAN REGIMENT CALCULATING THE RANGE + FROM ONE OF THE MANCHURIAN HILLS +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN INFANTRY MARCHING TO THEIR POSITION JUST BEFORE THE BATTLE AT + TOWAN +] + +[Illustration: + + FOURTH URAL REGIMENT ON THE MARCH TO HAICHENG +] + +[Illustration: + + URAL COSSACK LANCERS ON THEIR WAY TO BATTLE +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIANS ADVANCING FOR THE DEFENCE OF HAICHENG +] + +[Illustration: + + TAKING ADVANTAGE OF A FINE DAY TO WASH CLOTHES +] + + WITH THE RUSSIAN TROOPS NEAR HAICHENG + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL KUROPATKIN WATCHING THE FIGHT SURROUNDED BY HIS STAFF +] + +[Illustration: + + EAST SIBERIAN TROOPS ADVANCING AT HAICHENG +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN INFANTRY IN THE TRENCHES ON A HOT DAY +] + + WITH THE RUSSIAN TROOPS DURING THE ENGAGEMENT WITH THE JAPANESE IN THE + NEIGHBORHOOD OF HAICHENG + +[Illustration: + + BATTERY OF THE SIXTH EAST SIBERIAN ARTILLERY IN POSITION ON THE + HEIGHTS ABOVE TOWAN +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN OFFICERS AT THE HIGHEST POINT OF TOWAN PASS OBSERVING THE + APPROACH OF THE JAPANESE +] + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + + RUSSIAN BATTERIES IN ACTION GUARDING TOWAN PASS + + WITH THE RUSSIAN OFFICERS AND FIGHTING MEN DURING THE ENGAGEMENT AT + TOWAN PASS + +[Illustration: + + FIRST BATTERY OF THE EAST SIBERIAN ARTILLERY AT YUSHULING +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN OFFICERS IN CONFERENCE BEFORE THE BATTLE +] + +[Illustration: + + BREAKFAST BEFORE THE FIGHT AT YUSHULING +] + + WITH THE RUSSIAN TROOPS DURING THE EARLY CAMPAIGNING IN MANCHURIA + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN OFFICERS VIEWING FIGHT AT TOWAN PASS +] + +[Illustration: + + SENDING HELIOGRAPH SIGNALS DURING THE FIGHT AT ANPING +] + +[Illustration: + + MOVING TO THE FRONT AT TOWAN PASS AT SIX O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING +] + + WITH THE RUSSIANS AT TOWAN PASS + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN FIRING LINE JUST BEFORE THE BATTLE AT YUSHULING +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE SHELLS BURSTING NEAR THE YUSHULING BATTERY +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL KUROPATKIN PRESENTING ST. GEORGE’S CROSS TO PRIVATES ON THE + BATTLEFIELD +] + +[Illustration: + + REMOVING WOUNDED FROM HOSPITAL TRAIN TO HOSPITAL +] + + THE REWARDS OF VALOR WITH KUROPATKIN’S ARMY IN MANCHURIA + +[Illustration: + + OFFICERS OF THE FIRST BATTERY, SIXTH SIBERIAN BRIGADE +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN OUTPOSTS FIRING ON THE ADVANCING JAPANESE +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN INFANTRY ADVANCING THROUGH UNDERBRUSH +] + + WITH THE RUSSIAN FORCES IN MANCHURIA DURING THE EARLY CAMPAIGNING + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN SKIRMISHERS ADVANCING AGAINST THE JAPANESE NEAR ANPING +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL SUREKOFF AND GENERAL MORO AT YUSHULING +] + +[Illustration: + + ARTILLERY OF THE TENTH CORPS RESISTING JAPANESE FORTY MILES SOUTH OF + LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + INFANTRY INTRENCHED IN FRONT OF BATTERY +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN ARTILLERY AT YUSHULING IN POSITION ABANDONED THE NEXT DAY +] + + WITH THE TENTH RUSSIAN ARMY CORPS AT YUSHULING, NEAR LIAO-YANG + +[Illustration: + + INFANTRY MARCHING THROUGH MAIN STREET OF A MANCHURIAN VILLAGE +] + +[Illustration: + + TURKESTAN REGIMENT ON PARADE NEAR MUKDEN +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN INFANTRY ADVANCING THROUGH THE HILLS NEAR HAICHENG +] + + WITH THE RUSSIAN TROOPS DURING THE EARLY CAMPAIGNING IN MANCHURIA + +[Illustration: + + WOUNDED SOLDIERS CONVALESCING IN THE HOSPITAL AT MUKDEN +] + +[Illustration: + + DINNER TIME IN A RUSSIAN MILITARY HOSPITAL +] + +[Illustration: + + OPERATING ON A WOUNDED SOLDIER IN THE HOSPITAL +] + +[Illustration: + + HOSPITAL STAFF OF THE GRAND DUKE BORIS +] + + WITH THE RUSSIAN RED CROSS SERVICE IN MANCHURIA + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN BALLOON IN THE CAMP AT ANPING +] + +[Illustration: + + SOLDIERS FORDING A RIVER WITH THE GAS BAG +] + +[Illustration: + + ESCORT OF TURKESTAN COSSACKS WITH THE BALLOON +] + +[Illustration: + + SIGNAL OFFICER ABOUT TO MAKE AN ASCENT +] + +[Illustration: + + TAKING AN OBSERVATION FROM THE BALLOON +] + + WAR BALLOON AND GAS BAG USED BY THE RUSSIANS IN MANCHURIA + +[Illustration: + + IN THE RUSSIAN TRENCHES DURING THE FIGHTING AT TALING +] + + + + + CHAPTER IX + THE BATTLE OF LIAO-YANG + + +The battle of Liao-Yang was the culminating event of the four months’ +Manchurian campaign which the Japanese began when they crossed the Yalu. +In the point of number of men engaged it was the greatest battle of +modern times, and it resulted in a decisive, though hard-won, victory +for the Japanese. Between 400,000 and half a million men fought in the +two armies, and when the five days’ duel was over the total losses in +killed and wounded were estimated at about 30,000. The result of the +battle was that the Japanese gained complete control of the Liaotung +Peninsula, north of Port Arthur, and that the Russian army was forced to +retreat northward toward Mukden and Harbin. + +The Russians under General Kuropatkin had collected a large amount of +ammunition and supplies at Liao-Yang and the town itself was elaborately +fortified. It was generally understood that General Kuropatkin’s plan +was to lure the Japanese on to the plain in front of Liao-Yang and there +to meet them in decisive battle. When the battle proper began on August +26, the Russian army occupied three groups of positions, extending in a +semicircle in front of and to the southward of the fortifications of the +town. Kuroki’s army on the east, Nodzu’s on the south, and Oku’s on the +west—the whole under the command of Field Marshal Oyama—attacked along +the whole front. After five days of the most persistent attack and +defence, and a terrific and almost continuous artillery duel, during +which the Russians were pushed back into Liao-Yang, General Kuroki +succeeded in throwing a considerable force across the Taitse River, +which extends eastward and westward just north of the town. With his +left flank and rear thus menaced, Kuropatkin was compelled, on September +1, to evacuate Liao-Yang and retreat on Mukden. + +With the loss of Liao-Yang crumbled to pieces the plan for the defence +of Manchuria which the Russian commanders had adopted when they were +preparing for war with Japan. With the exception of the beleaguered +garrison at Port Arthur, Russia had lost every foothold on the Liaotung +Peninsula. In only one thing were the Japanese unsuccessful. They had +failed to get to the rear of the Russian army and to cut off Kuropatkin +from his line of retreat, and the manner in which the Russian commander +withdrew his army in the face of almost insurmountable difficulties went +far to mitigate the humiliation of defeat. The estimates of the number +of troops engaged on either side vary from somewhat less than 200,000 to +250,000 men. It was generally believed at the time the battle was fought +that the Japanese outnumbered the Russians, but inasmuch as they were +attacking an intrenched force this advantage was apparent rather than +real. No battle in our Civil War was on as large a scale as that at +Liao-Yang. The battle of Leipsic, where Napoleon arrayed 130,000 men +against the 300,000 of the Allies, was, in point of number of men +engaged, the greatest previous battle of modern times. + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE RESTING ON THE BANKS OF THE TANG RIVER A FEW DAYS BEFORE THE + TAKING OF LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + THE PAGODA AT LIAO-YANG SEEN IN THE DISTANCE +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIANS SEARCHING WITH SHRAPNEL TO UNMASK THE ENEMY’S BATTERIES +] + +[Illustration: + + SCOUTING WITH GENERAL WATERNABE IN THE VICINITY OF LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + WATCHING THE DISTANT CITY TO SEE IF THE RUSSIANS ARE EVACUATING +] + + ON THE LAST OF THE HILLS, ON SEPTEMBER THIRD, JUST BEFORE THE JAPANESE + ENTERED LIAO-YANG + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE FINDING THE BODY OF A COMRADE IN THE FIELDS NEAR LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + DEAD JAPANESE IN TRENCHES ON SEPTEMBER FOURTH +] + +[Illustration: + + BURYING JAPANESE AND RUSSIAN DEAD TOGETHER OUTSIDE LIAO-YANG +] + + SEARCHING OUT AND BURYING THE DEAD THE DAY THE JAPANESE ENTERED + LIAO-YANG + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIANS RETREATING FROM LIAO-YANG ACROSS THE TAITSE RIVER +] + +[Illustration: + + BABY CARRIAGE LEFT BEHIND BY RUSSIANS IN THE PARK +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE CROSSING THE TAITSE RIVER TO ENTER LIAO-YANG +] + + INCIDENTS OF THE EVACUATION OF LIAO-YANG AND ITS OCCUPATION BY THE + JAPANESE + +[Illustration: + + CORRESPONDENT EXAMINING WIRE ENTANGLEMENTS BUILT BY THE RUSSIANS +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE DISMANTLING A RUSSIAN REDOUBT AT LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + PICKING THEIR WAY THROUGH WIRE ENTANGLEMENTS AND PITS +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL VIEW OF A RUSSIAN REDOUBT NORTH OF LIAO-YANG +] + + VIEWS OF FORTIFICATIONS AND ENTANGLEMENTS BUILT BY THE RUSSIANS AT + LIAO-YANG + +[Illustration: + + NATIVES, WITH JAPANESE FLAGS FLYING, AWAITING THE CONQUERORS +] + +[Illustration: + + CHINESE MANDARIN AND ESCORT GETTING READY TO RECEIVE THE JAPANESE +] + + SCENES IN LIAO-YANG ON THE MORNING OF ITS OCCUPATION BY THE JAPANESE + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE ENTERING LIAO-YANG THROUGH ONE OF THE MANY BREACHES IN THE + WALLS +] + +[Illustration: + + ENGINEERS OF THE FIFTH DIVISION ENTERING LIAO-YANG, SEPTEMBER 4 +] + +[Illustration: + + TAKING A RUSSIAN PRISONER OUT OF THE BIG SOUTH GATE +] + + VIEWS OF THE FIRST ENTRY OF THE JAPANESE FORCES INTO LIAO-YANG + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN STORES BURNING AT LIAO-YANG ON SEPTEMBER FOURTH, ON THE + ARRIVAL OF THE JAPANESE +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE WORKING ON RAILROAD TRACK NEAR THE COMMISSARY SHEDS +] + +[Illustration: + + THE DOME-SHAPED ICE HOUSE AND FRESH JAPANESE STORES AT LIAO-YANG +] + + SCENES IN LIAO-YANG IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING ITS CAPTURE BY THE JAPANESE + +[Illustration: + + CALLING THE ROLL IN A JAPANESE COMPANY AT LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + PUNISHMENT OF CHINESE CAUGHT LOOTING IN LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + TWO CORRESPONDENTS WITH THE RUSSIAN FORCES CAUGHT BY THE JAPANESE AT + LIAO-YANG +] + + SCENES AT LIAO-YANG AFTER ITS OCCUPATION BY THE JAPANESE FORCES + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE SOLDIERS SITTING IN RUSSIAN DROSKIES CAPTURED AT LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL NODZU ENTERING THE SOUTH GATE +] + +[Illustration: + + EXAMINING AS CURIOSITIES THE RUSSIAN SOUP KITCHENS CAPTURED AT + LIAO-YANG +] + + SCENES AT LIAO-YANG IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE CAPTURE OF THE CITY BY THE + JAPANESE + +[Illustration: + + DR. WESTWATER, MEDICAL MISSIONARY, AND HIS MANCHURIAN STAFF +] + +[Illustration: + + OPERATING ON MANCHURIAN WHO HAD FORTY-SEVEN BAYONET WOUNDS +] + +[Illustration: + + DR. WESTWATER AND REV. T. McNAUGHTON AND THEIR WIVES IN A BOMB-PROOF +] + +[Illustration: + + INNOCENT MANCHURIAN VICTIMS OF THE WAR +] + +Dr. Alexander Westwater is a Scotch medical missionary who had worked +for twenty-five years in Manchuria. He and his colleague, the Rev. T. +McNaughton, and their wives remained in Liao-Yang during the siege and +after it, ministering to the defenceless non-combatants. Mrs. Westwater +and Mrs. McNaughton were the only European ladies in the city when the +Japanese arrived + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL KUROPATKIN STANDING IN FRONT OF THE SHED BUILT TO SHELTER HIS + TRAIN +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL KUROPATKIN DEPARTING BY TRAIN +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE IN THE TRAIN-SHED BUILT TO SHELTER GENERAL KUROPATKIN’S TRAIN +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN SISTERS OF MERCY AT LIAO-YANG +] + + SCENES AT LIAO-YANG BEFORE AND AFTER THE ARRIVAL OF THE JAPANESE + +[Illustration: + + ALTERING THE GAUGE OF THE TRACKS TO FIT THE JAPANESE ROLLING STOCK +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE ENGINEERS STRINGING NEW TELEGRAPH WIRES AT LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + COOLIES PUSHING CARS BEFORE THE JAPANESE ENGINES ARRIVED +] + +[Illustration: + + FRESH TRANSPORT CARTS BROUGHT BY RAIL TO LIAO-YANG +] + + BRINGING ORDER OUT OF CHAOS AFTER THE RUSSIANS EVACUATED LIAO-YANG + +[Illustration: + + FRESH SOLDIERS ARRIVING TO TAKE THE PLACES OF THOSE LOST AT LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + UNLOADING NEW GUNS TO STRENGTHEN THE JAPANESE BATTERIES +] + +[Illustration: + + USING RUSSIAN TRAIN SERVICE TO BRING RESERVES TO LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + ASSEMBLING THE PARTS OF GUNS AND PUTTING THEM TOGETHER AT LIAO-YANG +] + + JAPANESE ACTIVITY AT LIAO-YANG IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE CAPTURE OF THE CITY + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE BAND PLAYING AT GENERAL OYAMA’S HEADQUARTERS AT LIAO-YANG +] + +[Illustration: + + MARQUIS OYAMA, FIELD MARSHAL OF THE JAPANESE ARMIES +] + +[Illustration: + + TRANSFERRING SUPPLIES FROM CARS TO COMMISSARY CARTS AT LIAO-YANG +] + + SCENES AT LIAO-YANG AFTER OYAMA’S THREE ARMIES HAD TAKEN POSSESSION OF + THE CITY + + + + + CHAPTER X + THE CHRONICLERS OF THE WAR + + +The most interesting stories written by the correspondents who were sent +to cover the Russo-Japanese War were probably the ones that never passed +the censor, the most extraordinary sights those which the correspondents +did not see. There has never been a struggle since the days of the +telegraph and the professional correspondent of which the world at large +knew so little. During the early months of the war practically all of +the correspondents were bottled up in Tokio, and when at last a few of +them were released and allowed to follow the army, they were kept far in +the rear, and were only permitted to see the fighting at the Yalu from +the top of a hill several miles from the firing line. + +Marking time in Tokio for months were newspaper men and special writers +who were correspondent veterans of many wars, and who were compelled to +waste their energies in the description of tea-houses, theatres, and +other conventional show places. The unfortunate correspondents were +repeatedly told that they were soon to leave for the front, only to +learn presently that there was to be more delay, and to see a repetition +of the Japanese smile, and hear again the Japanese “I’m so very, very +sorry.” + +R. L. Dunn, Collier’s special photographer, who was fortunate enough to +get into Korea before the rigid censorship of correspondents began, but +was subsequently forced to return, thus described some of the distresses +of the luckless who were held up in Tokio: “I found more than a hundred +war correspondents at Tokio, hustling from morning to night in order to +get ready in time, and buying a thousand odd things at war prices, so +that their equipments might meet every conceivable emergency. That was +in April. Spring changed into summer. Fur-lined sleeping bags and +firepots made the days seem hotter than they were. The whole winter +outfit had to be exchanged for one suited to summer. On June 1 +everything was as it had been at the beginning, except that some +correspondents were contemplating the necessity of acquiring a third +outfit for the rainy season.” + +“Never was parting guest more happy to get away,” wrote Collier’s +special correspondent, Frederick Palmer, when he and J. H. Hare, +Collier’s special photographer, at last left Tokio with three other +Americans—the first to be allowed to go to the front; “never was parting +guest more heartily and sincerely sped. With the correspondents of the +first contingent actually going, the hopes of the second and the third +rose to the dignity of expectations. They gathered at Shimbashi Station +with tin horns and gave the chosen few an Anglo-Saxon cheer. For over +two months some of us have waited for official passes to join the +Japanese army in the field. Now that we have the treasure it is not much +to look at—only a slip of paper which would go into the average sized +envelope. By rights, it should be on vellum, with marginal decorations +of storks standing on one leg and an inscription of _summa cum laude_ +for patience in flourishes.” + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL KUROKI WITH HIS STAFF, CORRESPONDENTS, AND ATTACHÉS AT THE + CELEBRATION IN HONOR OF THE SHA-HO VICTORY + + This celebration was held in November at Palansansu. The Japanese + correspondents as well as the foreign correspondents and + attaches are shown in the picture. The numbered figures are (1) + General Kuroki, (2) Prince Kuni, (3) General Fuji, + (4) Quartermaster Waternabe, with whom the correspondents had much to + do. The picture was taken by a Japanese photographer +] + +[Illustration: + + ANGUS HAMILTON, MANCHESTER “GUARDIAN” +] + +[Illustration: + + J. F. J. ARCHIBALD AND PRESS CENSOR +] + +[Illustration: + + GROUP OF CORRESPONDENTS AT NEWCHWANG + + (1) THE HONORABLE MAURICE BARING, LONDON “MORNING POST”; (2) R. H. + LITTLE, CHICAGO “DAILY NEWS”; (3) FRANCIS + McCULLOUGH, “NEW YORK HERALD”; (4) J. F. J. ARCHIBALD, “COLLIER’S”; + (5) GEORGE DENNY, ASSOCIATED PRESS; + (6) GEORGES DE LA SALLE, FRENCH NEWS AGENCY; (7) VISCOUNT LORD BROOKE, + REUTER’S AGENCY; (8) DUTKEWICH +] + +[Illustration: + + G. ERASTOFF, RUSSIAN ARTIST +] + +[Illustration: + + SIGNOR PARDO, “TRIBUNA” OF ROME +] + +[Illustration: + + CAPTAIN SCHWARTZ, GERMAN +] + +[Illustration: + + T. M. MILLARD, “SCRIBNER’S MAGAZINE” +] + + CORRESPONDENTS OF VARIOUS NATIONALITIES WITH THE RUSSIAN FORCES IN + MANCHURIA + +[Illustration: + + THREE RUSSIAN ARTISTS AND RUSSIAN PRESS CENSORS AT NEWCHWANG +] + +[Illustration: + + FUNERAL AT NEWCHWANG OF LOUIS ETZEL, THE FIRST CORRESPONDENT TO BE + KILLED +] + +[Illustration: + + UNITED STATES ARMY ATTACHÉS WITH THE RUSSIAN FORCES +] + +[Illustration: + + FOREIGN MILITARY ATTACHÉS WITH THE RUSSIAN FORCES IN MANCHURIA +] + + CIVILIANS AND MILITARY ATTACHÉS WITH THE RUSSIAN FORCES IN MANCHURIA + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL KUROKI SHOOTING AT THE TARGET +] + +[Illustration: + + SIR IAN HAMILTON AND PRINCE KUNI +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL FUJI TRYING A SHOT FROM A SITTING POSITION +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL CROWDER, THE UNITED STATES ATTACHÉ +] + +[Illustration: + + CAPTAIN DANI, AUSTRIAN ATTACHÉ +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL SIR IAN HAMILTON SHOOTING +] + + THE TARGET-SHOOT GIVEN FOR THE MILITARY ATTACHÉS BY GENERAL KUROKI IN + THE WINTER QUARTERS ON THE SHA-HO + +[Illustration: + + CAPTAIN HEGARDT, SWEDISH ATTACHÉ, AND COLONEL HUME OF THE BRITISH ARMY +] + +[Illustration: + + MAJOR ETZEL, GERMAN ATTACHÉ, READY TO FIRE +] + +[Illustration: + + BARON CORVISART, FRENCH ATTACHÉ, SQUINTING AT THE MARK +] + +[Illustration: + + THE ITALIAN ATTACHÉ, MAJOR CAVIGLIA, SHOOTING FROM THE GROUND +] + + MILITARY ATTACHÉS, FIRING AT GENERAL KUROKI’S TARGET-SHOOT WITH CAPTURED + RUSSIAN RIFLES + +[Illustration: + + COLLIER’S PHOTOGRAPHER, VICTOR K. BULLA, WITH THE RUSSIAN FORCES +] + +[Illustration: + + COLLIER’S PHOTOGRAPHER, ROBERT L. DUNN, AND HIS COOLIES IN KOREA +] + +[Illustration: + + (1) JAMES H. HARE (COLLIER’S), (2) J. F. BASS (CHICAGO DAILY NEWS), + (3) FREDERICK PALMER (COLLIER’S), (4) W. DINWIDDIE (NEW YORK + WORLD), (5) R. M. COLLINS (ASSOCIATED PRESS AND REUTER’S) + + AMERICAN CORRESPONDENTS WITH THE FIRST JAPANESE ARMY +] + +[Illustration: + + (1) RICHARD HARDING DAVIS (COLLIER’S), (2) W. H. LEWIS (NEW YORK + HERALD), (3) JOHN FOX, JR. (SCRIBNER’S), (4) W. H. BRILL (ASSOCIATED + PRESS), (5) GEORGE LYNCH (ENGLISH), (LONDON DAILY CHRONICLE) + + AMERICAN CORRESPONDENTS WITH THE SECOND JAPANESE ARMY +] + + WITH THE WAR CORRESPONDENTS IN KOREA AND MANCHURIA + +[Illustration: + + ATTACHÉS AND CORRESPONDENTS WITH GENERAL KUROKI’S FIRST ARMY CORPS AT + FENG-WANG-CHENG + + (1) R. M. Collins; (2) David Fraser; (3) Capt. Dani; (4) Capt. + Jardine; (5) F. A. McKensie; (6) E. F. Knight; (7) Victor Thomas; + (8) O. K. Davis; (9) W. Maxwell; + (10) R. J. McHugh; (11) W. Dinwiddie; (12) Frederick Palmer; (13) + Capt. Vincent; (14) J. F. Bass; (15) M. H. Donohue; (16) Capt. + Hegardt; (17) Capt. Hoffmann; + (18) Capt. Payeur; (19) Col. Hume; (20) Baron Col. Corvisart; (21) + Gen. Sir Ian Hamilton; (22) Major Caviglia; (23) Major Etzel; (24) + Col. Gertsch; (25) Capt. Peyton C. March +] + + + + + CHAPTER XI + THE FIGHTING ALONG THE SHA-HO + + +The Japanese armies occupied Liao-Yang on September 4, and on September +8 the Russians announced that their entire forces had safely reached +Mukden. For a fortnight or so the two vast armies paused for breath, +while far to the southward the bombardment of Port Arthur continued, and +thousands of miles to the westward Russia’s Baltic fleet sailed from +Kronstadt for the Far East. During the latter part of September there +was desultory fighting along a considerable battle front, and when +General Gripenberg took command of the second Russian army in Manchuria, +General Kuropatkin began, the first week in October, an offensive +movement against his conquerors. + +Whether this advance was his own idea or whether it was prematurely +ordered from St. Petersburg was not positively known, but it began with +an oratorical proclamation to the army that the time had come for Russia +to take the initiative and force Japan to do her bidding. Kuropatkin’s +force numbered nearly 300,000 men, his artillery was said to be superior +to the Japanese, and it was plain that the fight was to be on as vast if +not a vaster scale than that at Liao-Yang. For a time there were a few +slight Russian successes, and after sharp fighting Kuropatkin succeeded +in capturing Bentziaputze, about half-way between Liao-Yang and Mukden +and on the Japanese right. The offensive movement was directed along the +whole Japanese line, extending about thirty miles from Bentziaputze +westward to the Sha-Ho. For nearly a fortnight fierce fighting +continued, a test of endurance on both sides, until the Russians were +finally obliged to retreat, leaving behind many guns and having lost, it +was estimated, some sixty thousand men. The Japanese losses were about +twenty thousand. Desultory engagements continued through October and +November, in the midst of heavy rains, until the cold set in in earnest, +and both armies went into winter quarters. + +In zero weather the two armies faced each other, burrowing underground +in their dugouts, in many places so close to each other that the +sentries could almost call one to another. The time was spent in target +practice, in chopping up wood to be used for building and for making +charcoal, and in drilling the recruits who were sent up to refill the +shattered regiments. The quarters in which the armies found shelter were +dugouts roofed over with logs, kowliang, and earth. That same attention +to detail which was characteristic of the Japanese army during the +campaign was as noticeable now that they were idle. There were even hot +baths for the soldiers. Earthenware jars were sunk in the ground much +like the Russian soup kettles. Water was heated in these and baths could +be taken as in so many vertical bathtubs. During the lull in the +fighting there was a celebration in honor of the successes on the Sha-Ho +at which there was a target-shoot between the military attaches. +Meanwhile the Baltic fleet was pursuing its slow journey to the Orient, +and the army of General Nogi was closing-in on Port Arthur. + +[Illustration: + + STAFF OF THE SECOND DIVISION AT THE BATTLE OF THE SHA-HO +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL SIR IAN HAMILTON, BRITISH ATTACHÉ, WITH GENERAL KUROKI +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL NISHIJIMA AND STAFF VIEWING THE FIGHT FROM A BOMB-PROOF +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIANS SHELLING VILLAGE OF CHONG-JU ON OCTOBER TENTH +] + + SCENES DURING THE FIGHTING EARLY IN OCTOBER IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE + SHA-HO + +[Illustration: + + ATTACHÉS WATCHING THE FIGHT FROM POSITION NEAR THE YENTAI COAL MINES +] + +[Illustration: + + RESERVES UNDER FIRE SHELTERED BY AN EMBANKMENT +] + +[Illustration: + + SHELLS SWEEPING A KOWLIANG FIELD—“NO TRESPASSING HERE!” +] + +[Illustration: + + EMPTY SHELL CASES LEFT AT A BATTERY POSITION AFTER THE ACTION +] + + CLOSE TO THE FIRING LINE DURING THE ENGAGEMENT NEAR THE YENTAI COAL + MINES + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN SHELLS BURSTING CLOSE TO JAPANESE BATTERY DURING THE SHA-HO + FIGHT +] + +[Illustration: + + A REMARKABLE PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING SHRAPNEL SHELLS BURSTING AND SWEEPING + ACROSS A FIELD +] + +Of these two unusual close-range photographs the lower one shows how +shrapnel looks when it bursts properly. The thick white smoke is one +bursting shell, and the little puffs of smoke to the right are the 250 +or so shrapnel bullets zipping along the ground. Those to the left are +from another shell. The photographs were taken at great personal risk by +Collier’s photographer, James H. Hare + +[Illustration: + + EXHAUSTED ENGINEERS SLEEPING UNDER FIRE DURING THE SHA-HO FIGHT +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE BATTERY PEPPERING THE RUSSIANS ACROSS THE FIELDS +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE BATTERY IN ACTION NEAR CHONG-JU +] + +[Illustration: + + IN THE KOWLIANG FIELDS WITH A JAPANESE BATTERY +] + + WITH THE JAPANESE ON OCTOBER TENTH AT THE SHA-HO + +[Illustration: + + COLLIER’S PHOTOGRAPHER, JAMES H. HARE, RESUSCITATING WOUNDED RUSSIAN +] + +[Illustration: + + CORRESPONDENTS ASSISTING DISABLED RUSSIANS DURING THE SHA-HO FIGHT +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE SOLDIERS ASSISTING WOUNDED RUSSIANS AFTER THE ENGAGEMENT +] + +[Illustration: + + SAPPERS REVERSING RUSSIAN TRENCH AFTER JAPANESE HAD TAKEN IT +] + + ON THE SHA-HO BATTLEFIELD WITH THE JAPANESE + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN SOLDIER KILLED WITH HIS HAND ON THE TRIGGER +] + +[Illustration: + + DAMAGE WROUGHT TO THE “TEMPLE OF EVERLASTING PEACE” AT THE SHA-HO +] + +[Illustration: + + GATHERING UP DÉBRIS FROM THE FIELD OF BATTLE +] + +[Illustration: + + FIELD TELEPHONES AT THE SHA-HO, SHELTERED BEHIND CHINESE HOUSE +] + + VICTORS AND VANQUISHED IN THE FIGHTING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE SHA-HO + +[Illustration: + + RICE FOR THE JAPANESE ARMY STORED AT YENTAI +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE QUARTERMASTER’S STORES PILED UP AT YENTAI +] + +[Illustration: + + THE YENTAI COAL MINES AFTER THE RUSSIANS HAD BEEN REPULSED +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN AND JAPANESE WOUNDED BUYING FROM CHINESE PEDLERS AT YENTAI +] + + THE AFTERMATH OF BATTLE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF YENTAI + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE WOODSMAN SMOKING HIS LITTLE JAPANESE PIPE WHILE AT WORK +] + +[Illustration: + + CUTTING UP TIMBER TO BE BURNED FOR CHARCOAL +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE BURNING WOOD TO MAKE CHARCOAL FOR THE ARMY +] + + PREPARING CHARCOAL FOR THE ARMY WHILE IT WAS ENCAMPED ON THE SHA-HO + +[Illustration: + + SALUTING THE CAPTAIN AS HE EMERGES FROM HIS DUGOUT +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE CUTTING TIMBER FOR FUEL WITH PORTABLE SAW +] + +[Illustration: + + IN AN OUTPOST TRENCH ALONG THE SHA-HO +] + + IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH THE JAPANESE ARMY ON THE SHA-HO + +[Illustration: + + HEADQUARTERS OF THE REGIMENTAL COMMANDER +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE BUILDING A BATH-HOUSE ON THE SHA-HO +] + +[Illustration: + + SENTRY ON DUTY AT OFFICER’S DOOR +] + +[Illustration: + + TAKING A HOT BATH—THERMOMETER TWELVE BELOW +] + +[Illustration: + + SOLDIERS’ DUGOUTS IN THE SHA-HO WINTER QUARTERS +] + + WITH THE JAPANESE ARMY IN DECEMBER IN CAMP ON THE SHA-HO + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE REINFORCEMENTS MARCHING THROUGH SHI-LI-HO TOWARD THE FRONT +] + +[Illustration: + + WOUNDED RUSSIANS AND JAPANESE AT PALANSANSU +] + +[Illustration: + + TRYING TO KEEP WARM AT SHI-LI-HO WITH THE THERMOMETER FIFTEEN BELOW +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE WOUNDED GOING FROM YENTAI TO LIAO-YANG BY TRAIN +] + + BETWEEN BATTLES WITH THE JAPANESE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE SHA-HO + +[Illustration: + + DRILLING THE NEWLY ARRIVED RECRUITS IN THE MILITARY STEP +] + +[Illustration: + + DRAWING WATER FROM THE WELL IN FREEZING WEATHER +] + +[Illustration: + + RECRUITS DRILLING AT THE SHA-HO WITH CAPTURED RUSSIAN RIFLES +] + +[Illustration: + + COOLIES DRAWING WATER FROM THE SPRING FOR THE JAPANESE +] + + WITH THE JAPANESE IN WINTER QUARTERS AT THE SHA-HO + +[Illustration: + + CHILDREN PLAYING DUCK-ON-THE-ROCK WITH PIECES OF BROKEN SHELLS +] + +[Illustration: + + OFFERING UP THE HOG’S HEAD TO PROPITIATE THE JOSS +] + +[Illustration: + + PEASANTS STACKING UP KOWLIANG FOR WINTER USE +] + +[Illustration: + + MANCHURIAN WOMEN PREPARING VEGETABLES FOR PICKLING +] + + TYPICAL VIEWS OF MANCHURIAN PEASANTS AFTER THE ARRIVAL OF THE JAPANESE + +[Illustration: + + MAJOR YOKURA, FIRST JAPANESE ADMINISTRATOR +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE CROSSING THE LIAO AT NEWCHWANG BEFORE IT FROZE OVER +] + +[Illustration: + + CHINESE CROSSING THE FROZEN LIAO RIVER ON SLEDS +] + + SCENES AT NEWCHWANG SHORTLY AFTER THE FALL OF PORT ARTHUR + +[Illustration: + + JOSSES OF AN ANCIENT CHINESE TEMPLE LOOKING DOWN ON THE WOUNDED + INVADERS +] + + + + + CHAPTER XII + THE FALL OF PORT ARTHUR + + +The first day of January, 1905, witnessed the end of the gigantic siege +that had furnished a tragic background for eleven of the twelve months +of 1904. The first blow struck by the Japanese in the war was aimed at +Port Arthur, and during the month that followed they and the defenders +employed and endured more terrific forces of destruction than were ever +used at any other siege in the history of the world. The fall of this +Gibraltar of the East seemed to prove that there can be no such thing as +an impregnable fortress. The attack on Port Arthur began with Togo’s +dash against the Russian fleet on the night of February 8. Four months +later, through the successes of the Japanese on the Liaotung peninsula, +the fortress had been cut off from all outside help. + +From the outer line of defence at Nanshan, and thirty miles from the +town, the Japanese worked their way literally inch by inch, burrowing +underground, digging deep trenches that zig-zagged toward the enemy’s +lines, until near enough to make a rush. In many places the ground was +solid rock and countermining was impossible. Barbed-wire entanglements +covered the country for miles, and wide stretches of bare ground had +been covered a foot deep with powdered white ash, which stirred into a +thick white cloud when trodden on, so as to make a splendid target for +machine guns. There were buried mines, some to explode automatically, +others to explode when the lookout man in a distant fort pressed a +button. At night searchlights flashed across every yard of the country +near the lines of forts, and sometimes the Russian gunboats creeping +along the shore outside the harbor got far enough to pour a cross-fire +into the Japanese encampments. Day and night Togo’s squadron sent in +from long range the terrible Shimose shells, worse than lyddite, on the +battered town and forts. Where it was impossible to tunnel or burrow, +masses of rock and bags full of sand were rushed forward at night to +make a temporary shelter where a regiment could go forward a hundred +yards, rest, fire for a few minutes, and advance another hundred yards, +until at last they were close to the enemy. Then, in the teeth of fierce +rifle fire, reinforced, perhaps, by shells from the other forts, the +final charge was made. + +The last stage of the advance began on November 30 with the capture of +203-Metre Hill. From this hill the Japanese were able for the first time +to get the range of the Russian ships in the harbor. All the larger +vessels of the Russian fleet were soon disabled. The great Keekwan +Mountain fort was captured on December 18, and on the 30th Ehrlung Fort, +the key of the inner defences, was stormed. That day and the next the +Japanese captured half a dozen neighboring positions, and finally, on +January 1, General Stoessel, who had said at the beginning of the siege +that Port Arthur would be his tomb, sent a message to General Nogi +offering to surrender. For a second time Port Arthur passed into the +hands of those from whom the European powers had wrested it ten years +before. + +[Illustration: + + NOGI’S FIGHTING MEN RESTING IN CAMP AT HOOZAN HILL +] + +[Illustration: + + WOUNDED IN A SHELTER TENT THREE MILES FROM RUSSIAN BATTERIES +] + + WITH THE JAPANESE DURING THE LAST DAYS OF THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR + +[Illustration: + + SIEGE GUNS ON THE SLOPE, FIELD GUNS AT THE TOP OF THE HILL +] + +[Illustration: + + ONE OF THE SHELLS BEGINNING ITS LONG FLIGHT TOWARD THE TOWN +] + + THE GREAT SIEGE GUNS THROWING ELEVEN-INCH SHELLS INTO PORT ARTHUR + +[Illustration: + + TWO OF THE GREAT TWENTY-EIGHT CENTIMETER SIEGE GUNS USED BY THE + JAPANESE AGAINST PORT ARTHUR +] + +[Illustration: + + FIVE-HUNDRED-POUND SHELLS WAITING TO BE HURLED INTO PORT ARTHUR +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN BOMB-PROOF NEAR NANSHAN HILL CAPTURED BY THE JAPANESE +] + +[Illustration: + + THE SLOW WORK OF MOVING THE SIEGE GUNS TO NEW EMPLACEMENTS +] + + SCENES IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF PORT ARTHUR DURING THE LONG SIEGE + +[Illustration: + + INFANTRY HIDDEN BY CORNFIELDS AND RAVINES WAITING THE ORDER TO ADVANCE +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE INFANTRY CREEPING THROUGH A CORNFIELD TOWARD THE RUSSIAN + POSITION NEAR HOOZAN +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE WAR BALLOON AND GAS BAG IN A FIELD ABOUT FOUR MILES NORTH OF + PORT ARTHUR +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL NOGI AND HIS STAFF, THE CONQUERORS OF PORT ARTHUR +] + +General Nogi sits in the centre, the gray-bearded man with the round +decoration on his breast. On his right is General Ijichi, his chief of +staff, who conducted the negotiations for the surrender. On Ijichi’s +right is the Surgeon-General of the Third Army, and beyond, with the +beard and many decorations, is Major Arriga, Japan’s greatest expert on +international law + +[Illustration: + + BETWEEN FIGHTS IN THE TRENCH AT SHOGERSAN FORT +] + +[Illustration: + + SHELTERED INFANTRY AWAITING OPPORTUNITY TO ADVANCE +] + +[Illustration: + + BRINGING UP THE BIG TWENTY-EIGHT CENTIMETER SHELLS +] + +[Illustration: + + SIEGE GUN SHELTERED BEHIND BAGS OF EARTH +] + + WITH THE JAPANESE AS THEY CLOSED IN AROUND PORT ARTHUR + +[Illustration: + + THE JAPANESE AND RUSSIAN WHITE FLAGS OF TRUCE +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL STOESSEL ABOUT TO PRESENT HIS FAVORITE HORSE TO GENERAL NOGI +] + +[Illustration: + + GENERAL STOESSEL AT THE STATION WAITING TO TAKE THE TRAIN FOR DALNY +] + + INCIDENTS OF THE SURRENDER OF PORT ARTHUR TO THE JAPANESE + +[Illustration: + + ONE OF THE MANY “BOMB-PROOFS” USED BY CIVILIANS AT PORT ARTHUR +] + +Although a woman was killed in this shelter shortly before the +photograph was taken, they were, generally speaking, fairly effective +protections. During the heavier bombardments, the occupants lived in +them for days at a time. The Russo-Chinese Bank transacted business +underground in “bomb-proofs” constructed in this manner for some time +during the latter part of the siege + +[Illustration: + + ENGINEERS’ STORES, SET ON FIRE BY JAPANESE SHELLS, BURNING AT PORT + ARTHUR +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE SHELL BURSTING IN THE BASIN IN THE EASTERN SECTION OF THE OLD + TOWN, PORT ARTHUR +] + +[Illustration: + + VIEW OF THE OLD TOWN, PORT ARTHUR, IN NOVEMBER, AFTER A BOMBARDMENT +] + +[Illustration: + + THE PRICE OF VICTORY—PART OF THE JAPANESE DEAD LYING ON 203-METER HILL +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN DEAD AWAITING BURIAL IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF PORT ARTHUR +] + +[Illustration: + + PHOTOGRAPHER’S STUDIO AT PORT ARTHUR AFTER IT HAD BEEN STRUCK BY ONE + OF THE JAPANESE SHELLS +] + +[Illustration: + + MAIN ROAD OUT OF THE NEW TOWN, PORT ARTHUR +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN POLICE STATION, PORT ARTHUR, HIT BY JAPANESE SHELL +] + +[Illustration: + + VIEW OF THE NEW TOWN, PORT ARTHUR, IN OCTOBER +] + +[Illustration: + + WHERE A JAPANESE SHELL HAD EXPLODED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TOWN +] + + VIEWS OF PORT ARTHUR, IN OCTOBER, WHEN THE SIEGE WAS HALF OVER + +[Illustration: + + INSIDE FORT NILUSAN AFTER THE RUSSIANS HAD GIVEN IT UP +] + +[Illustration: + + STANDING ON A “BOMB-PROOF” INSIDE ONE OF THE PORT ARTHUR FORTS +] + +[Illustration: + + NORTH KEEKWANSAN FORT AFTER THE SURRENDER +] + +[Illustration: + + DISMOUNTED SIEGE GUNS INSIDE ONE OF THE RUSSIAN FORTS +] + + INSIDE SOME OF THE RUSSIAN FORTS AT PORT ARTHUR AFTER ITS SURRENDER + +[Illustration: + + WOMEN AND CHILDREN ABOUT TO TAKE THE TRAIN FROM PORT ARTHUR +] + +[Illustration: + + PRISONERS TAKEN AT PORT ARTHUR WAITING TO BOARD JAPANESE TRANSPORT +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN AND JAPANESE SOLDIERS GETTING ACQUAINTED +] + + SCENES AT PORT ARTHUR IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE SURRENDER + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE SOLDIERS IN THE NIRYUSAN FORT AFTER THE SURRENDER +] + +[Illustration: + + THE CRUISER “PALLADA,” WITH THE “POBIEDA” SHOWING JUST BEHIND HER +] + +[Illustration: + + ON THEIR WAY TO 203-METER HILL WITH A TWENTY-EIGHT CENTIMETER GUN +] + +[Illustration: + + THE BATTLESHIP “RETVIZAN” BEACHED AT PORT ARTHUR +] + + SCENES AT PORT ARTHUR IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE SURRENDER + +[Illustration: + + BATTLESHIP “POBIEDA” BEACHED AT PORT ARTHUR +] + +[Illustration: + + THE “POLTAVA” AND “PERESVIET” AGROUND IN THE HARBOR +] + +[Illustration: + + THE BATTERED “RETVIZAN,” “POLTAVA” AND “PERESVIET” +] + +[Illustration: + + FORWARD TURRET OF THE BATTLESHIP “RETVIZAN” +] + + SUNKEN RUSSIAN BATTLESHIPS AT PORT ARTHUR AFTER ITS CAPTURE BY THE + JAPANESE + +[Illustration: + + THE BATTLESHIP “RETVIZAN” THE DAY AFTER THE SURRENDER OF PORT ARTHUR +] + +[Illustration: + + THE RIVER GUNBOAT “GILYAK” OF THE RUSSIAN “VOLUNTEER FLEET” +] + + VIEWS OF THE HARBOR OF PORT ARTHUR WHEN THE JAPANESE TOOK POSSESSION + +[Illustration: + + CONVALESCENT WOUNDED RUSSIAN SAILORS AND THEIR JAPANESE NURSES AND + DOCTORS AT MATSUYAMA +] + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + THE BATTLE OF MUKDEN + + +Judged by the number of men engaged, the vast extent of the battlefield, +and the losses, the battle of Mukden was the greatest of modern times, +if not of all history. Even the tremendous duel at Liao-Yang, which was +on a larger scale than any modern battle that had preceded it, pales +before this nineteen days’ struggle. Between 750,000 and 800,000 men +were engaged, of which about 361,000 were Russian and at least 400,000 +Japanese. When the nineteen days’ struggle began, both sides faced each +other in the valley of the Sha River, the Russian lines stretching back +upon tiers of defences, backed up with over 1,300 guns and forming south +of Mukden a barrier which foreign experts pronounced impregnable. + +From east to west the five Japanese armies were assigned under the +following commanders—Kawamura, Kuroki, Nodzu, Oku, and Nogi. Field +Marshal Oyama’s plan was for these five armies to form a crescent nearly +one hundred miles in length, the cusps of which would gradually draw +together, the western cusp being finally thrown forward so as to form a +closed curve with the eastern. The plan thus outlined worked with +perfect success. Kawamura, in the eastern sector, began the attack first +on February 22, driving the Russians back toward Tita. For over a +fortnight the fiercest sort of fighting continued in this part of the +field, in the midst of zero weather and almost continuous snowstorms. It +ended with the Russians driven across the Hun River and the right horn +of the crescent having reached its final position opposite Mukden. +Meanwhile, Kuroki broke through the formidable works which guarded the +road to the Hun River from Pensihu, and arrived on March 5 in line with +the general advance. Nodzu, to the left of Kuroki, drove the enemy from +his last outworks south of the Sha River, and on March 6 paused to await +the other turning attacks on east and west. Oku, between the Sha and Hun +Rivers, rolled back the enemy’s line until its superior numbers and +strong intrenchments near Patishu, about ten miles from Mukden, forced +him to await the final turning movement of Nogi’s men on the extreme +west. These men of Nogi’s were Port Arthur veterans, who looked upon +this work as a mere picnic. On March 1 they reached Sinmintung, +thirty-three miles west of Mukden, where they wheeled to the right. They +carried position after position, assisted Oku’s attacks against the +enemy’s position southwest of Mukden, swinging eastward in an +arch-shaped line with a front of fifteen miles. + +The crisis of the fight had come. On March 7 Kuropatkin gave the order +to retreat. All along the hundred-mile line the Japanese closed in. The +whole stupendous structure of the defence fell to pieces in an instant. +The Russians poured northward almost in a rout, and on March 10 the +Japanese occupied Mukden. The Russians had left more than 30,000 dead on +the field, lost 50,000 prisoners, and they had over 100,000 wounded. The +total Japanese casualties, as reported by Oyama, were 50,000. + +[Illustration: + + TYPICAL SCENE DURING THE RAINY-WEATHER CAMPAIGN ALONG THE HUN +] + +[Illustration: + + GETTING THE RANGE THROUGH THE HYPOSCOPE FROM 203-METER HILL +] + +[Illustration: + + CHINESE DIGGING GRAVES FOR RUSSIAN DEAD AT HIGH HILL +] + + VIEWS AT PORT ARTHUR AND WITH A RUSSIAN BATTERY ON THE HUN RIVER + +[Illustration: + + TENTH RUSSIAN DRAGOONS SCOUTING NEAR MUKDEN +] + +[Illustration: + + ON THE MARCH ALONG THE ROAD NEAR MUKDEN +] + +[Illustration: + + CHUNCHUSE BANDITS RIDING THROUGH SINMINTUNG +] + + RUSSIAN CAVALRY AND NATIVE HORSEMEN IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF MUKDEN + +[Illustration: + + MUSTER OF ONE OF KUROKI’S DIVISIONS AFTER THE BATTLE OF MUKDEN +] + +All the battalions were full before the battle. There was not one that +did not lose at least ten or fifteen per cent of its quota—as the gaps +in the ranks show. Kuroki’s army during the closing-in movement on +Mukden was between Nodzu’s and Kawamura’s, the latter being on the +extreme right wing. This photograph was taken by Frederick Palmer, +Collier’s special correspondent + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN STEAMSHIP BEACHED IN THE HUN RIVER +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN CENSOR, BARON HOVEN, IN A GERMAN CART +] + +[Illustration: + + CHUNCHUSES LEAVING MUKDEN FOR SINMINTUNG +] + +[Illustration: + + RUSSIAN SCOUTS HALTING AT MONTOUR PASS, NEAR MUKDEN +] + + SCENES IN THE MUKDEN NEIGHBORHOOD BEFORE THE JAPANESE WERE NEAR + +[Illustration: + + WHERE SOME OF THE SHELLS BURST DURING THE ARTILLERY DUELS NEAR MUKDEN +] + +[Illustration: + + DESOLATION IN MUKDEN IN THE PATH OF THE JAPANESE ATTACK +] + +[Illustration: + + JAPANESE CELEBRATION OF THE MUKDEN VICTORY +] + +[Illustration: + + VILLAGE HUTS AND STOCKADE BURNING NEAR MUKDEN +] + +[Illustration: + + THE MAIN STREET OF SINMINTUNG, NEAR MUKDEN +] + + SCENES IN THE VICINITY OF MUKDEN AFTER THE RETREAT OF THE RUSSIANS + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + THE END OF RUSSIA’S SEA POWER + + + BY CAPTAIN A. T. MAHAN, U. S. N., RETIRED + +The Battle of the Japan Sea resulted from the wish of Russia to +overthrow the naval control which has enabled the island Empire of Japan +to sustain her land warfare upon the continent of Asia. Preliminary to +this struggle, it was desirable that the fleet despatched for the +purpose, under Admiral Rojestvensky, should reach Vladivostok. There it +could refit after its long voyage, and there leave in security the train +of supply ships which had been the necessary accompaniment of so distant +an expedition. + +After the junction of a second division under Admiral Nebogatoff, the +whole Russian fleet moved northward, passing between the Philippine +Islands and Formosa. Rojestvensky thus left open to doubt, and retained +in his hands the decision, whether he would seek his port by the Straits +of Korea, or, circumnavigating the main island of Japan, pass through +the Straits of Tsugaru, opposite Vladivostok. It may be presumed he was +as ignorant as the rest of the world just where Togo was; but he knew +that, whether in the Straits of Korea or of Tsugaru, he would have to +fight, if Togo chose, as he probably would. He decided to take the most +direct and shortest route through the Korean Channel. + +Toga awaited him there; at what particular point is immaterial, for the +Straits are but sixty miles wide, which space is halved by the Island of +Tsushima, whence the Straits have the alternate name—Tsushima. In such +narrow waters, wherever the Japanese Admiral might be, he was certain, +by an extensive scouting system, to receive notice timely enough to +ensure intercepting his enemy. The notice came by wireless telegraphy +early on Saturday, May 27, from cruisers off Quelpaert Island, 150 miles +southwest of Tsushima; and as the Russian fleet, heading for +Vladivostok, drew up with Tsushima, the Japanese battleships were seen +rounding its northern point. As regards the position of the Russian +ships, it seems certain, that, upon sighting the enemy, they formed in +two columns of vessels. One contained the armored ships, a very +heterogeneous assembly in size and qualities, composed of battleships of +the first and second class, armored cruisers, and coast-defence +ironclads. The second column was of lighter cruisers. This took the left +hand, toward Tsushima, while the battleships were on the right, toward +Japan. At the head of the battle column were three battleships; two of +the first order of strength, 13,516 tons, the third of 10,000 tons, +between them. + +Admiral Togo divided his principal force of fighting ships into two +squadrons. One, of four battleships and two armored cruisers, he kept +under his own immediate direction. The other, of six armored cruisers, +which are battleships of superior swiftness, but somewhat lighter armor +and armament, was intrusted to Admiral Kamimura. The first of these +approached from the north of Tsushima; the second, and faster, followed +a little later from round its southern end. The head of the Russian +battle column received the weight of the Japanese fire, and the superior +speed of the latter enabled them so to choose their positions as to keep +their fire concentrated on these leading ships. Kamimura’s attack was on +the rear, and after that the battle soon became general. There was also +a third Japanese squadron, of vessels not belonging to the armored +fleet. These alone had been shown by Togo, until the Russian was +committed to the passage of the Straits. They are said now to have +attacked the other side of the Russian column. In brief, while Togo +threw the weight of his force upon the head of the enemy’s order, he +provided that the remainder should be so occupied as not to render +serious assistance. + +There was a strong breeze from southwest with a heavy sea. This favored +the Japanese, because of their longer experience and better training in +the use of their guns when the ships were in violent motion. This +disadvantage of the Russians was increased by the rolling of their +vessels, exposing the underwater body, giving the Japanese a target more +easily pierced, and the holes from which are more dangerous. Through the +five hours of daylight the contest was purely one of gunnery under the +conditions named: concentration upon the head of the Russian columns, +and heavy sea. The result was twofold. The head of the column, beaten +down by superior gunfire, was disordered; and individual ships, pierced +below water, filled and sank. As described, the Japanese, keeping ahead +of their enemy, forced them to change direction; but this by no means +need follow, were the Russians holding their own in the gunnery contest. +Had they given as good as they got, there was no reason why they should +forsake their course. The disorder, thus occasioned in the front, was +transmitted to the ships which followed; and there ensued the confusion +which is the sure precursor of defeat. + +Upon this scene night fell. Of the Russians, three battleships and two +others had already been sunk. Then came the time and opportunity for the +torpedo vessels; darkness, and an enemy both crippled and broken. By a +singular coincidence, the wind which in its strength favored the +Japanese gunners—an advantage which they had earned and deserved—now +fell somewhat; and with it fell the sea, rendering easier the work of +the torpedo craft. This is one of the chances of war. Of the scenes of +that night we as yet have little description, and from the fearful loss +of life we possibly may never know enough justly to estimate the +difficulties of the defence of the routed ships, or the degree of +resistance experienced by the assailants. From Japanese sources we have +heard that, under all the disadvantages of the Russians, some attacks +were successfully repelled; and three torpedo destroyers were sunk. That +pursuit continued to the Liancourt Rocks, 200 miles from the scene of +the battle, indicates that, had not superior gunnery already won a +decisive victory, the torpedo alone would scarcely so have reduced the +Russian fleet as to leave the Japanese the secure mastery they now +possess of the waters which constitute their vital line of +communications. + +The captured ships were the battleships “Orel” and “Emperor Nicholas I,” +the coast-defence vessels “General Admiral Apraxine” and “Admiral +Seniavin,” and the destroyer “Bedovy.” Six battleships, five cruisers, +one coast-defence ship, three destroyers, and a repair ship were sunk. + +[Illustration: + + THE SECOND SQUADRON OF THE BALTIC FLEET JUST BEFORE IT SAILED FROM + KRONSTADT +] + +[Illustration: + + THE LITTLE ARMORED GUNBOAT “KHRABRY” + + Built in 1890; of 1492 tons, has one 9-inch, one 6-inch, eight Q. F. + guns, and two torpedo tubes +] + +[Illustration: + + THE FAST ARMORED CRUISER “SVIETLANA” + + Built in 1896; has six 5.9 Q. F. Canets, ten 1.8-inch guns, four + torpedo tubes, and a speed of 20.2 knots +] + + FIGHTING SHIPS OF VARIOUS CLASSES IN RUSSIA’S BALTIC FLEET + +[Illustration: + + THE BATTLESHIP “EMPEROR ALEXANDER II” + + An old boat, built in 1887; armed with two 12-inch, four 9-inch, eight + 6-inch, twenty-four smaller guns, and five torpedo tubes +] + +[Illustration: + + THE BATTLESHIP “SISSOI VELIKY” + + Built in 1894; of 8,800 tons, has four 12-inch, six 6-inch Q. F., + eighteen smaller Q. F., and six torpedo tubes +] + +[Illustration: + + THE POWERFUL BATTLESHIP “OSLABYA” + + Built in 1898; of 12,674 tons, has four 10-inch, eleven 6-inch Q. F., + sixteen 3-inch, twenty-seven smaller guns, and six torpedo tubes +] + +[Illustration: + + THE FIRST-CLASS BATTLESHIP “BORODINO” + + Built in 1901; of 13,400 tons, has four 12-inch, twelve 6-inch Q. F., + twenty 3-inch, many smaller guns, and six torpedo tubes +] + + FORMIDABLE FIGHTING SHIPS OF RUSSIA’S BALTIC FLEET + +[Illustration: + + THE FIRST-CLASS BATTLESHIP “OREL” + + Built in 1903; of 13,400 tons, has four 12-inch, twelve 6-inch Q. F., + twenty 3-inch Q. F., and many smaller guns, and six torpedo tubes +] + +[Illustration: + + THE BATTLESHIP “NAVARIN” + + Built in 1891; of 10,000 tons, has four 12-inch, eight 6-inch, and + twenty-two smaller rapid fire guns, and six torpedo tubes +] + +[Illustration: + + FIRST-CLASS BATTLESHIP “ALEXANDER III” + + Built in 1901; of 13,600 tons, has four 12-inch, twelve 6-inch Q. F., + and forty six smaller guns. The speed is 18 knots +] + +[Illustration: + + THE COAST BATTLESHIP “GENERAL ADMIRAL APRAXIN” + + Battleship of the fifth class, built in 1893; of 4,126 tons, has three + 10-inch, four 4.7-inch, and thirty-six small quick-fire guns +] + + FOUR OF THE BATTLESHIPS OF RUSSIA’S BALTIC FLEET + +[Illustration: + + THE BATTLEGROUND OF THE WAR AND THE VICTORIOUS PROGRESS OF THE + JAPANESE +] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + + + + TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES + + + ● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. + ● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76109 *** |