Investment of Port Arthur--Admiral Witoft's Sortie--Tremendous
Naval Battle--Harbors of Refuge--International
Complications--Insignificant Japanese Losses--The Last Raid
from Vladivostock--The Port Arthur Garrison--Fury Unparalleled
in History--Kuroki Improves his Reputation--The Grim Reality of
War.
[Sidenote: Closer Investment of Port Arthur]
While the victorious armies of Oku, Kuroki, and Nodzu were pressing
northward towards Liao-yang, driving before them the only force from
which the beleaguered garrison of Port Arthur could look for relief,
the siege of Russia's "impregnable fortress" proceeded with unabated
determination and constantly increasing vigor. It was on June 26th that
the general advance on Port Arthur began; and from that date the lines
of investment were steadily drawn closer and closer. Siege trains were
landed at Dalny as well as large reinforcements, but for nearly a month
complete silence as to the progress of events was maintained at Tokio.
From time to time sensational and contradictory reports of desperate
fighting were received from Chifu, where Chinese refugees landed in a
constant stream; and authentic messages from General Stoessel, the
heroic commander of the fortress's garrison, reached the outer world at
intervals through the medium of a wireless telegraphy installation at
the Russian Consulate in Chifu. Naturally, these messages were of a
reassuring character, and generally recorded some repulse of the
Japanese army of investment; but though no word of contradiction was
uttered at Tokio, the world was hardly inclined to accept the Russian
stories at their face value. When, for example, in a triumphant
message, General Stoessel reported that a grand assault on the Russian
defences had taken place on July 26th, 27th, and 28th, and had been
repulsed at all points, with great slaughter, cautious observers of
events waited for confirmation of the news; although the Czar himself
hastened to dispatch to his gallant representative in Port Arthur a
telegram of warm congratulation and praise. Hesitation was justified by
the event; for two days after their alleged decisive repulse they
captured the dominant position of Wolf Hill, and thereby made the first
important breach in the defences of Port Arthur. Wolf Hill is an
eminence half a mile south of the village of Suei-ze-ying, which is
some three and a half miles along the railway line running due north
from Port Arthur. The importance of the captured position for the
Japanese was that it enabled siege guns to command, within easily
effective range, the anchorage of the Russian squadron on the inside of
the Tiger's Tail. This meant, of course, either that the fleet must go
to sea and fight, or must endure impotently the hammering of the 12in.
shells which soon began to drop from the batteries on Wolf's Hill.
Within a week of the capture of the position, the Japanese had mounted
their siege guns; and after a bombardment of two days, the Russian
decision was taken to attempt another sortie. The last sortie, it will
be remembered, took place on June 23rd, and ended in the inglorious
return of the whole fleet; as the Russian Admiral, in spite of the
advantage which, as we now know, he possessed over his enemy in battle
strength, did not dare to give battle. This decision which let slip one
of the best opportunities that the Russian Pacific Squadron ever had of
favorably modifying the naval situation in the Far East, was
ill-received at St. Petersburg, where carefully planned dispositions
were thus brought to nought; and as soon as the contemplation of
another sortie became immediately necessary, the strictest injunctions
were sent to Admiral Witoft as to his course of action.
[Sidenote: Admiral Witoft's Sortie]
The Czar emphatically ordered him on no account to return to Port
Arthur. His object must be to inflict as much damage as possible on the
enemy's fleet, and, if possible, to effect a junction with the
Vladivostock Squadron; while, if the latter object were incapable of
accomplishment, he was to endeavor to reach the German port of
Kiau-chau. From circumstances that have since transpired, there is
reason to believe that an understanding had been arrived at between the
German and Russian Governments as to the reception of the Russian ships
at the German naval base. Although for the moment the Russian fugitives
would, by the laws of neutrality, be placed out of action, they would
be in the hands of a "benevolent" government; and would remain a factor
to be reckoned with, if in the future Germany were to intervene in the
settlement of the struggle. Accordingly, on the morning of August 10th,
the Russian Squadron, in full strength except for the armored-cruiser
_Bayan_, which was in too injured a condition to take its place in the
fighting line, began slowly to pass through the narrow channel leading
from the open sea; and by eleven o'clock the ships were drawn up in
battle line, and steamed away on a course nearly due south. The gallant
little _Novik_, the fastest vessel in either fleet, headed the line,
while the patched-up _Retvisan_ came next, followed by the
_Czarevitch_, the _Peresveit_, the _Pobieda_, the _Poltava_, and the
_Sevastopol_, with the cruisers _Askold_, _Diana_, and _Pallada_, and a
torpedo flotilla of eight vessels. The squadron of Japanese light
cruisers which had been watching Port Arthur retreated before the
advancing enemy, and signalled at once to the sleepless Togo, whose
main battle fleet was lying forty miles away. This consisted of four
battleships and three armored cruisers--namely, the _Mikasa_, carrying
Admiral Togo's flag; the _Asahi_, the _Shikishima_, the _Fuji_, the
_Nishin_, the _Kasuga_, the _Jakumo_, and a number of protected
cruisers, including the _Kasagi_, the _Chitose_, the _Takasugo_, as
well as a flotilla of some forty torpedo craft. Thus the Russians had a
clear superiority in battleships partially discounted by Togo's
superiority in armored cruisers.
[Sidenote: Tremendous Naval Battle]
Thirty-five miles to the southeast of Port Arthur the opposing fleets
came within range; and then began the most tremendous naval
battle--measured by the offensive power of its combatants--that the
world has yet seen. The naval world had been waiting almost with
eagerness for the present war to afford the spectacle of a fleet action
between modern armorclads carrying modern armaments; and this
unprecedented event had at last come to pass. The Russian ships were
steering for the south, and the object of the Japanese was evidently to
head them off. At a range of 6,000 yards, or about three miles and a
half, the _Mikasa_, the Japanese flagship, opened fire with her 12in.
guns on the leading Russian battleship and immediately the action
became general. Admiral Togo concentrated his fire on the Russian
battleships, leaving the cruisers very much to chance; and so awful was
the effect of this deadly rain of shell, that when at last the sun went
down on that eventful day, the Russian fleet was in hopeless disorder,
and its stoutest ships were almost unmanageable wrecks. The experience
of the _Czarevitch_ and the _Retvisan_, as recounted by survivors on
board of those devoted vessels, affords a lurid picture of the
appalling nature of a modern naval battle. The _Czarevitch_, which
ultimately reached Kiao-chau, was bombarded at close range by several
of the Japanese armorclads. In the course of five minutes she was
struck by three successive 12in. shells, and that fact--which is an
eloquent testimony to the quality of the Japanese gunnery--practically
decided her fate. Admiral Witoft was killed by the first shell, and his
chief of staff was mortally wounded by the second. The steering gear
was knocked to bits, so that the ship was out of control and began to
travel in a circle, and the foremast was tumbled over the side; while
every man in one of the batteries was blown to pieces. The guns' crews
were annihilated at the work, and the deck gear was twisted into
fantastic shapes or carried away altogether; and so much of it was
afterwards picked up that the Japanese supposed that the _Czarevitch_
had foundered. Poor Witoft--as brave a man as ever sailed--met a
terrible death. He was blown to pieces by a shell, and of his body only
one leg was ever found. His last signal was: "Remember the Emperor's
order not to return to Port Arthur." The decks of the battleship
presented the appearance of a shambles; her armor-plating was pierced
in four places; her masts were shattered and bent in the form of a
cross; her bridge was carried away; and many of her guns were disabled.
Steering with her propellers she managed, under the cover of night, to
escape the attacks of the Japanese torpedo-boats, and to reach
Kiao-chau. Hardly less severe was the mauling which the _Retvisan_
received. This battleship received such a concentrated fire that when
she attempted to break from the circle of her enemies, she was
literally blown out of her course. The other four Russian battleships
suffered more or less severely. The _Pobieda_, for instance, had her
masts carried away, and her heavy guns were put out of action. When the
_Czarevitch_ got out of control, the Russian line was necessarily
broken, and then the fleet seems to have suffered most severely. The
command of the squadron passed to Prince Ukhtomsky, as second in rank
to Admiral Witoft, and that of the cruiser division to Rear-Admiral
Reitzenstein; and between the two there seem to have been divided
counsels. The latter decided to cut his way southwards at any cost in
accordance with the orders of the Czar. With the _Askold_, _Novik_,
_Pallada_, and _Diana_, he became engaged with the Japanese cruisers,
and by dint of hard fighting, in which the _Askold_ was badly mauled,
he managed to get clear of the enemy, and in the early morning of the
13th reached Shanghai, having lost sight of the other cruisers. The
_Askold_ had lost two of her five funnels, one of the boilers was
injured, and her hull had been pierced in more than half a dozen
places, both above and below the water-line. Prince Ukhtomsky preferred
another course. When the signal had been displayed from the
_Czarevitch_ "Admiral transfers command," the Prince, who was next in
seniority, signalled from his ship, the _Peresviet_, "Follow me"--an
order which, as we have seen, the cruiser division did not obey. But
the battleships answered the signal; and the course steered was back to
Port Arthur. In his dispatch the Prince said: "As my vessel had lost
many killed and wounded, and her armament, hull and electric apparatus
were seriously damaged, I decided to return to Port Arthur." Through
the dark night the six battleships steamed slowly to their haven,
repeated torpedo attacks compelling them again and again to change
course, and finally to disperse. The _Czarevitch_, as we have seen,
reached Kiao-chau almost in a sinking condition, while in the morning
of the 11th, the _Peresviet_, the _Retvisan_, the _Sevastopol_, the
_Pobieda_, the _Poltava_, and the cruiser _Pallada_ arrived again at
the port which they had left twenty-four hours earlier. A list of
nearly 400 killed and wounded was the witness to the severity of the
punishment which these vessels had received. But it was evident that
they were not so damaged as to have been incapable of continuing the
attempt to break through to the south. Their return to Port Arthur
rendered all that they had suffered vain. It meant that their situation
was as precarious as ever, while their condition was less favorable for
enduring it. The displeasure of the Czar was not long in manifesting
itself. Hardly had the consternation of defeat subsided, than an
Imperial order was issued removing the unhappy Prince Ukhtomsky from
his command. Recalled he could not be, because the means of leaving
Port Arthur were denied.
[Illustration: RUSSIANS RECAPTURING THEIR LOST GUNS AT LIAO-YANG.]
[Sidenote: Harbors of Refuge]
It was some time before the full measure of Russia's disaster could be
ascertained; for the movements of several of the dispersed vessels had
been lost sight of. But at last all doubts were resolved. The
_Czarevitch_ and three destroyers reached Kiao-chau. The _Askold_ and
one destroyer found refuge at Shanghai. The _Diana_ was able to make
the French port of Saigon. Two destroyers went ashore near Wei-hai-wei
and were abandoned; and one destroyer entered Chifu Harbor and was
there seized by the Japanese and made a prize, in defiance of respect
for a neutral port. The indomitable little _Novik_ alone of all
Russia's fleet attempted to make for Vladivostock. This swift cruiser
had come out of the fight comparatively uninjured; and having put into
Kiao-chau for coal, she steamed eastward again, and for some days was
lost sight of. But the Japanese, though full of admiration for the
exploits of the _Novik_, could not afford to let her escape, and they
were on the watch for her appearance in the straits through which she
must pass to reach Vladivostock. The cruisers _Tsushima_ and _Chitose_
had been searching the Soya Straits, which lie between Saghalien and
Yezo, when at last the former vessel sighted the little _Novik_ on the
afternoon of the 20th of August in Korsakovsk Harbor. Immediately the
attack began, and the _Novik_ was soon compelled to retreat into the
inner harbor, but not before she had inflicted such damage on the
_Tsushima_ as to compel her to draw off. Presently, however, the
_Chitose_ arrived, and next day completed the destruction of the
_Novik_, whose crew abandoned her after running her on the beach. So
ended the career of the one ship in the Russian Navy whose handling has
consistently done credit to Russian seamanship.
[Sidenote: International Complications]
The appearance of fugitive vessels of the Russian squadron in neutral
ports at once raised international questions of no little anxiety and
difficulty. The attitude of Germany in particular was jealously watched
by the Japanese; but, fortunately, in this case the behavior of the
neutral Power was perfectly correct. The _Czarevitch_ and the three
destroyers in Kiao-chau were at once ordered to be dismantled, and
their crews sent home on _parole_. Equally prompt and unimpeachable was
the action of the French Government in regard to the cruiser _Diana_;
but the case of the _Askold_ at Shanghai threatened to give much more
trouble. It was aggravated, too, by the indefensible action of the
Japanese in the case of the destroyer _Rishitelni_, which reached Chifu
on the 11th, bearing important dispatches. The Japanese followed the
_Rishitelni_, and believing that the Chinese would not be able to
enforce the disarmament of the boat, and their demands for her
immediate departure having been ignored, a Japanese officer and armed
guard boarded her. A scuffle between the Japanese and the Russian crews
followed; and in the result, in spite of the protests of the Chinese,
the _Rishitelni_ was towed out of the harbor, after an ineffectual
attempt on the part of her crew had been made to blow her up. The act
was certainly a violation of Chinese neutrality; but as the
_Rishitelni_ had remained in the harbor for twenty-seven hours without
any sign of disarming, the Japanese had good reason to believe that the
Russian commander was not particularly sensitive to the claims of
China's neutrality; and how well this belief was founded appeared in
the case of the _Askold_, which found refuge at Shanghai. In insolent
defiance of all right and law, the commander of the _Askold_ refused
either to disarm his vessel or to leave the neutral port. The wretched
Chinese authorities, squeezed on one side by the Russian Government and
on the other by the Japanese, could do nothing. One day they issued
peremptory orders for the Russian vessel to leave; and the next day
they extended the period of grace. A grave international situation
threatened; for the Japanese were impatient at the necessity of having
to detain several of the much-needed cruisers in watching the port, and
they threatened extreme measures; for all this time the _Askold_ was
being repaired and put into fighting trim again. But at last the
British Minister interfered to stop the work of repairs; and then the
Czar issued instructions that the _Askold_ and the destroyer that
accompanied her should be dismantled.
[Sidenote: Insignificant Japanese Losses]
In winning this signal victory over the fleet of his enemy, Admiral
Togo suffered but slight damage to the ships under his command. In
spite of the heavy fighting at close range, none of the Japanese
vessels were crippled--a circumstance of the utmost importance to
Japan, who, unlike her enemy, has no second fleet to draw upon, and
whose losses were therefore irreparable. The _Mikasa_, in which the
brunt of the fighting fell, lost 32 killed and 78 wounded; the
_Yakumo_, 12 killed and 10 wounded; the _Nishin_, 16 killed and 17
wounded; the _Kasuga_, 10 wounded; and the rest of the fleet a few
wounded only. These casualties altogether were far exceeded by those
endured on the _Czarevitch_ or the _Retvisan_ alone; and the difference
can only be accounted for by the greater accuracy and efficiency of the
Japanese gun fire. Of the fleet that left Port Arthur on the morning of
the 10th of August, only a shattered remnant returned again--five
battleships and two cruisers. But the sum of Russia's disasters had not
been reached. It was fated that the Vladivostock squadron was to share
the fate of the Port Arthur fleet.
[Sidenote: The Last Raid from Vladivostock]
So sudden had been Admiral Witoft's resolution to attempt a sortie,
that no arrangements for concerted action with Admiral Skrydloff at
Vladivostock had been made. It was the destroyer _Rishitelni_, whose
arrival at Chifu caused such unpleasantness, that bore the message
informing Skrydloff of what was happening. Fortunately for themselves
the Japanese seized the _Rishitelni_ too late to intercept that
message. Skrydloff on the 12th steamed from Vladivostock with the
cruisers _Gromoboi_, _Rossia_, and _Rurik_, and made straight for the
Korean Straits. In the early morning of the 14th of August the Russian
cruisers reached their old hunting-ground, and the critical point in
their course--the narrow channel that separates the southernmost
Japanese islands from the Korean promontory. In their successful raid
during July the Vladivostock cruisers had reached the same point, and
by good luck had evaded Kamimura's pursuit. The fortune of war had
hitherto been all against the gallant Japanese Admiral, to whom had
been committed the task of watching the Vladivostock squadron, and in
particular, of guarding the Korean Straits. Even on this last decisive
occasion that was to avenge his previous disappointments, he nearly
missed his prey, who had got to southward of his fleet. But a timely
glint of sunlight revealed the object of his long quest, and
immediately putting his ships between the enemy and Vladivostock he was
able to say with Cromwell at Dunbar: "The Lord hath delivered them into
my hand". Kamimura had with him four armored cruisers of high speed and
powerful armament--the _Tokiwa_, the _Adzuma_, the _Idzumo_, and the
_Iwate_. The last two vessels were of 24 knots speed, and the slowest
was of 21 knots. In gun power all the vessels were practically equal,
and were much more heavily armed than the Russian cruisers, to which
they now found themselves opposed. Of these the _Gromoboi_, a huge
vessel of 12,336 tons displacement, was the latest and the most
formidable. The _Rossia_ was her equal in every respect except gun
protection; but the _Rurik_ was of another class altogether in a
direction that proved fatal to her--namely, speed. Her engines were
only capable of developing 18 knots, and that made her a terrible
hindrance to the manoeuvring power of the whole squadron. It was not
until the Japanese had crossed the course of the Russians that the
latter became aware of the presence of the enemy, and then they
immediately put about and steered north. According to the report of the
Russian Admiral, the fight began at half-past four in the morning a
little north of the line between Fusan and Tsushima. The Russians
attempted to make for the open sea northwards, but were headed off,
mainly owing to the inferior steaming power of the _Rurik_, which was
in the rear of the line. The Russians were in single column line ahead,
while the Japanese steering across their course adopted the famous
T-shaped formation which is associated with the name of Admiral Togo.
The battle began at a range of five miles, and very soon the superior
gunnery and heavier armament of the Japanese told its tale. The
Russians changed course to the east, and immediately the ill-fated
_Rurik_ began to drop behind, enabling the Japanese cruisers to
concentrate the fire on her at a range of little more than three miles.
The steering gear broke down, and the vessel speedily became
unmanageable, while the havoc wrought by the rain of shells poured into
her quickly rendered her guns unworkable. With splendid gallantry the
_Rurik's_ consorts, seeing her desperate plight, returned to her
assistance, and circled round her in order to draw the enemy's fire and
to give the crippled cruiser a chance of effecting repairs. They
suffered heavily in the attempt, and their sacrifice was unavailing.
The _Rurik_ burst into flames, which her devoted crew could not subdue.
Her movements became erratic. She developed a heavy list to port, and
then began to settle down by the stern. At last, after the fight had
been going on for nearly four hours, it became evident that the _Rurik_
was doomed; and her consorts, who were in sorry case themselves, left
her to make their own escape. Both the _Gromoboi_ and the _Rossia_ had
been struck repeatedly below the water line, and had been fired in
several places by the Japanese shells, though the fires were got under.
What finally decided their flight was the arrival of reinforcements for
the enemy in the shape of the _Noniwa_ and the _Takachiho_--two
protected cruisers of the second class. These vessels were left to
finish off the already sinking _Rurik_, while Admiral Kamimura set off
at full speed in pursuit of the _Gromoboi_ and _Rossia_. For some
reason, however, which has never yet appeared, this pursuit was not
persisted in. Both the Russian cruisers were badly damaged, and there
is no reason to suppose that they could have ever reached Vladivostock,
as they did a day or two later, if Admiral Kamimura had not drawn off
his ships. There is, of course, no doubt that there must have been some
compelling reason to induce the Japanese Admiral to forego the full
fruits of his opportunity, but that he should have had to do so made
his victory much less complete and decisive. He returned to the scene
of battle to discover that the _Rurik_ had gone down, but in time to
assist in saving the crew, of whom some 600 survivors were rescued.
This act of humanity was not a solitary instance, but it is one of the
most striking instances of the magnanimous temper in which the Mikado's
forces both on land and sea carried on the war. The Russian Commander,
in his official report, makes it clear that he was much surprised and
relieved when he found that the pursuit of his cruisers was being
abandoned. He states that at this stage of the battle three of the
funnels on the _Rossia_ were holed, and three of her boilers were
rendered useless, so that she was not able to keep up full steam, while
eleven holes had been made in the vessel's hull below the water-line.
The _Gromoboi_ had six holes below her water-line; while on both of the
cruisers the loss of life had been most severe. More than half the
total number of officers had been killed or wounded, and quite a
quarter of the crews. Thirty miles away from the spot where the _Rurik_
had been left sinking, the _Gromoboi_ and _Rossia_ were able, by the
mysterious drawing off of the enemy, to stop their engines and effect
temporary repairs. On the 16th of August they arrived again at
Vladivostock, and went immediately into dock--with the certainty of
taking no further part in active operations for some months to come.
Thus within a single week both squadrons of Russia's navy in the Far
East suffered signal and overwhelming disaster with the effect of
immediately and palpably relieving the difficulties of the campaign for
the invasion of Manchuria. If the dispersal and repulse of the Port
Arthur fleet was the more momentous event of the two, the shattering of
the Vladivostock squadron had an immense value in at once restoring
confidence and immunity to Japan's seaborne trade, and in removing from
Togo's flank, as it were, a menace which since the opening of the war
he had never been able wholly to dismiss. As one result of these naval
victories, the war-worn and storm-beaten ships of the Japanese fleet
blockading Port Arthur were able in turn to go into dock for the
execution of those repairs which must have become increasingly
necessary; while at the same time it was possible to strengthen and
tighten the blockade, and push on with perfect freedom from risk with
the preparations for landing men and munitions at the theatre of war.
[Illustration: ON THE DECK OF THE "RURIK."]
[Sidenote: The Port Arthur Garrison]
The fall of Port Arthur, which the Japanese, in the pardonable
confidence begotten of their uninterrupted victories on sea and land,
had believed to be imminent long ago, now became the object of renewed
and desperate endeavor. Dalny Harbor had been cleared of mines, and
rendered available for the landing of siege trains; and no sooner had
the ill-fated sortie of the fleet been frustrated, than the Japanese
settled down again to a fierce assault. As a preliminary, on the 16th
of August a message was sent to General Stoessel under a flag of truce
demanding the surrender of the fortress, and proposing that, in case of
non-compliance, the non-combatants should be allowed to leave. To the
former of these proposals, General Stoessel, as might have been
expected of so brave and resolute a soldier, returned an emphatic and
indignant negative; and the second, with much less reason, he equally
refused to entertain. Just at this moment all good Russians had been
gladdened, even in the midst of their disasters, by the long-hoped-for
birth of an heir to the Imperial Throne, and General Stoessel was able
to send a congratulatory message to the Czar, while receiving in his
turn an order appointing him, as a mark of special Imperial favor, an
aide-de-camp general. The determination of the Russian garrison had
never abated for a moment; and such assurances that the eyes and hopes
of all Russia were centred on them, stirred them to the heroic pitch of
endurance. Shut off from the outer world both by sea and land, with
provisions and ammunition daily becoming more scanty, and beneath the
harassment of an incessant bombardment and fierce and desperate
assaults, they held grimly on to the defences, and defied the worst
that the enemy could do, in spite of his overwhelming numbers. The
progress of the siege could not be followed easily by the external
spectator, because the Japanese strictly kept their own counsel; while
the reports that were brought to Chifu from time to time by Chinese
refugees were conflicting and contradictory in the last degree. One
thing only was undeniably evident--that the Japanese assaults on
different sections of the main line of defence had been made with
desperate valor and indifference to loss of life; and that, except in
unimportant instances, these assaults had not prevailed. Forts were
indeed captured, but had to be abandoned again, because they were
exposed to the fire of neighboring forts. Not in vain had the Russian
engineers exercised their best brains in devising the defences of this
"impregnable fortress". Mines, wire entanglements, and every other grim
expedient for checking assault had been constructed with patient
ingenuity; and, most deadly and cunning device of all, every fort in
the long chain that shuts in Port Arthur on the land side had been so
placed as to be dominated by the neighboring forts; so that no enemy
who succeeded in capturing it could hope to plant his own guns there.
It is not in question that the Japanese suffered appalling losses in
the attempts to storm these defences; but they persevered, though for
weeks together their hostile activities were limited to pouring into
the Russian lines a tremendous shell fire at long range. The fall of
Port Arthur which had seemed possible in June, was confidently
predicted for July. Then August was fixed, and the Japanese forces,
largely reinforced, undertook another desperate assault in the middle
of that month. It failed; and though the dogged, impenetrable defence
and the fierce and reckless struggle went on with few intermissions,
October came without any perceptible change having been effected in the
situation of the combatants.
[Sidenote: Fury Unparalleled in History]
Two Russian officers who escaped with dispatches to Chifu, brought
accounts of the terrible pitch to which the temper of the opposing
forces had been wrought in their long-drawn and implacable struggle.
They stated that the Japanese losses during the last attack were
enormous, and that even several days afterwards wounded men were to be
seen raising their arms by way of appeal, but that it was impossible to
help them as the fire was incessant. As for the struggle, it was
carried on with an amount of fury to which there is no parallel in
history. The Japanese dashed forward with the bayonet like madmen, and
in serried columns, in which the shells made terrible furrows. Every
time that they reached the Russian lines horrible mêlées, in which even
the wounded fought to the death, took place. No quarter was given.
Pairs of corpses were found clinging to each other, the teeth of the
men being buried in their adversaries' throats and their fingers in
their eyes as they had expired. In the last attack the 9th Japanese
Division was sent forward in two columns, each composing a brigade, and
when the first gave way under the avalanche of iron, the general
commanding the second fired upon and exterminated it. So intense was
the fury that when they got within hearing of their foes, the Japanese
shook their fists at and insulted them. The failure of the Japanese to
make headway with the siege of Port Arthur was the one substantially
gratifying aspect of the war from the Russian point of view. Russian
patriotic sentiment had something to be proud of in the courage,
endurance, and resource of General Stoessel and his troops. But, as a
matter of fact, the fall of Port Arthur would have been a far better
service to Russian arms than the heroic resistance of its garrison.
Because the fortress, which from the first had exercised such a
benumbing influence on the Russian fleet and such a distracting
influence on military counsels, still remained as a fatal factor in the
equation for Russian strategy. The garrison were counting on relief
from the north, and the honor and pride of Russia were engaged to send
that relief if possible. Consequently, Kuropatkin never had his hand
free. He could never review the situation with a single eye to its
supreme strategical necessities; he must always qualify his
dispositions and plans by regard for the plight of Port Arthur. It was
this vitiating influence that brought about the initial reverses of the
Russian armies; and that prevented any bold and effective plan for
meeting the Japanese advance. Finally, it was this consideration that
induced Kuropatkin to give battle at Liao-yang, and to expose his
entire army to a disaster from which he only escaped by the skin of his
teeth. Allusion to that tremendous conflict, between forces larger than
any that have ever before been opposed in modern war, has already been
made in the last chapter. But the event was so memorable, and has such
bearing on the future course of the campaign, that it is permissible to
return to the subject, especially as further light has been thrown on
it by the detailed narratives of correspondents. Of this great battle,
by the way, the world has received fuller descriptions than of any
other feature of the campaign by land or sea; for it so happened that
the sufferance of the war correspondents under the restriction of the
Japanese military authorities broke down here, and several of the most
distinguished representatives of the English press threw up their
connection with the Japanese army after Liao-yang, and hurried back to
neutral territory to cable home the full dispatches which the censor
would not have permitted.
[Sidenote: Kuroki Improves his Reputation]
It is perfectly evident in the light of these accounts that the
Japanese, emboldened by their previous successes, rated their enemy too
lightly, and without any preponderance, and indeed with scarcely an
equality of numbers, they attempted to take by assault a position
naturally strong and fortified by all the art and resources of the
military engineer. The battle did indeed prove the incomparable
qualities of the Japanese soldier; but it did little to add to the
reputation of Japanese generalship; while, on the other hand, it
exhibited General Kuropatkin in a light infinitely more favorable than
any in which he had previously appeared. If one of Kuropatkin's
subordinates--General Orloff--had not blundered badly in carrying out
the movements against Kuroki on the Russian left, it is probable that
the battle might have resulted in a decisive defeat instead of in a
nominal victory for the Japanese. That blunder--which cost Orloff his
command--enabled Kuroki to hold his own at a most critical juncture,
and so to obviate the dangerous possibilities which the situation had
developed. It was the peril of Kuroki that compelled Oku and Nodzu, who
faced the centre and right wing of the Russian position, to press on
their assaults with redoubled fury, even after they had been fighting
for five days and losing thousands of men without making appreciable
headway. In twenty-four hours Oku made three grand assaults upon the
entrenched hills before him; and, when the last had been beaten back
with awful loss, the laconic order came from headquarters: "Reinforce
and attack again at dawn". Such a demand upon the endurance and
_morale_ of troops is well-nigh unexampled; and that the Japanese
soldier responded to it speaks volumes for his qualities as a fighting
man. His persistence prevailed in the end, and the Russian line was
forced. But even then the retreat was slow and stubborn. While a rear
guard held the Japanese at bay, all the guns and wounded were safely
withdrawn, and when at last the Japanese came into possession of
Liao-yang, it was to find the fruits of their dearly-bought victory
snatched from them, and their own forces too exhausted to follow
victory up. The casualties in this awful conflict were enough "to
stagger humanity", if one may use Mr. Kruger's famous phrase. The
Japanese losses cannot have been less than 40,000, and those of the
Russians were perhaps half as many; while the expenditure of ammunition
on both sides was terrific. More than a thousand guns belched forth
their deadly missiles continuously for nearly a week, and all
eye-witnesses agree that never before has such tremendous artillery
fire been witnessed. Well might it be necessary for both armies to rest
after such a titanic struggle, and to devote more than a month to
reforming and reinforcing the shattered ranks and to refilling their
ammunition trains. The main result of the battle was to drive the grand
army of the Czar one step further back from the beleaguered fortress
still counting so confidently on and waiting so anxiously for relief.
But, as the event showed the contest had been too indecisive to destroy
finally the Russian hope of a victorious march southwards; and to that
extent the Japanese might congratulate themselves. As long as the fatal
fascination of Port Arthur was felt by Russian strategy, the Japanese
generals could count on an invaluable ally; and very soon that ally was
to come to their assistance again in a manner which their best hopes
could not have conjectured.
[Sidenote: The Grim Reality of War]
In order to realize the spectacle that that awful battlefield
presented, one has only to read the vivid narrative of the London
_Times'_ correspondent who was attached to General Oku's army. This is
how he describes the earlier and abortive attempts of Oku's devoted
troops to penetrate the Russian centre:--
[Illustration: AFTER SEVEN MONTHS.
The time was now ripe for the simultaneous advance of the three
Japanese armies, and while Oku and Nodzu attacked the Russians at
Anshanchan, and forced them to retire, Kuroki drove the Russians out of
Anping. The great battle of Liaoyang began on August 29, and continued
until September 1, when Kuroki, having crossed the Taitse-Ho,
threatened the Russian left flank, and forced them to retreat. On
September 6 the Japanese occupied the Yentai Mines. The army besieging
Port Arthur captured the Laotishan and Sushiyen Hills on August 15, and
on the 28th took Palungshan.
The shaded portion shows the Japanese advance.]
"In spite of the failure of this first attack, another was ordered to
begin at two on the following morning (August 30th). The cold grey
morning witnessed another scene of slaughter on the Russian right as
the defenders again hurled the attack back. The Japanese attacked with
valor and deserved success, but the enfilading fire on every salient
swept each rush away before the men could even lay hands on the
entanglements. But the 5th Division had more success against the
Russian left. The position here was composed of a brush-covered
hogsback, sloping to the east, defended by a triple line of trenches
with a glacis protected by a 10 foot entanglement covering a honeycomb
of pits containing spikes at the bottom. In the semi-darkness of the
morning the 41st Regiment carried this underfeature after losing
seventy-five of the one hundred pioneers who hacked their way through
the entanglement with axes. The men, rushing through the gap,
overpowered the sentries in the trenches before the supports, sleeping
in splinter proofs behind, could reinforce them. But daybreak brought a
tragedy of the kind which is so common in modern war. Shell fire,
believed to be from Japanese guns, drove this gallant storming party
from its hold, filling the Russian trenches with Japanese dead. But now
for the fighting on the 31st. The weather was now fine, and the energy
of this southern attack all the morning was concentrated in an
artillery fire on the bushy hill that had been won and lost. At 10
o'clock we could see the 5th Division moving up against the Russian
left. There is a moment of intense excitement while the summit of the
Russian position is like a miniature Mount Pelée in eruption owing to
the bursting of dozens of Shimoshi shells. The head of the assault is
in the gap in the entanglement. The artillery is supporting the
assault. Three or four ground mines explode in the midst of the leading
assaulting groups. Then as the smoke clears the black-coated Russians
are seen leaving the position. In a moment the Japanese are in, and the
whole of the lines in support on the crest are firing down the slope
into the retreating Russians. But one swallow does not make a summer.
Although the underfeature of the bushy hill was carried, the rest of
the assault failed miserably. No Japanese could live within 500 yards
of the bastion hill, and though the Japanese came out of the corn until
the groups were so numerous that I can liken them only to swarming
bees, it was only to be swept backwards into cover again, leaving
behind the heavy price of their valor."
[Illustration: CAPTURE OF THE "RESHITELNI" AT CHIFU.]