The morning call., 1894-09-05
WON BY JAPS.
Great Battle Fought at
:. Song-Hwan.
CHINESE RAN AWAY.
Details From a Man on
+. the Field.
PLANNED MOST ADMIRABLY.
Much Spoil Fell Into the Hands
of the Victors.
ABANDONED A WAR VESSEL.
One of China's Ships Which the
e.. Japanese Found Was Not
- Worth Taking.
ABANDONED A WAR VESSEL.

: spnndent gives the following story of the
. battle fought at Song-hwan on the MORN
ing OF the 30th ult. The Japanese army
.: to9S:up Its position in a pine forest some
5000 meters away from the enomy's en-
Irenchments. 1t was decided to march
against the enemy at - O'Clock midnight
ofIhe >29th nit. by dividing itself into two
wings right and left. By thirty minutes
toll on the morning OF the 30th the march
OF the two wings was completed. At
about 40 minutes past the musketTy dis
charge began and was kept up for So
minutes, when the Japanese charged with
: fixed bayOnets.
: : The Chinese army had planned to as
: :sa auat the Japanese under cover of dark
ness, and the two armies suddenly came
into collision about midway between the
: respective camps, and the firing was
Opened at a short distance of from twenty
fve*to fifty yards. 1t was the right wing
that was engaged in this close contest for
the left wing, led by General Oshima, was
moving: more slowly and had by that time
arrived .atthe pine forest in front of Song
:: bwaB: The Chinese were soon driven back
TO. thelT entrenchments, with a loss of
about seveHty men.
r, There Is a little river called An-Soug
j.: that runs from the site of the Japanese
camp TO SQng-hwan. The Chinese had
:: partially destroyed the bridge over the
river. and had, moreover, constructed a
dam lower. down, thus causing the river
. to overflow its banks. This caused the
:*de atp. OF about fifteen Japanese soldiers
:. .t$ei0pgfng to the storming division, and to
che cOmmissariat. who fell in uuawares
hnd we're drowned. In the meanwhile the
a
epemy's camp began to fire field pieces at
the enemy, vino were soon obliged to de-
: seEt the second entertainments constructed
at the upper part of the hill, and joined
s.:th0se who were defending the works
thrown up. at the foot. The enemy fired
at: the Japanese. but the shells failed to
explode, ana not soldier was injured by
the enemy's cannonade.
.: Il hen the right and left wings began. as
had been planned, to march against the
enemy, firing at the latter as they proceed-
sd: a severe contest ensued, and when
: the two divisions were about to approach
:, the enemy's camp a detachment of the left
wing was dispatched behind the hill, at
the foot of which the enemy was en-
:, trenched, aud having assembled 1t from be-
hind suddenly began to rush down the
9 hill. The enemy thus attacked from the
three sides were no longer able to hold
their ground, and the camp was taken
just al o'clock on the morning of the
Both. When the japanese army en-
tered the camp all the Chinese troops
had fed. apparently in great confusion,
for arms, provisions, etc. were left be-
hind. Even the commander-in-chief and
his second in command left their import
ant documents and their caps behind them.
The three divisions of the Japanese army
now came together in the camp and way
ing the regimeutal standard in the
direction oil Japan gave thIee cheers for
the Emperor. The prizes taken in the
- camp we're FIVE pieces of cannon, a
quantity OF powder, fifty or sixty
old. spears and an abundance of
clothing and provisions. Leaving the
camp under the care of a small detach
ment the main body began to pursue
the fleeing enemy. another detach-
ment having been already sent from
the first TO oppose the retreat. Till about
B in the afternoon, the noise of artillery
was heard without interruption, causing
the death of more than 300 Chinese. An
other detachment was dispatched toward
:. A-San under the command of Lieutenant
Colonel Takeda soon after the fall of Song
hwan. This advance guard reached A
San at in the same afternoon, but only
to find that the Chinese were all gone At
noon of the 31st the main body joined the
advance guard at A-San and encamped
In the quarters deserted by the Chinese,
The arms, ammunition and provisions were
plentiful enough to load more than ten
Japanese junks. This was done promptly,
and it was arranged that, reloaded on big
ger Korea vessels at Paik-du-jin. situa-
ted in the gulf Of Max Yang, the prizes
should be transported TO Chemulpo. The
Chinese had laid several mines in the vi
einity of A-SaD, but they all failed to ex-
plode.
The situation of Song-hwan was especi-
ally we'll adapted for defense, for the
whole district consists of wet rice fields
and swamps with small river running
:. through, and there is only one road lead
ing to SoDg-hwan.
The plan of the Chinese must have been
to retreat to ward Cbhon-an in case of de-
feat but the Japanese were prepared 10
prevent this, and it was with the view OF
intercepting tn cir retreat toward Chhon-
an and driving them toward A-San that
the retreating Chinese were attacked from
their lett. The Chinese evidently placed
no faith in the forts constructed by them
selves at A-San; they dispersed without
taking the ordinary roads. The Chinese
are indeed skilled in the art of running
away. AS they fed they generally cast
off their uniforms and donniDg the
clothes of Koreans made the best Of their
way to what they considered safe places.
The directions toward which they fed are
Enthusiastically indicated by the castoff
uniforms. Even the vice-commander of