The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-09-09
RUSSIAN ON THE WAR
Staff Officers Remarkable Let
ter to a Journalist.
HE BLUsHEs FOR ELS COUNTRY.

HE BLUsHEs FOR ELS COUNTRY.
So Dangerous an Enemy ~ thu jap
anese, He Declares, Russia Has New.
er Met-Russians Fight Indinerent-
II, Under Compulsion, He says-Why
So Many Officers Are Killed.
The following extract from a letter
Of a Russian staff officer at the front,
addressed to a journalist on a st. Pc
tersburg paper, appeared In a recent
number of the Stuttgart O~svobozhde-
ME, and requires no comment, says the
London Times:
II u official sources Of information
are occasionally compelled. for politica!
reasons, to observe silence, we can all
understand the reason. We can all un-
derstand why silence was maintained
as to the loss Of nearly 5000 men at Va
fangow (TelissuD, and also as to the
loss by one regiment of its colors, that
sacred object of military honor. We can
all understand why nothing was said
as to our hasty retreat before an enemy
only equal in numbers. But what we
cannot understand is the effort made
by journalists to keep the public in an
optimistic frame of mind, to distort
facts as much as possible and to write
OF thai of which they know nothing. If
you will read attentively the official
report you will see that on June IA the
enemy had only two incomplete divi-
sions, while WI had two and a half.
Moreover, with us a regiment consists
OF four battalions, ave in the east
Siberian units, which have three. We
had also two brigades Of artillery
that is, ninety-six g~uns-besides a Cos
sack horse battery with nine guns, the
Primorsky dragons and two regiments
of Cossacks.
Our force, as you see, was not a small
n To the assistance Of the Japa-
nese came a division-the staff report
says a brigade-of infantry with two
or three batteries, while three regi-
ments were sent to us by rail. But
you talk Of this as our heroic battle
with an antagonist three times our
strength! We have always known
how to die with some exceptions), but
this does not mean that an enemy so
rare from a military point of view as
the Japanese is not to be feared or
deserves the contempt which our GUS
tom is to shower upon this civilized
nation. l have a right to speak, for
l have spent a considerable time in
Japan, and 1 tell you frankly that l
often blushed for my country when I
compared many things there and here.
An enemy so dangerous, whether as
regards persistence, readiness for wal
or moral strength, Russia has never
met. Japan is a dangerous enemy for
this reason: Our soldier, unfortunately,
despite valor and resignation, is in
ferior to the Japanese soldier in dis
cipline, and, what is still more impor-
tant, fights with Indifference, under
compulsion. For the Japanese this is
a war for an idea. which penetrates all
without exception, from the minister
to the husbandman. Here you have the
AOA0OA4 " o0NA 10
at Chongchu-you are probably un-
aware of this-where the Cossacks
refused to charge, and as a result we
lost three officers. 1t is from this fact,
and not from the color of the uniforms,
which, eve since Kuropatkin's arrival,
have been undistinguishable from
those Of the men, that the true reason
Is to be found for the large percent
age of losses among the officers.
Our Transbaikal and Siberian Cos
sacks are our weak point. In conse-
quence Of their loose behavior and
want Of preparation for active service
they are Of little use to us.
Our officers, as a whole, especially
those trained in the Junker schools, are
undoubtedly inferior to the Japanese
as regards professional training. The
majority, it is needless to say, go un-
der fire not for the sake Of an idea (the
only idea that could have any force
with us would be self interest), but for
the sake of tradition or for distinction.
But they do not consciously die for
their country's sake, for it's good, be-
cause 1t is evident upon anything like
an attentive consideration of the mat
ter, that we are in the wrong. II you
only knew what we did during the
Chinese campaign! Ones heart bleeds.
It is not without reason that the Chi
nese stand openly on the side of the
Japanese. their ancient enemies.
We have the greater chances Of vic |
tory, but the guarantee Of these chances |
lies in the Baltic squadron alone, for |
cannot ecu victory now by mere
weight Of numbers ION land) and still
less in the future. Do you really as
sumo that the Japanese have only
thirteen divisions in their army, be-
sides reserves? Are they really SO
naive as not to have increased this
force during the last few years?
Given equal numbers on either side,