Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1904-09-13
ARMY Is In RETREAT.
BULK or THE RUSSIAN FORCES
REACHES MukOEN
kuropatkin's Wild Flight Continues
Toward Harbin-Enemy Pours an I'm
ceasiDg Fire on Cars Men as They
Struggle Over the Bad Roads.

The st. Petersburg authorities We'd
ncsday expressed themselves as conf
dent that the critical stage of the Rus
sian retreat was past and that kuro-
l.atllin was no longer in danger of los
ing any part of niS forces TO the pur-
suing Japanese. IL was also given
cut in St Petersburg that the bulk OF
Kuropatkin's army was then near
Mukden. where it was taking up pre-
pared positions. but a dispatch TO the
Associated Press from Mukden, fled
the same day. says that the main Rus
sian army was then pushing northward
and evaeuatlng Mukden. While de-
tails of the situation are lacking, dis
patches indicate that LIE japanese are
still harassing the Russian rear. To-
kio has preserved an absolute silence
regarding the recent operations.
London advices say that KuroAatkin
is in utter rout. The retreat from Lao
yang, at first orderly, developed into
wild flight to Mukden. Kuropatkin did
not stop at Mukden. but continued his
| flight toward Hardin. His rear guard
was in continuous lighting since the
retreat from Liaoyang began, men fall
ing by thousands under the terrific fire
of the relentless and tireless Japanese,
who chung to the retreating army like
leeches. The Russians. in dire panic,
fled for their lives, abandoning their
guns to tighten their burdens. and leav-
ing their dead where they fell. Sc
frantic was the despairing rush toward
Mukden that the Russians were unable
to care for their wounded, leaving men.
in throes Of anguish, lying In the road
ways, to fall into the hands of the Jap
anese.
Many soldiers. losing their self-con-
troll under the terrible strain, attempt
ed to seek safety by fight. The Rus
sian officers, dashing among the men,
used their revolvers freely, shooting
down many of them in an attempt to
keep the troops in some semDlance of
order
Dispatches via London Thursday
reported that the Russian army, again
defeated in another terrific battle
that ragged furiously for hours FIVE
miles south of Mukden, rushed through
that city in mad fight toward Har-
bin, 265 miles northeast.
General I<uropatkin, leading the
battered rear guard of the army, did
not delay in the ancient city. Leav
ing orders that the men should hurry
on as rapidly as possible and still
keep up a semblance of resistance to
the pursuing Japanese, he hurried
through the city TO the north to gath
err his scattered forces. The line of
the Russian retreat has grown longer
and more struggling each day, cover
ing twenty-five or thirty miles, with
the Japanese sharpshooters on each
side, shipping at them continually, and
killing hundreds on their fight. " is
claimed that more than 21,000 Rus
slams have been lost since the flight
from Liaoyang.
five miles south Of Mukden the flee
ing Russians turned and again at
tempted TO make a final desperate
stand against their relentless foes.
For hours the battle ragged. The fire
of the Japanese light artillery, which
had not been left behind in the pur-
suit. was terrific and moved down the
Russians by hundreds. Corpses
strewed She battlefield. For the length
of time the lighting continued it was
the most sanguinary battle of the war.
Il Of
feet of their machine gun fire on the
Russians. charged with fixed bayonets,
disdaining to use their rifles. Charge
after charge they made With reckless
bravery. The battle became furi-
GUS hand-to-hand conflict and degen-
Grated into a butchery as the Jap
anese pushed the Russians back. Then
| the line of the Cars troops broke, and
they turned again In fight.