The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1904-04-03
MUKDEV'J CAPTURE
THE DARING .AlM OF
./APAW'J LDAR BOARD
Directors of Land Campaign Hope
to Strike Russian Line at
Its Dery Center.
BY OSCAR KING DAVIS.
War COrrespon dent of The Call.

General Hasegawa commands the
Guards, Lieutenant General Nishi the
Second Division. and Lieutenant Cen
eral Inoue the Twelfth Division. Ma
jor Generals Asada and Watanabe
command the First and Second bril-
gades of the Guards, respectively, and
Major Generals Akiyama and Uchi-
yama the Guard cavalry and artillery.
Major General Matsunaga commands
the Third Brigade, Second Division,
and Major General Okazaki the Fiji
teenth Brigade. Major Generals Otani
and Sasaki command, respectively,
the Twenty-fourth and Twelfth bril-
gades, Twelfth Division.
KOREA's SEIZURE EASY.
When the order was issued calling
the reserves of these three divisions
to the colors the plan Of the Japanese
contemplated some much more Sc
we're work than the event proved was
necessary. Before the war began
there was much talk that the first OBJ
erations would involve the seizure of
Masampho, on the southern coast of
Korea, with It's splendid harbor. as a
great base, from which the main ad-
vance would begin. That involved
marching practically the entire Jap
anese army the whole length of the
rugged Korean Peninsula before even
start was made at ejecting the Rus
slams from Manchuria. But at that
time the Japanese apparently had fig
ured on having to fight for Seoul and
Korea. The first naval operations.
however, resulted so successfully for
41,ot
hard necessity, and were enabled TO
seize Seoul and make sure of Korea
with hardly a struggle. Thereupon the
plans were changed. The main body
of the first army, or first corps, was
landed at Chemulpo. and as events con-
tinued to favor them several thousand
of these men were taken some seventy
miles farther by sea and landed at
Haiju.
The first objective now was Ping
yang, where the Japanese had a sharp
engagement with the Chinese in their
war nine years ago. To this point
troops were sent at once, and at this
writing the japanese occupy it in force
and have sent their advance consider
ably farther north, to ANU, where
they have had several little brushes
with Russian scouts. But still no Sc
rious engagement is in sight for the
near future.
The naval successes have produced
curiously mixed up change in the Japa-
nese plans. They have undoubtedly adj
vanced the campaign as whole by
considerable time, possibly a month or
more. AT the same time they have
delayed the departure of troops from
Japan. The time 1t would have taken
to march UP from Masampho, or wher-
ever they might have landed on the
south coast of Korea, has been saved,
and it has not been necessary to start
the troops away from home. AS a mat
ter of fact, II it were not for the un-
favorable weather conditions, which
make landing still farther up the coast
not only difficult, but productive OF
unnecessary hardship upon the men,
the second corps would probably have
been modified some time ago and al
ready landed north of Haiju, perhaps
even I'D at Chenampho or even in the
Korean Gulf. The first corps was mobil-
lied very quickly and transported with