The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1904-05-05
AN ARTILLERY DUEL.

Movements of a Week Led Up to tns
Japanese Crossing and Victory in
M~anchuria.
| london, May general Kuroki's
| official dispatches specially te~legraphed
In full from Toxic, give q clear picture
of the sequence OF events, though the
decisive result was not cache until
! sunday morning about 8 a. M, the
-; lighting appearing to have been car
| ried on with only a short inter1nission
ever since Tuesday. On the latter day
the guards division made a success
full attack on one OF the Islands in the
| YaIu in order to enable the bridge to
1t to be constructed from the main
land on the left or Japanese bank, SO as
to shorten the passage to the further
bank. Part Of the second division was
also placed on this island to be ready
to reinforce the guards as soon as the
further bank had been taken. =
A long preliminary artillery duel ac-s
cording to a British generals reading Of
the dispatches, now seems to have tax.
en- place, during which h Russians,
firing at great ranges did considerable
mischief, both to the works which We're
| being carried or on the island. and on
the main, The Twelfth division seems
to have been landed at he mouth of
| the Yalu Friday. the 18th, by defeating
q force Of Russians which opposed
them. AT 8 a. m. on Saturday, the
bridge having been completed. the
guards and the Second division passing
from the island, and the Twelfth d.
vision Joining them with two regiments
| Of artillery known al the second field
artillery regiment and heavy guns regi-
ment-a formidable mass OF guns, with
nearly 10000 infantry-reached their
position on the further bank.
Saturdays Advance.
The advance on Saturday began at
10: 40 a m. and by 11:15 the Russians
guns had been silenced in the main por-
| ton though @ battery Of eight guns
which continued to fire on the bridge
re-occupied the attention Of the artfl-
lery attached to the guards division for
ten minutes more, and a further at
tempt was made by a mass Of Russian
| artillery to reopen their fire at 1890.
1t took fifty minutes to pat an end to
these operations, which were, however,
obviously only preliminary. for 1t is re-
corded that the Japanese losses up to
Saturday evening did not exceed two
men killed and five officers n twenty
two soldiers wounded, SO that 1t must
have been q fire fight in which the
Japanese We're slowly working their
way to the front for q decisive stroke,
taking careful cover and dispersed over
a wide mountain range.
RuSSiarS IN Close Quarters
The Russians appear TO have been
densely massed, for we are told that
80, 900 Of them were concentrated on
four miles OF ground. On Sunday
morning, at dawn, the Russian artil-
lery fire "a completely subdued, every
point of vantage was occupied by we'll
trained skirmishing forces of the Japa-
nese, SO that no Russian could show his
head above the works without being
| cbnt apS .nuary JSl1gsj0n officer who
showed himself in order to encourage.
his men being picked off. Meantime the
fire was being thus kept under.
The Japanese army in increasing
number was closing on the doomed i'm
pregnable d~efenses." In particular they
We're creeping around to the north so
as to be able to seize the commanding
ground for their artillery from whence
to en11lade the defenses n throw their
terrible shells into the mass of crowded
Russians.
The final report from General Kuroki
gives the rapid end on Sunday. At day
break on Sunday morning the artillery
opened on Chiu Tien Cheng, and about 8
a. m. the guns were able to get within
decisive range Of the place from the high
ground on the north. With no gune of
the enemy any longer able to reply to
them this smashing bombardment was de-
signed to prepare the "a for an infantry
assault BY shattertng the nerves and
breaking down the defenses Of the help
less recipients Of this mass Of lead.
Infantry Finishes Up.
By Sis, when the general artillery bonn
bardmept had lasted for about five hours.
and for twenty-five minutes the guns had
been pouring in shells from close range,
to which there was and could be no reply,
the Japanese infantry closed and severe
fighting took place for just three-quarters
of an hour.