The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1904-09-09
BATTLE OF LiAoYANG.
The Longest and the Boodiest of His
tory.

tory.
The battle of Liaoyang, which began
with the Japanese advance on August
"a, the day of the christening of the
czarevitch, and concluded Saturday,
September 3, with the retreat of Gen
eral Kuropatkin, is believed to have
been the longest and the bloodiest of
history.
Numerous incidents in the fighting
upset the theory evolved by expert
ences in the Boer war that a modern
battle must necessarily be fought at
long range. Both sides repeatedly
came to hand to hand encounters in
bayonet charges, and the men on both
sides were often so near each other
that they could distinguish features
and hear words of comment. In one
instance they were separated only by
the width of the railroad, and actually
threw stones at each other. The mad
heroism of the Japanese and the stub
born tenacity of the Russians have
not been paralleled anywhere save in,
some desperate encounters of the Am
erican civil war.
Correspondents state that several Of
the bayonet attacks made by the Jap
anese throughout the battle were fore
ed by the depletion of ammunition, of
which modern arms entail such ex-
travagant expenditure. The Japanese
came on with empty guns and with
hopes of finishing the attack with cold
steel, but it was proved at their own
cost that such attacks could not be
driven in the face of breech loading
guns.
The Russian artillerymen suffered
terribly in the prolonged fighting south
of the Taitze river. One battery lost 40
men killed, and the remainder of it
were wounded, and when fresh bat
terry was brought up into position the
survivors protested with tears at their
being removed, begging to be allowed
to die beside their own guns.
The work of the Red Cross, which
throughout the war has been devoted
on both sides, has proved almost as
dangerous to the nurses and doctors
as has the work of the combatants.
Many bearers and their assistants
have been killed or wounded in at
tending to injured under fire. A sister
of mercy was killed and surgeon
wounded in the final assaults on Lao
yang.
The telegraph operators and CORE
spondents have suffered severely. Two
correspondents Of the Associated press
have been shot and one has been dec
grated for bravery.
1t is wonderful that the commissary
arrangements made it possible to con
tinue to supply the men during sucf
continuous battle. The Russians
were better fed, being nearer theil
own base. but the terrible strain o
the continuous fighting caused som'
of them to fall asleep in the midst o
cannonading and even on the firinl
line.
The defeat of the Russians at Lao
yang and their retreat toward tn
north by no means signifies that al
evacuation of Manchuria is cOnten
plated The Russian frontier is we
long way off. Mukden, which is re
\ ally in southern Manchuria, is so mile
away, ana II the huSSlduS WSIS DSdIO
+ there they could withdraw to Harbir
which is between $50 and 400 mile
o north of Mukden. Even then the Rus
r slams would not be half way to tn
! frontier, for a trip of about 700 mile
>. on the Siberian railroad would be re
quired to put the army on Russia
I territory.
!. Manchuria is larger than France, c
q Germany and is twice as large as ltal.
/ 1t is larger than all the New Englan
4 states. with New York, Pennsylvania
New Jersey, Ohio and Indiana. 1t
~ larger than Washington, Oregon an
4 Idaho 1t is traversed by a rive
! 1000 miles long, and is one of I'll
richest agricultural countries in II
Z. world. And in addition to being
country of magnificent possibilities
III farming lines, it has mines of gol
copper, lead, iron and coal that al
II believed to be equal to those of tt
n United States.