The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1904-09-15
TIE BATTLE OF LfAo-YANo.

sion Of Mukden. At the present moment
both armies are so worn out by the great
strain of the recent movements that .
period of rest is imperative, especially to
the japanese. who have had to make exer-
| tons, straining every man in the army
to the last limit Of endurance. The great
| events of the fortnight have been:
l. Gen. Kuropatkin occupied q very
strong position around Lao Yang, which
he had fortified with much skill and an
enormous amount of labor. 1t was
naturally very strong position and the
work upon it with the heavy guns which
garnished it profusely, gave every prom
Use that he could hold it against any num-
Der of men that the Japanese could bring.
Probably any other European army than
the Russian would have held to it. How
many men he had in this position is the
merest guess.
The correspondents and the official re-
ports have it in the neighborhood of 20O,-
600 men, but this is incredible. Our guess
would make it Less than 100000. The
japanese probably had more men than the
Russians, but not so many more. As near
as can be found they had about % per
cent. more.
2. The japanese, bringing up three
armies from different directions, success
fully united them, Kuropatkin taking no
advantage of his great opportunity to
strike them in detail, but allowing them
to push his outlying posts back ON the
roads on which they wanted to advance and
unite. They spread all along his front,
enveloped his right flank on the west and
then coming up around his left front until
they struck the railroad in his rear. be-
tween him and Mukden This was a most
extraordinary thing to do in the face of
man processing to understand the art
of war and having under his command any
thing like half the number of men Kuro-
patkin was reported to have.
3. These movements involved series of
what has been repeatedly termed as bloody
battles, but which appear to have been
nothing more than what we would term
in our war artillery duels and skirmishing
at long range. All the talk about fierce
bayonet charges, hand-to-hand conflicts,
and frightful moving down of men by
shrapnel and canister we can dismiss as
creations Of the heated brains Of CORE
spondents. The reports of the losses
demonstrate this conclusively. While
there is much talk OF the Russians losing
10000 to 10000 men and the japanese
loss reaching D.Oob. the details do not
bear out any such loss. In collision such
as has been described there would have
been inevitably aalarge number Of pris-
oners taken. While both sides would
naturally make IT'D least of their own
killed and wounded and greatly exaggerate
the loss they inflicted upon their oppon-
ents. yet they would both as naturally
make the most Of the prisoners they have
| taken. So far In all the abandonment of
| Russian Positions in all the tumult of
| such an awful retreat as that the Russians
had to make over but three muddy, rough.
| imperfectly roads, crowded
| with all their trains, the japanese have
| not reported taking so much az a single
Russian regiment. While the Japanese
have accomplished wonders and are en-
| titled to the highest credit for all that they
| have done, they have failed in their san
guine hopes of making a Sedan of it, as
1t looked at one time that they would do
Had they done SO it would have ended the
war and utterly ruined the Russian mill
tary prestige. On the other hand, Kuro-
patkin is entitled to the credit, Of partial
~ offseting the terrible plumbers of the
earlier part of his campaign and of hay
i s.~c. fall
his army from imminent destruction. How
much Of it he has saved is another ques-
ton. He claims to have brought of most
of his guns, but this seems impossible
This could not possibly have been the case
if the combatants had at any time been
close together, and engaged at what could
be termed short range.
| 4. The crippled condition of Kuropatkin,
in men, guns, and ammunition has led
him to continue his retreat to Hardin,
where he must remain for some weeks or
possibly for months until he can refit and
reorganize. There he will have better rail-
road facilities to bring him men, guns,
arms and stores.
5. The japanese are also exhausted.
They have suffered enormously in the alb
solute wearing out and breaking down of
their men, as we'll as the loss in battle
so that they are in no condition for an
advance of any magnitude. They have
probably fired away all their ammunition
and broken their batteries down.
6. 1t looks now, as was foreshadowed
by The National Tribune at the begin
ming of the war, that the Russians will
make their main position at Hardin with
the japanese assuming theirs at Mukden.
About midway between these places is q
high ridge dividing the waters of the
Sungari River, which flows into the Pa
ciic, from those of the lao. which flows
into the Liao-Yang Gulf This ridge will
probably be division line between the
japanese and Russian armies, for some
time. The Japanese will now bring about
the fall of Port Arthur at the earliest mo-
ment, and the first great epoch of the
war will end. ad+,
| AMID all this verbal cyclone about in