Adams County news. [volume] (Ritzville, Wash.) 1898-1906, 1904-09-07
RITzvILLE, WASHINGTON SEPTEMBER
BATTLE OF LIAOYANG.
The Longest and the BIoodiest of His
tory,

The Longest and the BIoodiest Of His.
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 8, 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
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 1t
were wounded, and when a 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 such
a continuous battle. The Russians
were better fed. being nearer their
own base, but the terrible strain OF
the continuous fighting caused some
of them to fall asleep in the midst Of
cannonading and even on the firing
line.
The defeat of the Russians at Lao
yang anu IuclI ICllCdt toWohu shS
north by no means signifies that an
evacuation of Manchuria is contem.
plated. The Russian frontier Is yet
a long way off. Mukden, which is re.
ally in southern Manchuria, is SO miles
away, and IL the Russians were beaten
there they could withdraw to Hardin,
which is between $50 and 400 miles
north of Mukden. Even then the Rus.
slams would not be half way to the
frontier, for a trip Of about 700 miles
on the Siberian railroad would be re-
quired to put the army on Russian
territory.
Manchuria is larger than France. or
Germany and is twice as large as Italy
1t is larger than all the New England
states. with New York, Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, Ohio and Indiana. 1t Is
larger than Washington, Oregon and
Idaho. 1t is traversed by a river
1000 miles long. and is one Of the
richest agricultural countries in the
world. And in addition to being a
country Of magnificent possibilities on
farming lines. it has mines Of gold
copper, lead, iron and coal that are
believed to be equal to those Of the
United States.