The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-06-05
SPECIAL BY CABLE TO THE ST. LOUIS RE-
PUBLIC AND THE NEW YORK HERALD.
BY OSCAR KING DAVIS

headquarters by Major General Full,
the Chief Of STAFF, for an official ~explana-
ton of the<tactics' employed by the jap
anese in their fight for the Yalu River.
The lecture lasted nearly three hours and
was very interesting. A was delivered in
building occupied as headquarters. AT It's
close the correspondents were invited to
ask any questions they chose concerning
l..3 movements Of April 2S-Aay I. and
rSVcral questions so asked were answered.
~ Few phases of the action. and especial
ly OF that of May l, were rather lightly
passed over, but in the main the lecture
was q free description of the whole OPP
erations of the crossing of the Yalu. The
Colonel, who is chief of the Intelligence
section OF the stan, began the lecture
with a description of the Russian posi-
ton. on the right bank of the river. The
right, he said. rested at Antung. where
there was one regiment that would be
something less than 100 men. THESE men
held u line eight kiloineters long, from
Antung 10 LAao-Nou. southwest OF Gnu
siarg-cheng.
From Chu-Liaug-Cheng the line followed
the main stream of the river 10 the east
ward. This was held by q regiment and
Q half. he said, which would be about g.
900 men. This part of the line may be
called the center. although It was not
exactly that. Its left end was in the low
hills, just where the Al River comes in
from the north, almost opposite Tiger
Hill.
THE AL RIVER.
There are two streams of the All here,
separated by a wide sandy strip, which
runs down into Ching-Ping. The smaller
stream flows along the eastern side of this
strip and runs into the Yalu a little be-
low Tiger Hili. The main stream follows
the base or the hills. makes a sharp turn
TO the westward, opposite Tiger Hill. and
empties into the falu below Chu-Liang-
Cheng.
held by this regiment and a half was at
q place called Makan, near the bend of
the main stream of the Al. The distance
was three ktlometers, which would give a
well-manned trench approximately a thou
sand men to a thousand yards. From
Alakan up the right bank of the All the
place called Ishko or Itsuko-being held
by one regiment The extreme left was at
S~hrcklona, four kilometers from Itsuko.
1t was held by two companies
From Shucklona a mountain trail leads
almost due westward to the Pekin road,
which it joins near a steep hill called
Hamatan. twelve kilometers from Shuck-
Iona AT this place the main road from
Antlng also adjoins the Pekin road, the
junction being about four kilometers
d country is ali very rough. full of steep
hills and cut by sharp gullies and deep
valleys. Part of the hills are covered
va GNAuD bGIAs bhA " u aiS
bare.
RUSSIAN FORCES.
A little northeast of Hamatan the Rus
slams stationed their entire reserve, which
consisted of two regiments. The artillery
strength of the Russians was forty-eight
gunaThe Russians organized their artil-
lery. into batteries OF eight guns. which
would give them six batteries, about the
Yalu- Their operations. however, showed
hat they had divided their batteries and
had disregarded the organization in some,
II not all, cases.
The General said the Russians had had
one battery Of eight guns at Antung,
posted on a hill north of the town. Two
batteries Of sixteen guns were at Chu-
Liang-Cheng, one was at Makan of eight
guns; one at Chuchon, eight guns, and one
also eight Maxims at Chu-L!ang-Ch eng.
although they were not used until the
Russians began to retreat. The General
thought the enemy might have had one or
two small Hotchkiss guns. Several of the
correspondents saw one of these guns on
the morning of April 26, when they took 1t
Vita Ga i's' nm anu nfe' ~
There were only one or two companies
of engineers in the Russian forces, and
they were employed not only on defen-
sives about the position. but in revising
the road back of Chu-Liang-Cheng. Gen
eral Zassalitch was the Commander in
manded the. Third Division and Lieuten-
ant General Trusoff the Sixth Division,
both of the Second Army Corps. There
was a cavalry force on each wing, extend
ing for several miles northeast and south
west OF the main position about Cnu-
Li~ang-Cheng. Major General Mistcnenko
consisted of at least three regiments OF six
companies each. Mistchenko was either at
Tatunskan,, opposite Yongampo near the
mouth of the Yalu, or at Tokushan. far-
Their down the Liao-Tung Peninsula.
AS TO EARTHWGRKS.
D~etachments from all these organiza-
tions had been sent TO different places, so
that no regiment was present in its entire
strength. The e~arthworks in the first line
!. were built by Chinese and infantrymen.
making in'the rear of the position. until
they had full leisure to make their earth
works said the General, for which we
think they are very good
This was one Of the most interesting
statements o. the lecture, for it was evil
: dent to a novice that the Russian earth
works were of the clumsiest and most
careless construction, and in all the prep
arations of that Tort made by the Jepan-
= csc JOE th hSs,t own Use ,nere MAS WA, no MOI ne;
built in their full leisure" Perhaps the
General did not think It would be polite to
Thu Russian dofenses. continued the
General, extended eastward from Antung
TO Chu-Liang-Cheng. a. distance of six
teer kilometers. From there they followed
up the Al River another twelve kilo;
!. there were several lines of trenches. some
of which were built with timbers. There
were also walls of small stones piled up
ments were well made. He hkened the
works generally to those made by Osmar
Pacha at PIetna. The japanese gun en-
peulments were most carefully mounted,
and their ammunition pits were in reality
bombproof, in all of which the rnen could
run back and forth without showing a
hair of their heads.
= There is no comparison between the de-
fens!ve works of the two forces. as shown
in their positions about the Yalu-
A MAJORS LECTURE
When the chief of the intelligence Sec
tion finished his description of the Rus
Elan position and works. a Major. who is
ar expert on t~actics,- took up the lecture,
He was educated. in Germany and was In
} South Africa during the Boer war. where
he saw the earthworks constructed by the
Beers, and had plenty of opportunity TO
study their tactics. He expressed himself
Z as having no admiration for the Boer tao
tics in general, but for their ability in
ent opinion.
made constant use of the map, explaining
the japanese The map EN-
ployed was one of the regular kind issued
by the japanese War Office. wonderfully
full of details about the course 1t covers.
II was carefully constructed. giving the
height of the hills in different lines, and
howin their character. also. All the rail-
roads are shown as well as the roads, and
every little cluster of huts has its own
name. 1t covered the country from about
1xe miles south Of Win TO about the same
distance north of Ch~u-Liang-Cheng. and
from Antung on the east to a point eight
or ten miles up the Yalu.
The Major began by saying that when
known TO the Japanese that the Russian