The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1904-09-07
4 Review Of The Situation At Lao
Yang.
Where the largest Armies in Eaod-
ern History Are Locked in &
Desperate Struggle.
The Carnage Has Been AWfuI and the
Fight Continues Day after Day.


right bank Of the Taitse River reach
ed only d small section OF the people
Of ST. Petersburg at a late hour and
caused intense exitement and disap-
pointment. The majority OF the inhab-
ita1ts retired to rest believing that
Russian arms had again been success
ful and that the japanese attacks had
been repu!sed. Ugly suspicious, how
ever, had been rife during the day
owing to the absence Of press tele-
grams from Lao Yang, leading to the
belief that the communications had
been cut by Gen. Kuroki.
The following statement was obtain
led from the war Office at 10 O'Clock
Thursday night:
''Gen Kuroki's army crossed in
force to the right bank OF the Taitse
River and it therefore became neces-
sary for the Russians to be ir posi-
tion to repel blow il this direction.
In view of this development in the
operation Gen. Kuropatkin decided to
abandon his position on the left bank
and to concentrate his whole army or
the other side Of the river. This po-
sition is the strongest both il charac-
ter and in site. The great issue will
be finally decided there.
by Withdrawing to this position
the Russian army avoids the danger Of
being divided by the river and enjoys
the advantage of compactness.
"Gen. Kuropatkin's move, there
fore, is not to be considered as re-
treat but rather as the carrying out Of
we'll defined idea''
The withdrawal Of the Russians to
the right bank involved the abandon
ment Of Liao Yang, which is situated
Oh the left bank. The japanese took
advantage of this to occupy the city,
but the sternest part of the fighting is
still before them unless Gen. Kuro-
patki;l decides at the last hour to
again fall back to the northward. 1t
is more likely. however, that he will
decide to fight to finish. The cards
are all III his favor, it is believed row
that he has the japanese divided by
the river, thus eGectually turning the
tables upon his foe.
The, determined pursuit by the Jap
anese- of the Russian outposts when
Gen. Kuropatkin gave the first order
to withdraw was probably due to their
anxiety to keep the Russians south of
Lao Yang until Gen. Kuroki should
be able to strike from the northeast
Gen Kuropatkin, however, saw the
trap and cleverly avoided it.
The japanese repeated the attempt to
| throw pontoons across the Taitse near
Liao Yang during the night Of August
81, again under cover of lombard
ment, and this attempt is believed tc
have been successful. Severe fighting
may, therefore, be expected immedi-
| ately northeast-o of the city.
The action of the japanese COM
mander in throwing a force across the
river IL the face Of a strong enemy is
considered to be extremely rash, and
the position of this force, isolated
from the main japanese army by a
deep river may easily become desper-
| ate.
The fighting at Liao Yang has
beaten all recoros for the desperate
valo- Of the assailants and the invin-
cible stubbornness Of the defenders.
The whole history Of warfare tells Of
no such bcmbardments, no such car
mage and 10 such persistence. Day
after day the fight has been resumed
at daybreak and kept up with hardly
moments internission until after
| nightfall.
War SCARED veterans scarce believe
! the stories which come from the seat
of war and declare that it is beyond
human endurance for az army to
fight without respite for whole week,
each Gay Of which has exceeded its
predecessor in intensity of struggle and
carnival of slaughter. Day after day
the thousands of dead bestrewing the
battlefield have to be removed. The
japanese have invented Few methods
TO incinerate the heaps of dead, COM
rades removing the ashes for the hon
ors OF burial in Japan. The wounded
present L most serious problem rs they
tax the transport capacity of both
sides to rhe uttermost The most
difficult problem, however, is the
bringing up OF supplies of food and
ammunition to every point Of the
fighting line which extends from te:.
to twenty miles.
Never has such bombardmeIt been
known. An eyewitness of the battle
OF Nafangow told a correspondent that
many officers suffered nervous pros
tration owing to the terrible roar of
the artillery, and one military attache
had to be invalided home for the same
reason. Yet the artillery fire at Va
fangow was far inferior in Intensity
TO that at Lao Yang.
Up to the hour of filling this dis
patch the war Office has not given out
the details of the fighting of Septem-
ber !, but it is believed that this
fighting exceeded IL ferceness that Of
any previous day.
The absence Of press telegrams from
Lao Yang on September | aroused
suspicious that changes of import
ance were proceeding, which the mill
tary ceMsorS did not wish to he made
known.
a telegram from Mukden filed at
9.27 on the evening of September
states that the train service between
Mukden and Liao Yang has been in
terrupted, but the dispatch does not
mention whether telegraphic commu