The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-07-08
JAPAN's ART OF WAR.
How It Was Developed Fol
the Present Conflict.
M1NUTEsT DETAILS WORKED OUT

I@~SO &AS@ ~.@A4A40 WVA4xAA0 VOA
FOrehandedncss, Planning Power
and Mastery Execution Revealed
In the Work Of Her Army and Navy.
Probable engagements often Re-
hearsed-Her Readiness For war.
Wiring from co." reads a typical
printed dispatch. admiral Togo re-
ports" etc. Where, everybody is curl
u to know, is "OOY Russia is puz-
zled about it. So short is the time be-
tween appearances Of ships off Port
Arthur that it is plain some base not
on japanese territory has been estab-
lished from the first. Moji is the obvi-
GUS base, says the New York Posts
special correspondent. AS you sail in
to the strait you see miles of huge con-
ical piles Of coal, uncovered. Long be-
fore the break in 1.-THE negotiations
stores had been accommodating there.
and, although there are coal mines a
little way inland, a quarter Of q mil
lion tons of Welsh coal were imported
for operations that would require fast
steaming. Moji, however, is not where
the squadrons in the Yellow sea are
coaling and provisioning. If one reads
the dispatches of the admirals with at
tention he will observe that the .u.n-
mentioned place." the ..r~endezvou.s,''
the "OO," is for torpedo boats only
seventeen hours steaming distance
from the mouth of the harbor which
has been so long subject to attack.
One could give a good guess as to
where 100" is Il saw the cable ship
laying wires), but it does not seem fair
to look over a shoulder and give away
the mans hand. All that can be said
Is that 100" is off Korea and is an is
land with an English name. Its selec-
ton n the secrecy of it's maintenance
are part of the strategy of the naval
campaign. The more one learns of that
strategy the higher one regards the
forehandedness, the planning W
and mastery Of execution possessed by
this suddenly awakened people.
When Japan was despoiled of her
fruits OF conquest in the China war
by three European nations she saw,
hrst, that II needed a European ally
to offset color prejudice and, second,
that h needed to measure her capaci-
ties against the most Immediately ag-
gressive of the white nations. One
morning the world was astonished to
hear of the treaty with England.
Japan went forward then with re-
newed energy and decision. While we
in America, up to the very charge Of
the torpedo boats at Port Arthur, were
more than hopeful that there would be
no war, Japan was ready and eager.
For at least three years she had been
training, building, maneuvering, study
ing, testing herself for conflict, and
Russia was more ignorant of it than
the rest of the world.
Port Arthur, Hardin, Vladivostok,
these made the strategic. triangle. All
attention, all ingenuity, was brought
to bear on how to assail Port Arthur, |
how to deal with the fleets there and
at V~ladivostok. how to assist the army
to cross the Yalu. The minutest de-
tails were worked out and then prac-
ticed. Ships were grouped as they
would be for action, and their COM
manders learned the peculiarities of
vessels they would operate with. The
probable fights We're fought over and
Every a knew by heart the
part he would have to take. The dis
was strict. Men We're praised
or blamed according as they played
the mimic game. If. as once happened,
squadron did not successfully inter-
cept a squadron representing the
enemy at a ~prearrangad spot, the com
handing officer was called to explain
his failure. Always after a series of
there would be a general
consultation and discussions among
the commanders to learn wherein the
might be improved.
Officers gave themselves wholly to
their duties. No books of fiction, no
Illustrated papers, were permitted in
their libraries, only technical treatises
and professional works. ION the Rus
sian ships at Port Arthur there were
pingpong tables.) The proficiency be-
came great. One day, for instance. the
navy office in Tokyo, by wireless teleg-
- W. q oA4P Oul VI III AAl>
Dor, guided her thirty miles out to sea
md brought her back to a different /,
larbor. This was done by giving COM
mands for steering. The commands
we're received, blindly obeyed and the
ship perfectly navigated, as though the
general staff We're in person on her
bridge instead of nearly 200 miles in
and, around a table in the second
story Of a brick building.
Probably NJ cruisers of the same, d.
nensions have been built as fast as
Japan built some recent ones. Ameri-
.ans have taken nearly four years al
'eady to build the cruiser Denver. The
Japanese are able to turn N one of
he same class in the government yards
two years and a month. Moreover,
h0ry W. ~ ro% - - - -