Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-17
Russians Likely to 0onceu-
trate Forces at Kaiping.
sTAOKELBERGS PERIL
HIS ARMY I'm DANGER OF BEING
CUT OFF.
Movement Against Gen. oku's Army
Came Too Late Radical
Change in Plans.

The Stars war expert To-Day, appears ~
have reached natural resultant Is,
retreat with more or less precipitation ana
a disaster of more or less consequence. 1t
was pointed out recently that the Japanese
advance on Port Arthur contained some
elements of weakness which the Russians
might take advantage of. Kuroki with his
great army, was stopped In the mountain
passes of the Shen-Alin. Nodzu was
wrestling with problems of logistics and
had hardly begun to march on Siu-Yen,
which was a short thirty miles from the
coast. Oku deliberately turned his back on
Manchuria and made his advance on the
Regents Sword. 1t was then that rapid
advance from Kaiping by Gen. stackelberg
pi omised success His only danger was
from the side of the sea where Japanese
force might have been landed in his rear,
but the chances were that force sum-
GENTLY large to incommode him could not
be landed. The line Of railroad was avail
able to accompany his advance. Every
thing pointed to a successful blow at Gen.
Oku and a disarrangement Of his base at
PitZewo.
Movement Made Too Late.
but the movement was made too late.
The blow fell upon Port Arthur. Nan-shan
Hill was captured and so was Dalny. Gen.
Oku was thus at liberty to occupy the Rus
sian line of defense at the hilt Of the Re-
gents Sword and transfer his base to
Dalny, IL necessary. Gen. Oku now. hav-
ing driven the Port Arthur garrison to
cover, turns his back on the fortress and
moves against Stackelberg. There Is. how
ever. a chance for Port Arthur to strike at
Okus retaining force, which might give a
temporary advantage.
THE chances are that Stackelberg has
the greater part of his army corps with
him On the Ot her hand the JananpyQ COM
mander develops an unexpected strength.
Some reports even give him 10000 men.
which may be erroneous but he has suffi-
Client force to make the Russian position a
dangerous one.
The Reports Analysed.
1.-The reports Of losses, which are the only
proper basis upon which we can Judge the
character Of the fighting, are not heavy.
The japanese commander reports a loss of
a thousand men, which does not indicate
very serious action for a force Of the size
engaged. The Japanese commanders re-
port Of the Russian loss does not indicate a
serious action or a great defeat, the total
OF killed, wounded and prisoners being less
than his own loss. Here again we observe
of the enemy and made to get away as on
the Yalu river. The reports mention only
two batteries. which was a small amount
OF artillery for the size of force engaged.
In some danger, for even If able to escape
from more serious defeat from the army of
General Oku 1t is in danger of being head
ed of at kaiping by the forces of Hodzu
contingency we may expect that General
-Kuropatkin is sending forward large rein.
forcements. for which he has better ROAD
and railroad as we'll
Change in Russian Policy.
THE change in policy on the Russian side
seems to be sudden and remarkable. The
first plan of Gen. Kuropatkin was concen-
tration and retreat He avoided attractive
chances to accomplish small successes in
many Places and called in his outlying de-
tachments. He made Gen. Sassalitch feel
heavily his displeasure at the attempt of
the latter to make a fight. Suddenly, how
ever, this policy was changed. Niuchwang,
which had been evacuated. was reoccupied
and the Russian forces were widely dis
persed.
1t Is not to be supposed that this was
result of any change of mind on the part
of the general. 1t ather looks to interfer-
eEce from higher authority, such as was
experienced in the Virginia campaign Of
the Army of the Potomac. The recent ex-
perience goes to justify the original plans.
"One result, however, of the change of
plan is to transfer the storm center to
Kaiping (kaichow). whereas originally
there were reports of Russian abandon
ment of all advanced positions, and even
Hai-Cheu was said to be but temporarily
occupied. The center of activity for time
at least may be Kaiping, some forty miles
south.
''Kaiplng appears to be the most ad
vanced position that can be held with adj
vantage by the Russians, and If the retreat
of Stakelberg can be safely managed SO
far, the Russians will be well situated to
contest the advance of their enemy. Kuro-
ma kin the nnDil of SlObPleff who
the first European who saw the great les
sons of our civil war. He may get useful
lessons now by continuing the studies of
his former chief in Lees campaign from the
Rapidan to the James and Johnston's cam
paign in Georgia. So far the Russians
have not shown facility in taking advan-
tage of field intrenchments, which should
neutralize the well-planned turning move
mentS of the Japanese"