The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-09-15
KUR0PATKIN'S OWN
STORY OF BATTLE.
Continued from First Parel

Continued from First Page.)
plans in order to retake the lost ground
the following day. 1t was not until the
evening of Sept. that the entire
mountain village of Sykwantun was
IN our hands. At first our attacks did
not succeed, but the fighting was con-
tlnued with unabeted vigor even aft
err darkness had set in. We repeatedly
gained possession of the heights, but
We're finally compelled to withdraw
temporarily
Many of our detachments became
mixed up, and in the disorder unity of
command was rendered difficult. Lead
ers OF individual attachments, however,
continued the attacks time after time.
and at last succeeded in occupying the
desired position, thereby attaining the
OBJECT of the operations of our right
flank. AS soon as the left flank in the
vicinity of the Yentai mines, on Sept.
:, (Orlon's detachmenD, occupied the
heights to the north of the mines, hold
ing strong position facing south, he
opened ire with two batteries and en-
gagged the army in an artillery duel.
"Orloff's right flank was then four
miles from the left flank and the re-
malnder of the army. In order to aid
our troops holding positions near Syk-
Wantun, Orloff sent part of his force
from the hills and attacked the enemy
in the direction of the village of SAX
humoon. This movement was carried
out in corn fields. Our men with a
frontal and a flank fire, and. losing
their bearings in the corn fields, began
to retire. The troops remaining in the
hills also retired westward.
BY that time Orloff's detachment
was within a mile and third of our
other forces. Orloff himself was
wounded, as was also Gen. Fomina,
who subsequently died.
Drove Cossacks Back.
After the evacuation of the posi-
ton, which had been intended to serve
as a base for our attack, the Japanese
extended northward and occupied the
whole range of hills and the Yentai
mines. Sansonoffs sotnia of Cossacks
dismounted and defended our positions
with the utmost courage, but were
gradually driven back.
THE enemy was now established in
an extremely strong position on the
hills, and it would have been to haz-
arduous for our left flank to attack
them, in view of the losses sustained
in the previous five days. We, there
fore, withdrew to the village of Talien-
ko, and I decided to retire to Mukden,
the retreat being accomplished on
Sept. Z. The evacuation of Lao Yang
began and was concluded the morning
of Sept. 4. All our equipment was re-
moved and there was no time to save
the commissariat reserves, which was
sufficient to last the whole army eight
days. These were all destroyed. The
pontoon bridges were dismantled and
carried off by the troops, while tenn
porary pontoons were burned and the
railway bridge wrecked. The army re-
tired in perfect order. The enemy at
tempted to pursue, but were repulsed
One Regiment Lost 500.
precautions were taken on Sept. 3
and 4 to prevent a turning movement
from the east. The japanese to the
southwark took no vigorous initiative.
but Gen. Kuroki assumed the often
sive to the eastward. Our detach-
ments holding positions at Talienko
sustained a furious night attack. which
was particularly desperate on Sept. 5.
We retained our position, but suffered
heavy losses. one regiment, which bore
the brunt of the fight, losing 500 in
killed or wounded.
by evening Sept. the danger of a
Simultaneous attack on our front and
left flank had disappeared. The re-
moval of our artillery, transport and
baggage trains was effected in the
face of immense difficulties, but was
successfully concluded. Our retire.
ment on Mukden on Sept. Z was COW
cred by a strong rear guard of cav
airy.
I'VE abandoned nothing from Aug.
80 up to the time of our arrival at
Mukden. Our engineers worked with
the greatest devotion. Throughout all
the fighting they rendered invaluable
service in making and repairing roads
and assisting in the railway traffic"