The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-09-15

l4Olls III COl4SSQuSIlCG ICSOAfSu bO hAti- draw the advance troops to the main position and concentrate a large force and attempt to hurI Kuroki back upon the Taitse river. Only at certain points was this carried out successfully.
 'At nightfall undisturbed by the Jap anese we commenced the evacuation of our advanced positions, which already had rendered great service to weaken ing the enemy by enormous losses. Thanks to the sufficient number of bridges and the manner in which the roads leading to them had been laid out, all the troops destined to take the offensive were safely on the right bank of the river on the morning of Saptem- Der 1. The enemy did not occupy our abandoned advance positions until the evening of September 1, when they opened an artillery fire upon Liao Yang.
 q adopted the following plan Of oper- ations: Having advanced to the right
 bank of the river the army had taken up a position between the village of
 Skywantun as pivot, 1t was intended that the army effect a movement to flank the Japanese positions, which ex
 tended from the Taitse river near the village of Kwantun toward the Yentai collieries. Offensive operations began
 when all the troops had taken up their allotted positions.
 "The night of September l. the com Inander of the corps on the right flank sent a dispatch stating that the Jap anese had taken the offensive and oc- cupied the district northwestward of our Sykwantun position, which was of great importance to us, the Russian regiment holding the district was forced to retire, and I was obliged to change my plans Tn order to take the lost ground the following day. It was not until the evening of September ? that the entire mountain village of Sykwan- tun was in our hands, 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 Sep tenber 22 (Orloff's detachment) occu- pied the heights to the north of the mines, holding strong position facing south, he opened fire with two batteries and engaged the enemy in an artillery duel. Orloff's right flank was then four miles from the left flank and the re- mainder of the army. Tn 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 Sak- humoon. This movement was carried out in cornfields. Our men met with a frontal and flank fire and losng their bearings in the corn fields began to re- tire. The troops remaining on the hill- side also retired westward.
 I By the time Orloffs detachment was within d mile and third of our other forces, Orloff himself was wounded, as also was General Fomirl, who subse- quently died.
 After the evacuation of the position which had been intended to serve as a base for our attack, the Japanese ex- tended northward and occupied the whole range of hills and the Yentai mines. Samsonoff's s sotnia of Cossacks dismounted and defended our positions with the utmost courage, but were 1 gradually driven back.
 I 'The enemy were now established in extremely strong position on the hills, and 1t would have been too hazardous for our left flank to attack them, in view of the losses sustained in the pre- vious five days We therefore withdrew l to Talienko, and decided to retire to
 Mukden, the retreat being accomplished | on September '. The evacuation of Lia Yang began and was concluded the morning of September f. All our equip
 ment was removed but there was no time to save the conlYnissarfat reserves which was sufficient to last the whole army eight days. These were all de stroyed. The pontoon bridges were dis
 mantled and carried off by the troops 1 while temporary pontoons were burned and the railway bridge wrecked. The army retired in perfect order. The en- emy attempted to pusue, but were re pulsed,
 "Precautions were taken on Septenn-
 Der 8 and to prevent a turning move rnerlt from the east. The Japanese to the southWard took Novogiris initia- tive, but General Kuroki assumed the offensive to the eastward. Our detach-
 rnents holding positions at Talienko sustained furious night attack, which was particularly desperate on Septem- Der. 5. We retained our position but suffered heavy losses, one regiment which bore the brunt of the fight losing 800 in killed or wounded.
 "By evening of September the dan
 ger os simultaneous attack on our front and left flank ha ddisappeared.
 The removal of our artillery, transport and baggage trains was effected in the
 face of immense difficulties, but was
 successfully concluded. Our retirement
 on Mukden on September was covered
 by @ strong rear guard of cavalry. We
 abandoned nothing from August 30 up
 to the time of our arrival atMukden. | Our engineers worked with the greatest devotion. Throughout all the fighting
 they rendered invaluable service in
 making and repairing roads and assist | ing in the railway traffic" N- |