The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1904-09-07
WILL CRUSH JAPAN.
Opinion Of an Impartial English Cor
respondent in the Field.
WHY THE RUSSIANS RETREAT.
They Have Immense Armies al Mnk.
den and Harbin to Which
Points They Are Lead

den and Harbin to Which
Points They Are Lead
ing the Japanese.
G. H. Kingswell, a war correspond
ent Of the London Express, who has
just returned to London, taving trav'
eled overland from the seat Of wal
across 700 miles of the great Mongoli.
an desert and the Trans. Siberian rail,
way, is quoted as follows in the col.
umns OF that newspaper:
You may call me pro-Russian if
you please, but remen Der that am
the only Englishman who, in perfect
impartial frame Of mind, has lived
with both the combatants, and has
returned to England unmu2Zled and
free to tell the truth.
"It is thought in this country that
because kuropatkin'S advance army
in Manchuria has re eceived some heavy
blows in detail, Kuropatkin and bis
men will shortly be wiped of the face
Of the earth by an immensely superior
force.
Now, the ideas Of the Russian
Ulcers in command Of kuropatkin's
army are vastly different from this.
They know what you do not know
that, far from teing outnumbered,
they Outnumber the Japanese. But
they have carefully and deliberately
concealed this fact. What IS more,
with perhaps a few exceptions, no
actual Russians have taken part in
the fighting. The advance army
which is now at Liao Yang consists OF
Films, Poles and Siberians and Burr
ats. ALL these troops are OF vastly
inferior quality to the actual Rus
SLAMS, and they will simply cripple
the Japanese as much as they can be-
fore the real campaign with Russian
troops begins.
lover here the talk of Turing the
japanese has become an old tale to be
laughed at. But I, wno have seen the
amazing and colossal preparations
that have secretly been made to get
the Japanese up north, cannot laugh
at it myself.
I have it on the word Of an Eng
lishman who had to assist in their
transport that upward Of 80, 900 Rus
sian troops crossed the Baikal lake be-
tween February and July 20.
1T is said here that the Russians
cannot send troops down to Manchuria
at greater rate than 500 a day. But
have travelled up the Trans. Siberian
line, and sat by the side Of the Baikal
lake, and watched the Russian trans
port system working easily and well,
and know this 10 be utter nonsense.
With my own eyes during the time I
was there I was able to account for an
average OF AGO troops crossing the
Baikal lake daily.
you wonder what has become OF
them. Well, at Harbin, for instance,
there is a monster army. 1t was i'm
possible, Of course, to gauge the exact
but I should say there are at
le asst $50, 200 men there, and all these
men, be it remembered, quite fresh
and unfatigued, are in excellent health
and excellent spirits. When the Japa.
nese reach them-for they do not in
tend TO take them south-the Japs
themselves will be war-worn and
weary with marching.
"On the way from Harbin to China
saw a submarine on a specially con-
structed car en- route to Vladivostok.
At Harbin I was allowed to 60 any,
where I pleased and see everything 1
wished, with the result that I was
astonished aL the immensity Of the
army gathered there, the excellent
of the men aud their splen-
did moral. Later l went south and
met 200 japanese prisoners going
north on their way to Tomsk. They
we're travelling in the same vans used
by the Russian troops, and were being
fed on the same rations. I also saw
the empress hospital train, an in
6nitely finer and better equipped one
than any saw in South Africa.
''Above MukdeD / fell in with a
party Of Beers who had offered their
services to the Russian government
as scouts. But they told me system
Of scouting there was very different
from scouting in South Africa. If
the Russians lost a man they sent a
company; if the company were des.
troyed they sent a regiment; if the
regiment were turned back they sent
forward brigade; and if the brigade
could not manage the business they
ordered up division. On going back
to EIarbin had an extremely pleasant
and instructive time with many OF
the Russian ctticers there. They were
perfectly charming to US, but did not
disguise the fact-nor did the soldiers
that they hated England with a
bitter hatred. They frankly said that
after they had finished with the Japa-
nese it would be our turn next.
Speaking Of the war they admit
ted that their artillery was very In
ferior to the japanese; in fact, that
their field guns were too heavy and
could only fire one shot to every five
of those Of the Japs. But they are
rectityipg this, and 1 myself saw 25
new batteries Of ten guns each on the
way to the east. The guns were Of a
modern pattern that looked to me
like Krupps.
Another weak point seems to me
the much-wanted Cossacks. Armed
with futile carbine and a heavy
sword they are simply food for powder.
A handful Of Beers would romp around
them.
"They are physically fine men, but
they are not civilized; they cannot
even speak Russian. They are to my
mind quite unit for modern warfare.
Moreover, as they are paid so much
a day and get no rations, they are ter
ribl, looters, and have done great
harm nv soaring aWaV the Chinese