The Columbus journal., 1904-12-07
T FIGHT
/ Newspaper Correspondent with the Rus
sian Army Tells How Well-Iaid
Plans Were Brought to Nou9ht.

whelmed. and the terrible bogy Of tho
eastern hills would paralyze the Rus
sian movement NO more. 1t would BE-
an easy matter after that to deal with
the others.
But"
Wei. it all happened just as It might
have happened. only somehow or other
it all seems to have happened di2er-
emily. Oku and NOdzu made direct at
tacks across the open. hurled them
selves against the solid wall Of rifes.
against positions and trenches. weak
ened themselves by successive attacks
which accomplished little or nothing.
and certainly succeeded in car
ryins to the Russian mind the impress
sion of a losing fight. And KurOki left
his impresnable mountains and moved
nOrthward across the TaitsehO.. and
Immediately came the swift movement
of concentrated forces. and three army
corps had him at their mercy. 1t had
all come true. and victory. the inevi-
table victory. was resting with her old
familiar friends. the Russian troops.
But. Well. here We are in Muk-
den trying to make out what hit Is.
what it was We tumbled over. Some
say il was the OrlOff regiments Of the
Fifth Siberian corps who fired on M
another in the kaOliang instead Of ON
knroki's advancing legiOns. and. hav-
ing sisnally defeated one another. mis-
took their direction. Others say it was
the fault of the kaOliang growing If
teen feet high. and others blame ono
of the army corps to which they them
selves do not belong.
have a hazy sort Of notion. which
is worth nothing. that il was geOg-
raphy that did it. geography in COM
binatiOn with the as yet half realized
new conditions which modern long
range arms have created. Those Far
Eastern mountains were in the wrong
place.
Not According to Program.
Perhaps the critical moment in the
battle of LiaOyang was when the Japa-
nese took the MOtienling pass. But
as far as I can make out from a batch
" Nouti sluINtoIy SAPtuhuttouo HuAsS -
lot of things went wrong just at tho
critical moment. Not only did the
Japanese coming from the south de-
part in an incOnsiderate manner from
the program of What Ought to Have
Been: but kurOki. on h east, varied
it in at least one important particular.
He duly crossed the river towards the
coal mines east OF Yentai, Offering
himself for separation and demolition
by the concentrated force Of three
army corps
Either. however. he failed to be de-
mOlished. or the three army corps
somehow were unable to get at him
effectively. He was defeated hand
sOmely enough. There was no doubt
of that-defeated and isolated. for the
hill positions between him and the
south were brilliantly taken.
But Just at the moment when he
was surrounded and the rest of the
program was Easy came the startling
discovery that LiaOyang could be nO
longer held, that the Japanese south
ern armies, instead of remaining at
the standstill to which they had been
beaten, We're advancing Win such "a
piiity on the west. as well as on tho
east, that the whole Russian force was
in imminent danger of being taken in
the rear. as we'll as on both TANKS.
There was the disquieting discovery.
also. that KurOki was not exactly
where he was supposed to be-that, in
fact, he had edged nOrthward in a
most unpleasant way, and that he
army was about to be surrounded. O
i'm w~ellfurnished. fortified LiaOyang.
but out in the kaOliang plain about
Yentai. where there were no positions,
no perfOratiOnS, 10 stores, no fOrtif-
cations. and no earthly chance.
Rifle bullets We're already falling
from KurOki's riAes-On the east when
from the west was heard the boom OF
NodZu's pursuing artillery. There was
10 time to be lost, and nothing for it
bnt-hateful word, but We made M
bones about Observation-Disclosures F.
Hands in London Mail.