The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-09-12

of tree tops as though a gigantic axe | GU, a swathe through them The Russians were yielding the ground slowly with tlgeir firing line spread out across the fields and hill-
 sides in an almost solid barrier. Be- 1 hind the firing line and sheltered by clump of magnificent trees which must have concealed them from the Japanese advance, a regiment was stopping in solid formation on cross road. The men were a long dark mass plotting out the fresh green crops and their officers in white coats could be seen riding up and down the lines ap- parently trying to reorganize them. With the regiment was a battery
 which had fine opportunity for effec- tive action but was huddled together | in the field where a single well placed | Ja panese shell might have worked great execution in Its midst Further down the road more troops were re- | turning to their campaign places slow fly, and with them many wagons of baggage. The whole attitude of the | force betokened indecision and lack of plans.
 Jnpg We'll Concealed. Although the Japanese troops were nearest they were so e6ectually con- ceaIed in the trees and bushes that few coul6 be seen, and their positions could be inferred only from the sounds
 of their rifles. Attaches and cores spondents pushed on through a wood to their left passing over a reserve line lying ready for action and encoun- tering many /wounded Russians in every stage of suffering, whose plight at other times would have excited sympathy and ready aid, but who were forgotten in the important business of seeing the battle. They pushed along the line of the outpost trenches where companies of Japanese were shooting
 over the heads of the men advancing below them. and made their way to the vantage point of a high hill close to the right whose summit afforded such a view of battle as can be achieved but seldom.
 This letter is not intended to de- | scribe the engagement but to give , some of the impressions of spectator
 who could see only part of the field
 and that, during the closing hours. By | far the most significant and interesting
 feature of the spectacle was the ap-
 pearance and methods of Japanese sol I
 drill and equipment of soldiers Is di-
 rected and the comparison of them
 with the Russians.
 | The Russians Outpointed. | The country afforded the best pos | sible cover for troops who knew how tC avail themselves of 1t, and the Japanese
 officers and individual men appeared to have every point in the game at their
 wits end. In addition to the regular
 road.-here elevated and there depress-
 ed-the banks of a mountain brook
 running beside 1t and the clumps of
 trees and bushes, and also a few low
 Chinese mud houses, gave shelter fol riflemen.
 The Japanese utilized all the cover
 as they advanced. while the Russian
 tactics of preserving close company for
 nations sacrificed much of the natura
 advantages of the ground. That stiff
 ness aud precision of the German
 school which some foreign officers no. ting in the home manoeuvres had
 thought might handicap the Japanese
 in the field was entirely abandoned When a battalion went into action the
 companies worked most independently Sections of companies found positions lseparately where the country and the
 cover favored them, without attempt
 ing to preserve long straight lines
 while the units displayed great intia-
 tive and dash.
 The rolling ground permitted them tc advance by rushes effectively. After firing a few rounds they would dash
 ahead to another hillock and dropping
 into the grass empty their magazines
 again. Their uniforms of khaki from
 cap covers to leggins made them as in conspicuous as possible.
 The Japs Have Learned Things. On the Pekin relief expedition Japa
 nese regiments took the field dressed
 entirely in white duck which presented
 a gleaming target across the corn
 covered plains of Chilli within any
 modern rifles range. Since that cam. paign in the evolution of this most
 modern of armies economy of lives has
 come to be reckoned with. Sa far has
 the spectacular deferred to effective
 ness in uniforming that even the regI- | mental numbers on shoulder straps are ] abandoned. that the enemy may find | no distinguishing marks about pr1s-
 oners or dead to give a clue to the | identity of the organizations which op-
 pose them. |, ( | The occasional glint of an officers | sword scabhard when the sun struck II
 was the only guide for marksmen q
 few hundred yards distant. The of | | field because at close quarters they
 wield them with the old fury and skill
 of the Samurai fighting before their clans.
 | How perfectly khaki fuses with an
 ordinary background was illustrated
 later in the day when the Russian bat | tery. with an unexpected burst of en-
 ergy, dropped half dozen shells over | a hill to the right of the temple. No
 one had noticed soldiers there until, af- | ter the dropping of the shells. it sud | denly scanned to swarm with men and
 two or three companies scrambled down the slope running for shelter Close Call for Observers. One of the shells fell short almost
 on the crest of the hill where the at
 taches and correspondents had been
 grouped until few minutes before
 when they withdrew thinking that the