Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-05-02
Japan's First Land Victory.

The long official silence of the Japanese
regarding the land operations of the mi
kado'S troops in northern Korea has been
finally broken by the publication of Gen.
Kuroki's report of the crossing of the falu
and the four days fighting which followed.
That Japan has been successful in this first
land engagement of the war Is admitted
even in the Russian official announcements
of the situation. Just how heavily the vic
tory will weigh in the scale of the cam
paign at large remains to be seen. For the
present 1t is of unmistakable value. both
physically and morally. 1t is. in the first
place, a demonstration of the ability of
the Japanese troops to assail entrenched.
positions. 1t proves their courage under
severe fire and displays their strategic quail
tiles.
The strategic Importance of the move is
unquestionable 1t gives the Japanese an
established and well-supported base on the
west bank of the Yalu. enabling them at
leisure to bridge the river by pontoons to
permit the reinforcing of the front and to
provide for emergencies if a sudden retreat
should become necessary. The menace to
the Japanese force must now come from
either frontal attack in vastly superior
numbers. or a thanking movement from the
northeast. The southwest or left flank rests
upon the sea, where Russia Is out of the
reckoning. Therefore the northeastern end
of the japanese line, or its right Hank, Will
be the center of Immediate interest If the
Russians persist in clinging to the 1aiu
position and try to Gust the japanese from
their newly won vantage point
The principal interest in the campaign
at large now rests upon the question wheth-
er the Japanese plan includes immediate
pursuit of the Russians into the Man
churian territory proper. The actual bound
airy between Manchuria and Korea is some
miles west of the Yalu. with a loZenge-
shaped neutral area lying in the direct
route of the retreating Russians. The line
of the retreat is In the direct IN of Mukden.
The new Russian front will evidently, from
the dispatches, be established at Kiulien-
cheng. The country Is much broken and
the roads are still soft. SO that the outlook
as viewed by the experts in both this coun-
try and Europe, seems to be that there Will
be lull in the operations. pending recon-
noissances by the Japanese. That kuropat-
kin will make haste to mass a large force
of troops on the frontier to resist further
Japanese assaults or to accomplish flank
ing movement in the hope of cutting off the
Japanese advance Is accepted as reasonably
certain.
1t is growing more difficult than hereto
fore to follow the campaign in all its i'm
portant details, owing to the marked differ
ence between the spelling of the geographic
cal names on the maps at hand and in the
dispatches. There is difference, too. be-
tween the spelling employed in the Japan
csc and the Russian official reports. But
no confusion exists today as to the prime
fact that in this first large land encounter
the Japanese have won an important posi-
ton. have demonstrated their ability as SOL
diers andrstrategists and have put the Rus
slams on the defensive at the very outset or
the campaign, even as they did earlier en-
| the sea at Port Arthur and Vladivostok.