Evening journal., 1905-06-19

OF the peasant soldiers did not under
etand tao mechanism OF their rifles, let
alone the use of sights. Their fate was
precisely thot OF a train load Of excur
sionists in collision. The Russians
left 5000 dead bodies on the Geld.
Their total Of casualties must have
been half Of the 10000 men engaged.
Ihe cost 70 Nogl was 800 wounded
and killed. At the same time he had
made good days advance He was
within FIVE miles OF the railroad
The truth is that at this juncture the
Japanese stnd, who had staked all on
an offensive stroke, were as much wor-
Rod az Kuropatkin. who had staked all
on the defensive. For his center and
left were not budging. 1t was plain
tnat Nogi must not beard the hon too
Ear until the other hunters came up.
The easy time that he had meant a cor
respondingly hard time for KdroSi and
Kawamura.
Had the two japanese corps facing
Kuropatkin's right center shown no
more harmony OF execution than Kaul-
bars and Bilderling he would never
have been shaken. On Nogis right was
the bulldog army OF Oku. whose task
from Liaoyang onward has been to
fight its way inch by inch against
frontal positions, to be the strong pivot
while the others wheel. AS Nogl ex-
tended his line northward Oku's left
had to swing to the northeast. envelop-
Ing the western end of the Russian
works and meanwhile separate one Of
its divisions from the main body In
crossing the Hun.
Kuropatkin recognized soon after his
great error OF misunderstanding the
japanese plan that this deadly angle
was a vital point. and Nogi must wait
on Oku's progress here. The two divl-
slons 10 the east Of the Hun were at
tached 70 Nodzu, making the center a
unit. Oku himself took the north side
with the third division and all the re-
serves Oyama had at his command.
The frozen ground would not permit
the men once they had gained a little
ground to throw up those hasty in
trenchments whose life saving value
makes the spade almost as important
an adjunct Of the modern infantry
mans kit as his rife Japanese genius
provided a substitute. The soldiers car
ried empty sand bags. These they filed
by scraping up the thin surface of the
earth which the sun had thawed. Some
even carried blocks of wood. one man,
we know, had a carpet bag He was
found dead beside it,
Except for the collection OF mud
houses a mile or more apart no cover
other than ruts or bitches is available.
The villages formed strategic points,
which became the centers Of fierce CO.
agulations Of strife.
Llkompau was a village in point.
| There occurred the bitterest fight to the
west Of Mukden. The streets and the
/ compounds became shambles. Here
/ was the center Of those attacks by
which the Japanese sought TO rectify
! their line in Nogis support, OF those
counter attacks by which Kuropatkin
still hoped to retrieve his error and iso-
/ late Nogi. One regiment is reported to
have held Off a whole Russian division.
Like the battalions of Kurokis armies
at Witosan, the japanese here were
told to stand to the last man. They
stood
Holding the Center.
BY such sacrifices as this and the use
Of all his reserves Oku was not only
able TO hold his own, but to make some
advances on the 9th and 9th, when
Nogi did nothing except TO stiffen his
liDe. AS for NOdzu, with Oku's two di-
visions ON the center, it was not ex-
| pected that he would make any head
way. Behind them were the comfort
ing barks Of the howitzers and Krupps,
which had torn the roofs of the heads
! Of the defenders Of Two Hundred and
Three Meter hill at Port Arthur. They
could not storm intrenchments which
the Russians had been months In max.
ing. Their part presently was to hug
the enemy so close that he was always
under threat Of a decisive charge; that
he dared not spare any men for other
vital points. In some places NOdzus
men got 10 within three or four yards
of the Russians. and there they lay
] sleepless from cold, with the thermome.
ter 10 or 20 degrees below freezing al
night
Next to NOdzu was Kurok. To him
WIS assigned a task requiring the
same versatility which has dlstin-
guished his corps from the time OF its
crossing Of the Yalu to the present
He has had TO exhibit the qualities OF
a good pedestrian, OF the bulldog and
the fox. At Laoyang he fought his
way through the mountains and on to
the plain, so at the Shakhe and so al
Mukden. But never once has he been
allowed to remain on the plain after he
had reached It.
Kuroki again faced steep slopes with
narrow valleys between them. Kuro-
patlIin. who had been so often fooled by
the old fox's work in the bills, was de
termined to hold him this time.
Turning TO NOgi. we find him making
no advance at all on the 4th and 9TH
On the 9Th he swung a little farther
north. By this time the expected had
happened. The reserves sent to the
east early in the battle were marched
back. They no more waited till they
were ready than the two divisions
which had such short shrift. On the
7th they threw themselves prectpitately
on Nogi's line. But all the spirit OF
fight was out of their tired legs. Nog
shook them OF and was still able tC
make a little ground Three separats
assaults he had now beaten IN detail.