The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1905-05-19

temples Just OUTSIDE the west Sdt0 Va
the town and are trying to forget
what we have seen today.
This has been a day that | VIII
never forget. and Cay that l 40 not
care 20 live over again. have seen
sights that will never be erased from
my mind, the like of which | nope
will never see again.
With CAPTAIN Como Of the staff we
rode over the field OF the fight Tor inc
occupation of Likampu small VII
lage directly west of Mukden and dis
tant from the city about seven miles.
It was here that the tercest and blood
lest fight of the battle, perhaps or the
entire war, took place. The fight be-
can on the evening of March 6. when
one brigade OF the Fifth division,
which formed the left wing OF Okus
army. advanced on the town which
was held by the Russians. The next
day, after a hard fight, the japanese
occupied Likampu and a small I'M
armed village OF half a dozen houses
surrounded b. low mud walls, just to
the south of Likampu. The entire
Fifth division was brought up and
occupied the villages and the line
extending to the suoth of them.
But this line was vital point for
the Russians. who were protecting
the retreat Of the main army, for
from there the Japanese guns could
reach the Mukden stations, and
countor.attack was ordered. The
Russians were REINFORCED until their
force amounted TO three divisions.
three tines as many men as the
japanese had. They desperately at
tackled the line and reocCupied the
villages. They didn't drive the Japa-
rese out. for when they occupied the
villages there were no Japanese left
alive to be driven out. The unnamed
village was held by the Thirty-third
rgiment. but the Russian artillery fire
reached the village from the flank and
the front, and the regiment was ami
hilated.
In i.ikamnt itself the Japanese were
unable to stop the Russian rush. but
they defended every mud wall and
every house and net the enemy with
cold steel in the streets, the men
fighting with their bayonets, the Off
GERS with their swords.
FROM this brief description Of the
fighting YOU will be able to form some
slight idea of the sights we saw when
werode over the field this morning.
The wounded had all been removed,
the dead were just being collected.
On that field in front OF the two vii
lagos lay fully 1000 dead bodies,
Russian and Japanese, in ineXtricable
confusion. Hundreds Of soldiers were
at work on the field gathering up the
japanese dead and, of course, the Rus
sian, too. Aay description Of this
Sttue tndl Cdu N1Itt "ili oi'N "uL ~
faint idea of the horror OF it. 1t would
require the pen OF lola to Go it JUS
tice. Picture to yourself square
mile of plowed field with two villages
in its center Scatter over this field
the bodies of 1000 dead soldiers. lying
as they fell in horribly grotesque at.
titudes.
Among them place several hundred
soldiers bearing the dead TO central
place, where they are laid out in rows,
record made Of their names and COM
mands, and of what is found in their
pockets. Over the entire field scat
ter rifles and ammunition, bits of
clothing and equipment, water bottles
and hayersacks and bloody bandages.
Add to all this the squads digging
graves for the Russians ard the fune-
raj pyres of the Japanese and you
have a faint idea of what the scene
was like.
Here you have war in all its CHASTITY
horror. Here is what war really is;
here is that, which, if all the world
could see it, would make war in the
future impossible.
Look at this figure It's legs are
widely stretched apart, it's arms are
raised toward the sky The mouth is
open, the eyes staring On the breast
of the dark tunic is a dull red stain.
Yet this was once a man. In far-off
Russia someone is thinking Of him
to-day, someone is praying for his
safety. And here he lies between the
furrows. a horrible thing, at which
your horse SHES.
Here is another, also a Russian,
shot through the right breast. The
upper part of his body is bare and
first-aid bandage has been roughly
APPLIED to the wound. He lies on his
right side, pressing his shoulder to
the ground to ease the pain, while
his left hand clutches the bloody ban
dage. He is young, his beard is fair,
but on the dead face there is an ex-
preston Of unspeakable anguish.
Here is another, this time jana
nese. His left foot is bare and ban