The San Francisco call., 1905-03-09
ON THE EVE OF DEFEAT.
Incidents of the Fighting West of
MulIden Station.

Incidents of the Fighting West OF
Mul1den Station.
MUKDEN, Tuesday, March THE
chief objects of the Titanic combat
west of Mukden were the villages OF
Ushuntun. seven miles west of Muk-
den station, and Tatchekiao, where
the results practically were a draw;
but q further turning movement has
developed. The Japanese are extend
ing their forces still farther toward
Tie Pass.
AT dawn to-day, after a night bro
ken by irregular musketry fire and
cannonading, the fight began at
Ushuntun and Tatchekiao, both of
which are large villages nesting in
groves of tamarinds now bare of
leaves. The houses are constructed
with thick walls and the villages are
surrounded. by high clay ramparts,
converting them into fortifications
imperVious to rifle bullets. 1t was
most difficult to approach these viii
lagos and each house had to be taken
singly by hand-to-hand combat.
The Russians who held Ushuntun
for night were forced to withdraw at
dawn the next day by a terrible fire
Of shrapnel and shimose shells, under
which the village seethed as if in a
ca1dron; but, reinforced by the bri-
gades of rif1emen and reserves, the
Russians again advanced to the at
tack. Under the eyes of General
Kaulbars, who, with his staff, moved
about where the hail of iron was
thickest and who seemed to bear a
charmed life, the rihemen deployed
over the plowed fields as if at maneu-
vers and without firing a shot, though
bespattered by the continuous burst
ing of shrapnel and shells. They
pushed on in skirmishing order, cap
tured the village and advanced on the
Japanese f1anks. The fight then grew
more bitter, the japanese attacking
madly, but at 4 o'clock in the after
noon the Russian position became
more secure and General Kaulbars,
who had spent most of the day at this
point, moved off to visit the other
Russian positions, the Japanese bid
ding him adieu with a burst of shi-
NOSE shells.
Opposite Tatchekiao the fighting
was of an equally desperate nature.
The Russians established themselves
in the villages of Tsunhuanche and
Liudyaofani, but night fell with Tat
chekiao still in the hands of the Jap
anese.
North of Tatchekiao the cannon
also roared. The regiment under the
command of Colonel Zapolisky clung
tenaciously to a village, under a show
er of shrapnel. Toward evening Gen
eral Kuropatkin rode out of Mukden
in an automobile and examined per-
sonally the positions of the second
army.
At the close of the fighting this
evening the infantry on both sides
was short of ammunition and the night
was devoted to replenishing supplies
of individual soldiers. Southwest of
Mukden. at the Shantan pivot fight,
the japanese succeeded in establish
ing themselves in the southern part
Of the village, but they were expelled
by the Russians.
Reports received here say the re-
peated attacks of the Japanese on
Poutiloff and Novgorod hills have
been repulsed with heavy loss.
A division Of Russian cavalry which
was patrolling the Lao Valley and
was cut off on March 2 by the rapid
advance of the Japanese succeeded
to-day in rejoining the Russian army
without having sustained any losses.
1t took a number of prisoners.