Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1905-05-11
Correspondent Writes of the First Bat
tie of Which He Was Permitted to
Be an Eyewitness - Tactics En-
ployed by The Japanese in Deliver
ing Frontal Attack.

Field Headquarters, H. I. ]. H., Sec
ond Army, March 6.--To-day for the
first time in this battle l saw a fight,
writes Will II. Brill correspondent of
the Chicago Journal l had given up
all hope of seeing anything and that
added to the pleasure of really seeing
something after ALL The fight l saw
was the attack on and capture of the
little village of Kankyachien which is
one of a dozen villages lying in the
angle made by the Hun river on the
south and the railway on the east. 1t
was a good fight and l could see al
most every detail of it.
Early this morning we rode forward
to long low sand hill which lies al
most directly west Of Mukden at a
distance of about ten miles. There
Gen. Oku and his staff had taken up
their quarters and there the CORE
spondents and military attaches pre-
empted an end of the hill for them
selves.
AZ the foot of the hill lay large
open plain bounded on the southwest
by the abandoned railway embank-
nent. To the southwest Of the hill.
across the plain, lay Kankyachien.
On one side of it was the village
which I have called the North village,
on the other one which l have called
the West village. Both these villages
were occupied by the Japanese yester-
day, but this morning Kankychin was
in the hands of the Russians, as were
several villages beyond it.
Artillery Duel Takes Place.
Beyond the railway embankment
was Japanese battery of heavy guns,
while between trees in front of the
embankment was a battery Of field
guns. Both these batteries were she'll
ing Kankyachien and the Russian bat
teries beyond when we reached the
hill. The Russians were returning the
fire heavily. Hundreds of shells fell
into and around the north village, fir
ing it in several places, while she'll
and shrapnel burst on and over the
field in front of us. Here the Russian
fire was wild, for during the whole day
there was nothing on the field to fire
at save an occasional mounted or
derby.
The hill itself, with its hurrying
aids and staff officers, its busy tele-
phone tents and its steady stream of
galloping orderlies, reminded me of
Panchopu, from which we saw the last
days fighting in the battle of the
Shaho.
All morning the bombardment kept
up from both sides, but there was
nothing else. The chief of artillery
of the army spent most of his time at
his telescope on the top Of the hill,
and there was usually a staff officer
at the big glasses, but the staff in gen.
eral didn't seem to be taking any par
ticular interest in the affair.
Charge by the Japanese.
At 2 o'clock, however, the Japanese
bombardment began to increase until
it seemed that every available gun
had been turned on Kankyachien.
This continued for an hour, and then
there was a stir among the tents and
Gen. Oku, followed by nearly all his
staff officers, mounted the hill. They
spread themselves on the sand, and
each one turned his glasses on Kanky-
achien. We followed suit.
Just at that moment the Japanese
artillery fire stopped altogether. The
shells ceased to burst over the viii
lage and the smoke and dust cleared
away. At the same moment a half
dozen soldiers in extended order
emerged from the north village and
started on a run in the direction of
Kankyachien. They ran forward for
perhaps 200 yards and then dropped
AS the first men dropped another
lot left the village and went forward