The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-06-19

rush during the darkness or nlghE or
 fered the only hope of success. But
 the Russian forces in this part of the
 field comprised four army corps and
 one division. Nambu's brigade ulti-
 mately found itself struggling against
 a whole army corps. Outnumbered In
 the ratio of some four to one, the men
 nevertheless persevered in the attack,
 forcing the enemy from house to house , until, as the official report says, about
 two-thirds of the place had fallen into their hands.
 Then there came a time when the saw themselves threatened with com plete failure of ammunition. They had
 used every cartridge in the pouches of their fallen comrades. They had used
 even the rifles and ammunition of the
 enemy's dead and wounded, A mes sage must be at once carried to divi-
 sional headquarters. But the regiment
 was surrounded; it's fellow regiment, on which the maintenance of communica- tions depended had been borne back by sheer weight of numbers. To
 emerge from the cover of the village into the open could scarcely have any result but death. Colonel Takenouehi,
 wounded in three places, yet supporting himself on his sword, called for volun-' teers, and three men dashed off by diff ferent routes to summon the necessary succor. Among them was Major 0ko- shi. He galloped safely through the village, but on emerging from it fell, fatally hurt by a shrapnell shell. It
 had been his hope to rejoin his com rades after delivering the message to General Nambu, or at least to meet his fate on the return journey. But now
 he saw himself struck down in the act of riding away from the scene of the combat Taking paper and pencil from his pocket, he wrote, as follows. ITO Major General Nambu, Testa-
 ment of Major Okoshi west of village of unknown name on the south of Lik- Wanpau:
 sir: That instead of fighting side by side with the colonel of my regiment and it's battalion commanders, I have left the battlefield alone hecause, by de- sire of my colonel, I was about to re. port the state of affairs to you, the commander of the brigade. I did not disregard the dangers on the way, but being unable to witness the straits to
 which my colonel, my comrades and the soldiers under their orders were re- duced, it was my purpose to adventure my life in order to convey the facts to the commander of the brigade, so that some means of succor might be con- trived, after which I intended to re- turn to the field and share the fate of my brother officers and their men. But have been wounded on the way, and to my most extreme and bitter re- gret have failed to accomplish my pur- pose. Therefore I am about to die in order to rejoin beyond the grave my comrades and the soldiers under my command. My right arm being wound ed, however, cannot use my sword, and I must therefore have resource to my pistol. Beg you to pardon this. Now, for all your kindness through many years, thank you with a sin cere heart, and pray that you may ac- quire lasting military fame- Being ex- hausted, I find difficulty in writing, 50 ask you to excuse my brevity. oAOSt1l, MaJOf. Lying near him was a soldier severe- ly wounded. To this man Major Oko- shi intrusted the letter and then shot himself. The ammunition and rein forcements arrived in time, but the cas- ualties in the two regiments had been one hundred and six officers and four thousand rank and file. Of the enemy y,oore tban a;ob+ thousand Io,, 1Lillad or wounded. The Nagoya division had done its duty nobly, for, though it had not driven back the enemy, 1t had held in check a greatly superior force, which 1 if released would have imperiled the turning movement of Nogi's army and | might thus have changed the issue of the battle. A Kanjo was subsequently, | handed to the division by Field Marshal Oyama. It ran thus:
 "On the Eth of March and continu- ously until the 9th at Likwanpau, | westward of Mukden, and in its neigh \ borhood, you successfully resisted the attack of a force of the enemy many l times your superior in numbers. In a desperate fight with numerous battal- | ions of his force stationed to guard | Likwanpkau, you, undeterred by heavy \ casualties, inflicted enormous losses on
 the enemy, and finally frustrated his design, enabled the third army to sue | cessfuly carry out it's turning opera tion. I consider that your achievement I has been truly great and confer upon you this Kanjo.
 "OYAMA, Marquis.