Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-06-23
STORY OF THE R~USSO-JAPANESE
WAR NOV PRACTICALLY AT AN N


/ was not yet strong enough to advance
in force, he was ordered-or so IL is be-
Iieved-to send General Stakelberg
southwards with a strong detachment
in the hope Of taking the Japanese i'm
the rear and raising the siege on the
land side almost before it had begun.
The attempt was soon shown to be Ill
judged, for on June IA n Is the Rus
sian force. which appears to AVE num-
! bered about $4,000 men, with ninety
guns, met Oku's army near Telissu. or
Vafangow, a point on the railway about
fifty miles north of Kinchau.
Outnumbered in men and guns. n
outmaneuvered by his opponent, Stakel-
berg was forced TO retreat, abandon
ing sixteen guns and leaving 1854 dead
on the field. His wounded numbered
2,446. Oku lost 217 killed and 903
wounded.
Stakelberg and his broken force re-
tired to Kaiping. while K~uropatkin coll
lected his forces in the neighborhood
of Liaoyang, where il was evident that
the first great stand would be made by
the army that had advanced from Muk-
den, the troops that had retreated from
the Yalu, and those which had been in
occupation of Newchwang and the low
er reaches of the Liau river.
Fleets Try to Escape.
That the Russians in Port Arthur
We're aware of the seriousness of their
position was shown by the attempt
which was made by the fleet on the 22d
and 23d of June to escape from the
harbor. In spite of the eighteen YES
sells sunk in the entrance the whole
great fleet made Its way out, though
moving slowly and steered due south
for the Shantung peninsula.
For some hours Ii seemed as though
the long expected great naval battle
was about TO take place at last. The
fleets were getting within range, but at
8 o'clock In the evening the Russian
admiraPs heart failed him, and, put
ting over his helm. he steered directly
to port" The Japanese d~estroyers at
once dashed in and did some damage,
though once more the ships managed to
find their way back TO the harbor, re-
serving themselves for the inglorious
fate which was to befall them towards
the end of the year.
Once more the fleet made a sortie
from Port Arthur Con August 10), but,
like those which had preceded 1t, the
attempt failed. Admiral Witsoeft was
killed, and, disobeying what appears to
have been the emperor's order. nearly
all the ships returned to harbor. The
exceptions were the Czarevitch, which
reached the German port OF Tsingtau,
where ii was disarmed, the cruisers
Askold and Diana, which were dis
armed, respectively, in Shanghai and
Saigon, and the cruiser Novik, which
fed towards Vladivostok and ten days
later was destroyed by two Japanese
ships in Korsakovsk harbor, Saghalin.
Four days after the Port Arthur sor-
tie the Vladivostok cruisers, whose
raids had caused SO much damage,
were met and defeated by Admiral
Kamimura. The Rurik was sunk, but
the two others, in a crippled condition,
escaped to Vladivostok.
Russian Armies Assemble.
BY the last week of June Kuropatkin
found himself faced by three Japanese
armies, of which two had already won
easy victories over his men. Kuroki
had advanced from the southeast, after
capturing three important passes,
which We're scarcely defended at all:
Oku, the victor OF Nanshan and Tells
su, held the left; and Nodzu, in COM
mand of the Japanese fourth army,
which had landed at Takushan, held the
center of their position.
Kuropatkin had been subjected to a
great a of criticism for his refusal
to take the offensive. Russian prestige
had suffered seriously throughout civ
~ilization, first by naval disasters, and,
second, by the constant, although slow,
r~etrograde movement of the land
forces. From st. Petersburg Kuropat-
kin was subjected to constant pressure
to take the offensive, and thus check
the steady advance Of the Japanese
columns.
K%uropatkin yielded finally to this
pressure, and on July II General Count
Kellar, one OF the ablest commanders
in the Russian army, was sent to at
tack Kuroki's position in the Fengshui
or Molten pass. Kellar had 10000 men
and t~wenty-four guns. He failed and
/ x~.- ~ 49, 1AzI- a. 4 n
lie retreated to Yantze pass n forth
fed.
In the meantime Oku was advancing
| steadily northward. On July % he at
tackled General Z~aronbaieffs position
before Tashichiao, turned his enemy's
flank, and compelled the Russians TO
abandon Tashichiao and Yinkow.
Forced out of these positions, the Rus
slams were compelled to evacuate New
chang, and thus lose touch with the
Z sea. The loss or Newcnang was a Sc
! rious blow, for 1t cut off K~uropatkin's
[ last base on the Chinese coast and de-
: prived him of the supplies he had been
[ receiving by the railroad TO Picking.
The Japanese pressure was exerted
steadily northward. On July 81 Kur-
oki attacked the Russians at Yantze
pass. General Count Kellar met his
death In the engagement. His forces,
: defeated. retired toward Liaoyang.
, At the same time Oku and NodZu
; made a combined attack on the Rus
: sian right. fifteen miles below Hal
: cheng, and turned their enemy north
ward. The Russians abandoned Hal
. cheng on August 2. Kuroki had lost
2,400 men, TO. say nothing of the casual
, ties In the armies Of Nodzu and Oku,
: but the three generals had cleared
/. the way for the great battle Of Lao
: yang.
Battle of Liaoyang.
{ The battle Of Liaoyang was I'M to ths
r time 1t was fought the greatest battle
of modern history. 1t continued with
out interruption for ten days-and the
ten days were filed with the ~fiercesi
fighting that the world has seen since
4 the American civil war. For desperate
attacks, for n defense. fol-
logged determination on the part OF
e both armies, and for personal bravery
y this battle with modern weapons o.
precision was as remarkable as any OF
r the old short distance conflicts OF mus
I ket and bayonet. One looks back &c
the battles round Metz, to Sadowa. Il
Gettysburg, and to the N~apoleonic cam
paigns for a worthy precedent to this
gigantic struggle. in which half a mil
Hon men were engaged and thirteen
0 hundred ans
The Russian army held a line alonl
a front of twenty-five miles, between
e Anshanshan on the railroad north te
I Haicheng and Anping, to the northeast
and almost directly east of Liayang
n i ELAM I..lt. a