Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1905-02-04

liiCl DttNttI husSid Jdpdn iOI
terry in the far east broke cut early In
the year and was still in progress as the
twelve month closed. Diplomatic rela-
lions were severed Feb. 6 and two days
later the Japanese attacked and partly
disabled the Russian warshps at Port
Arthur. A day after that they torpedoed
two cruisers at Chemulpo, Korea, land
ed troops and began the first OF a series
of maneuvers destined before the year
was over to give them command over
the Liaotung peninsula and the most
important part Of Manchuria.
Battle Of Yalu.
The first great battle of the war was
fought May i on the banks of the Yalu
river, near Antung and WIFI. The Jap
anese were in superior force and drove
the Russians in the direction of Feng-
huangcheng. Later in the same month
they attacked and captured Kinchow
The spectacular and bloody battle Of
Nanshan hill followed. in which victory
again was the side of Japan. though
it was dearly bought. Dalny had been
captured on the 18th of May, so that
when Nanshan was carried the invest
ment of Sort Arthur from the land side
complete. From that time on Cen
Nogi, 10 whom had been assigned the
task of laying siege TO the Gibraltar OF
the east, hurled his soldiers against the
outer line of defenses and captured some
of them, but the main forts were so
stubbornly held by the Russians under
Gen. Stoessel that 1T soon became ap-
parent they could not be carried by
storm. Other tactics were resorted to
and though slow and costly proved sue
cessful The Russian lines had to be
more and more contracted. while the
japanese crept closer and closer and
finally gave them command of positions
permitting them to lombard and destroy
the city and the remnants of the feet
in the harbor.
In the North.
In the meantime the other Japanese
armies steadily marched toward the
north, driving the enemy before them
The battle of Vafangow was fought and
won June ii. a week later Gen. Kuroki
and Gen. Ou occupied the important
mountain passes to the east and south
of LiaoyanS July 25 the Russians evac-
uated Newchwang and Aug. s abandoned
Haicheng At Liaoyang. however, Gen.
Kuropatkin, commander-in- chief of the
cars army in ManchuIia, made a stand
From Aug 26 TO Sept the opposing
forces were in daily combat and of the
100000 men engaged about 900 were
killed or wounded. The Russians were
outfanked by Kuroki and compelled to
retire in the direction OF Mukden. Field
Marshall Oyama, who had been placed in
supreme command of the mikados ar
mics, followed as far as the Sha river
and here from oct 10 to Oct. - was
fought one of the bloodiest battles in
history. Gen. Kuropatlin took the of
icnsive for the first time but the Japan
Csc held their ground The contest end
ed without decisive victory for either
side. The armies were exhausted and
could do no more. The combined losses
in killed and wounded amounted TO the
enormous total of about 20 600 men. OF
whom $4,000 belonged to the Russian
army. Before operations could be re-
Nn1 TT. IL
with the armies stll facing each other
on the banks of the Sha river.
Russian Disasters at Sea.
While the russians were meeting these
revcrses on land their reverses on the
sea were equally great Many of their
ships had been disabled or damaged at
the beginning of the war and their fleets
in Port Arthur and Vladvostok were
not in the best of condition to meet the
modern Japanese battleships and cruis-
ers under Admirals Togo and Kaml-
mura. One of their best ships the Pc
tropavlosk. struck a mine outside OF
Port Arthur April 13 and went down
with Admiral Makaroff and more than
500 officers and men. Aug. 10 Admiral
Without with the remainder of the Rus
sian fleet attempted to escape from Port
Arthur, but was met a few miles out at
sea by Togo's squadron and defeated in
u battle lasting several hours. His ships
We're dispersed, some OF them seeking
refuge in the adjacent ports of the Chi
nese coast and others retreating to Port
Arthur. He himself was killed and his
flagship, the CZarewitch. compelled to
flee in a disabled condition to Tsung-
chau. where ii was dismantled. Aug. IA
Admiral kamimura met the Vladivostok
fleet in the strait of Korea sunk the
cruiser Rurik and compelled the Rossia
and Gromovoi to return to the home port
in badly damaged condition. The
cruiser Novik was destroyed by the
Japanese cruisers Chitose and Tsushima
off the island of Sakhalin Aug. 81. AS
already stated the remnant of Whit
thofts fleet that took refuge i'm Port
Arthur was destroyed later In the year
when the Japanese had gained positions
on the land side Of the fort from which
!, they were able to successfully direct a
fierce bombardment.
The Japanese navy also met with loss
es in the course of the year. but in COM
parison with THOSE Of their opponents
they were not severe. The battleship
Hatsuse was sunk by a mine May 10
and about the same time the cruiser
Yoshno was sunk in collision with an
other cruiser. The battleship Yashima
was also reported lost but under cir
cumstances which have not yet been
made public.
Port Arthur Surrendered.
Gen. Stoessel. unable longer to hold
AitHuI Will Ills utClI1ldleu lOTCcS,
surrendered to Gen. Nogi Jan. 2.
War between Great Britain and Rus
STA was very narrowly averted i'm Octo-
Der. The car had ordered the Baltic
sea fleet TO proceed to the east under
the command of Admiral Rojestvensky
The Russian fleet was passing through
s the North sea when one night ii en-
k1ountered a number of trawlers of fish
! ing vessels Mistaking them for Japan
csc torpedo boats the warships fired on
them, sinking one and killing two men,
They then went on without waiting to
see what the result OF their action had
been. The act aroused great indignation
in England and threats of war were
openly made. After some negotiation
the matter was referred to an interna-
tional court of inquiry. which met at
the foreign office in Paris only about
week ago. The United States is rep
resented in this court by Admiral c. III.
Davis.
Arbitration Makes Progress.
Though war waged throughout the
year the cause of peace was advanced
by the adoption of many important in
ternational arbitration treaties. The
first of these agreements was that be-
sx,o~u Groof vRxifofp md France signal