The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1905-07-05

teenth coz rps, fresh from Europe. Many
Ut tie e.lsant Sc. .ie.s did not under
stan:: the une"lt li;;l Of their rifles, let
aloIe the 'se OF sights. their fate was
pre-, .<e., TIA, u ii train load OF excur-
sio.,ists il Il col; II The Russians
left 3.,OV Celu UN!i.s on the field.
Their ,o-al Of casualties must have
been half OF tie 10000 men engaged.
The cost to Nogi was 800 wounded
and Eiile !. At the same time he had
made IL good days advance. He was
within Eve miles Of the railroad.
The truth is that at this juncture the
japanese staff, who had staked all on
an offensive stroke. were Us much wor-
eled as Kuropatkin, who had staked all
on the defensive. For his center and
left were not budging. 1t was plain
that Nogi must not beard the lion too
far until the other hunters came up.
The easy time that he had meant a cor
respondingly hard time for Kuroki and
Kawamura.
Had the two Japanese corps facing
Kuropatkin's right center shown no
more har mony Of execution than Kaul-
bars and Bilderling o. would never
have been shaken. On Nogi's right was
the bulldog army Of Oku, whose task
from LiAoyang onward has been to
fight its way inch by inch against
frontal positions. to be the strong pivot
while the others wheel. As Nogi ex.
tended his line northward Oku's left
had to swing to the northeast. envelop-
ing the western end Of the Russian
works and meanwhile separate one Of
It's divisions from the main body In
crossing the Hun.
Kuropatkin recognized oon after his
great error of misunderstanding the
Japanese plan that this deadly angle
was a vital point, and Nogi must wait
on Oku's progress here. The two dlvi-
sions to the east Of the Hun were at
tached to Nodzu, making the center a
unit. Oku himself took the north side
with the It'd division and all the re-
serves @ :.@r,a had 1T his command.
The f. OZel ground would not permit
the men once they had gained a. little
ground to throw up those hasty in
trenchments whose life saving value
makes the spade almost as important
an adjunct Of the modern infantry
mans kit as his rife. japanese genius
provided a substitute. The soldiers car
ried empty sand bags. These they filed
by scraping up the thin surface Of the
earth which the sun had thawed. Some
even carried blocks OF wood. One man,
we know. had a carpet bag. He was
found dead beside it.
EXCEPT for the collection of mud
houses q mile or more apart no ~
other than ruts or bitches Is available.
which became the centers Of fierce CO.
agulations of strife.
Likompau was q village In point.
There occurred the bitterest fight to the
west Of Mukden. The streets and the
compounds became shameless. Here
was the center Of those attacks by
which the japanese sought to rectify
their line In Nogi's support, Of those
counter attacks by which Kuropatkin
still hoped to retrieve his error and iso-
late Nogi. One regiment Is reported to
have held of a whole Russian division.
Like the battalions Of Kuroki's armies
at Witosan, the Japanese here were
told to stand to the last man. They
stood.
Hc;ding the Center.
BY such sacrifices as t.is and the use
Of all III; reserves Oku was not only
able to hold his own, but to make some
advnncc s on the IA and 9th. when
Nogi did nothing sx opt to stlfen his
line. AS for Nod2u, with Oku's two d.
visions on the center, 1t was not ex-
pected that lie would make any head
way. behind thr:n were the comfort
ing banks o. the llowitzers and Krupps,
which la! :ovn the roofs off the heads
Of the l~af.ntc"s Of Two Hundred and
Three A,.leta' I'LL at Port Arthur. They
could not s,oc;n intrenchments which
the Eu ss.aAs had been months in max
ing. Their part presently was to hug
the enc my go close that he was always
under threat Of n decisive charge; that
he dared not spare any men for other
vital points. In some places Modulus
men got to within three or four yards
Of Tie RUSSIANS. and there they lay
s!eaplesa from cold. with the thermome-
te- l. CT 90 degrees below freezing Mt
night.
Next to Nodzu was Kuroki. To him
was assigned n task requiring the
same versatility which has distin-
guished his corps from the time Of It's
crossing Of the Yalu to the present.
He has had to exhibit the qualities Of
a good pedestrian, of the bulldog ana
the fox. At Liaoyang he fought his
way IL Trough the mountains and on to
the plain. SO at the Shakhe and so at
Mukdc u. But never once has he been
allowed to remain on the plain after he
had reached it.
kuro Xxi again faced steep slopes with
narrow valleys between them. Kuro-
patkin, who had been so often fooled by
the old fox's work In the hills, was de-
ternined to hold him this time.