The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-03-12
THE RUSSIAN RoUT FROM MUK-
DEN.


DEN.
The whole world has been watching
for ten days the slow DEVELOPMENT OF
the most stupendous tragedy in his
tory-the development and crushing of
the vast army of General Kuropatkin
at Mukden. Never before in history
have so many men been engaged in
any one struggle and from the meager
accounts which pass the censors to the
outside world it is certain that almost
every individual of the near upon eight
hundred thousand men engaged has
been suffering for nearly two weeks
the pain and deprivation of a constant
struggle with death.
When it is considered that. during
the twelve days of the battle. the fight
ing lines extended over a distance of
one hundred miles, that over three
thousand guns Numbered without in
PERMISSION day and night. that men
fought for days without food or sleep.
rushed into desperate night attacks
and hand-to-hand conflicts to be de-
stroyed like flies for the sake of giant.
strategy, some faint conception of the
Titanic character of the struggle may
be attained and some excuse made.
for the lack of details from the front.
At this writing. when it has been
conceded from st. Petersburg that the
entire Russian force is in bloody re-
treat followed and Ianked by the VIC
al To- iii N6
wounded are estimated roughly at a.
hundred thousand men to a side. In
addition it is admitted that the Rus
sian losses. in prisoners caught in the
drag net of Kuroki and Nogi's turn
ing movements will approximate sixty
thousand more. e 80
Kuropatkin, whose effective force
was 403, 900 men at the beginning of
the battle now has an estimated fight
ing force left to him of some 243,0c0.
all OF whom are engaged in the des-
rerate effort to concentrate on Tie pass
which is forty miles north of Mukden.
Whether this can be done il the face
Of the Japanese rush to cut off the
retreat remains for the next few days
to tell If the Russians fail to attain
and fortify Tie Pass. the result will
doubtless be the most crushing and
humiliating capitulation since Sedan.
Since the beginning of the war the
success of the Japanese has been like
the working of delicate piece of ma
chinery Nowhere have the calcula-
tons of her staff slipped a cog. The
care of her men in the field in winter
quarters and in hospital has set an
undreamed of standard to military
nations. The strategy of her gener-
ais has about it the flavor of that of
Stonewall Jackson. 1t seeks and
makes advantages, protecting the
troops with marvellous ingenuity but
calling upon them in the final test for
a sacrifice of self-denial and suffering
that recks not of life against the end
in sight And to this appeal the, sol
dier responds with a patriotism that is
unquenchable and an enthusiasm to
which death is an incident
Yet the result of all this NAV after
all fail of the immediate result for
which the world is anxiously looking.
The end of the war may vet be far
distant. Whether or not the remnant
of Kuropatkin's army reaches Tie
Pass. the forces of Oyama will almost
inevitably reach Harbin-400 miles
from Mukden-without serious opDosi-
ton. At Hardin the railroad from
We livestock the last Russian port, in
l.lsects the Siberian railroad. the main
artery of Russian power in the East.
With it's fall. Vladivostock's fate will
be likewise sealed end the limit of the
japanese ambition. TO drive the Rus
SLAMS from Manchuria, will have been
attained in its entirety.
From that stage of the war. the
question of peace will depend
solely upon the will of the Romanoffs.
always barring the chance of sue
cessful revolution at home. In the
light of their offensive operations.
however. the cost in blood and treas
ure which would be involved in
wrestling the captured territory from
the Japanese acting on the defensive
is beyond computation.
There is at this time only one quail
ity of the war which may be said to
contain vital present problem. That
is Rodjestvensky' squadron, now
somewhere in the Indian ocean. His
feet numerically and in armament is
equal to that of Togo. If he should
destroy the latter. Japan. cut off from
her home base. would have to sue for
immediate peace. 1t is on that desper-
ate throw that the prestige of the Rus
sian empire seems to hang-with the
battles off Port Arthur -gon. :.
tory. a meager hope indeed!