Los Angeles herald., 1905-06-03
THREW WOUNDED
MEN OVERHEARD
OTHERS REPORTED FASTENED
TO THE MAST
BRUTAL STORY TOLD OF 0REL
Tale In Circulation That the MortalIy
Injured Were Cast Into the Sea
to stfIe Their Distract
Ing Cries
BRUTAL STORY TOLD OF 0REL
BY Associated Press.

BY Associated Press.
TOXIC, June 2.-It has been planned
to bring the battleship Orel to Yoko-
suka, where the emperor will visit her.
A horrible story is in circulation con-
cerning the wounded on the Orel It'll
is said that at the opening of the fight
300 men were killed and wounded, and
that the groans and shrieks of the
wounded exercised so harmful an effect
that 1t was decided to throw the NOR
tally wounded into the sea-
One hundred and forty, it is said
were thrown overheard. Those slight
ly wounded were then fastened to the
mast to prevent their interference with
the fighting of the ship.
1t is impossible to obtain any con-
firmation of this story, but later re-
ports indicate that the crew of the
Orel fought with desperate bravery
throughout the day previous to their
surrender. The hull of the vessel is
shell-marked and many of her guns
are smashed and dismounted.
Analyses Recent Battle
sky's defeat have been the subject of
general discussion here. One Japanese
expert gives the following analysis:
First, an imperfect reconnaissance
and incomplete faulty and misleading
intelligence Second, an imperfect bat
tie formation, which indicated that
Rojestvensly did not expect to meet
Togo off Tsushima. Third, the weather,
the direction of the wind and the sun
light were unfavorable to the Russians,
Togo having the sun behind him and
firing with the wind while the Rus
slams had the sunlight in their ey IS
and fired against the wind. Fourth,
the Russians wasted their ammunition
and eventually ran short, the surrender
of Nebogatoff being believed to have
been necessary because his ammuni-
ton had been exhausted. Fifth, the
merry"
Some experts criticise Rojestvensky
for essaying the Tsushima channel.
Others uphold him, saying that his
only chance lay in going through that
channel. The impression prevails that
Rojestvensky was totally unaware of
the presence of Togo's entire fleet off
Tsushima. Many believe that it was
necessary for Togo to take a station at
a pivotal point, from which it would
be possible to intercept the Russians
entering either Tsushima, Tsugaru or
Soya channels. Calculations placed
this pivotal point on the west coast,
rear the western entrance of the Tsu-
garu channel. Togo's real whereabouts
were known to many Japanese, but the
secret was successfully guarded, an
other example of the willingness and
ability of the Japanese to preserve
military secrets.
The Man Behind the Gun
Leaving aside the question of prepar-
edness and superior conditions, the su-
periority of the personnel, fresh from
fifteen months successful campaigning
under all possible conditions, must be
taken into consideration. Many
ascrbe the victory entirely to the su-
perior craftsmanship of the Japanese.
Togo, realizing Fhat it would probably
be necessary to fight in the open sea-,
gave his crews long training in firing
during rough weather, with heavy
wind blowing and the ships rolling
When the hostile fleets met, the SUI
reriority Of the japanese Immediately
became evident. The sinking of bat
teships and armored cruisers by shell
fire testifes to the deadly accuracy of
the Japanese guns, and destroys the
theory that it is impossible to sink
such ships by shell fire.
The attitude of Japanese naval men
toward the victory is curious. Togo's
message to the emperor saying that the
victory was the result of theNenIperor's
superhuman influence strikes the key
note of the navy's attitude. The offi-
GERS openly say that the marvellous
result obtained was impossible by mere
human achievement alone.