The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-03-15
BOTH RESTING.
Fighting Has About Ceased in
Vicinity of Mukden.
Russians in Doubt About Oya-
mas Future Movements.
BATTLE OF MUKDEN.
Story of the Big Fight and How
1t Started.
Japanese Began General Attack
February "a.
BATTLE OF MUKDEN.

Tie Pass March 15.-As after the
battle of Lao Yang. the advance OF
the japanese army against the new
positions of the Russians at Tie pass
is very slow. The leading columns are
! eight or ten miles southwark. and in
touch with the Russian van posts, but
the operations at present are not seri-
Gus. Field Marshal Oyama shows
vantage in an immediate attack on Tie
pass.
It is possible, however, that a wide
turning movement, of which reports
are current, is in progress. In such
operations the Japanese have the i'm
mense advantage of several bases and
lines of supplies to which is now
added the Sinmintin road, while the
Russian army necessarily is dependent
on one base and one line of communi-
cation and therefore may easily be
outfianked.
The struggle for. the possession of
Mukden cost both sides close upon
100000 men. The Russian loss of Of
fcers includes a large proportion of
regimental commanders and field Of
fcers.
All the newspaper correspondents,
with the exception of three or four
have left for the north, because there
is here nowhere to live and nothing
to eat. Many of the Russian officers
are in a surly mood and much of their
grudgingly given information is color
ed with jealousy and the rampant
spirit of cabal. 1t is, however, posi-
DE now to give general view of the
battle, the connected story emerging
out of the confusion incident to the
evacuation of Mukden and the forced
retreat to Tie pass
The Battle of 8Iukden.
On February "a all was ready for an
attack on the westward. Various por-
lions of the army had been disposed for
an advance on the right flank. Sudden
~, in the evening of that day, the order
to advance was Cancelled and a second
order was given for the transfer of
General Rennenkampff's first Siberian
corps and several other organizations to
the left flank, which was being pressed
heavily by large force of Japanese.
From that time forward the Japanese,
who were well informed as to all the
Russian movements, began heavy at
tacks along the whole front
The Russians generally held their
ground, doing well until February %,
when an unexpected attack developed
in the southwest, before which the Rus
sian right, weakened by the withdrawal
of almost two corps, yielded.
BY March I it became evident that
the Japanese were moving around the
Russian right in five heavy columns,
and it became imperative to withdraw
the thin line from the southwest and
form new line from the bridge across
the Shake river, parallel with the rail-
way. The change of front was accom-
plished with remarkable celebrity, but
the various organizations became badly
mixed.
The Russians on March occupied
their former positions on the Shakhe
river as far as the bridge thence to
Madyapu, on the Hun river, and thence
parallel with the railway, six miles dis
tant, the right resting on the Sinmintin
road. The Japanese on March begin
ming to turn even this position with a.
view of cutting off the retreat, the Rus
sian right was extended eastward from
the Sinmintin road to the railway.
On March both sides began most
offensive operations, the Japa-
nese attacking with energy the forces
of General TSerpitSky, which were hold
ing the position from Madyapu as far
as the heights east of Mukden station,
while the Russians under General Germ
gross assumed an attack in the direc-
ton of Tatchekiao, and on the north
ern front General Daunitz's command
beat back all the attacks On the whole
the outcome of the fighting on March z
was favorable to the Russians, who re-
pulsed several attacks on their southern
front and assumed the offensive on the
left where General Linevitch's army,
occupying eastern hill positions, repuls-
ed numerous attacks and took several
hundred prisoners and several machine
guns.
Withdrawal From the Shakhe.
The continued extension, however. of
the Japanese lines northward and the
which their superiority in
numbers enabled them to effect against
the northern and northwestern fronts,
rendered advisable a contraction of the