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

1Hen kui"ki asked NolZu If he had
noticed aily weakening on his front.
Nodzu Sad lie would investigate, and
nc ulG, Win the result that soon his sol
dlers We're IN the trenches which they
had raced all winter. Maybe the First
and Fourth armies were not happy by
this tiIre, from generals down to trans
pOrters! Limb; numl,cd by cold might
at last ST -. themselves in action.
When You haze not made a mile for
-four r2Aihs and the road Is suddenly
clearC,i soldiers neei no urging to the
pursuit.
K~uropatkin's Last Chance.
But the battle was scarcely won yet.
Nogi was not out Of danger. As hard
and harder fighting was to come AZ had
passed. The First army did not catch
up with the Russian rear guard until
they were ten miles beyond the Shakhe
on the 9Th. Thus far they had marched
their columns away from Kuroki and
Nodzu as unlmpedcd as il they were
coming home to barrack Utter
vers. The pursuers had yet to cross the
Hun river. That was the natural Sec
ond line Of defense for the Russian left.
A part Of the First army reached the
Hun on the 9Th. 1t was still frozen on
the 9th. when both Nodzu and Kuroki
were altogether up with 1t, and Kuroki
had a portion of his command across
The Russians did not make a strong
stand here.
The release Of all the reserves on the
Russian left meant more troops to
press the Japanese left. On the 9th
Oku found himself in the face Of in
trenchel positions which he could not
bulge. At this point, now SO clearly
critical. the Russians poured out blood
as If 1t We're water. Farther north
they attacked Nogi in masses with
fendish desperation. He had one bri-
gade aMliAi.a;cl. In one regiment Of
that brigade. l am told. but Il single
officer WAS alive and unwounded. Still.
on the wilo'c. Nogi did not give ground.
But could he stand such another onset
Gil the 10i'l: Certainly he could not ad-
vance Ia face OF ~
That night of the 9th was the crisis
OF tie battle. Fortunately Oyama's
co,nnuni, HtionS with his corps had not
been interrupted. He knew precisely
what w.i SONG on Y G the hundred
niles lcng-A OF his Inc.
The pat o. Tic japanese right and
japanese LETT We're now intcrchanyed.
Noyi had 10 resist TIC cn.:ly'S ham
mcring while Kuroki swung to the
northwest. The time had como when
the right must break through ana
threaten the railroad on its own &C.
count. With the Imperial guards to
protect his flank. Nodzu on the night
Of the 9th crossed the Hun and dashed
forward. Morning found him we'll to
the north Of Muklen. There was hard,
grim fighting In the dark. Kuroki's
other two divisions also Kept III. The
guards Were temporarily checked, but
pressed on at daylight. That did the
business.
But first another word about the
First army. Two Of the divisions were
Of the 10th. They We're Eot!y engaged.
At the same time Il sanu storm had cut
all divisional communications. The Gi-
vision attached to Nodzu was we'll SOP.
arated from its mates. A staff Oh ~.
vas hurried forward to it. without
knowing the situation of the other tw,.
he brought up all the available re-
serves to the assistance Of the isolated
division. which was able to dash ahead
and catch the thick of the retreat un-
der It's guns.
With victory in the air the other two
divisions were not to be denied. They
made their crossing good. From that
time onward no critic could have spo-
ken Of the Japanese pursuit us slow.
Kawamura's Yalu army was too far to
the east to be brought to bear OH the
line Of Russian retreat. Kuroki's men,
heavily equipped, kept on for sixty
miles With scarcely any sleep.
The plan Of concentration for n dash
had succeeded as it has 50 often for
the Japanese. Could Kuropatkin have
kept Kuroki and Nodzu back another
t%wenty-four hours, gradually drawing
In his center while he held Nogi on his
right, hts army might have got away
without anything approaching the loss
In prisoners that he sustained. With
Nodzu north OF Mukden his center was
in the neck Of a bottle. The Russians
dled north in columns along the rail-
road as fast as they could, with trans
portation blocking the way. There was
no safety for them until they should
get past Tiehling. Without waiting, on
q studied az .,roach n OF Kuroki's a.
visions took the pass at the cost Of a
thousand casualties. That was not In
the plan as n part Of Kuroki's work.
But the wire to grand headquarters
was down now for the first time. He
could not wait on permission. He saw
the thing to Go was to take the pass,
and he took 1t.
The Trap Closed
But before this the regiments of Ku-
rok and Nogt and Nodzu and Oku had
dovetailed In crossing the railroad.