Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-30
OKU SUCCEEDS KODAMA
APPOINTED CHIEF OF GENERAL
STAFF 4 TOXIC.

Special Cabiesram to The Star.
TOXIC. July 30-I,aron Oku was appoint
ed chief of the general star today to sue
coed viscount Kodoma, who died on July
q
Gen. Baron Hokaku belongs to a little
group Of four or ns'e great Japanese mill
tary commanders, who. while little known
In America. are as celebrated In the orient
as were Wellington. Marshal Ney and
Butcher In Europe. He - Samurai or
knight Of the Otta clan OF the famous west
ern province of Satsuma, noted for its an
cient military cast and for the great NUM-
Der of military and naval leaders 1t has
produced.
He won his title Of baron for distinguished
services in the war against China twelve
years ago. when he commanded the fifth
division of sta1wart mountain boys from
Hiroshima, the division which afterward.
under Oku's brother, Gen. Noszu, pounded
Kuropatkin so effectively.
Gen. Oku is sixty-two years old. After
receiving collegiate education he entered
the army at the age of twenty-seveu. and
in 1877 when major. he found himself In
command of the emperor's forces In Kama
motto castle in southern Japan, during the
Satsuma rebellion After being nearly
starved ne leu u uSSpeTdtc SOftier tut
way through the rebels and Joined the Inn
perial relieving corps For this act OF vaior
he was promoted and decorated
After the declaration of war against
Russia In 1904 Japan hurled four great
armies against the enemy in Manchuria:
One of these. under General Nogf, besieged
and took Port Arthur. OF the other three,
which repeatedly engaged Kuropatkin to
the north, Oku commanded the one which
landed near Dalny and swept up the Lao
Tung peninsula. Another which landed IN
Korea, cleared the enemy from the faiu
river and united with Oku at Lao Yang,
was commended by Gen, Tamemoto kuro-
X, where desperate attempt to flank Kuro-
patkin forced the Russians back on Muk-
den, but failed to bag the enemy. The
fourth commander was Gen. Michitsura
Nodzu, hero of the China war. who
swung his army nofthward from Taku-
sham west of the Yalu.
These four generals operated In harmony
under the direction of Field Marshal Mar
ouis Oyana and his great chief OF staff.
Gen. Baron Kodama, who superseded him
as supreme head of the army on April !
OF this year and whose death last week
made way for the promotion of Gen. Oku
to the head of the general staff
Gen Oku, before the arrival .sef Oyama
and Kodama, operating alone, won a series
of half a dozen brilliant victories, be-
ginning with the bloody battle of Nanshan
Hill. steadily beating Kuropatkin back for
$50 miles, until joined by the other three
armies. He never lost fight. At Nashan.
KaiptDg, TehltSz, TaShiach0u ana Halchlng
he whipped the Russians out of the
trenches.
Oku's army consisted Of nearly $4,000 men
In three divisions. one commanded by Lieut.
Gen. Prince Fushimi, whose value to the
army consisted chiefly In the enthusiasm in
spired by the fact that he was related to
the "Son of Heaven, the n,ikado, for
whom every soldier was eager to lay down
his life. Oku's two other subordinate gem
erals were Ogawa, the great TANKER and
Oshima noted for the fury of his frontal
attacks. and who had won his spurs as the,
hero Of Ping-Yang. in the Chinese war.
The writer interviewed Gen. Oku before
and during the seven days battle of the
Lao Yang. Surrounded by his staff. he di-
rected the assaults Of his army by teie-
phone from a hilltop three miles back OF
the firing line On the same hill were Field
Marshall Oyama and Gen. Kodama, the
greatest Of modern strategists: Prince
Nashimoto and an array Of staff officers.
-Oku Is one Of the talfest and most soldier
ly-looking of the japanese generals He Is
spare with large nose. lean leathery face,
swarthy and stern. He has the eyes OF the
idealist, set wide apart, the look OF deep
thinker and the uncompromising brow OF
the martinez