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Russia's
Baltic
Flert.

North
Sea

Incident.

Costly Russian Dispatch.

Operations about

As the Japanese blockade was very rigid Russian ships seldom succeeded in running it.

The Russian Baltic fleet under Admiral Rojestvensky finally started on its long journey to the Far East, sailing from Libau on October 16, 1904. This fleet consisted of seven battleships, six large cruisers, eight tcrpedo-boat destroyers and several transports, the whole fleet numbering more than thirty ships. While in the North Sea this Russian fleet attacked a number of British fishing boats, under the pretense that they were supposed to be Japanese torpedo-boats-an incident which threatened complications between Russia and Great Britain, as the latter demanded reparation for the outrage. After much diplomacy Russia made a due apology to Great Britain, and the question of damages was submitted to the arbitration of an international commission, in accordance with the provisions of The Hague Peace Conference. The Russian Baltic fleet left Vigo, Spain, on November 1, 1904, on its journey to the Orient, part of the fleet going by way of the Suez Canal and the remainder around the Cape of Good Hope. On November 16th the second division of this fleet, consisting of four cruisers, two auxiliary cruisers and five torpedo-boat destroyers, left Libau, on its way to the Far East. These Russian ships stopped only at French ports to coal.

The Russian torpedo-boat destroyer Ratstoropony entered the Chinese port of Chefoo on November 16, 1904. As a message from General Stoessel at Port Arthur was sent to the Chinese Emperor, it was believed that the message was brought by the vessel and was considered sufficiently important to risk the safety of the vessel in the effort to get it into the Chinese Emperor's possession. To prevent the capture of the vessel by the Japanese it was blown up.

After the great battle of Sahke, October 9-21, 1904, both armies strengthened their positions and reinforced their ranks, the Japanese Moukden. having over sixty thousand reinforcements. The Japanese threw up some intrenchments, in some cases preparing two lines of these. In some parts of their respective lines the two armies were so near each other that both occupied the same villages and obtained water from the same springs. There were some heavy artillery duels and some spirited actions among advanced outposts, but there was no regular battle for some weeks, the weather being unfavorable for active military operations, both sides closely watching each other. Lone Tree Hill, often occupied by both armies, finally remained with the Russians. On November 10th the Japanese assumed the offensive on the left bank of the Hun river, but were driven back to their original lines. The next day they made a vigorous artillery assault, but made no advance. The Russian line extended eighty miles. On October 25th an imperial ukase

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed]

DATION

was issued at St. Petersburg making General Kuropatkin commanderin-chief of all the Russian armies in the Far East. Alexieff remained Viceroy, but was ordered to St. Petersburg immediately. In the last week of November Field-Marshal Oyama moved on the Russian center in an effort to move around the left flank of Kuropatkin's army. For a week there was much desultory fighting without any result. On December 12th the Japanese made some attacks, but the two armies were recuperating for the most part and preparing for winter quarters, the weather conditions being unfavorable for military operations. A high Russian officer expressed the following opinion concerning the Japanese:

“The Japanese army is unique in military history and probably the strongest in the world of its size, combining the strength of barbarism with civilization, drawing from the former fanatical bravery and scorn of death and from the latter the latest knowledge of the science of war. We have been fighting them under heavy handicaps, but have at last definitely stopped them. They have missed the psychological moment. They should now be at Harbin with Vladivostok and the East literally cut off and de facto theirs instead of wintering where they are. The cold is Russia's ally now as it was against Napoleon. The Japanese cannot endure extreme cold like the Russians. They are not strong enough to attempt to take Moukden now and will not be even if Port Arthur falls and seventy thousand reinforcements are sent up to join Field-Marshal Oyama. In the meantime Russian troops are piling up behind Moukden. In February, before the port of Niu-Chwang is icefree, General Kuropatkin will have close upon half a million men disposed in three armies amply sufficient to turn Oyama's position at the Sahke river and force the Japanese back into Korea and the Liao-tung peninsula."

Russian
Opinion

of the Japanese.

Capture portant

an Im

Fort at
Port

On November 21 and 26, 1904, the Japanese army under General Japanese Nogi again assailed Port Arthur, but was repulsed each time. On November 27th the Japanese gained a great advantage by the capture of 203-Meter Hill, one of the high points from which the heavy cannon can reach the town and the harbor. Both sides fought desperately Arthur. for the possession of this hill. After heavy and concentrated bombardments, the Japanese made four charges between three and four o'clock, succeeding in the last charge in dislodging the Russians; but during the night the Russians made three counter attacks and drove out the Japanese forces. At dawn the next morning the Japanese renewed the attack; and at eight o'clock in the evening, November 28, 1904, after a series of rushes and counter rushes, advances and repulses, the Japanese again occupied the fort. Finally, at noon, on December 1, 1904, the Russians gave up their attacks on this hill and retired to inner

Russian
Fleet

positions. The losses were heavy on both sides; and on December 2d an armistice was agreed upon by both sides for the burial of the dead and the removal of the wounded, the armistice lasting six hours, from ten in the morning until four in the afternoon.

The Japanese mounted heavy naval guns on 203-Meter Hill, and on again DeDecember 9th they kept up a heavy bombardment on the Russian warstroyed. ships in Port Arthur harbor. Previously the Russian ships had found shelter from the Japanese fire behind Pei-Ya Mountain, but now they were able to do so no longer, and by December 12th the Japanese commander reported that the bombardment of the harbor was necessary no longer, as all the Russian warships there were disabled completely. The Russian battleship Sevastopol was moved into the outer harbor and was often attacked by the Japanese torpedo-boats outside, being rendered practically useless.

Siege

and Fall

of Port

Arthur.

Finally, after a siege of about eleven months and many desperate assaults, Port Arthur fell into the possession of the Japanese at the opening of the year 1905. This siege was one of the most famous in the world's history. The fortress was invested by the Japanese from the day of their capture of Nan-Shan Hill on May 26, 1904. The engineering operations began on August 3, 1904, four days after the capture of Wolf Hills by the Japanese. A British military expert had written during the siege: "On one hand is Japanese energy, on the other there is Russian stubbornness. We shall see which will prevail." The Japanese operations against Port Arthur began with the first day of the war, when the Japanese seriously damaged three Russian war vessels there. The various assaults and naval engagements during the siege have been alluded to. The final operations, which resulted in the reduction of the beleaguered port, were the capture of the forts on KeeWan Mountain and finally the capture of the great Ehr-Lung Fort by the Japanese by the heavy cannon which they mounted in commanding positions by December 30, 1904. The Russians still had twenty-five forts, comprising most of the permanent interior defenses; but the later positions captured by the Japanese rendered further resistance useless. Accordingly, on Sunday afternoon, New Year's day, 1905, General Stoessel, the Russian commandant, sent a communication to General Nogi, the Japanese commander, proposing negotiations for a capitulation of the fortress. Commissioners were appointed by the two generals, and by 4:30 in the morning of January 2d the terms were agreed upon. In the meantime General Nogi had received a dispatch from the Mikado saying that General Stoessel had rendered " commendable service to his country in the midst of difficulties," and ordering that "full honors be paid him." The Mikado's magnanimous action in this instance facilitated negotiations, and all the terms offered by the Japanese were

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