PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 62, 10 September 1904, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Day by day, and little by little, details ot the scries of battles that have been fought around Liaoyang during the last fortnight are coming to hand, yet it will probably be long before the full extent of the Russian disaster is thoroughly known. The heavy losses sustained by the contending armies, estimated by St. Petersburg at sixty-five thousand men, show that Liaoyang was regarded as the key of the position in Manchuria, and it is clear that its capture by the Japanese makes a prolonged defence of Port Arthur hopeless. It would appear that the strategy of tho Japanese generals, which aimed at cutting off Kuropatkin's army from its base and shutting him up in Liaoyang, has not been entirely successful, Kuroki's attempt to capture the railway having been delayed by the strenuous opposition of tho Tsnr's troops, whole battalions of which were annihilated. The time gained by their resistance, however, enabled the bulk of their cojnrades to m<|ke good their escape north. We are told from an Italian source— -whioh has usually proved well-informed — that the Russians abandoned ninety-seven guns and thouswnds of rifles in their retreat, tho fact of mnny of tho guns being unspiked, indicating the demoralisation of the hoops. Of the terrible sufferings of the Russian soldiers some idea may bo gathered from the report that even generals lived for days on mouldy' bread, blown tinned meats, and filthy water teeming with v«rmin. No record of Russian losses by sickness is available, , but it is conceivable that the mortality through disease, in the hot season of a country whore nlagno and cholera are perennial, is hardly less than that from the Japanese birilets and shells. Kurouatkin is stated to have halted "near Mukdon," but whether north of that place, or whether he is on tho south and is considering the ad-visable-ness of defending it, we aro not told. His rearguard was still, at latest advices, toiling through the miry roads seventeen miles south of the Manchurian capital. Tho prospect of its defence is gonerafly regarded as small. With the quickness and adaptability which hsivo throughout distinguished the Japanese leaders, their plans havo. bcon altorod to meet tho now conditions, and we are told that Kuroki is marching northward on a line twenty-seven miles east of and parallel with the railway, while Oko's army is advancing in a similar direction twenty miles west of it. At tho proper moment, under tho direction of the guiding spirit directing the Japanese operations, these two armies may be expected to unito, and either ondoavour to flead off Kuropatkin's army from its northern base, or, failing that, to attack tho retreating forces in dotail. It may be taken for granted that the railway in their rear will be speodrly ropairod, and made available for bringing up supplies and ammunition. • . At Port Arthur tho Russians would seem to havo gamed some successes ovor the bosiegers by the explosion of mines, though the statement that seven hundred Japanese were blown up in one of theso disasters must bo accepted with reserve. It comes from the Noyi Krai, tho only newspaper printed in Port Arthur, and was perhaps intended to put spirit into the garrison, which is roportod to be much disheartened. Desertions aro said to be increasing, and operations for clearing rainos from the harbour entranco havo coased, 'which sooms to indicate that hope of saving the 'omaining warships has been abandoned. On tho Vladivostock side Japanese ships aro said to have oombarded the town of Korsakovsk, and to havo torpedoed tho stranded cruiser Novik, the gallant handling of which since tho outbreak of the war called forth eulogies even from the Japanese.