THE WAR IN THE FAR EAST.

Evening Star, Issue 12163, 6 April 1904, Page 6

THE WAR IN THE FAR EAST.

NO FIGHTING TILL JUNE. RUSSIA TAKES NO CHANGES. 220,000 RUSSIANS IN MANCHURIA. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. JAPS MARCHING ON YONGAMPHO. RUSSIA AND THE BANDITS. THE LAKE BAIKAL ROUTE. LONDON, April 5. (Received April 6, at 7.44 a.m.) A Seoul telegram states that 10,000 Japanese are marching on Yongampho. Russia is offering tempting bribes to the Manchurian bandits to serve against Japan. Prince KhEkop, interviewed by the 1 Standard’s ’ correspondent, declares that he is I confident that the railway round Lake Baikal will be completed in August. He does ! not expect any important fighting before June 20, since General Kouropatkin intends to take no chances. RUSSIA’S EXTENDED POSITION. LONDON, April 5. Russia holds positions extending seventy miles from Antung to the mouth of the 1 Hiunkiang River. THE RUSSIAN STRENGTH. LONDON, April 5. A Chinese general at Fengcheng estimates that there are 220,000 Russians in Manchuria. ON THE YALU. LONDON, April 5. Five hundred Cossacks occnpied Unsan, forty miles north of Anju, forestalling the Japanese, who were advancing from Chongju. Reuter’s Shanghai correspondent states that Japanese scouts entered Wiju on the 4th. The Russians have apparently retreated beyond the Yalu. i A LETTER FROM THE FRONT. LONDON, April 5. (Received April 6, at 7.48 a.m.) | A sailor aboard the Petropavlovsk, in a j letter to friends at home, states that tho vessel was severely damaged in cue of the Port Arthur actions. WATCHING FOR CONTRABAND. LONDON, April 5. (Received April 6, at 7.44 a.m. I The volunteer cruisers Smolensk and Orel have been ordered to prepare for work outside thfe Black Sea. It is supposed that they arc instructed to intercept merchantmen carrying contraband to Japan. j GUESSES AT JAPAN’S PLANS. I LONDON, April 5. I Japanese accounts state that 260,000 Japanese troops are in motion, leaving 60.000 in garrisons. It is believed that Japan intends to operate three armies of 100.000 each—the first in North-western Corea, the second at the mouth of the Yalu, and the third east of Niuchwang, co-operat-ing in a turning movement against the main Russian position. The general thaw which has set in renders an immediate extension of operations impossible. • AT PORT ARTHUR. ; " EVERYTHING HUGELY SATISFAC- , ' TORY.” LONDON, April 5. ; Prince Alexeieff inspected Pert Arthur, i and considered everything hugely satisfac--1 tory. The damage done is insignificant, I He returns to Mukden. | Chefoo reports that Port Arthur was i again bombarded on Sunday. | " 1 A RUSSIAN TRANSPORT CAPTURED. LONDON, April 5. j Two Japanese cruisers captured a Rusi sian transport flying Chinese colors and carrying a cargo of tinned meat for Vladivostock. FRANCE AND THE EAST. PARIS, April 5. (Received April 6, at 7.48 am.) France is sending two of the Naiade class of submarines to Tonquin and Saigon. j JAPAN’S FORWARD MOVE, i MANY HITS AND QUICK REPAIRS. LONDON. April 5. (Received April 6, at 9.49 am.) Japan’s frontal base is at Arm. Bridges have been laid across the Chancbung and Pakchung Rivers. The advance on the Yalu j >s preparing by three roads. Advices received in St, Petersburg state (hat though the Boyarin in a recent fight was struck seventy times, she is rapidly being repaired. NOTES ON THE WAR. [Bt Kasuoa.] —The War Correspondents,— Tho packing off of the war correspondents to Corea by the Japanese authorities was a good idea. It will keep these gentlemen occupied with tho comparatively unimportant fighting at the Yalu, while the second and third Japanese mobilisations are going forward at Sbimonoseki, Naga- | said, and other ports on the western sea front; perhaps, also, at Hakodate, in Tezzo. Lord Kitchener’s methods with tho war correspondents in South Africa during January and February. 1300, excited the | attention of even tire German military publications, most of these prairing the chief of the general staff for tho able manner in which he managed to keep the Com-mander-in-Chiefs intentions a profound secret. The net result of Lord Kitchener’s dealings with and policy towards the pressmen was a great deal of talk about Stormberg, Arundel, Colesberg, Natal, etc., and not a whisper as to anything of real importanceL Then came the movement on the late Free State —a surprise to everybody, including Cronje. If during those nervous days Lord Kitchener had bundled every war correspondent away to Natal to see (he fighting at the Tugela, that, to my mind, would nave been much the same thing as what the Japanese authorities are doing now. In a week or two, or perhaps earlier, we shall' find ourselves in possession of a great deal of information about the Yalu, and then some fine day (perhaps not for months yet) everybody, including the war correspondents, will awaken to tiia fact that the main blow is being delivered somewhere else—that is, either from the Liaotung Gulf or from some suitable spot on the Manchurian coast, between, Bay, Qensan and Yladlvostock, or even north of the latter place.

—The Second and Third Mobilisations.— Coming to pure strategy, untrammelled by local difficulties, it can easily be seen by ts&strsace to the map that an exact counterpart of the famous march of Lord Roberta would, in the present war, be furnished by a Japanese march inland from Possdet Bay or some other landing place in the neighborhood. Early in the war we were informed of a Japanese landing at Possfct Bay, but as nothing more was heard of it we are justified in putting ft down aa a myth. He only other news that (jj» Jhawe-received from., o£ tho

theatre of war was a story- of a whale ■ulrich had been blown up through contact with a submarine nunc. The procedure, and perhaps the story, may be set down, as very like a whale ” indeed.

—Suddenness in Strategy.— It is evident that if the Japanese make any movement in this direction that its success will depend on its suddenness. The chances of its being carried out with the necessary celerity could not be calculated without a minute knowledge of the terrain. It seems to be the case that larch forests and other woods abound in that part of the country, and I am informed by a competent military authority that a wood, offering as it decs facilities for a long resistance by small forces, is on the whole an, effective military obstacle. It should also be noted that it ia impossible to say how the Japanese .are going to move strategically until we know better how they are going to get on tactically—that is to raj’, it is necessary to see how they fight before it can be said -where they will march. The affair at Chongju seems to have been an amateurish performance on both sides, the ranges, apparently, varying from 509 yds to pointblank. —The New- Field Artillery.— It must also be remembered that both sides are talcing an experimental artillery into the field, and each commander appears to be quite sure that his guns are ever so much better than, "the other fellow’s.” As far as can be ascertained, it would seem that expert opinion favors the idea that the Russian q.f. field gun is superior to the Arisaka pattern, both in length of range and in rapidity of fire. Against this however, may bo set the fact that q.f. guns eat ammunition at a great rate, and possibly the execution of the Russian artillerists may be limited by the paucity of tho supply. This brings us back again to the question of the potentialities of the Siberian Railway—a matter still in the region of the speculative. These few comparatively minor matters are mentioned to show how difficult it is to calculate strategic movements at this distance. The equation cannot be worked out because so many of the quantities are indeterminate.

—‘The Best Move on the Board.— This ranch, however, can be said: The movement from the Manchurian coast, as one of several possible movements, is the best of the lot, provided that the Japanese are able to move rapidly when they do hind. Rapidity of movement, however, depends on the quantity and quality of the resistance encountered, and the resistance in the north is likely to be less in proportion as the fighting in the south grows hot. It, is this circumstance which gives to the Japanese operations at the Yalu any importance which they may possess. Viewed in themselves as a mere fight for tho possession of the line of tho river, they have no importance whatever. —The Outposts at the 'Yalu.—

Along tlie line of the river the outposts are no -v m touch, and more skirmishes after tne pattern of the Chongju engagement may be looked for shortly. It is probable that there are no large bodies of Russians on the Corean side of the Valu, as it is dangerous to manteuvre or fight with a snow-fed river —or any other river, for that matter—in the immediate rear. A good deal' of the cabled Biattcr relative to the minor positions along the river is still evidently guesswork.' The Japanese left is supposed to be near Wiju ——i.e., at Paksan—and their right at Kang-ge. Between these two points and with a rapidly-rising river behind them, certain Russian troops are supposed to be entrenching at Unsan ' It is an ill-chosen position, to say the least of it. ‘ The Timss’s ’ correspondent, after visiting one (?) of the Japanese bases, reports that “ Commander Kurosld s army corps have secured strategic positions, enabling it to force tho passage of the Yam at will, but he is waiting de\elopments of the second mobilisation before striking decisively. Meanwhile the outposts are constantly in touch aloim tha line. This is no doubt all verj- true, but the awkward thing is that when two armies are m touch the initiative docs not rest entirely with cither commander, and <wneral actions beginning with small affairs on tho outpost fine are not always to be avoided. Commander Kuroeki may perhaps b° disposed to sit still, but what if the oppcaim commander takes a notion to force his hand? In {he meantime all movements except naval ones are conditioned bv the weather. The coast as far north as Vladivostock ought to be almost ice-free now but the mam portion of the theatre of war may not be fit for extensive movements for six weeks or two months yet. We mav hewever, expect that something further will happen at Port Arthur vejrv shortly.