The War in the Far East

Evening Star, Issue 12257, 26 July 1904, Page 6

The War in the Far East

NIU-CHWANG ABANDONED RUSSIANS FIRE THE TOWN j JAPAN LANDS TROOPS. | PORT ARTHUR EXPECTANT SORTIE HOURLY LOOKED FOR. j VLADIVOSTOCK SQUADRON DESTROY SHIPPING. < RUSSIA RAIDS THE SEA. ! Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. FIVE DAYS OF FIGHTING. NEARING NIU-CHWANG. LONDON, July 25. General Kuropatkin reports that Colonel Tysbulsky on the 17th attacked but failed i to seize tho Syberling Pass, sustaining 239 I casualties. On the 19th inst. the Japanese drove a 1 battalion of, infantry and 1,000 cavalry | across the Lai-se River. Seventeen Japanese were wounded. As a result of five days’ fighting, the Russians have lost the best defensive positions on the Liao-yang-Mukden road. In a battle on Saturday at Tah-sui-tong, six miles from Niu-chwang, the Russians lost 700.' The Japanese continue to advance on Niu-chwang. j Residents at Niu-chwang watch from the housetops tho slow advance of the Japan- . esc, which is stubbornly contested. THE JAPANESE ADVANCE. THE RUSSIANS FALL BACK. LONDON, July 25. The Chinese report that General Knropatkin has 40,000 troops at Liao-yang, and another large force at Hai-cheng. ‘The Times’ says it is evident that the Japanese are engaged in a general advance all along the line. The Russians axe falling back everywhere. RUSSIANS FLEE THE TOWN. JAPS TAKING POSSESSION. ! LONDON, July 25. (Pveceived July 26, at 8.55 a.m.) The Russian civil authorities have left Niu-chwang, and the destruction of Government property by their orders has commenced. The railway station is now in flames. The ‘Novosti's’ (St. Petersburg) Liaoyang correspondent telegraphs that eight Japanes3 cruisers, convoying a number of transports, reached Yang-how (the port of Niu-chwang) on the 20th. OFF PORT ARTHUR. LONDON, July 25. (Received July 26, at 8.55 a.m.) The entrance io Port Arthur is now clear, except for mines, which are nightly laid. A sortie is hourly expected. THE VLADIVOSTOCK SQUADRON BUSY. LONDON, July 25. After torpedoing a merchantman, supposed to be the Haigo Maru, southward of Irrasake, the Vladivostock squadron on Sunday morning steered west. It is believed at Tokio that Admiral SkrydlofTs object is to interrupt thcAmeri-can-Japanose trade. Several heavily-laden steamers nearly due are in serious danger. A BRITISH STEAMER SUNK. A GERMAN VESSEL CAPTURED. LONDON, July 25. (Received July 26, at 8.55 a.m.) The Vladivostock squadron, when off • Idzu, at the entrance to the hay of Tokio, sank the British steamer Knight Commander, bound from New York to Yokohama with a general cargo, and also captured a German vessel, behoved to be the Arabia, with 3,000 tons of flour. THE CZAR’S COUNCIL. FOREIGN SHIPPING NOT TO BE TOUCHED. LONDON, July 25. Tho Council of the Czar’s leading Advisers, including the . Grand Dukes Alexis and Alexander, Admiral Avellan, and Count Lamsdorff, have decided that for the present the statue of the volunteer fleet is not sufficiently defined, according to international law to render further searches and seizures advisable. The vessels have accordingly been instructed to refrain from interfering . with, foreign., jhjpphgf- . It hj

expected that they -will join the Baltic fleet, and be replaced by -warships. | THE GERMANS ROUSED. I BERLIN, July 25. 1 The ’ Arbiter Zeitung ’ -declares that Russian mendacity and brutality are a danger to Europe. Only where the rouble circulates would it be denied that right was on the side of England. The ‘Die Zcitang’ says that the Malacca , incident has revealed the deep chasm bej tween the character and views of Russia and those of Western Europe. The ‘ Yorwaerts ’ asks how long Germany will grovel before Russia. | The ‘ Neueste Nachrichten ’ declares that tho Scandia’s seizure was a monstrous affront. The Scandia was released on ■ Sunday evening. DOMVILE ON THE WATCH. LONDON, July 25. The destination of the Malacca is supposed to he Algiers or. Crete. Admiral Domvile has stationed warships in the Mediterranean, maintaining wireless communication between the fleet and Malta. j ANOTHER PRIZE. I LONDON, July 25. j (Received July 26, at 8.55 a.xn.) The steamer Ardova has reached Suez under a prize crew. She is lying close to the H.ML cruiser Venus. FIVE CRUISER STEAMERS. UNDER SEALED ORDERS. LONDON, July 25. i Router's Berlin correspondent states that ' the North German Lloyd’s steamer Maria Teresa and four Hamburg-American liners, purchased by Russia and afterwards equipped as cruisers, left Li ban under sealed orders armed. ANOTHER STOPPAGE. LONDON, July 25. The St. Petersburg stopped the Peninsular and Oriental Company’s outwardbound steamer Ceylon in the ‘Red Sea, but allowed her to proceed. MEDDLESOME OOREANS. HOW JAPAN IS THANKED. \ t LONDON, July 25. ( _ The Corcans are organstng a general passivo resistance against the Japanese. The Japanese are suppressing the adverse propaganda. DIED THE DEATH HE WISHED. LONDON, July 25. (Received July 26, at 8.55 a-ra.) Major Hiraoka, who was the Japanese attache in the South' African War, died from wounds received at the engagement at Kiao-tung. NOTES ON THE WAR. [Br Kasuoa.] . —The Advance on Niu-chwang.— Notwithstanding all tho wars and rumors of wars which appear in to-day’s news, there is really nothing to show that Kuvopatkin is any worse off than he lias been since Iris engineers first - broke ground in front of Liao-yang. ‘ The Times ’ eaye that it is evident that the Japanese are engaged hi a general advance all along the line. Tho evidence of a general advance is possib’y furnished by the figging at the oiii River (the Russian left) and tire struggle mentioned from Niu-chwang (the Russian right), but, so far as events have been reported, there is no evidence at all of a general battle, whatever may be doing in the nature of an advance. ' Wo are told that the residents of Niu-chwang, “from the housetops, watch the slow advance of the Japanese, which is stubbornly contested. ” Another message adds that the Russian civil authorities have left Nluckwang, and that the destruction of Govemmenfc property by their ordere has commenced. If this be true, it all amounts to the one fact that the Japanese have practically got Niu-chwang. ‘in other words, they have done just what they did at the Yalu—succeeded tactically and failed strategicaliy. —On Resultless Wins.— It will be remembered that at the battle of the Yalu the Japanese fought frontally for five days to hold the Russians to their then position on the river front. Having done this, they earned out a turning movement across the Aiho River, which was successful up to a certain point. . Had, this movement done everything which it was no doubt expected to do not a Russian would have got away to Eeug-hwang-cheng. As things happened, however, the 11th and 12th Russian Regiments stopped three Japanese divisions on the Sunday afternoon, and this gave rime for Sassulitch to draw out the rest of his command and pass it behind the 11th and 12th on to the Feng-hwang-cheng road. Briefly put, tho net results to Japan were the ground that the Russians occupied j aod the moral.efieefc of the first, win cn

land. The advantages accruing from the latter were no doubt great. The possession of the battlefield was a small thing. Some may be inclined to think that the possession of the line of the Yalu was essential to Japan, as it gave her commanders the means of advancing up-country towards the Liao-yang position. Nothing of the sorb The Japanese, having the command of the sea, could have made the same advance from Taku-shan or any other suitable point on the seaboard. —Russian Battles: A Common Feature.— All through the last- century this mark of giving np nothing but the barren battlefield to the enemy has been common to Russian defensive wars. In the famous advance on Moscow-, Napoleon and his marshals fought quite a number of battles. In even- instance the result was the same. Napoleon gut possession of the ground, and of very little else. Much good that did him in the end. Unless some new and vital fact comes through during the nest few days, we shall see tho same thing happening with regard to the ground which Kuropatkin now occupies. His line of defence from Liao-yang down to Niu-chwang is (or was) the Bazaine position of August 16, 1870, over again. Wc have seen that Kuroki has endeavored to put in a similar blow to that which tho Germans seat home at Mars-la-Tour, The fighting, at the Chi River is evidence of it. Now, if Kuroki has failed to interpose on Kuropatkin’s left nothing will accrue te Japan strategically. She will get a''tactical win and tho moral effect thereof. Considering the reverses which Russia has already sustained, the moral effect on, the Ruesian people may, conceivably, be very great, and no attempt is here made to belittle it, for public opinion, even in Russia, is considerable enough to influence die conduct of a campaign. In the meantime, however, we are not concerned with that. —The Russian Right Worthless.— What we have to consider is absolute war which we can measure; not moral effects of which we can form no conception. According to considerations of that kind the Japanese are (or soon will be) masters of Niu-chwang, together with Ying-kow, its port. Let it be .said at once that tlii.v is the least important point on Kuropatkiu’s front. If it had been intrinsically important the Japanese could have taken it from the sea months ago. Tho advantages which go with it are that (1) it will complete tho chain of Japanese fortified positions across the top of the Liao-tung Peninsula, and (9) it will form, in time, a new field base which will very much shorten the Japanese lines of supply by land. But if the possession of tho town turns out to be the only Japanese success in this part of the theatre of war, Kuroki and his brother commanders will have to begin all over again—the same uphill lack which they Lave been toilin-r at ever since the battle of the Yalu. Kurre patkin will be able to form a new line of battle, and the Japanese will again have to plug their wuy up country, the only change being a change of bases. So far the bases have been Taku-shan and An-tung. Now, the port of supply will be Ying-kow. Possibly the advance on Niu-chwang may lie designed to keep Kuropatkin hanging on about such places ae Ta-chi-chao and Haicheng, while, the mvovement on Lis left progresses. But we have no evidence of this except the consideration that Kuroki having seriously attempted the Russian, left (ind knowing tlis H.dvaj)ifcigcs of kuccgss in euch a case, is not likely to give it up readily. Of this, however, we can be sure ; if Kuroki gets in between Kuropatkin and Mukden a blow carrying tremendous consequences will have been struck. On the other hand, if the Russian right is turned the Japanese will get nothing except Niuchwang. The fact that Kuropatkin is still maintaining his front shows nice that he is not apprehensive about his left. He also knows very well that his rnrht does not matter, much.