THE WAR.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7843, 21 May 1904, Page 6

THE WAR.

. THE-DECISIVE.BATTLE.

THE PROBLEM WHICH FACES

JAPAN.

"HARBIN THE SCENE OF CON<

FLICT*

One of the most remarkable documents so far published in connection with the war is. an elaborate paper by Major A. Wentworth Brackenbury, late Royal Engineers, and for eight years instructor . of- the _'Jap|an(rse Corps of Engineers; The Major opens his exceedingly interesting paper in the following way;— Whatever mistakes the Russians have made, and in spite of the' first good fortunes of the Japanese, tho Russians have .at last made . ono grand military move which instantly throws the burden of the war 6n Japan—and it is no secret amonf; military men that this new Russian coup s would seal, the fate of a less alert nation than Japan. I mean the ■ retirement of Viceroy Alexieff and his army to the city of Harbin, 500 miles inland,-and the determination' to concentrate there an overwhelming, army, behind the fortifications and' entrenchments. As amilitary instructor in the Japanese army for the past eight years,. I am-intimately familiar'with the military tactics, the engineering methods, and the field equipment of Japan's army. The very problem which now faces Japan has been thoroughly studied. . The 'topography of .the country between Harbin and the coast has been carefully mapped out, and the plan of campaign determined upon. Assuming" that Japan had scattered the Russian fleet and made it simple to transport her army to northern Korea, one of two things was foreseen. Either Russia would made a stand at or near Port Arthur, and tlie great decisive battles of the war would be fought out there—or Russia would retreat inland to a fortified base and compel Japan to march her army further away from home and attack her at tremendous disadvantage. The latter alternative has happened1, and wc shall sec at what frightful cost of men and money Japan must follow into this Russian trap. Admiral Alexiefit is already in Harbin with 100.000 troops busily engaged in building- entrenchments and mounting heavy defence guns, 'digging- moats, and pits, planting dyna- I mite mines, and establishing "long lines of defence to protect his. railroad. Ten troop trains a day i each carrying 800 soldiers, are coming into Harbin. . This means steady reinforcements at the rate of 8000 a day. Between 'each troop train runs a. commissary freight train, and one train each day of ammunition and ordinance supplies. At this rate, then, are accumulating the men, the supplies, and the•• equipment which Japan must eventually face. Harbin has boon selected by the Russians because it is the great junction of the Trans-Siberian railroad, as from Harbin branch lines run to Port Arthur and Vladivostoclc Assuming that Japan will not rest content with, the taking of Korea and its occupancy of the 'Yalu River, that indeed she-is determined to rout Russia out of Manchuria, Major lirackenbury says the invading army may advance from many points, but cmclly from Niuchwang,. the distance from winch to Harbin is about 500 miles. Ho then proceeds c THE SIEGE OF HARBIN. " The siege of Harbin, according to the rues of military science, will be divided into five stages : 1 The investment. 2. The distant artillery attack ... The construction of approaches and parallels. 4. The systematic artillery attack by a complete ring of batteries. 5. The final assault,-or operation leading to the ?, , s, l,rrcnd,er of the place. *' The main besieging force will consist principally of infantry, artillery and engineers, followed by the siege train. Engineers and artillery parks will be first established outside the zone of fire of tho defence, and in close proximity to the mam routes of communication. Small railways will be built connecting the various parts of the hod fortifications. The Japanese will construct batteries commanding the roads, the railroads, and the nver. ihe Russians will attack their works with the river gunboats, and the Japanese will use mines to destroy the boats and booms to stop them.

. With modern artillery the principal line of siege batteries will be between 4500 and 5000 yards from the enemy s fortifications. Here the great soicee guns will be placed. Ihat will-leave three miles of en-1 trcnehnionls bristling with riflemen i and lig-ht artillery between the biir guns and the defenders- It is hard-1 y conceivable that the latter could break through a ring' of entrench-' ments hke this. :

The classical authorities placed die number of attackers to defenders at seven to one, but from my observations I believe that this ' proPortion under the,present conditions will be reduced to three to one. The increased range of modern arms enables the beseiging f6 rco to sur . round the.city with much fewer men: Jnf the Franqo-Germ'an war Strasburg-, with , a garrison of 20.000 60ennn WaS f+ besiCff- d and by--60 000, after a s.egc of 49 days. At -Motz a garrison of 173,000 was taken by a besieging force of 150.000. As soon as the artillery attack begins the ring of small guns will Jveep up a simultaneous fire day and •.night. _ Torpedo shells, charged with' dynamite will bojdropped down into the forts and the city of Harbin, i-very g„n will lire an average of four shots an hour during- the day and two an hour during the night* while this is going on the intelligence ollicors and engineers, with the aid of spies, will be engaged in locatin-r and .accurately, mapping out the principals- works of the defenders. ■Seedless to say the. Japanese are already m possession of perfectly ac* curate information concerning ' the permanent forces of Harbin. When the artillery has begun to make an impression on the defence the second artillery position will be taken up—" one thousand to twelve hundred yards from the city. Counter batteries and enfilading, batteries will be constructed to rake the defenders from an angle. Here I may pause to remark that there kro hundreds of modern scientific devices which may or may not be used in a seigc of this description. ' Chief among these arc the balloon, the armour-

.cd train,' theZ,field telegraph; the electric; automobile train", the wireless telegraphy." . WILL THE JAPANESE lU^CH HARBIN i The entire argument pro.-eeds on the. hypothesis rh.it tiio Jar>_..se can reach Harbin;. that ih'.j -,00 miles of intervening nnd m-m- or less well-defended- country can be traversed without ruinous * loss, and that the Japanese can .mid t-h» *-ow.l they p a s s OVer , Passing from this, Vnjor Brat .-enbury describes how the railway va] be. destroyed during t!ie julvsmoe, "ie method of rooting up U,„ i a ils, aud how the Japanese nr. nrovided with implements to twist 'them aitorwards to prevent their use, though the common way will be' to heat them over a fire and twist and bend them against a tree. THE SCIENCE OF ENTRENCHMENTS.

Perhaps the most instructive of Major Brackenbury's paper is where he describes the technique of trenching :— "A most elaborate system of field fortifications will doubtless bo required to take Harbin. A most important part of this will be the construction of a system of entrenchments called approaches and parallels. First a shallow trench is dug hastily. Then a line is run forward us far as possible from which tho men dig- out another trench' parallel to the first. While the second trench is being dug out other men are at work on the first. While the one is being occupied men are employed in the other widening and" deepening and strengthening- it with u-ood, iron, baskets filled with earth, and other suitable material, where men can walk at ease and "live in bombproof shelters, and where artillery can be placed when desired By the same process a third parallel is mult, and while this is being done the second is enlarged in the same way as the first was. This process is rq^eated on as great a scale as is necessary, till the besieged place is hemmed in by a network of fortifications all connected with cne another and providing complete shelter for the besiegers. Behind and between the trenches are the artillery batteries, placed 011! hills and other favourable ground, and piotectecl from capture by rows of trenches filled with riflemen and by ditches filled in with all Wnds of deadly obstacles, such as sharpened stakes^ and iron spikes. In a difficult siege at least three and frequently a greater number of -parrellesls are used. The trench is usually ten. feet wide at the bottom and' four feet deep. The parapet, the part facing the enemy, need not be higher than four feet five inches, affording eight feet five inches of protection to the men inside. When complete _, the interior forward slope is cut into steps eighteen inches in height, stiffened with timbers to enable the riflemen to fire comfortably and to perform various manoeuvres. 1 1 The trenches leading forward and connecting the parallels are called approaches to avoid enfilading fire they are run in zigzags, with branches not exceeding a hundred yards in. length from the first parallel, and growing shorter,as they approach the besieged city. Approaches are usually four feet deep and 12 feet wide at the bottom, with slopes as steep as the earth will stand. The earth thrown up by tho diggers forms a rough parapet in the direction of the enemy."

ARTILLERY MATTERS AND THE GRAND ATTACK. Regarding the artillery operations JJlajor. lirackenbury says :— "I shall assume that the Japanese riflemen have now compl_t.lv shut m Harbin with their catrcaohments and have their big guns }-~-- hind them m a position best calculated to inilict damage on the ciiv Gun piis are mad. at first for cover for the guns and their detajh-m-ats. then the gun pits are joined together and converted into batteries Ihese may be screened or cvposi-d sunken or cl Q vated. Hills, woods' hedges, buildings, walls sunken or elevated hills, and all sorts of elevations and obstacles are eagerly picked out biy the' artillery''officers to serve as screens for the batteries. The earth is thrown out in front vof the battery and flattened i out into a low sloping glacisshaped parapet. Holes are made in the edges of the parapet ior the aiming .of the guns, and changed from day to day to prevent the enemy from locating the exact pofition< Ingeniously masked batteries are also constructed. A gun nsay} be so placed that it cannot bs observed except by tho closest cxaininatfon. After the gun pit is mad.j" and a port hole provided, the p>t is boarded over and covered irany feet of earth, carefully finished off with grass and bushes. All that is then exposed is a hole in the ground for the gun muzzle."

STORMING THE FORTS. ; In conclusion Major Brackcubury. describes the storming of the forts :— ; ■ " While the attack is pressing its -last line of entrenchments against the defence the lighting will be cue of a peculiarly bloody and desperate character. I am sure that every Russian that shows a lv.ad above his defences will get a bullet ] through it, and if the Russian marksmen are worth their salt the . same fate will meet the Japanese soldier who peeps out of his advanced . trenches. The opposing forces will be constantly mining and countermining each other's positions. Japanese running their trenches up to the Russian batteries will | JC blown to pieces by dynamite mines." Each side will try and flood the other's works. Men will meet and kill one another in tlie bowels of the earth. Suppose there is a space of fire-swept country right under the guns of Harbin, where no one can dig trenches in any way, but which it is most important to occupy at onco.even by daylight. The .miner will ruii his tunnel a given distance towards the enemy. Then he will mark little branches in six directions at the extremity, of which he will plant a,heavy charge of dynamite. He will then retire and" fire the dynamite. As soon as the big craters are blown in, the Japanese infantry, from their trenches behind', will rush forward and occupy the holes. Half of them will use their rillcs to repel the enemy while the other half dig till they connect the craters, thus' forming a fine complete entrenchment,"