CAPTURE OF TIELING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12818, 18 March 1905, Page 4

CAPTURE OF TIELING.

Tub headlong flight of the Russians from Mukden northward lias been rendered doubly disastrous by the failure of General Kuropatkin to make an effective stand at Tiding. An attempt way made to rally the flying troops at the extensive defensive works, which have long been preparing at what has been regarded as a natural stronghold, but the Hanks were promptly turned, and the Russians resumed their disorganised retreat upon Harbin. The difficulties of Kuropatkin have been

tremendously aggravated by St. Petersburg interference with his plan of campaign. Mukden was known to be wanting in natural fortification, so that when the Russian lines to the east and west gave way, there was no possibility of holding the Japanese centre in check to enable an orderly retreat to be carried out. The result of this was j that the Russians were almost stripped of guns and supplies, their I strength reduced to a third by slaughter and surrender. and i Tieling reached by an exhausted force, which could make a temporary stand at the entrenchments, ' but could not prevent, or even impede, the Japanese flanking movements, whereby Tieling was rendered untenable. Kuropatkin is generally credited with having always intended to make his great stand at Tieling, but the Tsar is said to have made a point of the defence of the ' sacred city" of Mukden, the historic capital of Manchuria. These peremptory orders compelled the Russian general to give battle under disadvantageous conditions, and the issue left him utterly powerless to make at Tieling the resistance which might otherwise have been anticipated. It is not likely that this has affected in the slightest the ultimate issue of the campaign, but it has brought about the Russian collapse much earlier in the year than it could have occurred had Kuropatkin concentrated his 300,000 men and powerful artillery for the defence of the Tieling position, and abandoned Mukden to its inevitable fate without serious resistance. With Tieling lost, and the Russian army reduced to a shadow of its former self, there is literally nothing to prevent the Japanese reaching Harbin, and the movements of the combatants have practically become a race for that depot. A Japanese force is understood to be moving on the Corean border to cut the Vladivostok line, and when Oyama approaches Harbin, the Trans - Siberian Railway, which there bends westward, will be at the mercy of his westward wing. There is no reason to suppose that the Russians will be able to hold this extensive railway front, so that Harbin itself will soon be cut off from Siberia. Russia will have to form any reinforcements into a fresh army for its relief, failing which, the Russian occupation of Manchuria must end in an inglorious capitulation. In the meantime, the Japanese fleet would seem to be on its way to Madagascar. A number of Japanese cruisers, with colliers, are already somewhere on the way, and the strong Japanese squadron which has passed Singapore can have no other destination. Unless Roshdestvenski runs away, we may have the opportunity to see if he is as successful against fighting ships as he was against the Dogger Bank trawlers.