THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1687, 29 June 1904, Page 56

THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR.

EIGHT THOUSAND RIGBS3AINIB AMBUSHED. ~ JOOPOBSD OFIHSHMOHMG FIGHT COISMRIMM), STACKjEOUBERG ALMOST SURROUNDED, OF PORT ARTHUR . LONDON, June 20. Admiral Skiydloff, Russian naval commander in the Far East, announces the safe return to Vladivostock of the Squadron under Vice-Admiral BezabraasofE, which has been raiding in Japanese waters. ‘ Admiral Kamimura has returned to .ins base without discovering Vice-Ad-miral Bezabrazoff’s fleet. It is urged by many people in Japan •' that it is the duty , of Admiral Kainimura to commit hara-kiri. Jjme 21. Heavy seas and fog interfered With Admiral Kamimura’s pursuit of the

Vladivostock fleet. -It is also stated' that en unusual route ’was taken by Vice-Admiral Bezabrazoff, which was not ascertained owing to the

absence of an ethergram. ' • / The Russian losses during last week s fighting at Wafangtan and Telesze are mow estimated, at. Tokio at ten thousand, including 'prisoners. The number of the latter continues to increase as the result of the Japanese pursuit and of skirmishes. General Okoy who last week defeated General Stackelberg, reports that he has already buried 1516 Russians, add the natives state that the Russians have burned/ buried and carried away many more.

There is the gravest anxiety in Russia regarding General Stackelberg’s safety. ' The railway was utilised to carry the Wounded and a limited number of retreaters, while the rest were marching in a demoralised condition.

; It is reported that General Stackelberg was again attacked near Kaiping, suffering losses, including a number of prisoners. x Many trains full of wounded have passed. Lfaoyang northwards. With a view to keeping General Kujoki busy in eastorn Manchuria, six thousand Russians have (east'of Liao-vang.) The Russians affirm that General Kuroki, with his staff and a large force, is at Siu-yen (south of Samaki;. There is undoubted ' testimony that junks are daily smuggling food into Port Arthur. - . Mr Bonnet Burleigh, correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph,” announces that Field-Marshal Oyama has been appointed Viceroy and Commander-in-Uhief in Manchuria, with General Kodama aa jhief of staff. ■ 7 . ' Mi* Burleigh says Field - Marshal Oyama will shortly go to the front. The Japanese arje using twenty Orlan Oullen’s American six-pounder ball-bear-ing rifled guns, including one 4-inch .cannon with ball These guns -secure a greater velocity of penetration range than those of the old type. • The American and British Governments are negotiating for the adoption of the guns. Countess Hayashi’s. Japanese widows’ tundiS have reached £16,000. which amount includes £IOOO from the Els wick works and £I2OO from the London Stock Exchange. The fifth and eleventh divisions are engaged near Telesze though they nominally belong to the fourth army. Thus ..there are four divisions on the Liao-tung peninsula—part in the njjrth sugi part in the south of General Stack■elberg’s force—irrespective of the first, third and fourth divisions —the victors of the battles of Kinchau and Nanshan *—who are now besieging Port Arthur. LONDON, June 21.

A Russian officer who was wounded 4tt the hattle at Wafangkan declares -that the Japanese artillery fire was marvellously accurate, and effective. The Russians fought stubbornly and desperately, but were unable to withstand the enemy's dashing persistency. (Russian correspondents, describing the engagement south of Wafangkan, state that the Russian left flank was thrown forward with the reserves to clear the hill, where the Japanese troops were entrenched with artillery. They were compelled to cross a distance of a mile, mostly open country, under a 5 decimating, fire. Some got within twenty yards, planting themselves under .the trenches of the occupants, who were unable to fire owing to the convexity of the hills without exposing themselves. The' assailants and defenders were occasionally hand to hand, using the butts of their rifles and stones. The majority of the Russians gained shelter in a neighbouring ravine but the shells and shrapnel expelled them. The retirement took place after the euns had been smashed. g . LONDON, June 22.

The “Daily Telegraph” states there are indications that General Nodzu intercepted, or General Oko overtook, General Stackelberg, or that both events occurred. Field-Marshal Yamagata succeeds Field-Marshal Oyama as Chief of the General Staff.

In a supplementary report regarding the shelling and torpedoing of the Japanese transports Hitachi Maru and Sado Maru in Japanese waters last week. Admiral Skrydloff declares that a Japanese cruiser was watching them all the while. * The British officers of the sunken transports are warmly praised for their bravery in sharing the fate of their Japanese comrades. • In the course of an interview here, Baron Suymatsu stated that it France wished to mediate the Japanese reiusal to accept intervention would not be so absolute as Russia’s. At the same time, the vital interests which Japan defending, said Baron Suymatsu, must be safeguarded. - The “St. Petersburg Gazette reports that a sanguinary battle took place near Haich’eng (about thirty-five miles north of Newchwang), and resulted in heavy losses. Another telegram from St. Petersburg, published in a French paper, states that the Russians lost five , thousand men in the engagement. LONDON, June 22. 1 General Stackelberg’s position is considered growingly critical. The newspapers remark that the heavy losses are in accordance with Russian precedents, indicating a • combination of bravery and bad generalship. One critic says the situation in Manchuria embodies 'all "the elements of the swiftest military collapse since the Battle of Jena. General Kouropatkin’s action in sending General Stackelberg to the relief of Port Arthur is like a man undermining to the third story a house containing five stories. 1 There are persistent reports, that General Kouropatkin has further weakened his position by sending foroes to the relief of. General Stackelberg. - General Stackelberg on the 18th (Saturday) reported that three bodies of Russian troops were extending their front between Wafangkan and Tchonjon. / After two days’ fighting and two nights’ tiring marches by difficult mountainous roads, the troops were able to rest. v General Kouropatkin reports an important movement of the Japanese troops in the direction of Siuyen .and Haicheng, or Siuyen and Tashichia. The Japanese are still advancing. A Japanese patrol sustained six cas- . ualties_ in a skirmish at Chipaning, thirty-six miles west o-f Siuyen, killing fifty Russians and captuging three. Native reports have been received at Newchwang. stating that the Japanese -captured Liao-yang, in Manchuria, after two days’ fighting. The report so far lacks confirmation. Part of General Nogi : s fourth army, and also part of General Nodzu’s third, are operating against General Stackelberg.

Reuter’s correspondent at Liao-yang mentions that the Japanese are holding Yentai, and are pushing thence towards Kaiping, doubtless for the purpose of forming a complete circle round General Stackelberg. . The correspondent confirms the report of a great battle in the neighbourhood of Haiche»g and Tashi-ckao, but is unable to furnish details.

Hie “Daily Mail’s” Newchwang correspondent reports that the Japanese artillery ambushed General Kondratovitch’s force of 8000 from Wafangkan in a ravine, nine miles* south-east of Kaiping. Advices received at St. Petersburg and New York state that General Kouropatkin, the Russian Commander-in-Ckief, personally directed the movement from Liao-yang southwards. Generals Kuroki and’ Oko functioned, and presented a solid front to the column oetween Haicheng and Liao-yang, driving the column to Liao-yang, perhaps beyond. Russian reports state that Japanese troops are eighteen miles east of Kaiping, in the northern part of the Liaotung peninsula. It is inferred in London that_ General Nodzu’s apparent route is via kau along a road following the Pili river to. Wangf uchwang, thence crossing the mountains to Kaiping. South-east of Kaiping is a valley between hills rising to four thousand feet. LONDON, June 23. A division of General Oko’s army, following the coast line, occupied Siung-yuen-cheng unopposed. The Japanese have a fleet co-operat-ing with the army. The vessels protect and feed the troops, and rigorously report movements at the front to those further down the coast.

The Russian correspondents admit that the Japanese are adepts at turning positions and concentrating on points where they are least expected. The correspondents declare that the Russians were overwhelmingly outnumbered at Telesze, and accuse the Chinese or signalling the Japanese throughout the war with mirrors fixed on long poles. General Kouropatkin reports that e Fifth Division of the East Siberian Rifles alone lost at Telesze 15 officer’s killed and 49 wounded, 386 soldiers killed and 992 wounded, besides 12 officers and 568 men left on the battlefield killed or wounded. The First Artillery Brigade had 10 officers wounded and 102 men killed. Other regiments had an enprmous proportion of officers disabled ‘by the Japanese sharpshooters. Some of the Russian detachments lost all their officers. Admiral Skrydloff, Russian naval com-

mander in the Far East, reports that Captain Vinogradsky’s division of torpedo vessels were sent to the coasts of Japan pn the 15th instant, and returned to Vladivostock on the 21st (last Tuesday). Fog prevented the fleet from entering Esbaehi. Several trading and transport schooners were, however, captured while taking fish and rice from Sasebo and Shimoneski. It is argued in London in defence of Admiral Kamimura —who failed to discover the Vladivostock squadron under Vice-Admiral Bezabrazoff, which made a successful raid in Japanese waters and destroyed the enemy’s transports, and was severely criticised in Japan—that his first duty was to secure the safety of communications across the Straits of Korea/ The Japanese captured a junk near Port Arthur. The Chinese aboard report that two Russian destroyers and the steamer Shintaping struck mines at the entrance and sank. One hundred and forty men were killed. SYDNEY, June 23. The Japanese Consul at Sydney, Mr Iwasaki, has received the following cable message from the authorities at Tokio:— “The Japanese army which landed at Takushan reports that" a combined party 'of scouts from the cavalry and infantry last Saturday night encountered the enemy thirty miles west of Shichihantei, and at many other paints. “The scouts captured one officer and two men and killed* fifty. Many rifles and lances were captured. “Our casualties were one man killed and five wounded.” LONDON, June 22. It is reported that the Russians, who were retreating from Wafangkan, mistook Mr the “New York World’s’’ correspondent, for a spy, and shot him.” Russian officials in the villages are putting pressure on the people to contribute so-called voluntary subscriptions to the war fund. The amount the communes are expected to contribute has been fixed beforehand. The millionaires at Moscow are contributing niggardly. M. Mozoroff, one of the richest men, said the manufacturers preferred paying many thousand roubles daily in wages to keep the Socialist workers busy, to assisting to continue a frivolous and useless war; which was destined to inflict endless miseries. . ■>" ' LONDON. June 23. An explosion caused "the British steamer La Porte, laden with Cardiff coal, to founder at Port Nolloth, on the east coast of Cape Colony. The crew were saved. The La Porte was bound for Kinchau, but it is said she .intended to run the blockade at Port Arthur. .Reports are to hand from Chefoo, on tfie Shantung peninsula, south of Port Arthur, that a determined attack on Port Arthur took place on Wednesday, both by land and sea. The attack lasted all night, the Japanese headquarters reports, via Fusan (southern Korea), that a large Russian force northwards ofFenghwang clieng (in Manchuria) attacked a small body of Japanese at Hauchliunen. After a stubborn fight the Japanese retired. The “Daily Mail’s” correspondent adds that the Japanese casualties were heavy. The incident is interpreted in London as a sign that numbers of the Japanese force were withdrawn and sent towards Kaiping. General Kouropatin. who is in command of the Russian army, addressing General Stackelberg’s army at Kaiping, declared: “We must settle the Japanese promptly, otherwise we will not return to our iiomes.” The General decorated two hundred and fifty officers. LONDON, June 24. Russian official reports show that the Japanese are steadily marching northwards in a line stretching across the •Liao-tung peninsula from Pi-tsze-wo, on the east, to Port Adams on the west. The intention is to form a line provisionally stretching from Siu-yen, southeast of Newchwang, to Siung-yu-cheng, oi’ the western coast of the peninsula, and so expelling the Russians from the northern part of the peninsula. As the Japanese on the peninsula follow the railway northwards, they are reinforced at every step by fresh columns crossing the hills from the east. They are guarding every pass eastward of the railway. The vanguard is at Siuyen, half-way to Kaiping, and is throwing up fortifications midway. A force from Siuyen is passing forward to Liao-yang.

A. large force is fortified at Kwantien, where eighteen guns are mounted. The Japanese are also constructing fortifications at Sapinhai, twenty-five mjiles north-east of Samaki, thereby menacing General Kouropatkin’s rear and his communications. There are indications that besides thirteen divisions on the first line, the Japanese have sent to Manchuria thirteen reserve brigades. The consensus of opinion is that the next battle will be fought in the hilly region between Haicheng and Shimucbeng, south of Newchwang.

Russians from Samaki, east of Liaoyang, with artillery, attacked the Japanese in the vicinity of Ayang, but were'repulsed. The Japanese casualties numbered ten.

SYDNEY, June 24. • The Japanese Consul here (M. Iwasaki) has received a communication from the authorities at Tokio oovering the following report by Admiral Kamimura:—

“On the morning of the 15th a picket boat reported that the Russian squadron was off Okino Skima (in the Straits of Korea). Our squadron, which was reinforced by the torpedo flotilla, hastened round the southern end of Taishu with the object of intercepting them from the north. Meanwhile the picket boat kept a constant watch on the enemy’s movements and reported, but at .length lost them, in consequence of the heavy rain. “Our squadron hurried to the south of Okino Shima, but saw no trace of the warships, which it was understood had returned northwards under the cover of a dense fog. We proceeded in that direction, but the rain increasing, we saw no possibility of sighting the vessels, and consequently decided on a place where we should await their return.

“At dawn next day we reached the rendezvous. .The w r eather had by this ‘time cleared, and although we could see a great distance there was no trace of the enemy. We cruised about in other directions without avail, as we thought they might remain on the Japanese coast. ,We turned south on the 17th, but saw r no sign of them. We accordingly returned to our base on the same day.” LONDON, June 23. A.*large force of Manchurian bandits is marching on Gensan, oh the east coast of Korea. LONDON, June 24. French banking houses which floated the last Russian loan have contributed £4OOO to the Russian Red Cross fund and £4OOO to the Czarina’s fund for the relief of distress caused by the war.