DESOLATE LIAOYANG.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 10186, 21 October 1904, Page 4

DESOLATE LIAOYANG.

BATTLEFIELD SCENES AFTER THE RETREAT. Reuter's correspondient with General Kuroki's headquarters, telegraphing on September 8, sends a graphic description of the battlefieldl of Liaoyang outside the walled city. During the assault, he says, the Japanese encountered novel defences, consisting of wires strung along the ground highly charged with electricity. The men encountering tliem m the darkness received severe shocks. The Russians defending the trenches also threw hand grenades or shells among tlie stormers, wounding many. One Japanese battalion fought its way into the trenches, and, liaving exhausted its ammunition, attempted to cut its way back with bayonets, and was almost exterminated. Hundreds of Chinese — men, women, and children' — all carrying heavy loads, were fleeing from the villages m the plain and disappearing hi long lines over the eastern hills. An ordinary battle, with a few batteries throwing shells, lias heretofore not sufficed to drive the Manchurijins from their homes. They hover around the fighting, 'playing the part of scavengers, and strip the battlefields of ovcry vestige of debris. They rob wounded persons and take clotliing. from the dead, and liave even been seen between the firing lines gathering cartridges. The area over which fighting took place to the north of the river presents a terrible picture. The fields are scored with a .hundred lines of the Russian retreat. The fires m which the bodies of the fallen were consumed are still burning, and searching parties are stll bringing the Japanese dead to them. At every turn can be seen, the graves of Russians. On one •hillside is a group of 300 graves, marked by roughly-cut sticks. In the high grain many bodies remain undiscovered. Flocks of crows hover over the fields. COUNTRY OF THE DEAD. The portion of the railroad m possession of the Japanese remains practically intact. i Last Sunday morning General Kuroki rode forward to Haiyentai Hill, through Chinese villages Avithout inhabitants, past many mounds where fires burned over the. dead, and hundreds of fresh hastily dug graves, .aid over fields- trampled into bogs by the fighting arid strewn with the debris of both armies. Tlio spectacle which Haiyentai Hill presented has seldom been equalled m any war. Tbe hilltop is less than a quarter of a mile long. The' crest, slopes, and ravines were literally honeycombed with trenches, ditches, and furrows for shelter. Trenches and counter-trenches ran m every direction, testifying lo the numbers of attacks, andi the different points from which assaults liad been attempted. Close to the summit 200 Russians lay with their rifles where they had fallen. They had advanced at the word of command, and the whole line was mowed down when almost upon tbe trenches. Many corpses were strewed m the fields below. Fragments of steel were everywhere under foot. Some Russian drums and several hundred Russian rifles and cooking pots were all shattered by shot, bayonets were twisted and broken, and the rags of uniforms and caps shot-torn and blood-soaked. It was impossible to step without trea-ding on bullets. \ The most dramatic incident of the battle occurred m a trench on the left of the Russian position. When tho trench was first captured six Russian soldiers entered a deep ammunition magazine, and refused to surrender. They oouMi nob be dislodgtoct, and several Japanese > were shot when trying to remove them. The hole was covered with sandbags, and the Russians were .kept imprisoned until the next morning. When, the bags were removed the defiant Russians shot two Japanese officers. Late m the afternoon they surrendered, being the last on the entire lines of hills to give up the figlut. Four of tlie six were severely wounded. Seldom has any city been looted by .liree armies m three days, but this is what lias lmppgned at Liaoyang. When th«i Japanese drove tho Russians out of tho. Shansampo hills the starving Uu_sia.ii soldiers realised that Liaoyang must fall, and looted the town. They plundered not only tho Chinese, but also the European shops, destroying what they did not want or were not able to carry away. Much liquor was found, on which some of the soldiers became drunk and committed many excesses. During the time between, tlio departure of the Russians and the arrival of the Japanese _the Chinese soldiers and police continued the work which the Russians had begun, and pillaged the shops which hud not been discovered by the Russians. The Japanese completed the looting. This is the first time m the present war that Japanese soldiers have been guilty of looting a captmred) town. Their officers were -much ctislvurbed, and the men were finally taken out of the walled city, which they are no longer allowed to enter without a special pass. Tho scenes ab Liaoyang before the battle were oppressive m the extreme. Even when the Japanese were succssful m their attack on the entire lino a-t Anshanchan, Kaofengshis, and Knchiatzu on August 26, and were swiftly marching on Liaoyang and the inner defences, the officers, flinging asidio their responsibilities m the field, immediately they arrived at Liaoyang plugged into dissipation. The Pagoda Garden presented a gay scene. From the officers' quarters could bo heard tbe clink of glass4cs and the tinkle of musical boxes. The privileged Port Arthur cafe chantant women remained until the battle was half finished or their retreat assured. At the beginning of tlie five days' fight the soldiers and officers who were letft m the city, hotel and resorts were ordered to rejoin their regiments. Few were unable to do so. yet on the morning the great Japanese victory many weiv found m unworthy places. The brave Russiari army appears to have lost its battles through demoralisation and dissipation, and also because the euemy was persistently underestimated. With a few exceptions, tlie Japaneso troops displayed quietness, temperance, and moderation when occupying Liaoyang. — Router's Special.