RUSSIANS-STILL RETREATING.

Colonist, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11287, 22 March 1905, Page 3

RUSSIANS- STILL RETREATING.

MOBILISATION DECIDED UPON BY EUSSIA. ' SUSPECTED TO BE BLUFF ONLY. London, March 20. Details of Generals Oku's and Nogi's turning movement show that the whole successs of the attack on Mukden depended on their ability to fulfill their allotted task. General Oku's comparatively small force opposed a very strong Russian army intended to cover the main body's retreat. General Nogi was compelled to deal with the main body. After cutting the railway^ General Nogi guarded the gap, but tbo vastly superior force of retreating Russians compelled hina to quit the railway, General Oku meantime desperately fighting a superior force which was entrenched in the angle north of the Hunho, and west of the railway. The most critical moment was on the night of the Btb inst. General Nogi, fearing that the .streakers would overwhelm him, asked for reinforcements, and General Oku, taking desperate chances, detached a division and sent it to General Nogi, The Russians, by fierce counter attacks, endeavored to bieak through, but did not succeed, though they almost annihilated the two Japanese regiments. The fighting at this part was tbe bloodiest of the entire war. General Oku's losses were 35,000, and those of the Russians were heavier. General Nogi with his extr& division prevented the Russians from cutting through a his line with the view to surrounding and crushing him, and reoccupied the railway. Generals Oku" f s and Nogi's desperate fighting alone averted the frustration of Marshal Oyama's plans. General Oku sacrificed thousands to secure a position essential to prevent a terrible disaster, and his army has been awarded the highest honor in the Japanese service, namely, Marshal Oyama's written praise. The stubborn way in which the Japanese second army held the line primarily forced the Russians to retreat, inasmuch as it gave General Nodzu an opportunity to attack and expel the Russians from the stronghold south of the Hunho, necessitating a general hurried retirement. The Japanese have found the guns wbich the Russians buried at Mukden. It is believed at Tokio that 400 guns were thrown into the river. General Kamimura on the 15th inst. brillliantly routed three Russian divisions south of Tieling. Many Russians fugitives are without food, and are living on dead horses. Private advices received from Harbin state that only 60 surgeons and 150 nurses attend 70,000 sick and wounded. „ , . About 180.000 cartloads of grain have accumulated in Russia because the rolling stock and locomotives have been diverted to Siberia. Viscount Suymatsu, interviewed by the "Matin," &aid that within six months Harbin, Vladivostock, Saghalien, and the whole of the Siberia seaboard would be in Japanese hands, and then quite other peace terms would be imposed than would be accepted now. Received March 21, 11 p. m. London. March 21. The Japanese on the 19fch inst. occupied Kaiyuen, and repulsed a counter attack. Belated messages show that the Japanese were inferior in guns at the Mukden battle. Two battalions eastwards of Filling'