I.
We have already seen how fatal the inefficiency of our railways was for us. Yet, though six months before the outbreak of war only two pairs of short trains were available for military purposes, when peace was concluded we had ten and even twelve pairs of full trains running in the twenty-four hours. Thus, during hostilities the carrying capacity of the railway grew sixfold, and was capable of still further increase. Notwithstanding all our reverses, the army continued to grow in numbers, and was 1,000,000 strong when peace was concluded, and more than two-thirds of this number (including the newly arrived drafts, the new corps, and the Pri-Amur troops) had not been under fire. Moreover, owing to improved rail transport and the proper exploitation of all local resources, the whole number was assured of everything necessary, both for fighting and subsistence, to an extent that had never previously been the case. We had received a proper proportion of artillery of every nature, reserves of light railway material, telegraph and wireless telegraph stores, and entrenching and technical tools and equipment of all sorts. We had constructed three strong lines of defence at Hsi-ping-kai, Kung-chu-ling, and Kwang-cheng-tzu; our communications in rear were safe; almost every army corps was in possession of its own line of rails; and the Sungari and other rivers were crossed by many bridges. The war strength of all units had been considerably augmented. Russia’s resources for continuing the struggle were greater than those of Japan, for not only had our Guards and Grenadiers not been drawn upon, but the greater part of the army was still at home.