4. The extraordinary patriotism and military spirit of their troops; and
5. The lack of such a spirit on our side (caused by general ignorance of what we were fighting for).
Every moment gained at the beginning of August was of great importance to us, as the units of the 5th Siberians, which the Viceroy agreed to send to the front—instead of into the Pri-Amur district, as was proposed earlier—should have been beginning to arrive in Liao-yang. Orders were therefore issued to fortify an advanced position half a march from Liao-yang in addition to the main position at that place, and for this time was required. Still, in spite of the obvious and immense importance of every day we gained by delaying the enemy’s advance, General Bilderling, who had taken over the command of our eastern front from July 31, wrote that it was necessary to withdraw his troops immediately without fighting to Liao-yang itself, while Sluchevski urged that the army should be concentrated still further north—in the area Liao-yang–Mukden. These officers reiterated the same opinions still more forcibly early in August, when the difficulty of moving their troops towards Liao-yang became greatly increased by the heavy rains. The Viceroy, who was much perturbed about the fate of Port Arthur by the news of the unfortunate result of the naval operations on August 10, and whose fears were increased by Stössel’s highly alarmist reports, was at the same time urging me (August 15) to assist the fortress and make an advance of some sort—though it were only a demonstration—towards Hai-cheng.
On August 25 the enemy again advanced, and on the 26th attacked us on the eastern front, but their onslaught on the 3rd Siberians at Lang-tzu-shan and the attempt made to turn our right flank failed. Ivanoff (who was in command of the corps) handled his artillery most skilfully, and all units of this corps behaved well. The reserves sent up by Bilderling arrived in good time, but the enemy obtained a position on the left of the 10th Corps which enabled them to menace the retirement of this corps along the Tang Ho. In the hot fight on the 26th again several units of the 10th Corps did splendidly. At this time a strong turning movement was discovered being developed against the left flank of our An-shan-chan position; but by delaying and inflicting heavy loss on the enemy on the Lang-tzu-shan and An-ping positions, all the corps were able to fall back on the advanced positions at Liao-yang, where the army was concentrated on August 29. At the beginning of the action there the army was short of its prescribed strength by 350 officers and 14,800 men. Excluding the men detailed for extra duty (on the communications, etc.), the average strength of our companies was only 140 to 150 rifles, and those companies that lost most heavily in the previous fights could muster less than 100.
The detailed account of the battle of Liao-yang has long ago been submitted to Headquarters. The following is a general description of it: On August 30 and 31 the enemy attacked our advanced positions with great determination, especially that of the 1st and 3rd Siberians, but were repulsed everywhere with heavy loss. In this fight the regiments of the 1st, 9th, 3rd, 6th, and 5th East Siberian Rifle Divisions rivalled each other in steadiness and gallantry, while the dispositions made by Shtakelberg and Ivanoff were good. Our success, however, was by no means lightly gained. Our artillery expended as much as 100,000 rounds of ammunition, leaving us with only 10,000 rounds in the army reserve. Moreover, excluding eight battalions furnishing guards and holding the works of the main Liao-yang position, on September 1 only sixteen battalions were left in the general reserve. During the 31st we observed that large bodies of Kuroki’s army were crossing on to the right bank of the Tai-tzu Ho. And, as the position held by the 10th Corps (against which Kuroki should have been operating in full strength) had not for two days been subjected to any such determined attacks as that held by the 1st and 3rd Siberians, there was every reason to suppose that Kuroki’s main body was moving round to operate against our communications. Accordingly a decision had to be made of one of two alternatives: either—
1. To contain Kuroki with a small force and advance to the south against Oku and Nodzu; or—
2. To fall back on the main Liao-yang position, leave as few troops as possible to defend it, and then attack in force that portion of Kuroki’s army which was moving round our left, and endeavour to crush it by driving it back on the Tai-tzu Ho, which at that time of the year was unfordable except at a few points.
As regards the first, even if we were successful against Oku and Nodzu, they could always fall back on their communications if in difficulties, and so draw us away from Liao-yang, while any success by Kuroki which might lead to an attack by him on our communications would threaten us with catastrophe.[73] In order to collect sufficient force to move against the two armies, it would have been necessary to have contained Kuroki with only such troops as were on the right bank of the river—namely, the 17th Corps and two regiments of the 54th Division (total, forty battalions) under Bilderling. But as these troops were not yet seasoned, it was impossible to rely on their performing such an extremely difficult task as that of holding in check Kuroki’s superior numbers on the necessarily extended position they would have to occupy [this fear was justified by subsequent events]. These considerations led to the adoption of the second alternative.
On the 31st, under cover of darkness and without being pressed, we began the evacuation of the advanced positions, which had already been of value to us, inasmuch as the enemy had been weakened by the losses incurred in attacking them. By the following morning as many as 100 battalions, with artillery and cavalry, had crossed on to the right bank of the river. The Japanese did not occupy our abandoned positions till the evening of that date, when they began to shell Liao-yang. The general disposition of the army was as follows: 56 battalions, 10 sotnias, and 144 guns (under Zarubaeff) were still on the left bank; 30 battalions, 5 sotnias, and 84 guns were on the right for the defence of Liao-yang itself. In addition to the small columns detailed to guard our flanks and rear, the remainder of the army, totalling 93 battalions, 73 squadrons and sotnias, and 352 guns, were told off to attack Kuroki. But in making this calculation as to the number of battalions available, it is essential to explain a very important factor. During the whole period of the war from its commencement till August only 6,000 men had been received at the front as drafts to repair wastage, and, as I have said, we began the fighting round Liao-yang with a shortage of 15,000 men. The result of this, taken in connection with the great number of men that had to be detached for various non-combatant duties, and also our losses in the fighting that had already taken place in the neighbourhood, was that the actual strength of the ninety-three battalions was, on September 1, only from 50,000 to 55,000 rifles. For instance, the twenty-one battalions comprising the 10th Corps (which took part in the affair of September 2) only numbered 12,000 rifles, and the total of the twenty-four battalions of the 1st Siberians only amounted to 10,000. Kuroki’s army, on the other hand, was calculated to number approximately from 65,000 to 70,000 men. The plan of operations for the troops crossing on to the right bank was as follows: The force was to deploy between the position held by the 17th Corps near the village of Hsi-kuan-tun and the heights near the Yen-tai mines, which were to have been held by Orloff’s force of thirteen battalions. Using the Hsi-kuan-tun position as a pivot, the army was to throw its left forward so as to strike the Japanese in flank. The position for the 17th Corps near this village was chosen by Bilderling in preference to that which had been prepared for defence beforehand on the right bank on the line San-chia-tzu–Ta-tzu-pu, and sufficient attention was not paid to its fortification. All that was done was to dig a few trenches, and no field of fire had even been cleared in the kao-liang crops. The consequence was that, in the early morning of September 2, the enemy drove the 137th Niejinsk Regiment from the peak north-east of this place, which constituted the left flank position of the 17th Corps, and to regain this hill became the first thing we had to do. For this Bilderling was given forty-four battalions, with the 3rd Siberians in reserve, while the 1st Siberians and Orloff’s column were to assist by threatening the Japanese right. Both Bilderling and Shtakelberg had been instructed as to what was expected of them, but they were given an absolutely free hand as to their dispositions. Notwithstanding the large force under Bilderling’s command, the operations failed in their object. Although the peak was recaptured on the evening of the 2nd, we were again driven off during the night, and had to fall back some two miles, only halting on the Erh-ta-ho heights.
Orloff, on the other hand, moved from his position on the heights south of the Yen-tai mines before he ought to have done, without waiting for the arrival of the 1st Siberians. His troops became at once immersed in a perfect sea of kao-liang, and were fired on from front and flank; parts of the column were seized with panic, and the whole force retreated in disorder towards Yen-tai station. A large portion even went as far as the station itself. This sudden and unexpected departure from the field of 12,000 men had a disastrous result on this flank. We lost an excellent position, which should have served as the support for our advance from the left, and the enemy, spreading away to the north, had by 5 p.m., in spite of the gallant efforts of Samsonoff and his Siberian Cossacks, occupied the whole range of heights and the Yen-tai mines. With the occupation of these heights the whole of our left was endangered. At midnight Shtakelberg reported that, owing to his heavy losses in the preceding battles, he would not be able to take the offensive, or even to accept battle on the following day.