On February 10 General Kaulbars assumed command of the 2nd Army, and Bilderling temporarily took over command of the 3rd. Meanwhile, early in this month, information kept coming in that large bodies of Japanese cavalry with guns, together with bands of Hun-huses, were collecting in Mongolia, especially near the portion of the railway between Kung-chu-ling and Kuang-cheng-tzu, and early on the morning of the 12th the enemy raided the line north of the station of the former name and blew up a railway-bridge. The same day a reconnoitring party of the Frontier Guards suddenly came on a Japanese force of two cavalry regiments, a battalion, and some 2,000 Hun-huses near the Mongolian frontier. In the ensuing action we lost a number of men and one gun. General Chichagoff continued to report with great insistence that large bodies of the enemy—over 10,000 strong—were collecting in Mongolia for the purpose of cutting our communications. Believing these reports, I detailed a brigade of the 41st Division and the whole of the Don Cossack Division to reinforce our protective troops on the railway itself, upon which, of course, we were dependent for supplies, drafts, and reinforcements. In addition to this, I also put some 15,000 reservists[88] under the command of General Nadaroff, to strengthen the Frontier Guards and the line-of-communication troops generally.
The rumours that we heard at this same time also of the landing of a large Japanese force in Northern Korea (assumed to be in connection with the liberation of Nogi’s army by the surrender of Port Arthur), part of which might be detailed for operations against Vladivostok, compelled me to take in hand the strengthening of our forces in the Primorsk district, and of the Vladivostok garrison in particular. With this end in view, a mixed brigade of six battalions, formed from men of the 1st Army, was sent to the fortress. In order to enable this brigade to be expanded into a division, and each of the Rifle regiments in the Primorsk district into regiments of four battalions, it was necessary, first of all, to divide the drafts which had come up for the army between the field army and the troops in the Primorsk district. Although forced to reduce the strength of the field army to the above extent, I made a mistake in not insisting upon a sufficiently strong general reserve being formed. To do this I should have taken the whole of the 17th Corps into my reserve, though such a course would have been against the opinion of General Bilderling (who considered it dangerous to weaken the 3rd Army, as he had no reliance in the steadiness of the reserve troops of that army, the 5th and 6th Siberians). Instead of the thirty-two battalions, which would have been thus obtained, only one division, the 6th Siberians,[89] was added to the general reserve.
In my orders issued after our disastrous action at Hei-kou-tai, it was laid down that as many units as possible should be taken out of the firing-line, so that strong army reserves might be formed. In order to render this possible, it was pointed out that defensive positions should not be held in equal strength along the whole front; that it was sufficient to prepare and hold the most important portions of a line as strongly as possible; and that, by holding on to these at all costs, time would be gained in which reserves could be pushed up to any threatened section. Unfortunately, I left too much to the experience and discretion of the army commanders, and did not sufficiently insist on exact compliance with my instructions.
Adhering to the original plan of offensive operations decided upon in accordance with the opinions of all the army commanders, I requested Kaulbars to fix the first day for the advance. He first chose February 23, but owing to the troops of the 2nd Army being worn out with the very heavy work they had done in connection with the fortification of the positions, the advance was, at his own request, postponed till the 25th. On the 24th, however, Kaulbars heard that the date for the assault of San-de-pu was known to the enemy. He therefore lost hope of success, and asked that the assault might be indefinitely postponed. Meanwhile, on the 23rd, the enemy advanced in force against the Ching-ho-cheng column, and this body fell back from its fortified position next day after fighting an unsuccessful engagement.
At the commencement of the Japanese advance our armies were distributed as follows:
Right Flank.—2nd Army, consisting of the 1st Siberians, Composite Rifle, 8th and 10th Corps, a brigade of the 3rd and a mixed brigade of the 5th Siberians (total, 126 battalions), occupying the line Ssu-fang-tai–Chang-tan–Hou-lien-tai, a length of sixteen miles.
Centre.—3rd Army, consisting of the 5th Siberians (less two regiments), 17th Corps, and one division of the 6th Siberians (total, 72 battalions), occupying the line Hou-lien-tai–Ling-shen-pu–Sha-ho-pu–Shan-lan-tzu, a length of eleven miles.
Left Flank.—Here were the 1st Army (less one regiment), 4th, 2nd, and 3rd Siberians (the latter less one brigade), 71st Division, Independent Siberian Reserve Brigade, and two Trans-Baikal infantry battalions (total, 128 battalions), occupying the line Shan-lan-tzu–Lu-chiang-tun–Erh-ta-kou–Lia-cheng-wu-tun, and further along the right bank of the Sha Ho, having its left flank three miles east of the Kao-tai Ling (Pass), a length of thirty miles. The 1st Army also had independent columns at Ching-ho-cheng and Hsin-tsin-tin.
The General Reserve consisted of forty-four battalions—namely, the 16th Corps (less one brigade) on the railway six miles south of Mukden station, 72nd Division, and 146th Tsaritsin Regiment, behind the right flank of the 1st Army at Huang-shan.
On February 23 the shortage in the infantry (rank and file) of all three armies was 49,000.