A “Short Account of the Operations round Mukden in February, 1905,” was submitted to His Majesty the Tsar with a letter from me dated May 13, 1905. A detailed description of these operations has been completed, and has now also been submitted to His Majesty. The whole of the Mukden operations can be divided into three phases:
1. From February 23 to 28, till the turning movement against our right flank developed.
2. From February 28 to March 9—the period of our concentration on the right bank of the Hun Ho, and our attempts to drive back the enemy who were enveloping us.
3. From March 9 to 16—our final attempt to hold on to Mukden, and our forced abandonment of it.
First Phase.
During this the enemy directed their attention exclusively to the left flank of the 1st Army—to Rennenkampf’s force, the 3rd, and (partly) the 2nd Siberians. Amongst the troops operating against Rennenkampf was the 11th Japanese Division from Port Arthur, and from this it was surmised that other portions of Nogi’s army were also acting on that flank. The widely extended position of the 1st Army, bearing in mind the absence of an adequate army reserve; the concentration of large bodies of the enemy against the 2nd and 3rd Siberians, disclosed on February 24; the retirement of the Ching-ho-cheng force; the possibility of a turning movement against it; and, finally, the decision of the officer commanding the 2nd Army to postpone the attack indefinitely—all these made me decide to reinforce the 1st Army quickly from my general reserve, not only in order to check the enemy, but also in order to operate actively ourselves. The first reinforcements despatched were: a brigade of the 6th East Siberian Rifle Division on February 24 to protect the left flank of the Ching-ho-cheng force, and the 146th Regiment and 2nd Brigade of the 72nd Division on February 25 to reinforce the left flank of the 1st Army. Finally, when it was discovered that the enemy were operating in great strength against the left flank of the Kao-tai Ling position, the 1st Siberians and 1st Brigade of the 72nd Division were sent on February 27 to assist the 1st Army in its projected advance. On this day, also, the 85th Viborg Regiment was sent to reinforce Daniloff’s force. When the 1st Army received these additions, amounting in all to fifty-four battalions, the advance of Kuroki’s army and of the right flank force of Kavamura was checked; but still our intended advance did not take place (owing to the exaggerated reports as to the enemy’s strength), and the 1st Siberians were sent back to the right flank to rejoin the general reserve.
Second Phase.
The first report of large bodies of Japanese infantry appearing near Ka-liao-ma, on the left bank of the Liao, was received on February 28. News came in also of the enemy moving along the right bank, and of the appearance of their columns at Hsin-min-tun. It was essential to take immediate steps to meet them on the way to Mukden in their turning movement. I thought it was possible, by using the positions of the 3rd Army as a pivot of manœuvre, and withdrawing its right flank on to the line Ling-shen-pu–Shua-lin-tzu–Lan-shan-pu, to leave[90] for the defence of the section between the 3rd Army and the Hun Ho, and of that on the right bank, a total of forty-eight battalions, and to transfer on to the right bank the remainder of the 2nd Army (forty-eight battalions), and, after reinforcing them with twenty-four battalions of the 16th Corps and thirty-two battalions collected from the 3rd and 1st Armies, to detail them for operations against Nogi. The command of the troops collected on the right bank of the Hun was entrusted to Kaulbars, and I pointed out to him several times the particular importance of rapid and energetic action against the turning movement which threatened Mukden and our communications.
The first units sent from the main reserve at Mukden to the west were:
1. Towards Kao-li-tun, on the river, to operate against the wide turning movement along the River Liao, a brigade of the 41st Division under Birger.