The Russian Army and the Japanese War, Vol. 2 (of 2) / Being Historical and Critical Comments on the Military Policy and Power of Russia and on the Campaign in the Far East

by A. N. Kuropatkin

The inaction of the 2nd Army on March 4, its passive and disastrous operations on the 5th and 6th, placed our right flank in a very difficult position. Nogi was moving not only along the flank, but to the rear of the 2nd Army. The commander of this army, continuing to see danger where there was none, paid particular attention to Oku’s operations, and left Nogi to move round to our rear without hindrance. Indeed, had I not interfered on March 7, Nogi’s force would have seized Shan-tai-tzu, the Imperial Tombs, and Mukden, and moved in rear of the 2nd Army. By my orders the defence of the positions near Shan-tai-tzu, Ta-heng-tun, and Wen-ken-tun was organized so as to face to the north and west. The movement of the 3rd Army towards the Hun Ho contracted our position, and enabled me to withdraw to my main reserve portions of the 9th, 15th, and 54th Divisions, and by means of this concentration the danger of Nogi’s movement to our rear was temporarily averted, but in the section held by the 2nd Army we were fighting on three fronts—west, south, and north. Under such conditions I naturally sent into action those units which were nearest. Still, the defence of the northern front was entrusted to a brigade of the 41st Division, the Volinsk Regiment, and to the 9th Rifle Regiment. Near Tsu-erh-tun were concentrated three regiments of the 9th and three of the 54th Divisions.

On the 6th and 7th I made a final attempt to wrest victory from the Japanese. Hoping that Kuroki had suffered heavily on the preceding days, and relying on the splendid material in the 1st Army, I made up my mind, after considerable discussion of the matter with its commander on the telephone, to weaken that army considerably, so as to make certain of having sufficient men at Tsu-erh-tun. I augmented my main reserve by the whole of the 72nd Division, a brigade of the 2nd Siberian, and eighteen battalions from the 1st Army and 4th Siberian Corps. The commander of the 1st Army was of opinion that if we did not soon have a success on the right this weakening of the 1st Army might be a danger, but though fully realizing the force of his contention, I considered it necessary to take the risk for the following reasons:

1. One hundred and five splendid battalions were still left under the command of General Linievitch.

2. The enemy in front of the 1st Army must, according to the reports sent in by its commander, have lost very heavily.

3. The Japanese had transferred almost the whole of Oku’s army to the right bank of the Hun Ho, immediately after Nogi’s, and we had either to break through this disposition or strengthen those of our forces on the right bank of the Hun Ho by a lateral movement. As I have described already (Vol. III.), our hopes were not realized. The movement of the reserves to Tsu-erh-tun was effected very much more slowly than we had counted upon, and, taking advantage of our reduction in strength on the front held by the 1st Army, the enemy broke through there. At the point of our position (Chiu-tien) where the enemy broke through, there should have been, according to the arrangements of the officer commanding the 1st Army, four regiments of the troops under his command, but as a matter of fact there were only ten companies of the Barnaul Regiment.[113] Taking all the circumstances into consideration, our retirement was, in my opinion, a day too late, and instead of throwing all the reinforcements which arrived at Tsu-erh-tun into the fight, some of them (General Zarubaeff’s force) had to be kept as a last reserve in case the enemy attempted to close us in with a ring of fire.

In the last fights at Mukden, the 4th Siberian Corps was scattered along the whole front, but the enemy being at that spot in inconsiderable strength, did not attack its strong position at Erh-ta-ho. Thirty-two splendid battalions of this corps might have been used by the commander of the 1st Army for a local counter-attack, or, together with the troops of the 1st Army Corps or those of the 2nd Siberians, for a greater effort at the counter-offensive, for which a very favourable opportunity presented itself when the enemy attacked the 2nd Siberians. By advancing we could have taken the attacking forces in flank and rear, and the Japanese Imperial Guards would have been threatened with disaster. But the opportunity was not seized. Hence the 4th Siberian Corps, having no force opposed to it, only formed, so to speak, a reserve to the 1st and 2nd Armies.

On the whole, the confusion was at its greatest between March 8 and 10 on the northern front of the 2nd Army, but the energetic and gallant General Launits was in command, and he not only beat back all attacks, but rescued the inert units of the 2nd Army, whose rear Nogi was threatening. On March 10 General Muiloff, in command of the rearguard (composed only of the Lublin Regiment), gallantly and successfully carried out the difficult duty of covering the retirement of the 2nd and 3rd Armies.

It must be remembered that, though the corps organization mostly broke down, the regimental organization was preserved, and this gave a cohesion in action which, when taken advantage of, served us right well. The preservation of the regimental organization was also important on account of the rationing of the troops. The first line transport (with field kitchens and two-wheeled ammunition carts) were kept with regiments, and so ammunition and food were in many cases most opportunely forthcoming in spite of the mixing up of units. The nearness of our supplies also at Mukden enabled us easily to refill regimental reserves. Against the 1st Siberian Corps at the bloody action at Su-no-pu (near San-de-pu) on January 27—a fight that was more or less unpremeditated on both sides—units of five different Japanese divisions were engaged, though the enemy had a comparatively small force in the field. The enemy, therefore, must also have suffered from confusion.

I have endeavoured to give some explanation of how it was that units got mixed up; but I consider that it was in many cases quite unnecessary. Consequently, when I reported to the Tsar that I was mainly responsible for our disaster at Mukden, I pointed out that one of my mistakes was that I did not sufficiently legislate to prevent this confusion, and that, as a matter of fact, I was forced by circumstances to add to it.