Again came the shock of battle, and once more a great number of men were mowed down. But now the Russians broke and started to run. Then the battery tried to get away. One gun was overcharged and blown to pieces, and another overturned by the Japanese, while the remainder made good their escape. On the field lay three of the gunners who had died at their post of duty.
When night fell the Japanese had gained an important position to the east of Liao-Yang, and the Russians had been driven back all along the line. As tired as the soldiers were they were forced to fortify the positions they had gained, and the artillery was brought up, so as to be in readiness by daybreak.
It was not yet six o’clock when the contest was renewed, but this was to the south and southwest. For the command under Gilbert there was nothing to do but to march down to the river. Here a crossing was effected during the afternoon. The Russians offered a slight show of resistance, and called additional troops to the front during the night.
The next day the battle broke forth with renewed fury. The batteries on both sides did their utmost to silence each other, while the great plain in front of Liao-Yang, many miles in extent, was filled with the armies of the Czar and the Mikado, fighting with a desperation and valor that could not be excelled. At first the fighting of the infantry was at a distance, but soon the armies drew closer and closer to each other, and then came the shock of steel against steel, while the batteries poured in their awful fire from all sides. It was perfect inferno, and before night fell the plain was strewn with thousands upon thousands of dead and wounded.
“This cannot be kept up—it is beyond human endurance,” said more than one soldier and officer that night, when trying to catch a little rest. But at dawn the contest was renewed, and tired as they were the soldiers upon both sides went at it as bravely as before. But the Russians could not hold their defenses, and alarmed by the movement to cut him off from a possible retreat northward, General Kuropatkin fell back, and the next day ordered his army to evacuate Liao-Yang.
CHAPTER XXXII
FACE TO FACE—CONCLUSION
The report that Liao-Yang was being abandoned by the Russians spread with lightning-like rapidity through the Japanese army, and many were the cries of Banzai which rent the air. Although wearied to the last degree many of the soldiers were for pressing forward, and clinching the victory gained, and the onward movement was begun just as quickly as necessary supplies could be brought to the front.
When Liao-Yang was entered by the Japanese it presented a truly terrible spectacle. The Russian portion of the town was in ruins, and a large part of the Chinese quarters had been sacked, the shops broken open, and contents strewn everywhere. Many buildings were burning, and a heavy smoke hung over all. The Japanese shell fire had caused heavy destruction at certain points, and many Chinese and Russian dead were found in the houses and on the streets.
General Kuroki was still of a mind to turn the Russian flank, if it could possibly be done, and for that purpose a large portion of his army struck northward, in columns almost parallel to the columns of the enemy. On several occasions the opposing columns came into touch with each other, and some lively skirmishes were the result.
“He’s going to try to hem in the Russians before they reach Mukden,” said Gilbert. “If he is able to do that, we may see worse fighting than we’ve seen yet.”