Some companies to the right of Colonel Dounin retreated without firing a shot, and so hurriedly, that they failed to inform the companies on either side of them.
The Japanese rushed into the gap thus created, and, working round to the rear, began to pour a flanking fire into the other companies, who were ignorant of what had happened, and had remained in their positions. Taken by surprise, these companies lost their heads in turn and retreated, also without informing their neighbours. In this manner the gap grew rapidly until it extended to Colonel Dounin’s troops, when the following became the position of affairs:
The 9th Company and 3rd Scout Detachment of the 5th Regiment occupied the valley, being in touch on the right with the 11th Company 27th Regiment. The 3rd Scout Detachment formed the outpost line, with the 9th in reserve behind it.
About three o’clock[44] on the morning of the 28th the piquet on the right, which was keeping touch with the 11th Company, reported that a retreat was in progress on that side.
Captain Koudriavtsev, commanding the 9th Company, sent an orderly to the hill occupied by the 11th Company to find out what was going on there. The orderly returned immediately and reported that the 11th Company had gone, that a small body of Japanese was occupying the hill, and that reinforcements were coming up to them. At first Captain Koudriavtsev did not believe this, and wanted to send a more reliable man, but just at that moment shots rang out from the hill in the direction of the 9th Company and 3rd Scout Detachment, and Captain Koudriavtsev’s doubts were dispelled. He consulted with Lieutenant Choulkov, commanding the 3rd Scout Detachment, and they came to the conclusion that it would be unreasonable to try and hold the position and defend the valley with the Japanese on the hill above. They therefore determined to go up with the 9th Company before daybreak, while there were not many Japanese on the hill, retake it, and, having got possession of it, re-establish communication with the troops on the right, and thus fill in the gap that had been left in the line. Arrived at this decision, Captain Koudriavtsev arranged with Lieutenant Choulkov that they should support each other, and if either had to retreat, he would immediately inform the other, and, in order to avoid misunderstandings, written messages only were to be accepted. Captain Koudriavtsev then told Lieutenant Choulkov to remain in his present position with the 3rd Scout Detachment and await his orders, while he himself, with half the 9th Company, started to make the attack, the other half of the 9th Company being left meanwhile under Acting Ensign Shishkin with orders to follow him as a reserve.
In spite of the terrible fire with which the Japanese met the attackers Captain Koudriavtsev with his half-company reached the trenches, and with a wild “hurrah” rushed in with the bayonet. The blow fell partly on the Japanese flank. A hand-to-hand fight ensued. Unfortunately, Captain Koudriavtsev was killed, and Sergeant-Major Evlanov wounded as he was mounting the hill; many of the men also were placed hors de combat, and the remainder, not feeling themselves strong enough to overpower the enemy, began to retreat, carrying with them the body of their dead captain. In the darkness our men did not retreat back along the line of their advance, nor towards the 3rd Scout Detachment and the reserve, but in the direction in which the other companies had retreated previously. The reserve half of the 9th Company, not knowing what had happened, but guessing from the direction of the firing and the noise of moving men that the 1st half-company had retired, and being met, moreover, by a heavy rifle fire themselves, began to retreat in the same direction. Acting Ensign Shishkin, unfortunately, did not think of telling Lieutenant Choulkov what had happened, and the latter awaited word from Captain Koudriavtsev, as had been arranged. In this way twenty minutes or half an hour passed. Then, as day broke, the Japanese fire from the hill became still heavier and more vicious.
Lieutenant Choulkov learnt of the failure of the 9th Company from some of the rank and file who had got left behind in the retreat, and who stumbled upon the 3rd Scout Detachment in the darkness. Fully alive to the danger of being surrounded, he ordered the outposts to come in, and sent word of the position of affairs to a company extended to his left. Fearing for the fate of the machine guns, which were behind him, Lieutenant Choulkov sent one section to them as escort, but the guns were gone. As soon as the outpost line had come in, Lieutenant Choulkov began to retreat with his command in a compact body, and soon joined up with the reserve, behind which Colonel Dounin concentrated the retreating troops and brought them into a state of order.
The reserve was in the valley, and, hearing of the retreat of the companies to his right, Colonel Dounin ordered what reserves he had to occupy a neighbouring hill on the right, in order to hold up the enemy’s advance while he formed a new defensive line from the village of Vodymin across Riji Hill,[45] through Lieutenant Naoomov’s battery of 57-mm. guns, and farther on to some unnamed hills. Thanks to Colonel Dounin’s dispositions, and to the courage of the officers of the detachment, they succeeded in forming the new defensive line at the point mentioned, and in cooling the ardour of the Japanese in their fiery advance.
A short time afterwards the order to retreat was received from General Fock.
While Colonel Dounin was giving the necessary orders, another order came in from General Fock to retire on Height No. 86.[46]