Continuing their advance, the first Japanese Army, under Kuroki occupied Kuan-tien on May 14. In the meantime the second Japanese Army, under Oku, had effected a landing on the Liaotung Peninsula at Pitzuwo. On May 16 they seized the Kinchau heights, and ten days later defeated the Russians at the battle of Nanshan. Dalny was occupied on May 30. The third Japanese Army, under Nodzu, began landing at Takushan on May 19, and on June 8 occupied Siu-yen.
The shaded portion shows the Japanese advance.
Four days afterwards the Japanese entered Dalny and occupied that important station. With the exception of the great pier, all those enormous works upon which the Russians had been expending vast sums for years were found to be intact, and the invaders were able henceforth to use the port as an invaluable base for their operations against Port Arthur.
Alarm in St. Petersburg
This series of disasters caused the greatest alarm in St. Petersburg. The seriousness of the danger that threatened Port Arthur was realized in all its fulness at last, and the lofty assurance which had hitherto reigned supreme among the Imperial entourage gave place to feelings of panic. The result was that desperate measures were embarked upon which only led to fresh misfortunes. General Kuropatkin himself had seen from the first the impossibility of relieving Port Arthur from the north until he had a larger force at his disposal than he was likely to secure for months to come. His plan had always been to concentrate his main army at Liao-yang, or, if necessary, at Mukden, and wait till the arrival of large reinforcements enabled him to advance against the Japanese with some hope of success. If the Commander-in-Chief had been left to himself it is possible that this plan would have been pursued consistently and a great debacle might have been avoided. Port Arthur, indeed, would have been almost certain to fall, but in the opinion of nearly every strategist who had studied the problem, nothing short of a miracle could now save the so-called Gibraltar of the East. The only sound policy for the Russians was one of retirement and concentration until a more favorable opportunity presented itself. But now the Evil Genius of Russia interposed with his fatal counsels. To Admiral Alexeieff it was unthinkable that Port Arthur, at which for so long he had held his haughty Viceregal state, should be abandoned without a mighty effort. Ever since the arrival of General Kuropatkin in Manchuria had reduced him to a position of comparative inferiority, he had been intriguing against that commander with varying success, but on this occasion he received powerful backing amongst the Czar's advisers in St. Petersburg. The heaviest pressure was brought to bear upon General Kuropatkin to induce him to dispatch a strong force southwards to the relief of Port Arthur, and in an evil hour for his country and his own reputation the Commander-in-Chief weakly consented to be overruled. Lieut.-General Baron Stackelberg, the commander of the 1st Army Corps, with an army 35,000 strong was ordered to advance by forced marches into the Liao-tung Peninsula and lead a forlorn hope to save the doomed fortress.
RUSSIAN PRIEST IN THE TRENCHES, WITH GENERAL STAKELBERG'S ARMY.
Fatal Russian Strategy
The folly of this course is obvious to the veriest tyro in military science. Kuropatkin's line was already too far extended for safety. On his left flank, creeping gradually closer and working round to the northeast to effect a wide turning movement, was General Kuroki, with the 1st Army; General Nodzu, with the 3rd Army, was advancing from Takushan in the direction of Kaichau; while in the extreme south General Oku, having received large reinforcements, was able to hold Port Arthur securely invested and to march northwards with forces numbering 60,000 men, flushed with recent victory. The southward march of Baron Stackelberg, therefore, was doomed to disaster from the first. Not only was it highly improbable that he would ever succeed in getting through to Port Arthur, but in case he had to retreat, he ran a grave risk of being cut off by General Nodzu, and imperilling the position of General Kuropatkin himself. This was exactly what happened in actual fact.
Old Tactics versus New