Twelve Days' Battle
Torrential rains again delayed operations for upwards of three weeks, but by the 24th of August comparatively dry weather had set in, and on the 25th the general advance of the Japanese upon Liao-yang began. We now enter upon one of the most tremendous dramas ever known in military history—the twelve days' battle around Liao-yang. No fighting so fierce, so sustained, and so bloody has been experienced since the armies of Grant and Lee met in their great death grapple in the Wilderness in the Civil War. The terrible conflict raged for the most part simultaneously over an enormously extended front, and an adequate description can only be given by following in turn the fortunes of the separate Japanese armies. But for sake of clearness it will be well to attempt, first, a brief and comprehensive account of the main lines of the operations and their final result.
The Great Armies in Touch
On the 25th Kuroki's army of three divisions advanced upon Anping, and, after desperate fighting, drove the Russians back from that place to Liao-yang. At the same time the Third Army under General Nodzu, manœuvring with Oku's forces on the left, turned the enemy out of their strong position at Anshanchan, situated about 15 miles to the south of Liao-yang. The advance of Oku was delayed considerably by the efforts of an enterprising rear guard left by Kuropatkin to cover the retreat, and by the thick mud, which made the roads almost impassable; but on the 29th both he and Nodzu came into touch with the enemy in their main position in front of Liao-yang. Here Kuropatkin held an entrenched front of about five miles, with three lines of defence formed by separate ranges of low hills, fortified with consummate skill.
Frightful Carnage
To the Japanese, however, no obstacle seemed too great. After a prolonged artillery preparation, in which for the first time the Russians showed themselves equal, if not superior, to their opponents, the superb infantry of Dai Nippon were ordered to the attack. Then ensued the most frightful scene of carnage and heroic endurance. For five long days the splendid troops of Oku and Nodzu flung themselves upon a foe not less gallant than themselves, and time after time they were held back with broken ranks, leaving behind great heaps of dead. And when at last they did make their bloody passage into the town of Liao-yang, it was only to learn the mortifying intelligence that their enemy had escaped from the toils so carefully set for him, and that for a considerable time their tremendous struggle had been conducted, not with the main body of Kuropatkin's army, but with a rear guard.
JAPANESE ASSAULT ON A RUSSIAN POSITION AT LIAO-YANG.
Costly but Indecisive