THE WAR 0 MANCHURIA

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7747, 24 February 1905, Page 3

THE WAR 0 MANCHURIA

Japanese Hot Hopeful of Peace. Russian Activity and Reported Successes. ' LONDON, Feb. 22. Viscount llayashi. Japanese Ministor. ill London, interviewed, expre+*od himself as not hopeful of immediate peace. The only reason of the sudden collapse of the war partyi in Russia, was perhaps to he found in the internal condition. Possibly the trouble had been painted blaekcv than the truth warranted. Anyhow, the Japanese would not rely on any unverifiable factor, but prosecute the campaign until the Russians announced their intention to sue for peace. i .General Kuropatkin claims to have repulsed the Japanese from the south-east, and to have occupied Dapindechen, near Thinhechang. I The comuiandcr of a sotnia of Russian cavalry burned a Japanese provision depot eastwards, alj o a convoy. 1 Sharp outpost lighting occurred at Thinchenchan, I Fourteen Russians were killed and 63 wounded. | Thiee hundred Russians raided and slightly damaged the railway between Haincheng and Tafchichiao, J violating Chinese territory west of I the Liao. The line has since been jrepaired. I 'lhe junkmen assert thut. foreseeing a storm, they wished to return to Pigeon Bay, but Captains Cuver- | Jille and Gilgenheim insisting that , they should proceed, a light ensued, | during which the two officers were .thrown overboard.

REPORTED FAILURE OF PROVISIONS,

(Received Feb. 23, 9.46 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 23. Tientsin advices state that the Russian second line of troops are on half rations.

FURTHER OPIUM REGARDING PEACE

(Received Feh. 23, 10.46 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 23. Baron Suye Matsu, interviewed regarding Russia's terms, said Korea |was already under Japanese influence, and the Liuo-tirng Peninsula and the bulk of the railway in Japanese hands. Hut the most cxtraI ordinary suggestion relates to Manchuria, which makes the defeated power the gainer. Russia, by holding the region north of Harbin, retains twice- as much of Manchuria as is restored. Other Japanese in London, interviewed, were unanimous that the proposed terms were preposterous.

THE DOGGER BANK AFFAIR. (Received Feb. 23, 11.28 p.m.) LONDON,. Feb! 23. Mr Balfour, replying to a question regarding the third IJaltlc .Fleet, said the Government placed .implicit reliance upon Russia's assurance that full precautions would betaken against a recurrence, or incidents like the Dogger Bank affair. Count Cassini, in an interview,.declared that Russia's attitude in the war remains unchanged. The alleged terms are preposterous. ' Denials have also been received from St. Petersburg. The Novtfe Vreyma reports that four thousand. Chunchuses, led by twenty Japanese troops, with guns are attacking convoys south-west of Bodune.

JAPAN'S DUAL CONQUEST OF > PORT ARTHUR. .

The success of General Nogi inevi- I tably calls to mind the Autumn of 1804, when-: tiic Japanese Armv, under Marshal Oyama, wrested the fortress from the incompetent hands of the Chinese. Then, as in 1901, Port Arthur was declared to be i<m- , pregnable, the German Military instructors in the service of China'having spared neither pains no? money | to make the forts around Ta-lien- ', wan and Port Arthur the most for- ■, midable and perfect that modern science could devise. Nature had been lavish to prodigality in giving natural strength to the position, and the German instructors were not alone in their opinion as to the task before the Japanese forces. Marquis Oyama himself felt that the work be/ore him and his Army of 22,000 men was one of unparalleled difficulty. If there was a tendency on the part of the Japanese in 1904 to under-estimate the strength of Port Arthur, it was probably due to the fact that they over-estimated its resisting power in 1891. Oyama, with his 22,000 men, was able to march South from his landing point, some 85 miles from Port Arthur, , practically without check of any J kind. His first battle was at Kin- [ £how, where, in 1904, the Japanese ! forced, the Russian lines at Nanshan, but it was practically confined to capturing the walled town of Kinchow, the Chinese having made no preparations on the hills overlooking the town. In 1904 the Japanese attack upon IC nchow was only the first step to the desperate and costly victory upon the slopes of Nanshan. The Chinese flying from Kinchow so infected their fellows manning the superb scries of seven modern forts guarding Ta-lien-wau that they abandoned practically without a blow positions which a regiment might have held against an army. After Nanshan the Russ ans abandoned the approaches to Dalny practically as supinely as did the Chinese ten years .before. Advancing on Port Arthur I proper. Marshal Oyama was confronted by the circle, of sixteen forts, the work of Captain Hanneken and his fellow instructors. In the hands of the Chinese these offered little real resistance, although the Japanese losses were more considerable here than in the earlier stages of the advance. The Japanese troops followed the flying Chinese troops, and the fight for Port Arthur concluded in the streets of the town itself. Ikfore the final attack the Japanese had offered to secure the safety or the Chinese defenders should they surrender the town. The non-com-batants had been allowed to leave Port Arthur before the town was carried. The Chinese refused to surrender, and fought bravely in a hopeless cause. Corruption in Militarycircles, imperfect stores, and bad ammunition were disadvantages which the Russians in 1901 shared with their Chinese predecessors in 1894. General Nogi, however, found that the 16 forts which had confronted Oyama had disappeared altogether rrom the fortifications. The German forts of those days were not considered worth serious consideration, either as to streagth or as to position, by the Russian Military engineers. An entirely new system of forts, constructed of steel and stone, connected by excellent Military roads and covered ways, had sprung into being. Never before had such a perfect fortress been constructed, assisted by Nature's bountiful provision of suitable sites for forts. Stone forts were supplemented by steel casementod trenches, moats, wire entanglements ad infinitum. The old German forts were innocent of these advantages, as also they were of mines and stake-concealing pitfalls." The guns of the Chinese in 1894 were the best of their age, although the ammunition was bad, but 1904 had seen the advent of quick-firing guns and machine guns of deadly precision. It is doubtful whether the Russians could have made so brave a defence had they been protected only by the old forts. There is much truth in Generaf Nogi's statement that the forts gave the Russians their strength. Instead of the meteoric advance of Oyama in 3894, the forts compelled Nogi to sap his way painfully through the frosty rockbouml ground, foot by foot, towards the well-nigh impregnable forts, perched on their trenchlined slopes: Where the Japanese under Oyama 'hod only to charge simple parallels, those under Nogi had to hack their way through entanglements of electric-charged wire, to burrow their way through moving walls of lead from quickfircrs, Max- • ims, and repeating rifles. In 1894 the forts were manned by wavering j Chinese, ndepenrient of competent control ; in 1904 they were in the hands of Russian soldiers, of whom whatever their intelligence may be their bravery under orders and in the line of battle are unquestioned. In 1894 Port Arthur might have been taken by other troops, to-day it is not too much to say that only the Japanese Infantry,, commanded by their stern-minded, inflexible Generals, nurtured in an atmosphere of Samurai valour, could have carried the Port Arthur forts by storm,