THE WAR IN THE EAST

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 18, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 20.

THE WAR IN THE EAST.

THE hard fighting of the war in the East has at last begun. The crossing of the Yalu by the Japanese began the land campaign, and in this engagement Russia received a stinging blow. The forces that were intended merely to delay the crossing and make it as costly as possible for the Japanese were caught unawares by the Japanese artillery, and the gunners seem to have been unable to extricate either themselves or their guns from the positions in which they had been posted. Some of the Russian batteries had practically all their men and horses killed or disabled. One report states that the Russians lost in this engagement 70 per cent of their men in killed, wounded, and prisoners. The Russian casualties in the engagement named were 362 killed, 600 missing, and 1,850 wounded. The Japanese loss was heavy also, but no statement of it has been given out.

Since the battle of the Yalu the Japanese army has been pushing forward, and the reports indicate that they have captured the place to which the Russians retreated, altho General Kuropatkin had gone forward with large re-enforcements. At the same time the navy made another attempt to block Port Arthur, and it is persistently declared that the attempt was a success. Ten merchantmen loaded with stone entered the channel under a deadly fire from the Russian fortifications, anchored and were sunk. Only a portion of the daring crews were saved. While this was in progress transports were landing thousands of Japanese soldiers on both sides of the peninsula on which Port Arthur is situated. These at once advanced to the railroad, and have cut Port Arthur off from communication with the rest of the Russian forces. The latter place will now be besieged by both land and sea. The Russians claim that it can hold out for one year.

The advancing Japanese forces are concentrating toward the Russian main army. They are equipped with the best artillery, and in numbers it is believed that the Japanese exceed the Russians in Manchuria. Europe is looking with mingled admiration and serious apprehension upon the feats of the Japanese.