Chapter XXXVIII

MUKDEN IN SIGHT.

STORMING A HILL.

Having struck their blow the Japanese made strenuous efforts to envelope the defeated and demoralised enemy. Four roads were open to the retreating armies. On the East they were falling back through Taelin toward Wushun: on the West they had the railway and the main road to Mukden: and between these points were two roads, from Panlasantzu and Hialiuhotzu, leading North. About these communications the Japanese strove to cast four loops from which there could be no escape. Our left flank endeavoured to drive the Russians from the railway into the mountainous region, while our right pressed them hard among the hills.

The failure of this enterprise was due to one cause. Our force was too small. Though we had suffered serious loss and though the men were exhausted by continuous fighting, so eager were they to reap the full reward of victory that they were prepared to take any risk. But the caution of the older leaders forbade pursuit beyond the Sha-ho, and this time their prudence was justified. North of the river the Russians had entrenched positions and the country was more favourable for defence than we had supposed. Their powers of resistance too were still great, and their artillery served them well. Yet neither defences nor powers of resistance would have availed had the Japanese been as numerous as General Kuropatkin seemed to imagine.

It is a remarkable feature of the war--the complete breakdown of the Russian Intelligence branch. From the first they grossly and even ludicrously exaggerated the forces opposed to them. General Kuroki’s army was magnified twofold. General Keller reported that at Mou-tien-ling he was repulsed by a greatly superior force, whereas he was driven back by four companies of infantry! On another occasion a whole division was checked by a single battalion whose commander adopted the simple and familiar ruse of posting his men in small groups over a wide front. The truth is that the army was too small to risk vigorous and prolonged pursuit or to make those extended flanking movements that were so successful before the concentration of the Russian forces and the abandonment of attempts to relieve Port Arthur. Some critics have sought to prove that the Japanese kept Port Arthur as a bait to lure the enemy South and that the prolonged resistance of General Stoessel was of the highest service to Marshal Oyama. Nothing could be further from the fact. The Japanese considered the fall of Port Arthur essential to their command of the sea: it was urgently needed also as the only port free from ice in the Winter. Yet had they realised for a moment that General Stoessel could hold out after the first week of August they would have contented themselves with an investment. That, at any rate, is the deliberate statement of men responsible for the conduct of the campaign. And they had reason, for Port Arthur not merely retarded progress in Manchuria but twice robbed the Japanese of the fruits of hard won victory.

From a hill, near the village of Sha-ho, I saw Mukden on the morning of October the 16th. In the grey distance, across the plain which autumn had tinted with purple and brown, rose wall and towers--a vague shadow that melted into mist, like a city of dreamland. Away to the West among the pine groves thundered the guns of the Western army, and in the little hamlet at my feet was assembled the detachment that was to try its luck on the other side of the river and to meet with the first reverse to the Japanese arms. In the hope of striking the enemy from the rear and compelling them to abandon their first line of defence, the detachment, under General Yamada, crossed the Sha-ho, captured two guns, and seemed on the point of accomplishing its purpose when a division of the Russians came down from the North-east and simultaneously an attack was delivered from the West. Surrounded on both flanks the regiment cut its way back, but left behind nine field and five mountain guns--the first guns lost by the Japanese.

[Illustration: Foreign Attachés and Correspondents.]

South of the Sha River the enemy still held one position until October the 27th. Its tactical value to the Russians was insignificant, though its importance was great as a post of observation. Whoever retained the hill could survey the lines of both armies and note their movements. Haitaoshan, which means the Mountain of Irregular Crest, is about twelve miles North-east by East of the coal mine at Yentai. It is a four peaked hill that looks as if it had been riven from the wild ranges that run Eastward, like a myriad writhing dragons, and set down on the river flat. Bare heights bend round it on the South, across the shallow stream: to the East rises the land of monstrous furrows--brown hills and brown valleys--while on the North stretches the grey plain of Mukden. Haitaoshan runs almost East and West and from the peaks descend ridges like ribs. The Western peak is the highest and is crowned with the ruins of a small temple surrounded by an ancient wall. The Eastern shoulder falls sharply into a green hollow. Between these points are three small eminences or peaks joined by bow-shaped saddles. The mountain is very steep and the slopes are clothed with long fine grass slippery as ice.

In this stronghold--a spy and a menace to our investing lines--lay the 2nd battalion of the 18th Regiment of Sharpshooters. They had made themselves very snug and secure. Along the summit ran a deep trench by which a man might walk from one end of the mountain to the other and not be seen. The trench was covered and gave access to three breastworks built about the peaks like redoubts and flanked by trenches. Into these shelters the Russians had carried stoves--for the night and early morning were bitterly cold--and an abundant supply of food and drink as though prepared for a siege. It was evident that they feared a night attack and had taken wise precautions. Assault whether by night or day must come from the Eastern slope, since that alone was assailable. Their design was to draw the Japanese--should they come in the darkness--beyond the first line of defence on the East across the narrow ridge toward the second peak, behind which were hidden five or six machine guns that would sweep the approach with a sheet of lead and leave not a man alive. It was a very clever scheme, carefully thought out and skillfully arranged. Had the Japanese tried to storm the position in the night they must have failed and have suffered heavy loss. But just when you think that you have caught the habit of the Japanese and feel disposed to prophesy, they do something quite unexpected. And so it happened, unfortunately for the Russian plan, that Haitaoshan was assailed not at night but in broad day, and was captured with the loss of only one hundred and seventy men, of whom seventy were killed.

On the night of the 26th of October a message was brought from Head-Quarters that at eight o’clock next morning a certain mountain eight miles from Bastion Hill would be bombarded. The invitation did not sound promising, for artillery duels had long been daily episodes, and are rarely interesting save when they pave the way for infantry. However, we went and were rewarded by a notable example of artillery and infantry working together as smoothly and effectively as if they were the fly wheel and the driving wheel of one engine.

South of Haitaoshan, at a distance of about three thousand yards, rise precipitous hills, on one of which, well hidden from the enemy’s view, was a field battery. To the East, among the heights, was posted another battery, and to the West on a lower elevation was a third battery of captured Russian guns. North of Haitaoshan the hills are more remote, and to bring their artillery within effective range of our batteries the enemy would have to expose their guns in the open.

As soon as the morning mist cleared and revealed the heights beyond the Sha-ho dotted with dark figures, the bombardment began. From the batteries on the East and South came a slow and steady succession of shells directed against the trenches on the Eastern slope and the breastworks on the summit of the mountain. The Russians strove to reply from the cover of a low ridge on the North-west, but their efforts were futile. The range was too great, and our batteries could have been hit only by accident. It was notable that whereas the Japanese used high explosive shells against the trenches, the enemy employed shrapnel. The cannonade continued without incident until one o’clock in the afternoon, when the infantry began to advance.

They came out of trenches on the rising ground to the South and passed from the green hollow toward the Eastern slope. It was a steep climb and slippery, but the Japanese, mindful of every detail, had tied pieces of rope over their boots and climbed like experienced mountaineers. At first one company appeared and made quickly for the shoulder of the hill. Another followed, and then a third marched out of a dark grove on the South and spread along the rib that descended from the first peak. On the shoulder of the mountain the resistance was slight, though several Japanese fell before the enemy withdrew to the first breastwork or redoubt. Clustered like bees under the shoulder the infantry lay while the reserves advanced from the hollow and the guns concentrated their fire on the first peak. Here were Russians plainly enough, though how many we could not say until the shells began to drive them from cover. At first singly, then in twos and threes they appeared, running toward the second peak and vanished over the crest. Shrapnel pursued them, for it was against trenches only that the Japanese used common shell. Again the little redoubt was wreathed in smoke and clouds of black earth, and again men ran from it like ants whose nest has been disturbed. So the bombardment went on until it seemed that no living thing could be within the circle of fire. And all this time the infantry lay under the shoulder of the mountain and on the ribbed slope. It was “dead” ground they clung to--a swift incline that shielded them from rifle fire, though not more than one hundred yards from the enemy. For two hours they remained in this position, while Russians passed to and fro between the first and second peaks, and an officer raised his head above the breastwork to see if the Japanese made any movement. It looked as if the attack had failed; yet so great is the confidence inspired by victory that not one of the foreign observers doubted for an instant the ability of the Japanese infantry to accomplish their purpose. Now the guns were seized with new fury and the mountain became an active volcano. Another moment and there was silence so deep and solemn that you felt as though suddenly roused from sleep to discover that the battle and the bloodshed were only a dream.

At three o’clock a movement was observed in the black cluster under the shoulder of the hill. A sergeant--without orders, I am told--rose and climbed rapidly toward the first breastwork. He was followed by about a dozen soldiers. As they approached the Russians came out of the trench and stood behind the redoubt with rifles at their shoulder. A splutter of bullets and one or two Japanese rolled over: but the rest went on with a rush and came close to the breastwork almost upon the bayonets of the Russians who leapt forward to meet them. Brave and desperate men--Russian and Japanese! They closed for a second and then the Japanese ran back--all that was left of them. The gallant sergeant quickly found that he had ventured into a hornets’ nest. On his left was a trench lined with riflemen: in front was the redoubt bristling with bayonets and darting fire, and suddenly on his right came another body of Russians. The position of this handful of Japanese looked hopeless, when just at the critical moment a shell flew over their heads--it must have singed their hair--and burst right among the enemy. The half dozen who came out of this fray lost no time in seeking the cover of the shoulder of the hill.

Meanwhile another company was advancing up the slope under shrapnel fire from the Russian guns which had abandoned the duel with our artillery and sought--too late--to arrest the progress of our infantry. Once more the batteries pounded away at the breastwork and trenches and once more the enemy ran out of the inferno. They had done their duty with amazing courage and audacity: they had covered the retirement of their comrades and now sought safety in flight. As yet it was impossible to realise that the position had been evacuated and that the second and third redoubts and lines of trenches were empty. At five minutes to four o’clock the guns ceased fire: the infantry rose from under the shelter of the hill; and from the ribbed spur. With rapid strides they drew near to the first peak and pressed up the steep slope from the South. A solitary Russian appeared running at full speed and vanished over the crest. There was a few minutes pause to take breath and then an officer moved on toward the second breastwork followed by a soldier waving the flag of the Rising Sun as a signal to the artillery. No shot came from the little fort and the officer went quickly forward to the third peak. Again no enemy. And so to the temple on the highest summit. The Russians were scurrying down the hill into the valley and across the Sha-ho, while the Japanese stood on the crest and fired down upon them.