On 6 June, General Nogi landed at Liao tung Peninsula at the head of the Third Army, and starting from Kinchow, which had been occupied by the Second Army, advanced south ward, pressing the rear of Port Arthur by the beginning of August. The Russian garrison in that fortress was now apparently doomed. On 16 August a parletnentasre was sent by the Japanese army to the commander of the fortress communicating to him the Imperial wishes with regard to the disposal of non-combatants and also counseling his surrender. On the fol lowing day the enemy replied to the communi cation, refusing either to deliver the non-com batants or to surrender. So the Japanese army opened a general attack on the fortress on the 19th. A bloody fight followed, which lasted till the 23d. The Russians held their positions with great tenacity and courage, and the Japan ese were only able to capture the East and West forts of Panlungshan at great cost. The attack on the North Fort of Tungkeikwanshan proved most costly, the losses sustained by the Japanese being extraordinarily heavy. Under these circumstances the Japanese concluded that Port Arthur could not be taken by storm and resolved to carry on a long siege.
Japanese Naval Operations in the. Direc tion of Vladivostock and Saghalien.—At the beginning of the war, the Russians had three warships at Vladivostock and were ready to meet the Japanese on the sea by the co-operation of the Vladivostock squadron and the Port Arthur squadron. On 6 March Vice-Admiral Kamimura, commander of the Second Squadron, led seven warships to a bombardment of Vladi vostock. The enemy's ships, however, did not venture out and give battle. On 25 April they unsuspectedly made their appearance off Gen san, Korea, and attacked and sank the Kinshu maru, a Japanese transport. On 15 June they again sank another transport, the Hidachi-maru, and on 30 June some of their torpedo boats raided Gensan. Despite these frequent appear ances, they successfully eluded the Japanese warships, until on 14 August they were caught by the Kamimura squadron off Ulsan, Korea, while they were steaming southward. In the engagement which followed, the Rurik, one of the Russian cruisers, was sunk and two others were heavily damaged. The Vladivostock squadron then became entirely inactive.
The Russian cruiser Novik, which had escaped to Kiaochow from Port Arthur after the naval engagement on 10 August, was re quested by the German authorities there to leave the port. In consequence she left Kiao chow and for some time her whereabouts was unknown. It was later found that she was pro ceeding toward Vladivostock by a roundabout way on the Pacific. The Japanese cruisers Tsushima and Chitose at once gave chase and, overtaking her at Korsakoff, in Saghalien, com pletely disabled her.
The Battles of Liaoyang and of the The first goal of Japan's Manchurian armies was Liaoyang. As the different armies i
approached it there arose the necessity of estab lishing headquarters, which should control and direct their movements. Thus, on 24 June, the headquarters of the Manchurian armies were created with Marshal Oyama as the head and General Kodama as chief of the staff. They left Tokio for the front on 6 July. In the meantime, General Kuropatkin, commander-in chief of the Russian armies in Manchuria, had his headquarters between Liaoyang and Muk den, and was trying to check the advance of the Japanese armies. At the beginning of August, Japan's First Army was at Yushu lingtsz and Yangtzling, the Second at Haicheng and the Fourth at Tohmucheng. Marshal Oyama made the First Army the left wing, the Fourth Army the centre and the Second Army the right wing, and ordered a general advance on Liaoyang, so that by about 23 or 24 August the Japanese armies found themselves in the vicinity of Liaoyang. Confronting them the enemy had Lieutenant-General Stackelberg with three army corps opposed to the Second and Fourth Japanese armies, Lieutenant-General Ivanoff with two army corps opposed to the First Army, and General Kuropatkin with all the reserve forces stationed outside Liaoyang, besides providing a flying column to meet a flanking attack. On 25 August the Japanese right wing opened fire on the Russians, and steadily defeating them pushed forward until on 1 and 2 September it occupied positions be hind Liaoyang. In the meantime the Japanese Central Army and left wing also operated against the enemy. They dislodged him from his positions at Anshantien and Sheushampao one after another, and hotly pursuing pressed on Liaoyang. It was originally the plan of the Russians to rendezvous their retreating troops at Liaoyang, but due to the hot pursuit of the Japanese armies much confusion occurred among the Russians, and a great army, prob ably 250,090 strong, fled northward. By 4 Sep tember the Japanese armies completed the occu pation of Liaoyang. The Japanese armies in this fight probably numbering 200,000. In this engagement the Japanese casualties were roughly estimated at 18,000 and those of Rus sia at more than 25,000.
The news of the Russian defeat at Liao yang caused consternation at Saint Petersburg, and at a conference held before the throne loud were the voices condemning General Kuropatkin. The result was that General Grip enberg, who had always been on bad terms with Kuropatkin, was appointed commander of the Second Russian Army. Moreover, Kuropatkin was constantly urged to go to the relief of Port Arthur. In these circumstances Kuropatkin decided to take the offensive with the view of wiping out the disgrace he had sustained at Liaoyang. He led a great army southward and the battle of the Shaho ensued.