Chapter 124: The War That Ends
When Kuropatkin's retreat order was issued, Russia suddenly became a joke, and the government's prestige was discredited, so the tsar issued another order to Kuropatkin who retreated to Mukden, hoping that this time he would not see defeat again, and Kuropatkin also assured the tsar that this time it would bring a victory to the government.
So in this final battlefield, both Japan and Russia mobilized all the military forces that could be mobilized at that time, and gathered 230,000 Japanese troops, 1,082 artillery pieces, 200 machine guns and 330,000 Russian troops, 1,266 artillery pieces, and 256 machine guns on a front of more than 100 kilometers.
At the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, in 1904, Tsarist Russia was not a stable state, and there were not only frequent social movements, but also terrorist assassinations and partisan struggles, as well as local revolts and small-scale revolutionary activities.
There is a saying that the victory of the revolution of October 1917 would not have been possible without the 'general exercise' of 1905.
Therefore, under the wave of revolution, the Tsarist government happened to have a contradiction of interests with Japan, and it was precisely because of this contradiction that Nicholas II saw a hope, to divert the attention of the domestic masses with the victory of a war, and to suppress the voice of domestic opposition in one fell swoop after the victory of the war, so there was this war.
However, after the start of the war, the situation of the war has not been satisfactory, and there has been no landmark victory, but many defeats have been fought, and the opposition of the people has also risen, so Nicholas II issued an order to Kuropatkin that the battle must be won.
In the comparison of forces before the war, the Russian army had an advantage in terms of strength and artillery, especially after the retreat of Liaoyang, taking advantage of the fact that the Japanese army needed a period of rest and recuperation, mobilizing troops to consolidate the battlefield and preparing for the final decisive battle that was coming, so the Russian side also had a period of respite.
During this period of respite, the Russian army purchased a large amount of cement and wire, heavy machine guns and a large amount of munitions from Wang Bin, which can be said to be fully prepared for this final decisive battle, indicating that the Russian army will fight to the end in Mukden.
After a month's rest, in June 1905 the final war was fought, which would determine the dominance of interests in the Far East.
With the arrival of the Japanese Third Army Nogi and the formation of the 5th Army, the Japanese army has concentrated 230,000 people, which is already all the military strength that the Japanese army can muster at present.
After the army was assembled, Dashan Yan decided to attack the 370,000 Russian troops who had been concentrated in Mukden, and since the main direction of the Japanese attack was the right flank of the Russian army, it was necessary to force Kuropatkin to transfer the reserves from the right flank to the left flank.
To this end, on June 3, 1905, the 5th Army of the Japanese right flank, Kawamura Keimei, took the lead in advancing north from the upper reaches of the Taizi River.
With the support of the 1st Army, a detour began to the right flank of the Russian 1st Army.
This action of the Japanese army can be said to be completely unexpected by Kuropatkin, who immediately transferred 42 battalions of the right flank reserve to strengthen the left flank, and this is exactly what Dashan Yan wanted.
After that, the 2nd and 3rd armies under the command of Dashanyan began to make a detour to the right flank of the Russian army and carry out the main assault, and this move of Dashanyan put the Russian army in a predicament: on a front that stretched for about 100 kilometers, only 1 division was left in the reserve of the right flank of the Russian army.
The Russian 2nd Army had to deal with the Japanese 2 armies, and while the right flank was attacked by the Japanese, the 2 armies on the left flank did not move, and the 2nd Army was forced to shrink its position.
At this time, Kuropatkin decided to transfer the reserves from the left flank back to the right flank, and the troops tossed back and forth, exhausted, and the morale of the troops, which had finally recovered after resting, had declined slightly.
In the face of this move by Oyama Rock, Kuropatkin decided to launch a counter-assault on the flank of Nogi Noshinori of the 3rd Army, which had detoured to his right flank, and for this reason, Ropatkin deliberately drew a mixed force from each army to counterattack.
However, the troops did not complete the assembly on time, and at this time Nogi Noshinori's 3rd Army was approaching the railway line north of Mukden, and the situation was very urgent.
As a last resort, Kuropatkin had no choice but to postpone the original date of the counter-assault to 7 June, when the mixed forces under the command of Kuropatkin totaled more than 40,000 men, and after the counter-assault began, only a few bloody battles were fought without effect, and on 10 June, the counter-assault did not work, and Nogi Noshinori's 3rd Army continued to detour north of Mukden.
However, although this assault did not work, the Third Army, which blocked the assault, was not comfortable at this time, and the soldiers who had previously been replenished by the Third Army in the base camp were exhausted in these counter-assaults.
During this period, the Japanese army also intensified its offensive on the left flank of the Russian army from June 5, and under the resistance of the Russian 1st Army, little progress was made.
However, when Kuropatkin launched a counter-assault on June 7, the two armies on the left flank of the Russian army stood still.
On 7 June, Kuropatkin ordered the two armies to abandon their positions on the Shahe River and withdraw to the north of the Hunhe River, a decision taken by Kuropatkin in an attempt to shorten the front, withdraw troops to strengthen the right flank, and prevent the 3rd Army from advancing to the railway line north of Mukden with a new counter-assault.
However, the new counter-assault commanded by Kuropatkin did not achieve its goal, and it had no effect, but in these two successive counter-assault operations, Kuropatkin used his superior forces to cripple Nogi Noshinori's Third Army, resulting in the Third Army having to withdraw from the battlefield ahead of schedule.
At the same time, the Russian 1st and 3rd armies, which had abandoned the Shahe position, built a strong position on the Hunhe River in time, and in this case, on June 12, the Japanese tried to break through the defense line of the Russian 1st Army, but did not succeed On the same day, the Japanese also tried to detour the Russian 2nd Army from the right flank and appeared in the rear of the army, but they were all in vain.
In this way, the Russian army and the Japanese army in the northeast once again began a stalemate in the Hunhe area, and Dashanyan, who faced such a situation, knew that as long as he won a superior victory in the Hunhe area, then Mukden would be at his fingertips.
So Dashanyan began to attack at all costs, trying to take the Hunhe area, but except for causing huge casualties on his side and the defending Russian army, there was no progress, and the Japanese army commanded by Dashanyan was blocked here by the Russian army at the cost of casualties.
It was not until the two governments could no longer bear such tragic casualties that they had to reconcile under the mediation of the great powers, so that in any case, the Russian army still held Mukden at the last moment, making the previous advantage of the Japanese army fall short.