Chapter 401: Changing generals on the spot
When the Japanese workers in Amur joined the army enthusiastically, Busan was being attacked by the Japanese army.
On February 9, the 7th Battle Group of the Third Fleet, led by Rear Admiral Nishitani Tsuji, launched a probing attack on Busan.
Team 7 consists of 10 battleships, including the armored coastal defense ships "Fuso" and "Kaimon", and six gunboats including "Iwaki", "Ukai", "Maya" and "Uji". and "Pingyuan" and "Jiyuan".
The Koryo Navy only had three destroyers. After the war broke out, in order to avoid heavy losses, the Koryo Navy withdrew to Vladivostok and joined the Siberian Fleet to jointly carry out maritime strike missions.
Although Alexeyev's 305 train gun was not equipped in Busan, the 254 coastal defense gun of the Busan Fort still caused the 7th Team to suffer a lot.
In just half an hour after the battle began, "Haimen" and three other warships were damaged, and the 7th team voluntarily evacuated.
On the 11th, the First Army, led by General Kuroki Weizhen, landed in Busan under the cover of the heavy cruisers of the Second Division of the First Fleet.
Lieutenant Colonel Felix, who was responsible for commanding the defense of Busan, did not hesitate and followed Yankov's order to voluntarily withdraw to the northern mountainous area.
Almost at the same time as the First Army landed, the Second Army led by Obo Gon landed in Inchon and went straight to Seoul.
Yangkov also did not resist, and continued to lead his troops to withdraw northward, taking the initiative to make way for the Japanese army.
On the 14th, the Second Army occupied Seoul, and the success made Dashanyan unbelievable.
The Korean army was trained completely according to the Russian Empire method, with a full set of Russian equipment, equipped with a large number of artillery and machine guns. Dashanyan thought there would be a fierce battle, but he did not expect it to be so easy.
Daesanyan did not pursue the Goryeo army. After taking control of large cities such as Seoul and Busan, the Japanese army began to prepare for the Kantung campaign.
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In order to prevent Japanese sneak attacks, fleet commander Starck ordered the deployment of mines in Port Arthur and off the coast of Dalini.
The minelayer "Yenisei", under the protection of the protected cruiser "Hereditary Noble", headed for Dalini.
The "Hereditary Noble" returned to Port Arthur after completing its escort mission, leaving the "Yenisei" in Dalinibre.
The "Yenisei" deployed a total of 230 anchor mines in the outer port of Dalini.
At that time, there were strong waves in the Dalini waters. After completing the minelaying mission, the "Yenisei" accidentally discovered that two mines had separated from the anchor chain and floated into the normal channel.
In order to avoid affecting the normal passage of the ship, Lieutenant Colonel Depanov, the captain of the "Yenisei", ordered the gun to be fired to detonate it.
What Depanov did not expect was that more than two mines entered the channel.
After detonating a mine that drifted into the waterway, the "Yenisei" was preparing to return to Port Arthur, but unfortunately hit a mine.
Depanov ordered the sailors to evacuate and stayed on the ship, vowing to live and die together with the warship.
Three minutes later, the "Yenisei" sank, and 95 people including the captain, Lieutenant Colonel Depanov, were killed.
Before the sinking of the "Yenisei", the ammunition on the ship exploded, and the sound of the explosion reached Port Arthur. The "Hereditary Noble" thought that the "Yenisei" was being attacked by the Japanese army, so it hurriedly returned with four destroyers .
Tragedy happened again. At 5 pm, the "Hereditary Noble" struck a mine two nautical miles south of Sanshan Island, and the port side boiler room was exploded. Although the damage control personnel closed the watertight door in time to control the water intrusion , but the captain, Colonel Saloichev, ordered the ship to be abandoned.
At 9 a.m. on the 12th, Colonel Matsevic, commander of the First Destroyer Fleet, sailed from the side of the "Hereditary Noble" on the destroyer "Thunder" and discovered that the "Hereditary Noble" had not sunk yet.
Colonel Matcevich sent people to board the ship for inspection and found that the "Hereditary Noble" was still buoyant and could be towed back to the military port for repairs.
Something magical happens again. While the "Thunder" towed the "Hereditary Noble" back to Port Arthur, the "Hereditary Noble" struck a mine again.
Although the "Hereditary Noble" sank, the farce is not over yet.
When the "Thunder" entered Port Arthur, because of its speed, it collided with the destroyer "Combat" which was preparing to leave the port, knocking a large hole out of the "Combat" amidships, and the "Thunder" ship The bow was also badly damaged.
Due to the efforts of the sailors, neither the "Combat" nor the "Thunder" sank, but a shadow hung over the Pacific Fleet. It had only been five days since the war broke out, and everyone felt exhausted.
On the 13th, an order came from St. Petersburg. Commander of the Pacific Fleet Stark was dismissed for dereliction of duty. His replacement as commander of the Pacific Fleet was Commander of the Kronstadt Fortress Stepan Macca. Vice Admiral Love.
Makarov is recognized as the best naval admiral in the Russian Empire. He is not of noble origin, so he is not liked by other admirals.
Probably for this reason, Makarov was appointed at the critical moment, otherwise it would probably not be his turn to serve as commander of the Pacific Fleet.
George has an impression of Makarov. The caps of the new Vladivostok Arsenal shells come from Makarov's invention.
However, George was skeptical that Makarov could save the Pacific Fleet.
On February 17, Makarov took a train from St. Petersburg to Port Arthur.
Before boarding the train, Makarov sent a telegram to Alexeyev, hoping that the Pacific Fleet would increase the number of light cruisers and destroyers.
It is too late to say this now. Even if the Vladivostok Shipyard lays the keel immediately, it will not be able to catch up with the decisive battle between the Pacific Fleet and the Japanese Combined Fleet.
After the defeat at Port Arthur on the morning of the 9th, Togo Heihachiro changed his strategy and sent a blockade fleet to sink at the entrance of Port Arthur, hoping to block the Pacific Fleet warships in the port.
After the attack on the night of the 8th, the Pacific Fleet stepped up its vigilance. Searchlights were turned on at the entrance to Port Arthur all night long. Togo Heihachiro organized three blockade fleets in succession, all of which ended in failure.
On March 8, Makarov arrived in Port Arthur, and the morale of the Pacific Fleet gradually recovered.
Arriving in the Far East with Makarov was Army Minister Alexey Kuropatkin, who was appointed by Nicholas as Commander-in-Chief of the Far Eastern Army.
Kuropatkin did not go to Fengtian, but his first stop in the Far East was Vladivostok.
Kuropatkin came to Vladivostok to ask George for troops.
Before the war broke out, the Russian Empire deployed a total of 100,000 troops in Kanto, stationed in various places.
After the war broke out, the Russian Empire gathered troops from Europe to the Far East, with about 20,000 people arriving every month.
Kuropatkin was worried that the Japanese army was advancing too fast and would not have time to increase troops from Europe, so he hoped that George could send troops from the Amur Military Region to fight in Kantung.
George decisively refused.
The Amur Military District did not receive a mobilization order before the war, and there were only two divisions in total.
After the war broke out, the Amur Military Region began to mobilize, converting the two reserve divisions into regular troops. At the same time, Japanese workers were recruited to form a servant army and were undergoing training.
It is only because spring has not yet begun and ships cannot pass through that the Amur region has not been harassed by the Japanese navy.
Otherwise, Amur's small number of troops would be insufficient for defense and would not be able to support Kanto at all.
(End of this chapter)