Chapter 404 Part-time Priest
When the news of Makarov's death came out, the most determined militants began to wonder whether God had abandoned the Russian Empire.
In just two months, the Pacific Fleet had two consecutive commander-in-chiefs. One was dismissed and the other died in battle. This position seems to be cursed. It has some kind of magic power and can bring bad luck to people. So Nikolai encountered a problem when choosing a successor for Makarov. No one was willing to take over.
Before the war broke out, the position of commander of the Pacific Fleet was very hot, and countless people went to the Far East. Even guys like Kirill, who knew nothing about military affairs, wanted to go to the Pacific Fleet to be gilded.
When "Petropavlovsk" hit a mine, Kirill was also on it.
Kirill was lucky. He did not sink to the bottom of the sea with 649 other people, but was rescued. Only 10 people were as lucky as him.
After being rescued, Kirill immediately asked to return to St. Petersburg, unwilling to stay for a minute longer.
Witthoeft, who once again became acting commander-in-chief, had to arrange a special train to send Kirill away.
Leaving with Kirill were more than 20 "noble wounded" from St. Petersburg. Their injuries varied. Some had migraines caused by anxiety, and some fell from the bed in their sleep. Some people have broken ribs because they miss their family and become sick from overwork.
George could not take care of the Pacific Fleet. On April 15, the "Tiger" was outfitted and, together with the "Bear", was ready for delivery at any time.
The Pacific Fleet could not take care of the "Bear" and "Tiger" at the moment. The candidate for the new fleet commander had not yet been determined, so Witthoeft could only continue to serve concurrently.
Witthoeft continued to use the excuse that the enemy was strong and he was weak, and ordered the warships to stay in Port Arthur, trying his best to avoid fighting with the Japanese army.
A magical thing happened again. Witthoeft avoided fighting on the grounds that the enemy was too strong and the Pacific Fleet suffered heavy losses.
The two most powerful battleships in the Russian Empire were ignored in Vladivostok and no one took them at all.
The Siberian Fleet wanted to take them over, but Alexei did not agree. The Navy Department had already paid for these two warships. Even if the Pacific Fleet did not take them over, it would not be the Siberian Fleet's turn.
George ignored Alexei's attitude and Peter had nothing to do in East India. George asked Peter to find a way to return to Vladivostok.
After the war broke out, George immediately ordered an attack on Japanese merchant ships.
In Japan today, there are very few ocean-going cargo ships. They were all in Japan before the outbreak of the war. They did not reach the Strait of Malacca at all. All trade communication between Japan and the United Kingdom was carried out by British merchant ships.
After the war broke out, although Britain and Japan were allies, they did not participate in the war and remained neutral. The Siberian fleet had no reason to attack British merchant ships.
British neutrality is forced neutrality.
The Anglo-Japanese Alliance stipulates that if one of the contracting countries goes to war with another country, the other party shall strictly maintain neutrality.
However, if one of the Allies is at war with two or more other countries, the other side should provide military assistance and must also consult with the Allies when making peace.
After the Russo-Japanese War broke out, East India immediately declared war on Japan, which had triggered the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. According to the Anglo-Japanese Alliance Agreement, Britain had every reason to participate in the war.
The British did not recognize East India as a country on the grounds that the establishment of East India was not recognized by Britain, so it insisted that East India's participation in the war did not trigger the Anglo-Japanese Alliance Treaty.
This decision was important to avoid the early outbreak of World War I.
If Britain joins the war, France will also have to join the war, and a world war is imminent.
Peter could not come back from East India, and George could not even organize personnel to take over the "Bear" and "Tiger".
The Japanese army did not give the Russian troops in Kwantung a chance to breathe. The day after Makarov was killed, the First Army led by Kuroki Weizhen assembled in Uiju, Koryo, ready to invade Kantung at any time.
On the opposite side of Uiju, responsible for the defense along the Amur River, was the East Manchu detachment led by Nikolai Kashtarinsky. Before the outbreak of the war, this force only had 8 infantry battalions and 38 artillery pieces of various types. .
For a defense line of hundreds of kilometers, eight infantry battalions are simply a drop in the bucket.
After Kuropatkin took office, the strength of the East Manchu detachment was rapidly enhanced. By early April, it had increased to 21 infantry battalions, which were organized into the 3rd East Siberian Division and the 6th Division.
Enhancement of strength is certainly a good thing, but new problems have arisen.
The commander of the third division, Kashtarinsky, obeyed Kuropatkin's orders.
The commander of the Sixth Division, Mikhailovich Zasulich, obeyed the orders of Alexeyev, the Governor of Kanto.
Kuropatkin’s order to the East Manchu detachment was: If the Japanese army crosses the river, they must resolutely counterattack the Japanese army; but if the Japanese army has an obvious numerical advantage, the East Manchu detachment can retreat in an orderly manner and move closer to the main force to preserve its strength. Decisive battle with the Japanese army.
This order was correct, and Kuropatkin was worthy of being an excellent staff officer.
Alekseev’s order to Zasulich was to eliminate the Japanese army along the Amur River at all costs.
The Japanese First Army is composed of the Guards Division, the Second Division, and the 12th Division that subsequently joined, with a total strength of more than 50,000.
The East Manchu detachment only has 20,000 men and is at a clear disadvantage. Kuropatkin wanted to reinforce the East Manchu detachment, but he had no troops to send.
The key to the problem is still the Trans-Siberian Railway.
The section around Lake Baikal is so difficult that we can only rely on manpower to dig in. On the most difficult section, the average daily progress is only half a meter.
St. Petersburg’s original budget for the Trans-Siberian Railway was 50,000 rubles per kilometer. The then Finance Minister Abaza still found it too expensive.
George knew the national conditions of the Russian Empire. In the end, 50,000 rubles would definitely not be enough. So far, the average cost per kilometer of the Trans-Siberian Railway has reached 93,000 rubles.
The average cost per kilometer of the Lake Baikal section is 170,000.
Heavy snow closed the lake last winter. After the war broke out, St. Petersburg had to let the reinforcements pass through Lake Baikal on foot in order to reinforce Kanto.
While the First Army was gathering, the Second Army was gathering in the Yellow Sea, ready to land on the Liaodong Peninsula at any time.
Heimu Weizhen was very cunning and sent intelligence personnel disguised as Korean fishermen to contact the officers and soldiers of the Dongman detachment.
The officers and soldiers of the Dongman detachment were unsuspecting and took the initiative to ask for the catch from the fishermen.
The fishermen are generous and give whatever they ask for. The fish they caught the day before were taken away, but they continued to appear in the same place the next day.
The soldiers of the Dongman detachment were not in a hurry and even fished with the fishermen.
So the weaknesses of the Dongman detachment were all exposed to Heimu Weizhen.
There is a reason for the slackness of the Dongman detachment.
In April, spring entered in Kanto. The Amur River swelled due to the spring floods. The Japanese army lacked ferries and could not cross the river. Therefore, the First Army reached a short-term peace with the East Manchu detachment.
On April 28, the Japanese 12th Division used a makeshift boat to cross the Amur River from the upper reaches and launch an attack on the left flank of the Dongman Detachment.
The Dongman detachment had no defenses. The artillery positions were not even camouflaged. Artillery shells were stacked in the open air in the artillery positions. The soldiers only had foxholes and not even communication trenches.
Moreover, the Dongman detachment's position has no depth at all, only a rough line of defense. Once the Japanese army breaks through, they can march straight in.
The Russian army collapsed at the first touch.
The news reached the headquarters of the Dongman Detachment. Zasulich believed that the Japanese army on the left wing was just a feint attack, and that the front was the main direction of the Japanese army's attack, so he refused to send reserves to the left wing.
On the 29th, the Japanese army erected a pontoon bridge in Jiulian City.
The Russian artillery opened fire and was quickly counterattacked by the Japanese 150mm scoop artillery group.
At dawn on the 30th, the Japanese army began to cross the river. The artillery fired briefly and then quickly retreated. Since then, it has shown no performance.
The Cossacks were still very brave. Although they lacked artillery cover, they still stood firm in the face of the crazy Japanese attack.
At noon, due to lack of reinforcements on the left wing, the position was broken through by the 12th Division. Zasulich ordered the troops to retreat in order to avoid being surrounded by the Japanese army.
The Kwantung Russian Army, which was proud and arrogant before the war, never thought that it could not defeat the Japanese army in a positional battle, so there was no plan for retreat at all, let alone related plans.
After Zasulich issued the order to retreat, he did not leave any troops to block the Japanese army and cover the retreat of the main force. As a result, the entire line collapsed.
At this most critical moment, the performance of the officers of the Dongman detachment was actually not as good as that of the priest accompanying the army.
After the retreat order was issued, the priest of the 11th Eastern Siberian Regiment, Shebakovsky, who was praying for the soldiers, held up the icon he carried with him and called the defeated army, which had lost its command, to come closer to him. They quickly gathered together. Nearly 500 people.
Shebakovsky led this temporarily gathered defeated army, picked up the weapons discarded by the defeated Russian army along the way, and slowly retreated northward.
Shebakovsky did not abandon the wounded, ordered the soldiers to support each other, and walked at the forefront of the team.
Near Toad Pond, the defeated army led by Shebakovsky encountered an ambush by a group of Japanese troops.
Shebakovsky threw away the icon, picked up a rifle, and led the Russian army that could still fight to charge the Japanese army.
After a short but fierce hand-to-hand battle, the Japanese army left more than 40 corpses and fled in all directions.
Shebakovsky was shot several times and fell unconscious. Soldiers used door panels to carry him to Fengcheng for rescue.
While Shebakovsky and the Japanese army were fighting with bayonets, 600 well-equipped Russian troops, led by officers, took the initiative to surrender to the Japanese army in the valley on the north side of Jiuliancheng.
On the 1st, the Japanese army broke through the Amur River defense line and officially invaded Kanto.
Almost at the same moment, Aobao Gong led the Second Army to land at Qiziwo, threatening Port Arthur from the north.
Responsible for the defense of this area is the Fourth Infantry Division led by Fokker, with a total of 18,000 people and equipped with 131 artillery pieces.
There was a problem with Fokker's arrangement. Only one regiment was in the forward position, and the rest of the troops were used as reserves and were deployed 20 kilometers away.
The Second Army invested 3 divisions, with a strength more than 10 times that of the Russian army, and could receive naval gun support.
Stessel, the commander of the Russian army in the Liaodong Peninsula, ordered the Fokker Division to abandon Dalini and retreat directly toward Port Arthur.
The Japanese army immediately occupied Dalini, and the connection between Port Arthur and Fengtian was cut off.
(End of this chapter)