II.

Early Battles

In March 1904, the Japanese First Army landed in Korea at Chemulp’o (now Inch’on) and at Namp’o. It faced the Russians on the Yalu River by late April. The Russian commander in chief, General Aleksey Nikolayevich Kuropatkin, decided to hold a defensive position on the Liaodong Peninsula until enough reinforcements arrived to permit him to move to the offensive. His forces were spread out over a distance of 24 km (15 mi). The Japanese commander, General Tamemoto Tamesada Kuroki, built up a 4-1 troop advantage at the town of Uiju and forced a passage across the Yalu on May 1. Japanese losses were about 1,100 out of 40,000 men. The Russians lost some 2,300 out of 7,000 troops.

During May the Japanese Second Army under General Yasukata Oku landed on the Liaodong Peninsula, severed communications between Port Arthur and the main Russian forces in Dongbei, captured Kinchow (now Jing Xian, or Ching Hsien), won the Battle of Nanshan (May 30), and besieged Port Arthur. The Japanese Third Army under General Maresuke Nogi landed on the eastern coast of Korea, and the Fourth Army under General Michitsura Nodzu landed at Gushan (Kushan) on the Dongbei coast. Kuropatkin was personally ordered by Nicholas II, emperor of Russia, to hold Port Arthur, and he moved his main forces to Liaoyang. After defeating a Russian force of 25,000 at Wafangdian (Wafangtien) on June 14, the Japanese began to converge on Liaoyang. Kuropatkin attacked Kuroki's forces in late July and then fell back to Liaoyang. Between August 25 and September 4, the Battle of Liaoyang was fought. Although the Japanese were outnumbered 130,000 to 180,000, they defeated the Russians, who retreated towards Shenyang (Mukden).

The Japanese campaign had been successful, but their reserves of trained men were rapidly being exhausted. On the other side, Kuropatkin's army was being reinforced by about 30,000 men a month via the Trans-Siberian Railway, and the commander in chief now decided to attack. The first Russian offensive was a river assault launched on the Sha He (Sha Ho), lasting from October 5 to October 17, and a second attack at Sandepu on January 26-27, 1905. Both offensives broke down, however, and were indecisive.