front one hundred miles in length was one of the most remarkable
tasks ever undertaken on the field of battle by a modern staff."

Of course, all these events did not move exactly as planned, but the
main feature of the great fight was that Kuropatkin, deceived by
Kawamura's movement, detached a large force to oppose him, and then
recalled these troops too late for the purpose of checking General
Nogi's flanking operation. The fighting was continuous for almost two
weeks, and on the morning of March 16th, the Russians had been driven
out of Mukden and forced northward beyond Tiehling. In fact, they did
not pause until March 20th, when Linievitch, who had succeeded
Kuropatkin in the chief command, was able to order a halt at
Supingchieh, seventy miles to the north of Mukden. "The Russian
losses in this most disastrous battle included, according to Marshal
Oyama's reports, 27,700 killed and 110,000 wounded," while an immense
quantity of war material fell into the hands of the victors. The
Japanese losses, up to the morning of March 12th, were estimated at
41,222.

THE BATTLE OF TSUSHIMA

From the outset, both sides had appreciated the enormous
preponderance that would be conferred by command of the sea. It was
in obedience to this conviction that the Russian authorities were in
the act of taking steps to increase largely their Pacific squadron
when the outbreak of war compelled them to suspend the despatch of
re-enforcements. They did not, however, relinquish their
preparations. Evidently, any vessels sent to the scene of combat
after fighting had begun must be competent to defend themselves
against attack, which condition entailed strength to form an
independent squadron. The preparations to acquire this competence
involved a long delay, and it was not until the 16th of October,
1904, that Admiral Rozhdestvensky left Libau with some forty ships.
The world watched this adventure with astonished eyes. Thitherto
Great Britain, equipped as she is with coaling-stations all round the
globe, had been the only power thought capable of sending a large
fleet on an ocean voyage. Rozhdestvensky's squadron consumed over
three thousand tons of coal daily when steaming at a reduced speed,
and how this supply was to be kept up in the absence of ports of
call, no one was able to conjecture. The difficulty was ultimately
overcome by the very benevolent character which the neutrality of
certain powers assumed, and in May, 1905, the B