Battle of the Nanshan
Color woodcut by Kobayashi Kiyochika , 1904. Original text: In the Battle of Nanshan, our troops took advantage of a heavy storm to attack enemy positions.
| date | May 25. bis 26. May 1904 |
|---|---|
| place | At the isthmus near Dalian |
| output | Japanese victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
|
|
| Troop strength | |
| 3,800 men and 16 guns |
35,500 men and 200 light field guns |
| losses | |
|
1,616 total losses
|
4,909 total losses
|
Port Arthur (Sea Battle) - Chemulpo - Yalu - Nanshan - Te-li-ssu - Hitachi-Maru Incident - Motien Pass - Tashihchiao - Hsimucheng - Port Arthur (Siege) - Yellow Sea - Ulsan - Korsakov - Liaoyang - Shaho - Sandepu - Mukden - Tsushima - Sakhalin
The Battle of Nanshan (also known as the Battle of Kinchou) was a land battle in the Russo-Japanese War and was held on May 12th . / May 25th greg. until May 13th jul. / May 26, 1904 greg. between the Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Russian Army . It took place at the Isthmus of Dalian on Mount Nanshan and ended in a Japanese victory.
prehistory
Japanese lineup
The Japanese fleet had secured the sea area on Korea's coasts through the initial success and Japan was able to strengthen its armies without being disturbed by the Russian Pacific fleet. Even so, the Russian fleet in Port Arthur remained not only a threat to Japanese transport ships, but also a threat to Japanese coastal cities in general. Maintaining a blockade of Port Arthur and also fending off the approaching Baltic fleet would have been too much for the Japanese Navy under Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō . For this reason it was decided to besiege Port Arthur and take it. The Japanese expected this to be a severe blow to Russian prestige, from which it would be difficult to recover.
After the Japanese victory in the Battle of Yalu , the Russian troops withdrew further north. With this they gave up the rail and telegraph connection between Mukden and Port Arthur without a fight , which parts of the Japanese 1st Army were able to occupy on May 8, 1904 and finally cut off completely on May 14. Meanwhile the Japanese landed under General Oku Yasukata the 2nd Army with the 1st , 3rd and 4th Divisions and the 1st Artillery Brigade on the Liaodong Peninsula near Pitzuwo, about 80 km northeast of Port Arthur. The landing on May 6th took place without resistance and from May 13th the Japanese troops headed for Port Arthur. To do this, they had to pass the isthmus near Dalian, where Nanshan Mountain is located. It was clear to the Japanese that the Russians would entrench themselves there to stop their advance. Because of the poor road conditions and the lack of a deep-sea port , the Japanese could only unload and carry their light field guns with small caliber. As would later become apparent, the lack of heavy artillery and howitzers at the Battle of Nanshan was a disadvantage in providing artillery support to the attacking troops.
Russian lineup
After the defeat at Yalu , Lieutenant General Sassulitsch had withdrawn via Feng-huang-cheng to Liaodong and wanted to wait there for further reinforcements. Cavalry formations under General Mishchenko had been tasked with securing the coast of Liaodong, but Sassulitsch ordered them to go inland. The Russian commander in chief Alexei Kuropatkin ordered the cavalry back to the unobserved coast. On their return, the Russians heard from the population descriptions of Japanese landings. After a few small skirmishes with the advancing Japanese, the Russians withdrew on the one hand to the north and on the other to the isthmus near Dalian in order to keep the strategically important rail and road connection to and from Port Arthur open. The isthmus at this point was about 4 km wide and provided with boggy foreshore at both ends. In the middle there was a hill about 100 meters high, on which the Russians wanted to stop the enemy from advancing further. The position was excellent and represented an almost insurmountable obstacle on the way to Port Arthur. Several ravines led down from the summit and protected the entrenched Russians from artillery fire. The entire area in front of the area was barbed wire barbed with a depth of 5 to 7 meters and mines that could be blown up by wire connections. The Russians had known this position since the Boxer Rebellion and in 1900 it was equipped with two redoubts . The dilapidated redoubts were repaired from February 1904 and some lunettes for the infantry were added. Although the fortifications were substantial, they weren't perfect. The Russians had neglected to dig sheltered and hidden trenches that would protect them from artillery fire. Nevertheless, from their position the Russians had a view of the apron for several kilometers. On the crest of the hill they had positioned their artillery, which included four 15 cm howitzers, 10 obsolete guns with calibers between 9 and 15 cm and two 12 cm rapid fire guns. Around 4,000 defenders awaited the Japanese attack on Nanshan.
Skirmish at Kinchou
The Russians had fortified the walled city of Kinchou (now Jinzhou ) 1000 meters north of Nanshan and occupied it with 400 men. The Japanese wanted to eliminate this danger before their attack on the Nanshan and attacked the city on the night of May 24, 1904 during a severe thunderstorm. Numerous headlights illuminated the night. The Japanese 4th Division suffered heavy losses and had to withdraw without having achieved anything. The next day, Japanese guns began to poke Kinchou at 5:50 a.m. and shortly thereafter silenced the Russian guns in Kinchou. Two battalions of 1st Division Kinchou attacked and their pioneers were able to detonate a mine at a gate. After the gate was destroyed, the Japanese invaded and occupied the city. The surviving Russians withdrew to the Nanshan.
The battle
During the previous night the Japanese infantry had come as close as possible to the Russian positions on the Nanshan. At 5:20 a.m., the Japanese began bombarding the hill with their 75 mm Type 31 field guns, whereupon the Russian artillery from Nanshan and the surrounding area returned fire well aimed. After the Japanese had secured the city of Kinchou, Japanese gunboats approached in Kinshou Bay from 6:00 a.m. and took part in the cannonade on the Nanshan. It took until 7:00 a.m. for the Japanese gunfire to take effect on the Russian guns.
Meanwhile, the Japanese infantry attack was in full swing. The Japanese ran up against the well-buried Russians, who, well protected with barbed wire and mines, opened fire from rifles and machine guns. The Russians had a good field of fire against the Japanese attacking partly on the beach north and south of Nanshan. From 8:30 a.m. ebb set in and the Japanese gunboats withdrew. The Russian guns used to fire the gunboats have now been released and participated in the Japanese attack. The Japanese came within 250 meters of the Russian trenches, but the losses stopped them. Japanese guns have now been moved closer to the attack zone to provide more effective fire support.
At 11:00 a.m. some of the Japanese battalions only had company strength and reserves were called for. But the heavy artillery battle had taken a heavy toll on ammunition on both sides. From 11:00 a.m. only two Russian guns could continue to fire.
From 3:30 p.m. a strong Japanese attack on the Russian left wing took place. Although he was knocked off after three attempts, the Japanese 3rd Division had managed to cut the wires from the Russian mines there. Aware of this danger, General Nadyein demands two battalions from the Russian reserve. However, General Alexander Fok in charge of the reserves did not respond to the request, which likely ushered in the defeat of the Russians.
At 5:00 p.m. two more Japanese batteries were ordered forward to silence the enemy machine guns. An hour later the Japanese 4th Division finally threw back the opposing Russians, consisting of the 5th and 9th Companies of the East Siberian Rifle Division, as they had lost half of their men to the artillery fire. Now the Japanese penetrated the redoubts and shortly afterwards the Russians left their positions on the Nanshan. At 7:20 p.m. the Japanese flag was flying over the Nanshan - the Japanese had won.
losses
The battle had lasted 15 hours. The Japanese officers and soldiers had clung to the nanshan and followed their orders faithfully - the hill was littered with Japanese dead and wounded. If the Russians had thrown all their reserves into battle, the Japanese losses might have been in vain. So the Japanese army was able to advance on Port Arthur the next day.
The Japanese had 746 dead, 4,160 wounded and 3 missing, a total of 4909 casualties. On the Russian side, 182 men were killed, 836 men wounded and 598 were missing. The Japanese captured 78 Russian artillery pieces on or in the vicinity of Nanshan.
consequences
The Russians had failed to gain important time for reinforcements by successfully blocking the Japanese forces on the Nanshan. After the victory, the Japanese were able to occupy the nearby town of Dalny, which had harbor docks and numerous supplies. The Russians had failed to blow up the harbor docks during their retreat and so the Japanese 11th Division could go ashore here and disembark their heavy equipment without any problems. Together with the 1st Division, it was combined to form the 1st Army under the command of General Nogi Maresuke and marched directly on Port Arthur to besiege it. While Nogi turned south, General Oku headed north to counter possible attempts at relief by the Russians. A few weeks later the battle of Te-li-ssu broke out .
literature
- Connaughton, Richard (2003): Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear . Cassell, ISBN 0-304-36657-9 .
- Kowner, Rotem (2006). Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War . Scarecrow, ISBN 0-8108-4927-5 .
- Nish, Ian (1985): The Origins of the Russo-Japanese War . Longman, ISBN 0-582-49114-2 .
- Sedwick, FR (1909): The Russo-Japanese War . Macmillan.
- The official history of the Russo-Japanese war , Great Britain. Committee of Imperial Defense.
Web links
notes
- ↑ Port Arthur: The Siege and Capitulation Volume 1, by Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, page 23
- ^ The official history of the Russo-Japanese war, Great Britain. Committee of Imperial Defense, p. 12
- ^ The official history of the Russo-Japanese war, Great Britain. Committee of Imperial Defense, p. 16
- ^ The official history of the Russo-Japanese war, by J. Martin Miller, p. 354
- ^ The official history of the Russo-Japanese war, Great Britain. Committee of Imperial Defense, p. 22