III.

Japanese Victories

Time favored Russia, and the Japanese, who had been besieging Port Arthur since May, once more tried to storm it. After a bloody assault lasting ten days, in which they lost 10,000 men, the Japanese captured the key position, called 203 Meter Hill, on December 5, 1904. The Russian general Anatoly Mikhailovich Stësel surrendered on January 2, 1905.

Now both Kuropatkin and the Japanese commander, Marshal Iwao Oyama, were able to build up their forces around Shenyang. Between February 19 and March 10 the Japanese took the offensive. Although their forces were outnumbered 270,000 to 330,000 and were inferior in artillery, the Japanese forced the Russians to surrender Shenyang and withdraw northward. The Russians lost some 90,000 men and the Japanese about 50,000. The battle practically ended hostilities on land, but Japan still faced the threat of Russian naval power.

With their Far East naval forces contained by the Japanese, the Russians decided to send out the Baltic Fleet. The fleet, made up of 45 ships, sailed October 15, 1904, under the command of Admiral Zinovy Petrovich Rozhestvensky. The fleet reached the China Sea in early May 1905 and made for Vladivostok. The Japanese under Admiral Heihachiro Togo intercepted it, May 27 to May 29, in Tsushima Strait, between Korea and Japan. The Japanese fleet, which was superior in speed and armament, sank, captured, or disabled eight battleships, nine cruisers, six special-service steamers, and several other ships in the Baltic Fleet. Some 4000 Russians were killed, and three admirals and 7300 sailors were captured. The Japanese lost three torpedo boats, 116 men killed, and 538 wounded.