The , also known as the battle of Jinzhou or Chinchou (), was one of many vicious land battles of the Russo-Japanese War. It took place on 24–26 May 1904 across a two-mile-wide defense line across the narrowest part of the Liáodōng Peninsula, covering the approaches to Port Arthur and on the 116-meter high Nanshan Hill, the present-day Jinzhou District, north of the city center of Dalian, Liaoning, China.

Background

After the Japanese victory at the Yalu River, the Japanese Second Army commanded by General Yasukata Oku landed on Pitzewo (modern day Pikou), on the Liaodong Peninsula, some 70 miles northeast from Port Arthur. The Second Army was 38,500 strong and consisted of three divisions: the First Division (Tokyo), Third Division (Nagoya) and Fourth Division (Osaka). Landing was completed by 5 May 1904.

The Japanese intention was to break through this Russian defensive position, capture the port of Dalny, and lay siege to Port Arthur.

Russian Viceroy Yevgeni Alekseyev had been recalled to Moscow for consultations with Tsar Nicholas II. He had left Major-General Baron Anatoly Stoessel in command of Russian ground forces in the Kwantung Peninsula, and Admiral Wilgelm Vitgeft in control of the Russian fleet at Port Arthur. Since no direct orders had been left, the indecisive and incompetent Admiral Vitgeft allowed the Japanese landing to proceed unopposed.

General Stoessel had approximately 17,000 men and the 4th, 5th, 13th, 14th and 15th East Siberian Rifles (all were under the full supervision of General Mitrofan Nadein), from which about 3,000 men of the 5th East Siberian Rifles under Colonel Nikolai Tretyakov were dug into fortified positions on Nanshan hill, where they planned to hold out despite knowing they would be greatly outnumbered. The reserve divisions were under command of Lieutenant-General Alexander Fok, a former police officer who had risen to his position through political patronage rather than experience or ability. The Russian forces had 114 pieces of field artillery, machine guns, and had dug a network of trenches and barbed wire. The Japanese were well aware of the fortifications, as a Colonel Doi of Japanese intelligence was one of the thousands of "Chinese laborers" recruited by the Russians to work on the project in 1903.

The battle

thumb|right|Japanese map of the Battle of Nanshan

thumb|right|Russian map of the Battle of Nanshan

On the Russian side, the overall direction of the battle was first exercised by General Nadein, and then by General Fok.

On 24 May 1904, during a heavy thunderstorm, the Japanese Fourth Division under the command of Lieutenant General Ogawa Mataji attacked the walled town of Chinchou (modern-day Jinzhou District 金州), just north of Nanzan hill. Despite being defended by no more than 400 men with antiquated artillery, the Fourth Division failed on two attempts to breach its gates. Two battalions from the First Division attacked independently at 05:30 on 25 May 1904, finally breaching the defenses and taking the town.

With his flank thus secure, General Oku could then commence the main assault on the entrenched Russian forces on Nanshan Hill. The assault was postponed a day due to the weather. On 26 May 1904, Oku began with prolonged artillery barrage from Japanese gunboats offshore, followed by infantry assaults by all three of his divisions. The Russians, with mines, Maxim machine guns and barbed wire obstacles, inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese during repeated assaults. By 18:00, after nine attempts, the Japanese had failed to overrun the firmly entrenched Russian positions. Oku had committed all of his reserves, and both sides had used up most of their artillery ammunition.

Due to lack of ammunition, the Japanese could not move from Nanshan until 30 May 1904. To their amazement, they found that the Russians had made no effort to hold the strategically valuable and easily defendable port of Dalny, but had retreated all the way back to Port Arthur. Although the town had been looted by the local civilians, the harbor equipment, warehouses and railway yards were all left intact.

After Japan occupied Dalny, a memorial tower was erected on top of Nanshan Hill with the famous poem by General Nogi. The tower was demolished after the Pacific War, and only the foundation is left. A portion of the stone tablet with the poem is now stored in the Lüshun Prison.

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File:南山俄军墓地05.jpg|The Russian Army cemeteries at Nanshan Soviet Military Cemetery in Jinzhou

File:「金州城外斜陽に立つ」の詩碑址.jpg|Ruins of the Stele of the poem by Maresuke Nogi

File:「南山戦蹟碑」の台石.jpg|The site of the "Nanshan Achievement Monument"

File:Raijin, the God of Thunder, frightens the Russians out of Tokuriji (near Nanshan) LCCN2009630471.jpg|Raijin frightens the Russians out of Tokuriji. Propagandistic print by Kobayashi Kiyochika, 1904.

</gallery>

Notes

References

Sources

  • Connaughton, Richard (2003). Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear. Cassell.
  • Jukes, Geoffrey. The Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905. Osprey Essential Histories. (2002). .
  • Murray, Nicholas. “Nanshan, Battle of (25-26 May 1904),” Russia at War, Timothy Dowling (ed.), ABC-CLIO, (December 2014).
  • Nish, Ian (1985). The Origins of the Russo-Japanese War. Longman.
  • Sedwick, F. R. (1909). The Russo-Japanese War. Macmillan.