The Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Port Arthur - Supplementary Note 2 / Do Not Be Deceived by Ryotaro Shiba's Historical View / A Consideration of the Reality of the Battle of 203 Hill from the Russian Perspective
This column, which has recorded the reality of General Maresuke Nogi's fighting in the Russo-Japanese War, titled "On the Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Port Arthur and the Battle of Mukden" (below), is
"On the Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Port Arthur and the Battle of Mukden" / Overview and Table of Contents | Ryo-san
primarily based on "Great General Maresuke Nogi: Correcting Ryotaro Shiba's Errors" and its reprint, "The Truth About Maresuke Nogi and the Russo-Japanese War: Correcting Ryotaro Shiba's Errors" (PHP Shinsho). The former and the latter are essentially the same work, written by Takeshi Kuwabara, who served as the secretary-general of the Chuo Nogi-kai, which could be called the support association for Nogi Shrine.
The former was originally sold at the Nogi Shrine entrance in a self-published format, containing content serialized in the Chuo Nogi-kai's bulletin "Senshin" between 1982 and 1987 (I also purchased it at Nogi Shrine over 20 years ago and have read it repeatedly). The latter is a reprint published by PHP as a new book in 2016.
Mr. Kuwabara was a military officer from the 52nd class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy (graduated in 1939), who ended his service as an Army Major at the end of the war and later served in the Self-Defense Forces. As a military history expert with practical experience as an officer, his work possesses exceptional accuracy and depth regarding the Russo-Japanese War, and I highly recommend that everyone read it.
A Consideration of the Reality of the Battle of 203 Hill from the Russian Perspective
I have re-read Mr. Kuwabara's work mentioned above.
I have previously written about the Battle of 203 Hill, which was carried out from November 27 to December 5 following the third general offensive of the Port Arthur siege (see the two articles below).
"The Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Port Arthur - Postscript / Do Not Be Deceived by Ryotaro Shiba's Historical View" | Ryo-san
"The Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Port Arthur - Supplementary Postscript / Do Not Be Deceived by Ryotaro Shiba's Historical View" / Was the timing of the Battle of 203 Hill not actually best immediately after the third general offensive? Postscript to the postscript: The meaning of the Battle of 203 Hill as a tactic | Ryo-san
(In the above, I discussed the rationality regarding the timing of the decision for the Battle of 203 Hill after the third general offensive, as well as the strategy and tactics involved.)
Below, as a new perspective I noticed during this re-reading, I will record a consideration of the reality of the Battle of 203 Hill from the Russian perspective.
Now, in this book, the consideration of the reality of the Battle of 203 Hill from the Russian perspective is described in two places: the description of the Battle of 203 Hill involving General Nogi, and the "Essay on Kosuke Ijichi," which deals with Lieutenant General Ijichi, the Chief of Staff of the Third Army.
The point is,
why did the Commander of the Russian Port Arthur Fortress, Stoessel, commit such a large force to the Japanese army's 203 Hill offensive, which began on November 27, 1904, following the Japanese army's third general offensive,
even though the Russian army itself was depleting its strength and it ultimately hastened the fall of the Port Arthur fortress?
In this regard, the author, Mr. Kuwabara, states that
the Baltic Fleet had only just departed the Baltic Sea one month prior in October, and in reality, it would not arrive in Japanese waters until six months after this end-of-November timeframe, at the end of May.
For Stoessel,
with the fortress being fiercely attacked daily, food supplies gradually decreasing, and the number of soldiers falling since the second general offensive increasing significantly,
the one he relied on was the Russian Army under Kuropatkin fighting on the Manchurian plains.
However, the reliable Kuropatkin had abandoned and retreated from Liaoyang in the Liaoyang Campaign in August, and was driven away by the Japanese army in the Battle of Shaho in October; it is thought that Stoessel was becoming increasingly desperate, feeling that instead of approaching Port Arthur, the situation was only getting worse and moving further away.
He concludes that
it was precisely because of this that he thought that now, when the Japanese army had come for a full-scale attack on 203 Hill, the Russian army should strike out and inflict heavy casualties on the Japanese army, and that by doing so, they could join forces with Kuropatkin's army in Manchuria and lead their motherland to victory.
This point is a very important one in the Russo-Japanese War.
The fact that the Japanese army inflicted great damage on the Russian army and captured 203 Hill during this battle from November 27 to December 6.
Because of this, although it took another month, they captured the three permanent forts on the northeast front through the orthodox method of tunnel excavation, and further capitalizing on that momentum, captured the core of the Port Arthur fortress, the Wangtai, finally leading the Port Arthur fortress to surrender.
It means that this Battle of 203 Hill was truly the point of no return where both Japan and Russia fought by exhausting all their available strength.
It seems that because every single soldier of both the Japanese and Russian armies at Port Arthur fully understood its importance, even if not as clearly as this retrospective interpretation, it triggered such fierce fighting.
And if Port Arthur determined the outcome of the Russo-Japanese War, it is no exaggeration to say that the Battle of 203 Hill determined the victory or defeat of the Russo-Japanese War.
The above is my article on the meaning of the Battle of 203 Hill from the Russian perspective.
I would appreciate it if you could also read or re-read the following previously written articles.
"The Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Port Arthur / Do Not Be Deceived by Ryotaro Shiba's Historical View" | Ryo-san
"The Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Port Arthur - Postscript / Do Not Be Deceived by Ryotaro Shiba's Historical View" | Ryo-san