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The Russo-Japanese War has sometimes been referred to as "World War Zero," and for good reason. The scale of battle and expenditure of ordinances was unprecedented for its time, culminating in a climatic land battle that would be one of the largest fought in history prior to the outbreak of World War One. This battle involved over 610,000 participants and featured cutting-edge modern killing technology. It was a decisive victory of one empire over another and introduced the world to the horrors of 20th-century warfare. Welcome to the epoch of our
series on the Russo-Japanese War, where we will cover the brutal and seminal battle of Mukden. Russian defensive plan for Mukden General Aleksey Kuropatkin's Army in the Far East had suffered a string of defeats to the Imperial Japanese Army of Marshal Ōyama Iwao. However, although humbled time and again, each battle saw the Russian forces withdraw successfully intact, forcing the Japanese to pursue them further into Manchuria. Kuropatkin was under orders to rescue Port Arthur and attempted a last-ditch effort, culminating in the battles of Shaho and Sandepu. Defeated yet again, Kuropatkin's forces fled to
Mukden. Consequently, Port Arthur fell to the Japanese, freeing up General Nogi Maresuke, 3rd IJA, to join up with the rest. To make matters worse, reinforcements coming over the Trans-Siberian Railway were now being affected by the unrest at home, ushered in on Bloody Sunday. Tsar Nicholas II was now dedicating vast amounts of resources to quell uprisings breaking out through the Empire. However, Russia was not alone in its domestic troubles. The war in Asia was draining both empires' finances. The Russians had taken loans from France and Germany, while
the Japanese did likewise from Britain, the United States and Canada. Both empires faced bankruptcy, and both required the war to end. Thus, Kuropatkin was forced to make a stand at the last major Russian stronghold in southern Manchuria, the city of Mukden. Upon his arrival, Kuropatkin formed a 90-mile-long defensive line south of Mukden with his three armies. The 1st Manchurian army of General Nikolai Linevich held the mountainous terrain to the east, with General Paul von Rennenkampf's cavalry holding the extreme flank. The 3rd army of General Baron von Bildering held the center along the railway and old Mandarin road, while the 2nd army of General Baron von Kaulbars held the west flat plains,
the central reserve placed behind them. In all, Kuropatkin commanded 275,000 riflemen, 16,000 cavalry and 1219 guns. Kuropatkin deployed his forces in such a manner that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to perform offensive actions without opening gaps in his line. Thus, Kuropatkin was inevitably fighting a defensive battle. Japanese offensive plan against Mukden At his Liaoyang Headquarters, Marshal Oyama and his staff knew they would be outnumbered but were under heavy pressure from Tokyo to finish the war. Thus, they elected to strike at the Russians when the very worst of winter conditions were occurring, but crucially just before the rivers began to thaw. This was a tremendous gamble, but if his army could avoid river crossings,
perhaps this time, they would finally capture the enemy before they could flee. When Nogi's 3rd army arrived at Liaoyang on February 19th, Oyama immediately issued his battle orders. Oyama would have 270,000 riflemen, 7300 cavalry and 1026 field guns. The only thing the Japanese would have superior numbers in was 200 machine guns vs the Russian 56. Oyama's plan was to perform a large envelopment around the city of Mukden but not to allow any fighting within the city. This was a politically motivated move as Oyama did not want to anger the
Qing Dynasty, who at this point were on relatively good terms with the Japanese, all things considered. Oyama devised a plan to deceive Kuropatkin. A brand new army had recently been formed: the 5th IJA, led by General Kawamura Kageaki. Despite being called an army in name, the 5th IJA was under strength, consisting only of the 11th division, veterans of the Port Arthur siege and some reservists. Oyama gave Kawamura a special task. Kawamura would take his army and advance first on February 20th, heading against Kuropatkin's far eastern flank. The idea was to
make Kuropatkin think this force was actually larger than it was. Oyama hoped Kuropatkin might fear this was the main thrust or perhaps even a possible assault against Vladivostok. The rest of the army would begin their advance on February 24th. General Kuroki Tamemoto's 1st IJA and General Nozu Michitsura's 4th IJA moved forward east of the railway line. At the same time, General Oku Yasukata's 2nd IJA advanced west of the railway line, and General Nogi's 3rd IJA remained concealed behind the 2nd IJA. It was Nogi's army that was the actual main thrust,
hooking around the Russian western flank to perform a full envelopment. For this task, Nogi was given a cavalry screen to make sure no Russian scouts would find his force. Oyama's strategy was akin to tactics of the Zulu Wars, seeing five Japanese armies form a crescent whose cusps would traverse 90 miles apart at first but gradually draw together, with the western cusp suddenly forming the close. Kuropatkin expected the Japanese main assault to be in the eastern mountainous region, as in all the previous battles, the Japanese proved themselves more capable on such terrain. He
believed Oyama would not wish to face him on the open plain that would favour the quality of his artillery and quantity of his cavalry. However, Oyama had played upon this. When Kuropatkin received a report that a Japanese force was advancing far to the east, he overestimated their strength to be that of a full army, suspecting it was the 3rd IJA. Kuropatkin dispatched the 1st Siberian corp to block their advance. Oyama's gambit had thus paid off. Moreover, he had another trick up his sleeve; back on January 9th, he had dispatched a small cavalry
force to ride 300 circuitous miles to a point on the railway line 160 miles north of Mukden. There, on February 11th, they blew up a railway bridge before making their getaway. Kuropatkin reacted to this by dispatching a brigade and two regiments into the rear areas, depleting his reserves. First phase of the battle of Mukden Meanwhile, the bulk of Oyama's army began engaging the Russians on February 25th, with the 1st and 4th IJA clashing against the 3rd Manchurian Army. Kuroki gradually moved his force to the right to link up with Kawamura's left flank. Both armies would find the Russian lines much stronger than anticipated,
dealing them heavy casualties. Yet Kuroki knew the overall strategy of the battle and pushed his men onwards despite the heavy losses. On February 27th, Nogi's 3rd IJA departed their bivouac area and headed northwest towards the Liao River. That same day, within the central sector, the Japanese unleashed their dreaded 11-inch artillery upon the formidable Russian positions atop the Putilov and Novgorod Hills. The purpose of the artillery was not to break the Russians but rather keep them pinned down in the center while the Japanese wings closed in further.
By March 1st, the central and eastern fronts had become largely static with the Russians causing more casualties upon the Japanese. To the west, Oku's 2nd IJA advanced slowly, while Nogi's 3rd IJA managed to reach Hsinmintun. Kaulbar was notified of this and quickly assembled an ad hoc force of two Cossack detachments to counter Nogi, but because most of the Russian cavalry had been sent east against Kawamura, he could not adequately challenge the 3rd IJA while simultaneously blocking the 2nd IJA's advance. Kuropatkin was in quite a dilemma,
as he had sent all his reserves to the eastern sector. Meanwhile, Kaulbar was failing to hold back Nogi and Oku, his center was pinned down under constant artillery bombardment and over in the east, even Rennenkampf was having a hard time keeping Kawamura at bay. Oyama's staff had predicted the Russians would hold onto one flank and use the other to attack. However, Kuropatkin was now forced to defend both. No greater tactical advantage could have been given so freely to the Japanese. Kuropatkin knew his forces would have to contract,
so he ordered the supply dumps behind the armies and within Mukden destroyed so they would not fall into Japanese hands. As word spread amongst the Russian forces, troops began to loot and drink their large stocks of vodka. Between March 2nd and March 7th, a new phase of the battle began. On the 3rd, Kuropatkin ordered Kaulbars to launch an attack the next day, but Kaulbars reported he could only manage to do so on the 5th. On the morning of the 5th, a final attempt to save Mukden was made, with General Gerngross being given 48 battalions on the right, another
44 on the left and 199 guns for support. Gerngross unleashed all he could to slow down Nogi's army. Second phase of the battle of Mukden The Japanese advance in the northwest slowed down but was still outpacing that of the 2nd and 4th IJA, who were trying to wheel toward the 3rd IJA in a pincer movement. The distance between these two pincers meant neither could support the other if Kaular attacked in force. Within the east, the Japanese continued to whittle down the Russians as Oyama anxiously awaited Kuropatkin's reaction to the appearance of Nogi's army. On the night of March 7th, Kuropatkin finally
responded to the disastrous situation. He sent orders to Generals Bildering and Linevich to withdraw behind the Hun River under strong rearguards. Simultaneously, Kuropatkin began amassing a large reserve, seeking to lead a counter-stroke against Nogi's army personally. The forces of Kuroki were the first to notice the Russians abandoning their trenches. He sent word to Nozu, asking what his men could see. Nozu responded the very same, and both commanders sent word back to Oyama. Oyama was in the process of writing general orders with the word attack when he received their message. Oyama scratched out the word attack and
replaced it with "pursue." At 9 pm, Oyawa's orders read, "I intend to pursue in earnest and to turn the enemy's retreat into a rout." Kuroki's army was the first to attack at midnight, followed by Nozu at 3 am. Because of the lateral movement of troops to meet the threat of Nogi, followed by the new withdrawal movement, chaos ensued. Within the rear areas, Russians continued looting and getting drunk. Kaulbars 2nd Army, who were intended to be the hammer to smash the Japanese were now dispersed across the battlefield in penny packets, no longer
capable of operating as an effective formation. The 1st Siberians were redirected to launch a counterattack against Oku and Nogi but were uncoordinated and failed. A rearguard force led by Major General Mikhail Alekseev defending the left flank along the Hun River was quickly overwhelmed. Perhaps Kuropatkin was under the influence of the Hun River, which had thawed out and would give his men more time to withdraw while he built up his counterstroke force. However, fortune favoured the Japanese, for just as they finished crossing the Hun River, the ice began to break.
The 1st and 3rd Manchurian armies' orderly withdrawal disintegrated into chaos. The armies of Bildering and Linevich were given no pause to recuperate or reorganize themselves properly. Meanwhile, to the west, the Russians crumpled against Oku, who, with the support of Nozu, opened a gap. Alongside this, a detachment from Nogi had wrecked the railway north of Mukden and was beginning to deploy a blocking line against the Russian retreat. General Rennenkampf unleashed his cavalry and artillery upon the advancing Japanese, trying to slow them down,
but they quickly reached the northern banks of the Hun River. The Russian defensive line collapsed, with the far edge of the left flank cut off from the rest of the main body. The Japanese were gradually encircling Kuropatkin's army, making his planned counter-stroke completely redundant. With no other choice, at 6:45 on March 9th, Kuropatkin ordered a full retreat. Fortune, this time favoured the Russians as a particularly violent blizzard whipped up, greatly hindering visibility and hampering the Japanese ability to pursue.
Kuropatkin ordered the 2nd Manchurian Army to act as rearguard as the 1st and 3rd Manchurian Armies withdrew towards Tiehling. Then suddenly, Nozu's 4th IJA made a breakthrough over the Hun River, cutting Russian units off from their escape routes. The 2nd and 3rd Manchurian armies now found themselves in a funnel heading north along the communications lines while being slowly enveloped. The 1st Manchurian army simply headed west, trying to avoid the entire debacle. As the Russians marched north, the Japanese pursued them on a parallel course, periodically
cutting the railway and Mandarin road off as they fired upon them from both sides of their narrow escape corridor. Discipline collapsed, the wounded were abandoned and with them, all manners of war supplies. Soldiers turned on their officers, looting and fleeing into nearby hills. Fortunately for the Russians, Oyama's supply line had been stretched too thin, making it impossible for his forces to pursue them effectively. Oyama captured and killed many, but once again, the Russian army had managed to flee intact. At 10 am on March 10th,
Oyama signalled Tokyo 'Today, at 10 a.m., we occupied Mukden. Our enveloping movement, which has been proceeding for several days, has completely attained its object.' Conclusion The battle of Mukden exacted a heavy price from both combatants. The Japanese suffered 15,892 deaths, with 59,612 wounded and 2000 captured. The Russians suffered 8705 deaths, 51,438 wounded and 6209 missing and 22,000 captured. It was one of the largest and bloodiest battles ever fought prior to the outbreak of World War I, involving 610,000 participants.
The Japanese had fired over 20 million rounds of rifle and machine gun fire alongside over 279,000 artillery shells over the course of 10 days. Although the Russian forces managed to retreat to Tiehling before heading further north to Siping, there would be no further battles in Manchuria. The war over the land was over; all that remained was one last battle over the sea. As our series on the Russo-Japanese war continues, the Japanese will follow up on their triumphant victories on land by pressing their advantage at sea. To ensure you don't miss that, make sure you are subscribed
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