The Battle of Mukden: Japan's Envelopment That Pushed Russia to the Brink

The video opens by noting that the Russo-Japanese War has sometimes been referred to as 'World War Zero,' and the narrator says this is for good reason. The scale of battle and the expenditure of ordnance were unprecedented for the time.

The climactic land battle, described as one of the largest fought in history before the outbreak of World War One, involved over 610,000 participants and featured cutting-edge modern killing technology. The narrator calls it a decisive victory of one empire over another, one that introduced the world to the horrors of 20th-century warfare.

General Aleksey Kuropatkin's army in the Far East had suffered a string of defeats to the Imperial Japanese Army of Marshal Ōyama Iwao. Each time, however, the Russian forces withdrew successfully intact, which forced the Japanese to pursue them further into Manchuria.

Kuropatkin was under orders to rescue Port Arthur and made a last-ditch attempt, culminating in the battles of Shaho and Sandepu. After being defeated again, his forces fled to Mukden. As a result, Port Arthur fell to the Japanese, freeing General Nogi Maresuke's 3rd army to join the rest of the Japanese forces.

Reinforcements being sent over the Trans-Siberian Railway were affected by unrest at home, which was ushered in on Bloody Sunday. Tsar Nicholas II was dedicating vast resources to quell uprisings breaking out across the Empire.

The narrator adds that Russia was not alone in its domestic troubles, since the war in Asia was draining both empires' finances. The Russians had taken loans from France and Germany, while the Japanese had done likewise from Britain, the United States and Canada. Both empires faced bankruptcy, and both required the war to end. Kuropatkin was therefore 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. General Nikolai Linevich's 1st Manchurian army held the mountainous terrain to the east, with General Paul von Rennenkampf's cavalry holding the extreme flank. General Baron von Bildering's 3rd army held the center along the railway and the old Mandarin road, while General Baron von Kaulbars' 2nd army held the western flat plains, with the central reserve placed behind them.

In all, Kuropatkin commanded 275,000 riflemen, 16,000 cavalry and 1,219 guns. The narrator explains that his deployment made offensive actions difficult, if not impossible, without opening gaps in the line, so Kuropatkin was inevitably fighting a defensive battle.

At his Liaoyang headquarters, Marshal Ōyama and his staff knew they would be outnumbered but were under heavy pressure from Tokyo to finish the war. They chose to strike during the worst of winter, but crucially just before the rivers began to thaw. The narrator calls this a tremendous gamble, though if the army could avoid river crossings it might finally capture the enemy before they could flee.

When Nogi's 3rd army arrived at Liaoyang on February 19, Ōyama issued his battle orders. He would have 270,000 riflemen, 7,300 cavalry and 1,026 field guns. The Japanese had superior numbers only in machine guns, with 200 against the Russian 56. Ōyama's plan was to perform a large envelopment around Mukden without fighting inside the city, a politically motivated choice because he did not want to anger the Qing Dynasty, which at that point was on relatively good terms with Japan.

Ōyama devised a plan to deceive Kuropatkin. A newly formed army, the 5th Imperial Japanese Army led by General Kawamura Kageaki, was given a special task. Although it was called an army, it was under strength, consisting only of the 11th division, veterans of the Port Arthur siege and some reservists.

Kawamura was ordered to advance first on February 20 against Kuropatkin's far eastern flank so as to make the Russians think his force was larger than it was. Ōyama hoped Kuropatkin might fear this was the main thrust or even a possible assault on Vladivostok.

The rest of the army began advancing on February 24. 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, while General Nogi's 3rd IJA remained concealed behind the 2nd IJA.

The narrator explains that Nogi's army was the actual main thrust, hooking around the Russian western flank to perform a full envelopment. Nogi was given a cavalry screen to ensure no Russian scouts would find his force.

The narrator says Ōyama's strategy was akin to tactics of the Zulu Wars, with five Japanese armies forming a crescent whose cusps would initially be about 90 miles apart but gradually draw together, the western cusp suddenly forming the close.

Kuropatkin expected the main Japanese assault in the eastern mountainous region, where the Japanese had proved more capable in previous battles. He believed Ōyama would not want to face him on the open plain, which would favor the quality of Russian artillery and the quantity of Russian cavalry. However, Ōyama had played upon this. When Kuropatkin received a report of a Japanese force advancing far to the east, he overestimated its strength as a full army, suspecting it was the 3rd IJA, and dispatched the 1st Siberian Corps to block it. The narrator says Ōyama's gambit had paid off.

Ōyama had another trick in reserve. On January 9, he had sent a small cavalry force to ride 300 circuitous miles to a point on the railway line 160 miles north of Mukden. On February 11, they blew up a railway bridge before making their getaway. Kuropatkin responded by dispatching a brigade and two regiments into the rear areas, which depleted his reserves.

The bulk of Ōyama's army began engaging the Russians on February 25, with the 1st and 4th IJA clashing with the 3rd Manchurian Army. Kuroki gradually moved his force to the right to link up with Kawamura's left flank. Both armies found the Russian lines much stronger than anticipated, which dealt them heavy casualties. Kuroki nonetheless understood the overall strategy and pushed his men onward despite the losses.

On February 27, Nogi's 3rd IJA left its bivouac area and headed northwest toward the Liao River. The same day, the Japanese unleashed their 11-inch artillery on the Russian positions atop the Putilov and Novgorod Hills. The narrator says the purpose was not to break the Russians but to keep them pinned down in the center while the Japanese wings closed in. By March 1, the central and eastern fronts had become largely static, with the Russians causing more casualties among the Japanese. To the west, Oku's 2nd IJA advanced slowly, while Nogi's 3rd IJA reached Hsinmintun.

Kaulbars was notified of Nogi's advance and quickly assembled an ad hoc force of two Cossack detachments to counter him, but because most Russian cavalry had been sent east against Kawamura, he could not adequately challenge the 3rd IJA while blocking the 2nd IJA. Kuropatkin was in a dilemma because he had sent all his reserves to the eastern sector. Kaulbars was failing to hold back Nogi and Oku, his center was pinned down under constant artillery bombardment, and in the east Rennenkampf was having a hard time keeping Kawamura at bay.

Ōyama'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. The narrator says no greater tactical advantage could have been given so freely to the Japanese. Kuropatkin ordered the supply dumps behind the armies and within Mukden destroyed so they would not fall into Japanese hands. As word spread, troops began to loot and drink their large stocks of vodka.

Between March 2 and March 7, a new phase of the battle began. On March 3, Kuropatkin ordered Kaulbars to attack the next day, but Kaulbars reported he could only manage it on the 5th. On the morning of the 5th, a final attempt to save Mukden was made, with General Gerngross given 48 battalions on the right, another 44 on the left and 199 guns for support. Gerngross unleashed all he could to slow Nogi's army. The Japanese advance in the northwest slowed but still outpaced that of the 2nd and 4th IJA, which were trying to wheel toward the 3rd IJA in a pincer movement. The distance between the two pincers meant neither could support the other if Kaulbars attacked in force.

On the night of March 7, Kuropatkin finally responded to the disastrous situation. He ordered Generals Bildering and Linevich to withdraw behind the Hun River under strong rearguards. Simultaneously, he began amassing a large reserve, seeking to lead a counterstroke against Nogi's army personally.

Kuroki's forces were the first to notice the Russians abandoning their trenches. He sent word to Nozu asking what his men could see, and Nozu reported the same. Both commanders sent word back to Ōyama, who was in the process of writing general orders with the word 'attack' when he received their message. Ōyama scratched out 'attack' and replaced it with 'pursue.'

At 9 p.m., Ōyama'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 a.m. Because of the lateral movement of troops to meet the threat from Nogi, combined with the new withdrawal, chaos ensued.

In the rear areas, Russian troops continued looting and getting drunk. Kaulbars' 2nd Army, which was meant to be the hammer to smash the Japanese, was now dispersed across the battlefield in small groups and no longer able to operate as an effective formation. The 1st Siberians were redirected to counterattack Oku and Nogi, but their attack was uncoordinated and failed. A rearguard led by Major General Mikhail Alekseev, defending the left flank along the Hun River, was quickly overwhelmed.

The narrator notes that the Hun River had thawed, which might have given the Russians more time to withdraw, but fortune favored the Japanese. Just as they finished crossing the Hun River, the ice began to break. The 1st and 3rd Manchurian armies' orderly withdrawal disintegrated into chaos, and Bildering's and Linevich's armies were given no pause to recover. To the west, the Russians crumpled against Oku, who, with Nozu's support, opened a gap. A detachment from Nogi had also wrecked the railway north of Mukden and was beginning to deploy a blocking line against the Russian retreat. Rennenkampf sent his cavalry and artillery against the advancing Japanese to slow them, but they quickly reached the northern banks of the Hun River. The Russian defensive line collapsed, and the far edge of the left flank was cut off from the main body.

The Japanese were gradually encircling Kuropatkin's army, which made his planned counterstroke completely redundant. With no other choice, Kuropatkin ordered a full retreat at 6:45 on March 9. Fortune this time favored the Russians, as a violent blizzard whipped up, greatly hindering visibility and the Japanese ability to pursue.

Kuropatkin ordered the 2nd Manchurian Army to act as rearguard as the 1st and 3rd Manchurian Armies withdrew toward Tiehling. Then 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 found themselves in a funnel heading north along the communication lines while being slowly enveloped. The 1st Manchurian army simply headed west to avoid the debacle.

As the Russians marched north, the Japanese pursued them on a parallel course, periodically cutting the railway and the Mandarin road and firing on them from both sides of the narrow escape corridor. Discipline collapsed, the wounded were abandoned along with war supplies, and soldiers turned on their officers, looting and fleeing into nearby hills. The narrator says Ōyama's supply line had been stretched too thin, making it impossible for his forces to pursue effectively. Ōyama captured and killed many, but the Russian army once again managed to flee intact.

At 10 a.m. on March 10, Ōyama signaled Tokyo that Japan had occupied Mukden. He reported that the enveloping movement, which had proceeded for several days, had completely attained its object.

The narrator says the battle of Mukden exacted a heavy price from both sides. The Japanese suffered 15,892 deaths, 59,612 wounded and 2,000 captured. The Russians suffered 8,705 deaths, 51,438 wounded, 6,209 missing and 22,000 captured. It was one of the largest and bloodiest battles ever fought before 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, the narrator says there would be no further battles in Manchuria. The war on land was over, and one last battle remained at sea.