Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 75, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 May 1904 — BATTLE WAS BLOODY. [ARTICLE]

BATTLE WAS BLOODY.

Nearly 4,000 Men Are Said to Have Fallen in Yalu Fight. The official reports of Gen. Kuropatkin and Gen. Zassalitch on the battle of the Yalu have been received by the Czar and made.public. The reports show that from 3,000 to 4,oo(Lmen were killed and that the artillery fire on both sides was fierce in the extreme. It is now plain, that no more than 8,000 Russians were actually engaged in the fighting at the Yalu against the Japanese army, of a total strength of between 30,000 and 40,000. The losses on both sides, which are expected to reach T,Wo'Tn<r”p”dssibl;' 1.200 in the Russian force and twice that number for the Japanese,- make it one of the bloodiest fights in history. At the river crossing the Japanese dead lay piled up literally in heaps and Gen. Kuroki’s success was purchased at such a heavy cost that the Russians are disposed to regard it as rather a defeat than a victory for him. A story is circulated in St. Petersburg of a striking episode during the fighting on the Yalu river and the desperate bravery of a Russian regiment which without artillery attacked two and onehalf divisions of Japifhese. The Russians, headed by a chaplain bearing a cross, fought like lions, but were crushed and almost annihilated by overwhelming numlicrs, the scene after the light resembling a shambles. Gen. Kuropatkin's dispatch shows that tho Russians fought with such bulldog tenacity and bravery against the overwhelming superiority of the enemy that the nominal victory of the Japanese was eclipsed by the prowess of the Czar’s soldiers. Gen. ixuropatkin’s report also sprvetl to restore Gen. Zassalitch to public favor./ The Russian people are especially impressed with the desperate bayonet charge of the Eleventh regiment. The mental picture of the regiment advancing against the enemy with bands and bugles blaring and the priest with cross aloft at the head appealed to the dramatic sense of the Russian population as nothing else could, The survivors of this ,

heroic regiment which cut its way out declare that the position was surrounded by more than 1,000 dead Japanese. The loss of the guns which, according to the best information obtainable, consisted of twenty-two field pieces and eight machine guns, is considered particularly unfortunate, .even though they will lie of no service to the enemy on account of the removal of their breech locks.