This will catch me up to date on coverage of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 and the March 1st Movement of 1919—

There is heavy coverage of the war in June, but the vast majority of it concern the prospect of peace talks and especially Roosevelt’s hand in helping bring them about.

I’m not terribly interested in that aspect in my look through the news archives.  You can that kind of high level focus everywhere in books or internet coverage of the issue…so I skipped the bulk of those articles…

31 May 1905 – Rojestvensky at Sasebo

Short article.  Last month, we saw where a good number of the leaders of the Russian navy were captured or killed in this battle that brought an end to the war.

His skull is fractured and he has been wounded in the forehead, legs, and back.

The fracture of the skull will necessitate an operation and the Admiral’s condition is serious, but the doctors say he will recover.

The statement that another Admiral was captured with Rojestvensky on the destroyer Bedovy was incorrect and was due to a clerical error.  It is now supposed that Admiral Voelkersham perished.

1 June 1905 – More Prizes for Japan

…three Russian warships have arrived at Hamada, on the west coast of Honshiu, Japan, and will probably be captured.

1 June 1905 – Tells of Collapse of Russia’s Fleet

The article is from an interview with a captured Russian captain of the armored cruiser Admiral Nakhimoff.

We first saw the Japanese at 6 o’clock on the morning of May 27, when suddenly and unexpectedly we encountered the enemy’s fleet as we were moving to the east of Tsu Island.  They steamed toward us and opened fire.

Only ninety minutes after the firing began a sudden shock was felt under the Admiral Nakhimoff, and she began to sink with great rapidity.  My belief is that she either struck a mine or a torpedo.  My crew numbered 600 mine, the majority of whom went down in the ship, as there was no time to get them on deck.

In the engagement fought at the Liancourt Rocks the  Russian battleships were surrounded by Japanese ships, which circled about them, pouring in a terrible fire, and the Russians almost immediately fell into hopeless confusion. 

Of course, anyone who has lived in Korea for some time and not completely brain dead will be more familiar with the other names for the Liancourt Rocks – Dokdo/Tokdo or Takeshima Islands.

For competing detailed views on the narrative about who owns these pieces of rock – Japan or Korea – you can look at the Korean view here and – well, I can’t say it is the Japanese view, because it was done by a Western expat, but it is probably along the lines of the Japanese view.

The 2nd link is to a post at the blog Occidentalism that lists numerous posts the expat wrote on the issue – and here is the expat’s blog on the issue.  (Gerry Bevers is the expat and his work on this issue eventually cost him his teaching job in Korea when Korean netizens discovered his work and went on the attack).

I have no interest in the debate.  I have not even read most of what is written by those two authors.  So I have nothing much to say on it  besides the fact that it is an often argued over, big issue in Korean society (I don’t know enough about Japanese society to speak about the level of interest it has there).

Seeing their plight, Admiral Togo signaled from the battleship Mikasa a demand to know whether the Russians were ready to surrender.  Our ships complied with the demand.

Admiral Kamimura had been sent southward with the deliberate purpose of beginning the battle with a small squadron.  He, however, allowed the Russians to pass him.  Then Admiral Uriu broke in upon them from Iki Island and passed across the head of the third line, raking them again and again.

Japanese submarine boats, The Daily Mail’s correspondent says, proved most effective.

One of the Kamchatka’s officers while in a boat saw the Japanese close around three Russian battleships which were sinking, and torpedoes appeared to be exploding all about them.

Togo risked nothing, and lost nothing.  Darkness brought a glorious night, with smooth and transparent seas.  The Russians were edging northward with the powerful Japanese fleet in a horizontal line across their bows, forming an effective barricade.  Then, under searchlights and the cover of the big guns of the warships, the Japanese torpedo flotilla began like locusts to sting and sink the enemy, the Russians continuing to return the gunfire.  At 2 o’clock in the morning the fighting was fierce and intense and no rest was allowed the Russians.

With dawn of Sunday the Japanese fleet came into closer range.  All day long the battle continued, and by evening was raging off Northern Nagoto.  The Russians were powerless to offer any effective resistance.

1 June 1905 – Army at Front in Revolt?

Gen. Linevitch wired the Czar today that the news of Rojestvensky’s defeat has spread throughout the army in Manchuria, and that the troops are in open revolt.

This was not a good month for the Russians – at home or on the fields of battle – land or sea…

Russia is left senseless.  Crowds of illiterate mujiks surround those who are able to read the news bulletins in the streets and weep while they listen to the pitiful details of the Tsuchima catastrophe.  The worst predictions of the enemies of Czardom are now found to be exceeded.  All the ships not sunk have been captured.  None has been saved except the Aimaz.

On all sides the cry is heard that the present regime is responsible and that it must be cleared out.  The Czar is no longer considered.  Even M. Souvorin, editor of the Novoe Vremya, demands that the people take the helm of state into their own hands.

Rumors are spreading everywhere today that the Czar intends to resign.  The convocation of a National Assembly is confidently expected…

…Ministers, Generals, and Admirals interviewed by the Daily News’s correspondent today were unanimously of the opinion that Russia had lost its sea power for half a century to come.  They also thought that peace would come immediately; that England and America would help to modify Japan’s demands, and that internal reforms would bring about the regeneration of Russia.