In 1905 a large number of machine-guns were ordered, amongst them being some Danish ones of inferior design; but during the period the operations lasted—up to March, 1905—we had to do as best we could with a very few machine-guns, without high explosive shell, without sufficient mountain artillery, and without howitzers. All these had been supplied, or had begun to be supplied, in 1905; but it was too late.
[76] [On March 10, 1905, the battle of Mukden, which had lasted for several days, ended with the retreat of the Russians and the occupation of Mukden by the Japanese. On the 16th the Japanese entered Tieh-ling, and on the 21st Chang-tu Fu. The latter represents the furthest point reached in the northerly advance of their main armies.—ED.]
[77] [General Kuropatkin’s country estate in Russia.—ED.]
[78] “Scheme for the Strategical Distribution of Troops in the Far East in the Event of War with Japan,” November 18, 1900 (Port Arthur).
[79] [Being a single-line railway, the number of trains in one direction depended on those travelling in the opposite direction; they are, therefore, alluded to in pairs. A pair of trains implies two trains, one each way.—ED.]
[81] [An échelon of troops consisted of the troops from a certain number of trains. See footnote [87].—ED.]
[82] [The Eastern Chinese line was under the Minister of Finance.—ED.]
[83] [A strategic line of railway in European Russia, some 700 miles long.—ED.]
[84] [General Kuropatkin does not refer to mounted infantry.—ED.]
[85] In his report to the War Minister, dated October 19, 1906, General Soboloff, the late commander of the 6th Siberian Corps, said: “The general concentration in July, 1904, of the 55th and 72nd Divisions, which composed my corps, was by no means instructive, as the War Minister refused to let us have any artillery or cavalry. In Tamboff and Morshansk masses of infantry, 16,000 strong, manœuvred about without a single gun or squadron.”
[86] [“Three line” indicates the calibre of the rifle, a “line” being a Russian measure equal to 1/10 of an inch. Three lines = ·299 inches.—ED.]
[87] [An échelon is a collection of trains containing a unit or units despatched together. In South Africa these collections of trains were sometimes called “coveys.”—ED.]