The Rise of Australasia

Of course, after having an army of sufficient size, the current battlefield was not just Port Arthur, but could even be described as blooming in multiple places.

The Island Nation’s Army deployed a part to defend and attempt to capture Port Arthur, and another part to advance north and capture locations like Liaoyang Sand River.

As the war progressed, the attitudes of the soldiers from the Island Nation and the Russian soldiers gradually became two extremes.

At this time, the samurai spirit of the Island Nation truly played a crucial role; even if their comrades were being killed or injured, the Island Nation’s soldiers would still bravely charge without fearing death.

On the other hand, the Russian army faced increased fear with each comrade’s injury or death.

To avoid affecting Europe’s interests, more than half of the army dispatched to the Far East were temporarily mobilized peasant soldiers.

These people might have been pure farmers just six months ago, but now they were holding rifles of varying styles, guarding the land far away that didn’t belong to the Russian Empire.

Did these people not want to defend their homes and country? Of course, they did, but they were more afraid of dying. Due to insufficient training time, they had no defense against the real events happening on the battlefield, and it was only natural to give birth to fear and panic.

At the end of October 1904, the Island Nation assembled a majority of its artillery, launching an unprecedented bombardment on the Port Arthur Citadel.

These cannons were of all different types; if one looked carefully, they could even distinguish the styles of three different countries – Britain, Germany, and the United States.

Of course, the German-style cannons were sold to them by Australia, which made at least two million pounds profit from this war and even expanded their armament factories and defense companies.

Russia initially resisted and even requested support from their fleet. However, the Island Nation’s fleet took the opportunity to challenge the Pacific Squadron, and to avoid being ambushed, the Pacific Squadron had to hurriedly form a defensive line, thereby interrupting their support for the army.

On the Russian side, the number of cannons was already far behind that of the Island Nation’s army, and coupled with inadequate logistics, they could only resist for two rounds before their ammunition reserves became insufficient.

Of course, the Russian soldiers didn’t have any other ideas at the time; they just wanted to find a secure corner to hide in and wait for the Island Nation’s bombardment to end.

However, no one expected that this bombardment would last for several hours. Although it was done in successive rounds, the time between them was not enough for the Russian army to counterattack.

What the Russian soldiers never expected was that, during such a heavy bombardment, the Island Nation sent a force close to Port Arthur Fortress and managed to climb it undetected by the Russian soldiers.

It’s important to note that the shells didn’t have eyes, and the Island Nation was targeting the entire range of the Port Arthur Fortress.

This Island Nation force was likely to be engulfed by their own artillery fire, but there was no sign of fear on their faces.

Russian soldiers began to panic, feeling as if they were fighting against devils. Aren’t those who aren’t afraid of death basically devils?

In early October, after holding out for half a year, the Port Arthur Fortress finally fell, and the Island Nation had completed the first step in the war – removing Russia’s supply station in the Far East.

After the fall of the Port Arthur Fortress, the situation in the Far East War reversed drastically.

The Islanders returned to the unstoppable state they had at the beginning of the war, seizing cities and fortresses in the Far East at will.

More than 20,000 of the 60,000 Russian defenders at Port Arthur Fortress were killed, and more than 30,000 were captured. Meanwhile, the Port Arthur Fortress itself was reduced to ruins in the heavy bombardment.

The fall of Port Arthur had a significant impact on the Russian Empire. There were two means of transporting supplies to the Far East for the Russian Empire: one was through the recently completed Siberian Railway, and the other was through maritime transport, followed by land transport after arriving at Port Arthur Harbor.

However, after the fall of the Port Arthur Fortress, the Port Arthur Harbor became extremely vulnerable. Under such circumstances, maritime transport was basically impossible. The Russian army in the Far East could only rely on the Siberian Railway for logistical support.

By the end of October 1904, at the cost of heavy casualties, the Island Nation successively advanced north to Liaoyang, Sand River, and other places, moving the front line dozens of kilometers north.

In early November, the main force of the Manchurian Army marched north again and encountered the Russian main force stationed in Fengtian Region.

At this point, the troop comparison between the two sides had changed to 400,000 versus 170,000, with the Island Nation Army possessing an absolute advantage.

More important than the numerical advantage was Marshal Dàshān Johnson’s unique strategy.

The main attack direction of the Island Nation was the right flank of the Russian army, but the Russians had more than 30,000 reserve forces on their right flank.

In order to have the Russians transfer these reserve forces to their left flank, Marshal Dàshān Johnson dispatched the Fifth Army from the right flank openly towards the left flank, and secretly circled around to the right flank with the intention of luring the Russian troops to deploy their right flank reserve forces to the left flank, strengthening the left flank defense.

Russian Marshal Kuropatkin Johnson actually fell for this strategy. Seeing the Island Nation’s troop movements, he transferred most of the right flank reserve forces to his left flank to prevent a possible strong attack.

However, little did he know that just on the third day, the right flank of the Russian army would be subjected to a fierce and strong attack.

Moreover, two Island Nation forces had already circled to the rear of the right flank, forming an encirclement.

This put the Russian army in a predicament. Although the main battlefield was centered around the Fengtian Region, the battlefront stretched for more than 100 kilometers.

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