Italy's meddling has not yet yielded results, but the war waits for no one, and neither Japan nor Russia can stop.
First, after the Japanese sneak attack on Port Arthur, they immediately sent troops to land in Busan and Inchon on May 9th and 12th, quickly taking control of the small Korean court.
Then on June 2, more than 30,000 Japanese First Army troops carrying more than 100 artillery pieces, led by General Kuroki Shizhen, landed at Nampo, North Korea and headed north. In late June, the Japanese troops landed without resistance.
, arrived at the left bank of the Yalu River, and stared covetously at the Russian troops stationed in the northeastern region.
At this time, Russia had already taken action. Admiral Stark, who first showed his incompetence in the Japanese sneak attack, was dismissed and replaced by Lieutenant General Makarov, Russia's last famous general.
Makarov is worthy of being a famous general. As soon as he took office, he took a series of emergency measures to strengthen the operations of the Lushun fleet.
First, he decided to lay mines in the coastal areas of the Liaodong Peninsula to prevent Japanese troops from landing and threatening the Lushun base from behind. At the same time, he improved the defense of Lushun port, stepped up the repair of damaged ships, frequently sent fleets to sea, and strengthened combat readiness training. He also ordered Vladivostok
The fleet actively harassed Japanese sea lines of communication in the Sea of Japan in order to distract Japan's pressure on Lushun.
This series of actions quickly restored the morale of the Russian Navy officers and soldiers. Especially after he personally led several attacks and repelled the Japanese fleet attack, he was even more recognized by the Russian Navy officers and soldiers. I believe you will give him some time.
, the Russian Pacific Fleet will definitely give the Japanese Combined Fleet a headache.
In fact, after the arrival of Makarov, the Combined Fleet had a headache for this man. For this reason, the Japanese Combined Fleet Commander Togo Heihachiro and the Chief of Staff Akiyama Shinyuki and others came up with a solution that was not a solution. Since the Russian cavalryman
Lieutenant General Makarov is so difficult to deal with, so shoot the people first, shoot the horses and capture the thieves first, capture the king first, and deal with Lieutenant General Makarov first.
The combined fleet made careful preparations for this purpose. First, it dispatched warships to secretly lay mines outside Port Arthur in the middle of the night on June 2, and at dawn the next day, it dispatched warships of the Third Fleet to lure the enemy outside Port Arthur.
At that time, the Russian destroyer was returning to port from overseas activities and was besieged by the Japanese destroyer. Makarov rushed the "Bayan" battleship to rescue him, but was also besieged by the warships of the Japanese Third Fleet. So Makarov personally led the fleet
Sail out of the port to engage in battle and pursue the retreating Japanese ships.
When he discovered that the main force of the Japanese fleet had already been lined up and waiting, he made a prompt decision and ordered all the ships to return. On the way back, the battleship Victory he was aboard unfortunately hit a mine fifteen kilometers away from Lushun, and a violent explosion severely damaged the Victory. However, he was unable to do so.
Thanks to Italy's excellent underwater defense system, the Victory was only severely damaged, and the Victory was seen struggling to return to Lushun.
Togo Heihachiro led the main force of the combined fleet and attacked the Victory all the way. In half an hour of fierce bombardment, the Victory suffered heavy losses, including 7 secondary guns and 2 main guns. More than half of the officers and soldiers on the ship were killed.
The whole ship is full of scars, so desolate. If it were not for the excellent performance of the Krupp armor steel on the Victory and its very reasonable structure, any other Russian warship would have been sunk long ago.
The Victory, covered with scars, finally hid in Port Arthur under the stunned gaze of Japanese fleet officers and soldiers.
At this time, Lieutenant General Makarov, who did not know that he had escaped a fatal blow, only suffered some minor injuries. However, when he looked at the seriously injured Victory, he had a sad look on his face. Because there are currently 7 battleships in the Pacific Fleet.
The Kronprinz and Perthwaite were hit by torpedoes and are still undergoing emergency repairs. Now that the Victory has been seriously damaged, there are currently only four battleships available in the fleet.
Although there are four battleships left, they are all four with poor performance. The three Petropavlovsk-class battleships can only reach a maximum speed of 16 knots. Although the two-seater twin 1895-type 305
mm l/40 gun; 4 twin mounts and 4 single mounts 1892 type 15
The firepower of the 2 mm L/45 secondary gun looks good, but the standard displacement of 10,960 tons results in insufficient defense of the ship. Although the defense is good on paper, the waterline armor belt is 254 to 368 mm, but its armor width can be
As you can imagine, it must be a very narrow armored belt.
As for the other Oslibia, the ship's speed protection is good, but the firepower of its four 254mm main guns and 11 152mm secondary main guns is too weak?
It can be said that the three most combat-effective warships in the current fleet have been damaged and repaired, so Lieutenant General Makarov's idea of continuing to attack can only come to an end.
On the Combined Fleet side, they saw the Victory struggling back to Port Arthur under the siege of many ships. This disappointed the members of the Combined Fleet and others. As the fleet commander, Togo Heihachiro immediately sent a telegram to Tokyo, asking the government not to let it go under any circumstances.
The Russians obtained Italian battleships, especially the three Genoa-class battleships, which were too resistant to beating.
Of course, Togo Heihachiro still gave very high praise to the two purchased Garibaldi patrol ships. Although the cost of the ship is extremely high, its performance is too powerful. With a displacement of 15,000 tons, it can actually run 23 knots.
High speed. Not to mention the eight 254mm main guns it is equipped with, which has powerful firepower and can be called a cruiser killer.
As long as they see it, there is no need to even think about escaping. Therefore, these two cruisers are commanded by Uemura Hikonoshima, along with several other cruisers, preparing to capture the Pacific Fleet cruisers in Vladivostok Port.
However, although the Japanese armored patrol formation was well prepared, the Russian warships hiding in Vladivostok Port did not come out at all. No matter how you try, I am as stable as a rock.
Uemura Hikonoshima has no choice in dealing with this kind of otaku who is willing to stay at home. There is no way he can rush into the harbor with a patrol uniform.
Uemura Hikonosei had no choice but to stay outside Vladivostok for a long time, so he had to leave first. However, as soon as he left, the Russian cruiser formation slipped out and wandered around the sea off Japan, sinking and capturing several merchant ships.
The fishing boat made Uemura Hikonoshima feel angry. As a result, when he led the fleet to pursue it, the enemy retreated to Vladivostok, which made people jump in panic.
At this time, the Japanese Navy is a little uncomfortable. The Russian fleet is hiding in the harbor and cannot come out, and there is nothing that can be done to it. Fortunately, Japan still has an army, and it needs the help of the army at this time. But if it wants the army to help, at least it needs
Temporarily block the threat of the Russian Navy.
So for Combined Fleet Commander Togo Heihachiro, this is a thorny problem. Because the Russians are not stupid, they can block the port of Port Arthur if they want to. He has already sent two groups of ships to block the port before, but they failed. He wants to hide.
Blocking the port from the sight of the Russians was extremely difficult.
However, in order to ensure that the army could land on the Liaodong Peninsula this time, Togo Heihachiro became ruthless and took out more than a dozen ships for blocking purposes. So on the night of July 4th, more than a dozen Japanese blocking ships were controlled by the death squads.
, swarming directly towards the port waterway.
Although they suffered heavy shelling from the Russians and blockades from mines along the way, these suicide squads, desperate for their lives, rushed through the interception without hesitation, and five ships rushed to the waterway entrance. Then five ships loaded with blockages were opened
The sea lock directly blocked the waterway with sunken ships.
Now, even a famous naval general like Makarov has no choice for the time being.
Taking advantage of the opportunity when the Russian navy was blocked at the port, Japan launched an offensive from the Yalu River. Within two days, the Russian East Manchu detachment retreated from Jiulian City and retreated towards Liaoyang.
At the same time, the Japanese Second Army, consisting of more than 40,000 people, commanded by General Aobao Gong, landed at Piziwo in the southeast of the Liaodong Peninsula on July 9 in an attempt to capture Lushun from the north.
On July 13, the Japanese Second Army arrived in Jinzhou. The Russian 4th Infantry Division was responsible for the defense here. After a battle, the 4th Infantry Division was defeated and retreated all the way to the vicinity of Lushun before stabilizing the defense line. The Japanese army took advantage of this opportunity.
After occupying Jinzhou and Dalian, Lushun, a strategic point, was completely surrounded.
