Why Port Arthur capitulated, and who accused the Russian general of betrayal

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

At the very beginning of 1905, 329 days after the start of the Russo-Japanese War, the Far Eastern fortress of Port Arthur was handed over to the Japanese after a difficult defense. Under the terms of the surrender treaty, all soldiers who ground more than 100 thousand Japanese during the siege campaign were subject to capture. Having witnessed the incredible heroism of the privates and officers of the garrison defending Port Arthur, contemporaries put the defense of the fortress on a par with the defense of Sevastopol. And the Soviet writer Stepanov claimed that the generals received a dollar bribe of several million dollars from Japan for the surrender of the Russian army.

Declaration of war and chain of defeats

In February 1904, Mikado ordered a military campaign against Russia. The vice admiral was ordered to go with the fleet to the Yellow Sea to attack enemy ships at Port Arthur. Combat detachments were ordered to attack the enemy at night. And the main forces - to begin the offensive in the morning. To summarize, the entire Russo-Japanese War from the very beginning turned out to be a powerful blow to Russia.

The army suffered defeat one after another. In such a situation, the successful defense of the Port Arthur fortress could be turned into a source of pride for the whole country, but the actions of the Russian command did not seem decisive enough. Starting from the large trading port Dalniy, which had been left by the Russians by that time, the Japanese easily blocked Port Arthur and, at the same time, adjusted the supply of their own army. The official beginning of the defense of Port Arthur dates back to August 1904, when the main forces of the Russian army were withdrawn from the strategic object, and small units after heavy fighting, on the contrary, pressed against the fortification. So the fortress was besieged together with the Port Arthur squadron.

The value of the port for Russians and Japanese

It was important to defend the fortress, because Russia needed an ice-free Pacific port. During the period of the Sino-Japanese clashes, Port Arthur was captured by the Japanese, but the authoritative powers later strongly recommended that they abandon this trophy. Port Arthur became Russian property, and the Japanese harbored a grudge. They were especially saddened by the Russian railway project regarding China. With the advent of the Chinese-Eastern Railway, the Russian Empire received the right to build the southern part of the branch, which provided access to Port Arthur and Dalniy to the Chinese Eastern Railway. In addition, rumors spread about the implementation of the Zheltorossiya project. All this compromised the Japanese, leading to the Russo-Japanese War. And the Japanese saw their main goal as the return of Port Arthur with the deployment of a naval base there.

World war rehearsal and four assaults

Due to its territorial remoteness, the Russian Empire did not have a sufficient volume of troops at its Far Eastern facilities, and the recently commissioned Trans-Siberian Railway did not provide the necessary throughput to accumulate reserves in a short time. Therefore, the Japanese who landed in Korea freely advanced through Manchuria in the direction of Port Arthur. The Russian fleet somehow held back the Japanese on the water, but it did not work to stop the land attacks.

The siege of the long-suffering Port Arthur became a war in a new way for the Russians. The Russian-Japanese clashes are even called a rehearsal of the coming First World War. There were new types of warships, underwater shells, deep sea mines, etc. The fact that the army had not fought for a long time played against the Russians. Under Alexander III "Peacemaker" there were no large-scale military clashes, experience was lost, and the campaign to China took place in the easiest military conditions.

The Japanese stormed Port Arthur four times. The first three attacks entailed huge losses in their ranks. The last, fourth, resulted in the surrender of the fortress. Officially, the siege lasted from May to the end of December. For its defense, the Kwantung fortified area was created, consisting of the fortress itself, its pre-equipped suburbs and adjacent areas. The defense was headed by General Stoessel, ex-commandant of Port Arthur, at enmity with the newly made commandant Smirnov. The lack of a centralized command was also not good for the defense. The fleet did not follow the will of the ground commanders, the necessary interaction of various types of forces was absent. These flaws were redeemed only by the general heroism of soldiers and sailors, as well as officers. Based on the numbers of losses, we can say that one Russian soldier in that confrontation took 4 Japanese with him.

The decision to surrender and suspicion of bribery

Despite the most difficult situation in the garrison, the personnel were ready to hold the defense to the end. However, General Stoessel, in a duet with the ground commander Fock, decided to surrender. Stoessel, on his own initiative, entered into final negotiations with the Japanese. In addition to him, Colonel Reis and the ex-commander of the sunken battleship Schensnovich gave consent to surrender. Initially, Reis asked the Japanese for the right of an honorable withdrawal of the entire garrison in arms. The Japanese rejected this option. I had to go to any demands of the enemy.

Analyzing those events, some historians were inclined to believe that the fortress could continue to hold, and the 24-thousand-strong garrison of combat-ready military men was ready to show firmness. The fortified area lacked weapons, ammunition and food. But the act of surrender was signed. According to this document, fortifications, ships and weapons with ammunition remained intact for surrender to the Japanese. The garrison hoped to return home on condition of non-participation in the Russo-Japanese War. But it turned out differently, and the rank and file were sent prisoner. By the way, some of the officers who did not dare to leave and betray their subordinates also left in step with the soldiers.

The Soviet writer A. Stepanov, who allegedly participated in the defense of the fortress with his father as a teenager, insisted in the historical work Port Arthur that Stoessel and Fock received a huge bribe of several million dollars from the Japanese general for the Russian surrender. But documentary evidence of this version was not found. And the military historian O. Chistyakov and a number of colleagues even assert that there has never been any Stepanov in Port Arthur and all his testimonies are false.

Japanese society at that time was strongly imbued with the cult of the samurai. That's why these rules were observed by the soldiers, and so the widow should have done.