Mukden 1905

 Since I saw it on the Osprey release list, I have been looking forward to John Valitutto's new look at the Battle of Mukden. I first became interested in the Russo-Japanese War when I was given Tide at Sunrise by Dennis and Peggy Warner as a present in the 1970s and then the brilliant TV series Reilly Ace of Spies.

The Battle of Mukden (now Shenyang, China) was a major land battle of the Russo-Japanese War, fought between 20 February and 10 March 1905. It was one of the largest land battles fought before the First World War. 

Japan had already secured key victories, including at the Battle of Port Arthur and Liaoyang. The Russian army had been pushed back but regrouped at Mukden, which was a major rail hub. Japan fielded 270,000 troops under General Iwao Oyama, and Russia had 340,000 troops under General Alexei Kuropatkin. Oyama launched a multi-pronged attack to envelop Russian forces, which the Russians were slow to react to. The Japanese troops then executed a large-scale flanking movement to the west, cutting off Russian escape routes. Russian casualties totalled 90,000, and Japanese casualties were 75,000. It effectively ended the war for Russia, which signed a peace treaty later that year, and the defeat contributed to the 1905 revolution. 

Opening dispositions. 

The book opens with a more detailed background chapter than usual in this series because the war will likely be less familiar to Western readers. One of the more interesting actions was the war's largest and most significant cavalry operation. To disrupt Japanese concentrations south of Mukden, Kuropatkin dispatched General of Cavalry Pavel Mishchenko, with approximately 7,500 cavalrymen, divided into three ‘columns’: the western, centre and eastern. However, they moved too slowly and achieved little other than damaging some railway lines.

The rest of the book is in the usual format. A chapter on the main commanders, including Kuropatkin, an experienced commander and probably the best the Russians had. The author argues, 'While it can be argued that he was frequently overly cautious, at Mukden, Kuropatkin was simply less cunning, less wilful and less confident in driving the pace of events, and incapable of correctly assessing his enemy’s course of action.' Oyama was confident after his string of successful battles in the war. He set his five armies into motion to reproduce the 1870 Prussian victory at Sedan on a larger scale.

The chapter on the opposing armies indicates the sheer scale of the battle. An Osprey Men-at-Arms title on the war provides all the organisational and uniform details the wargamer needs. The ORBATS are here, along with the opposing plans. The battle is broken down into several phases, well illustrated with excellent maps. This was a battle of manoeuvre on a grand scale, so good maps are essential. The colour plates are great, and the Cossack one is especially good. Oyama managed the scale of the battle better, recognising that an attacking army must attack at all points along the front and aggressively to preoccupy front-line units, artillery, and especially reserves across the whole front. Under these conditions, a defending army cannot risk transferring units every time a local breakthrough occurs, at least without causing chaos to its task organisation and rear areas. While successful at Mukden, Oyama’s aggressive approach also guaranteed enormous casualties for even a victorious army.

This is an excellent addition to my library on this conflict. I have both armies in 15mm and use Bloody Big Battles rules. They work really well for battles on this scale. Some of the units are below.