203 Highlands

203 Highlands

Located 3 kilometers west of the new urban area of Lushun, the zhihoushi mountain is known as the 2003 highland due to its elevation of 203 meters. In the Russo Japanese War, it was the commanding height of the western line, close to the urban area and the port fortress, and an important position for the two sides.

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War overview

The Russo Japanese war was an imperialist war in the early 20th century when Japan and Russia fought for control over North Korea and Northeast China. There is a bomb shaped memorial tower built by the Japanese. The inscription on the tower changes "203" to "erling mountain". This scuffle became a real fierce battle because of the unprecedented intensity of the Lushun campaign, which was shown in the 203 highland battle. In order to win, general naimuxidian, the commander of the Japanese army, ignored the lives of his own officers and soldiers, blindly forced them to carry out a series of attacks which were almost suicidal. He consumed the Russian army with huge casualties and finally won the victory. For naimuxidian, such a victory is a sign of merit, but its price is a ruin and 100000 dead. War fanatics regard life as a weed and make peace an extravagant hope.

The highland of the first battle

In December 1897, the Russian Navy entered Lushun, a port city in Northeast China. Then, it forced the Qing government to rent it and established the Pacific Fleet headquarters of the Russian navy. After several years of construction, the Russians built a large number of solid cement fortifications in Lushun, equipped with a large number of artillery and machine guns. The whole Lushun has become a solid fortress. The commanding height of this fortress is highland 203, which is located in the northwest of Lushun, overlooking the port and the whole city. On February 8, 1904, the Russo Japanese war began. According to the strategic plan of the Japanese army, the capture of Lushun is the top priority of the whole military operation. Japan believes that as long as Lvshun is still in the hands of the Russians, the Russian fleet will threaten the Japanese maritime transportation lines at any time, so it must be seized. On May 31, after occupying Dalian and obtaining a new supply base, the Japanese army accelerated its approach to Lushun. In order to conquer Lushun as soon as possible, the general headquarters of the Japanese army specially dispatched troops and set up the third army. Naimuxidian, who was famous for his bravery, served as the commander of the army and mainly attacked Lushun. This army consists of the first and eleventh divisions and three artillery regiments, equipped with heavy artillery for siege. By the middle of August, the Japanese had deployed 60000 troops, 400 guns including 198 11 inch siege guns and 72 machine guns under Lushun City, and completed the construction of fortifications and positions surrounding Lushun city. At the same time, the Japanese fleet of 52 warships also tightly locked the port of Lushun. After the loss of Dalian, the Tsarist government sternly warned general Kuropatkin, commander-in-chief of the Russian Manchurian army, not to lose Lushun, because the loss of Lushun would make the Russian army into an almost irreversible desperate situation. In order to change the situation of the Russian army in Lvshun, Kuropatkin ordered to support Lvshun with one army. However, on June 14, the army was defeated by the Japanese who were responsible for blocking the Russian reinforcements, which made the Russian army in Lushun more isolated. By the end of July, the Russian army had lost all its defensive positions outside the city. At that time, the strength of the garrison was 40000 people, 646 guns and 62 machine guns. Kuropatkin's strategy was to stay in Lushun and wait for reinforcements to come.

Under the city of Lushun, the crazy two armies vowed to defeat their opponents at all costs. The Japanese regarded the gain and loss of Lushun as the key to the success of the whole war, while the Russian army, who stuck to the city, was in a backwater situation. Therefore, their fight here was very fierce from the beginning. Although the Russian army was defeated repeatedly and retreated, their tenacious resistance with strong fortifications caused heavy casualties to the Japanese army. In the battle for Nanshan on the outskirts of Lushun, it took the Japanese army one day to conquer this tiny area at the cost of more than 4400 people killed and injured. When the casualty data was sent to the Japanese base camp, the Japanese generals were surprised, thinking that there was a mistake in the front-line report, which might be due to a clerical error and an extra zero. On the surface, under Lushun, the strength of the Japanese and Russian armies is almost the same, and each has its own strong points. The officers and men of both sides are also known for their ferocity and tenacity. However, the battle plans of the two armies are on the contrary. The Japanese army carried out the strategy and tactics of active attack, while the Russian army carried out the operational policy of passive defense. There is still a bigger gap between the commanders of the two armies. Naimuxidian is a famous Japanese general who has won many battles. He has always been famous for his fierce fighting. He is the vanguard of Japan's foreign war. The Russian commander-in-chief, general strassel, was a regular defeated general. After strassel lost a series of positions outside the city, the anxious Kuropatkin ordered general Smirnov to replace strassel. However, steisel concealed the appointment telegram, so that Smirnov only knew about the "appointment" after the war.

On August 10 and 14, 1904, the Japanese and Russian Navy waged two naval battles in the Yellow Sea. The Russian navy was defeated one after another, and its fighting capacity was seriously weakened. The Japanese army, on the other hand, aimed to strike while the iron was hot and seize Lushun at one stroke. Therefore, naimu Xidian commanded the third army to launch a general attack on Lushun. On August 16, 1904, the Japanese army asked the Russian garrison to surrender and was refused. On August 19, 1904, the Japanese army's attack on Highland 203 opened the prelude to the battle of Lushun. In the face of successive attacks by Japanese death squads, the Russian army, relying on the fortifications built for many years, stood high and resisted tenaciously, leaving only casualties but no progress. The fortifications of the Russian army were very strong, and the shells of the Japanese army only damaged the surface, but could not destroy it. The reasonable structure of fortification group made the firepower of Russian army, especially the firepower of machine gun, form a dense firepower network, which was difficult for Japanese army to surmount. In order to reduce the casualties, the Japanese army immediately changed to attack at night, but still had little effect. The number of casualties continued to rise sharply. Even the two sons of naimuxidian were killed in front of the position. Muxidian's fighting spirit was not shaken by the fierce fighting. He claimed that one of the encircled Russian troops died, one less, and the Japanese army could add as much as they wanted.

On the night of the 23rd, naimu Xidian, who had already become a red eye, decided to take advantage of the night to launch a large-scale attack, and used his "meat bullet" tactics to attack from the front, so the most intense attack began. A surviving Russian soldier described the scene in his diary: "a landslide made of living people rolled towards us, and Japanese rushed out from the valley and ravine. Rifles and machine guns were fired, and searchlights went up and down, blinding the Japanese soldiers. They advance, they fall, they jump, they run, they fall In front of the Russian fortifications, the wounded and dead Japanese soldiers were lying on the ground. The sound of guns and explosions was mixed with the sad wails of the wounded. However, the wave of Japanese attack is still surging. The succeeding troops of the Japanese army marched forward on the body of their comrades. The fierce battle lasted until the 24th, and the Japanese army suffered a lot of casualties, but only occupied two small fortresses in the front position, and highland 203 was still in the hands of the Russian army. In the past week's offensive, the number of Japanese casualties reached 27900, accounting for about one third of the total force of the third army, while the number of Russian casualties also reached more than 3500. In front of the 203 highland, there are a lot of corpses and dying officers and soldiers of the Japanese army, which seriously affects the morale of the Japanese army. This situation forced naimuxidian to give up his strong attack on Highland 203 and instead to strengthen the siege on Lushun, waiting for the replenishment of troops and equipment before attacking.

Fight for high ground

The defeat of the Japanese attack gave the Russian sergeants a boost. The Russian commanders' wishful thinking is to use the favorable terrain and solid fortifications in Lvshun, on the one hand to contain the main enemy forces such as the Japanese Third Army, so as to reduce the pressure of the Japanese army on other battlefields. On the other hand, they are waiting for the arrival of the Russian Pacific second fleet, which is being formed, while constantly consuming the Japanese army, so as to finally regain the initiative in the battlefield.

After the defeat of the strong attack, the operational intention of the Japanese base camp became more and more clear: it was necessary to occupy Lushun as soon as possible. As long as the battle in Lushun is successfully ended, the third army can be liberated from Lushun and join with other Japanese forces to compete and fight a decisive battle with the main force of the Russian army in Liaodong Peninsula. If the above-mentioned operational intention fails, the consequences will be nothing more than this: first, the third army will continue to consume under the Lushun City, and the serious reduction will make it hard for the Russian army; second, if the Russian Pacific Fleet in the port of Lushun cannot be completely eliminated, Japan will not be able to win the war. In particular, once Russia's second Pacific Fleet arrives and joins the fleet in the port, Russia is expected to regain the sea power, and Japan's achievements will be lost.

The third army of the Japanese army began its second strong attack, the main target of which was still highland 203. For this strong attack, the Japanese army built a new artillery position in the periphery of Lushun in advance, equipped with a batch of 11 inch large caliber siege guns. In the second attack, the Japanese army paid more attention to artillery. However, the Russian army showed no sign of weakness. They removed the large caliber guns from the main ship of the Pacific Fleet and placed them on the army position, confronting the Japanese. The Japanese army urgently mobilized 2 soldiers from China

Chinese PinYin : Gao Di