The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 began

At the beginning of the twentieth century the rivalry between Russia and Japan for influence in Northeast China and Korea led to an aggravation of the international situation in the Far East.

On January 24 (February 6), 1904 Japanese Ambassador Kurino presented the Russian Foreign Minister Lamsdorf with a note on the severance of diplomatic relations between Japan and Russia.

At 9 am on January 24 (February 6), 1904, in the Korean Strait, three miles from the Korean coast, in the territorial waters of Korea, a Japanese ship captured the steamer of the Ekaterinoslav Volunteer Fleet. On the same day, the landing of Japanese troops began in Fusan (Pusan). Japanese destroyers captured the Russian steamship Mukden, which was stationed in Fuzan; January 25 (February 7) - two more Russian steamships - Rossiya and Amgun. On January 26 (February 8), Russian post offices in Fuzan were captured.

On the night of January 27 (February 9) Japanese destroyers suddenly attacked the ships of the Russian squadron in the outer roadstead of Port Arthur. The battleships "Retvizan", "Tsesarevich" and the cruiser "Pallada" were damaged, according to the telegram by the Viceroy of His Imperial Majesty in the Far East E. I. Alekseev.

On January 27 (February 9), 1904 Emperor Nicholas II issued a Manifesto declaring war on Japan. The main arena of battles was Manchuria and the Liaodong Peninsula, where Japanese troops besieged the fortress of Port Arthur.

On January 28 (February 10), 1904 mobilization and the formation of free squads were announced on Sakhalin for exiles and settlers who joined squads, benefits were established and sentences were reduced. The general leadership of the defense of Sakhalin was carried out by the military governor, Lieutenant General M. N. Lyapunov.

On August 7 (20), 1904 a warship appeared on the roadstead of the Korsakovsky post. It was the Novik cruiser from the Port Arthur squadron. Trying to break through to Vladivostok, almost the entire squadron died. The cruiser was able to break away from the Japanese persecution and, having circled Japan from the ocean side, came to its native shores. It soon became clear that the Japanese ships were looking for the Russian cruiser. "Novik" urgently went to sea and in the evening of the same day in the La Perouse Strait entered into an unequal battle with the heavy Japanese cruiser "Tsushima". To avoid the capture of the ship and crew, the commander of the cruiser M. F. Schultz decided to flood the ship. The guns removed from the cruiser strengthened the defence of the Korsakovsky post. They had a team of artillerymen led by midshipman A. P. Maksimov. The rest of the crew of the Novik set out on a campaign across the whole of Sakhalin. From the moment the Novik cruiser arrived in Aniva Bay and the clashes that arose, Sakhalin was declared "the area of ​​​​the theater of military operations from the day the enemy bombarded the Korsakovsky post, that is, from August 8 (21), 1904".

To capture Sakhalin in Hokkaido, the 13th Infantry Division of Lieutenant General K. Haraguchi was formed with more than 14 thousand bayonets, 36 guns and 12 machine guns. In the south of Sakhalin, Russian forces under the command of I. A. Artsishevsky were divided into five partisan detachments with a total number of 1,200 people with 10 guns and 4 machine guns. Having received a report from equestrian reconnaissance about the landing of Japanese troops near the village of Mereya, Artsishevsky ordered to set fire to the Korsakovsky post and retreat to positions near the village of Solovyovka. On June 27 (July 10), 1905, the Artsishevsky detachment, having taken a position near the village of Dalnee, put up barriers near the villages of Vladimirovka, Near and Troitskoye. On June 28-29 (July 11-12), fighting continued near the villages of Vladimirovka and Dalnee. Having lost up to one and a half hundred people killed and wounded, the detachment of I. A. Artsishevsky tried to leave for the mountains. Near the village of Dalnee, the Japanese managed to surround the detachment, and on July 3 (16) he surrendered. After that, the Japanese command got the opportunity to attack Northern Sakhalin, sending a squadron and most of its troops there.

On July 11 (24), 1905 about 40 Japanese ships with powerful artillery support landed at the Aleksandrovsky post. In the north of the island, four large detachments were formed with a total number of about 5,400 people. The fighting in Northern Sakhalin lasted eight days.

On July 19 (August 1), near the village of Onor, the main forces of the Russian troops under the command of Lieutenant General M. N. Lyapunov laid down their arms and capitulated. After the surrender of the Russian troops, the commander of the Japanese troops, Lieutenant General Haraguchi, without waiting for the signing of documents on the surrender of the Russian troops, announced the introduction of Japanese military control on the entire island, which was officially announced in Tokyo on July 19 (August 1).

And although Japanese troops occupied virtually the entire island, resistance to the invaders continued. On the southern shore of Lake Tunaycha, a small detachment under the command of Staff Captain Bronislav Vladislavovich Grotto-Slepikovsky was defending. Only on July 20 (August 2) the Japanese were able to detect it and sent about 400 soldiers to destroy it. Partisan detachments were still fighting on Sakhalin, and the governments of Japan and Russia had already begun peace negotiations. The venue was the city of Portsmouth in the USA. The Russian delegation at the talks was headed by Chairman of the Committee of Ministers Sergei Yulievich Witte.

August 23 (September 5), 1905 Russia and Japan signed a peace treaty. Russia recognized Korea as a sphere of Japanese influence and ceded to it its lease rights to the Liaodong Peninsula with the cities of Port Arthur and Dalniy. Part of Sakhalin Island south of the 50th parallel also departed to Japan.

Many years after the end of the Russo-Japanese War, the memory of the defenders of Sakhalin was immortalized in geographical names. A village in the Dolinsky urban district was named in honor of Captain V. P. Bykov. In the Kholmsky urban district there is Cape Slepikovsky named after an officer buried with his warriors in a mass grave on the shore of Lake Tunaicha. The feat of the Russian cruiser Novik was not forgotten, and on Sakhalin a village, a mountain and a cape were named after him, monuments and memorial signs were erected in Korsakov and the village of Novikovo.

Based on the Sakhalin Regional Universal Research Library materials

 

Lit.: Костанов А. И. Сахалин и Курильские острова в Русско-японской войне 1904–1905 гг. // История Сахалина и Курильских островов с древнейших времен до начала ХХI столетия. Южно-Сахалинск, 2008. С. 370–374; Елизарьев В. Н. Русско-японская война 1904–1905 гг. и её последствия для освоения и заселения острова Сахалина. Южно-Сахалинск, 2005; Широкорад А. Б. Русско-японские войны, 1904–1945 гг. Минск, 2003.

 

Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:

 

Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905: [digital collection];

Sakhalin Region: Pages of History: [digital collection].