During the Battle of Liaoyang in the Russo-Japanese War, the trenches were littered with the bodies of Japanese soldiers killed in the attack by the Russian army. The Japanese soldier looked into the group of bodies from the periphery of the trench. The Russians also suffered increased casualties in the trenches due to the constant attacks of the Japanese troops.
The Battle of Liaoyang in the Russo-Japanese War broke out in the wilderness of Liaoyang, Liaoning Province, China, from August 24 to September 4, 1904. Fierce fighting took place around the hillsides of the wilderness. The Japanese and Russian armies fought for the concessions from Manchuria to the Korean Peninsula and other areas. This was the first battle in which both the Japanese and Russian armies clashed. About 125,000 Japanese soldiers and 158,000 Russians, for a total of about 28,300, attacked and defended each other. The Russian army had triple fortified Liaoyang. With the vast fortifications and artillery power of the Russian army, the Japanese forces were accompanied by heavy losses.
The Japanese army surrounded the Russian army in Liaoyang, Manchuria, but the Japanese army suffered enormous losses, and the Russian army withdrew to Shenyang in the north on September 4 with all its forces intact. The cities of Manchuria were occupied and plundered by the Japanese, Russian and Chinese forces. In the Battle of Liaoyang, about 5,537 Japanese troops were killed and about 18,000 were wounded, while about 3,611 Russians were killed and about 14,301 wounded.
The Russian soldiers were constantly attacked by the Japanese troops, unable to rest, threatened, hungry and thirsty, and almost demoralized from the frenzied spirit. The closer the Japanese forces got, the more devious their means of warfare became. Dynamite bombs, previously used in the White Army, were later replaced by hand grenades. In the final stages, artillery shells were released from mortars that were up to about 200 meters away. The two armies also launched mine warfare to blow up each other's soldiers. The Russian army, which was neither quantitatively disadvantaged nor superior in the Russo-Japanese war, never achieved a settlement. Even though the soldiers of both armies always met in the mountainous terrain with the greatest determination, they threw down many times, and the two armies faced each other for several hours of white-knuckle fighting, sometimes for several days, and never overwhelmed each other. The Russians defended their fortifications with outstanding energy and did not passively wait for the Japanese to attack, but always countered with new and aggressive attacks. With the fortress besieged by the Japanese, the Russian forces were put to a real test, and the Russians withdrew to the north.
