It was apparent even to casual observers that immense military operations were under way, yet the civilized world was wholly in ignorance of their scope or direction. On February 15, for example, scores of crowded transports were leaving the Japanese naval bases, and a small army of alert correspondents from the world over could only guess whether these thousands of troops were going to Korea, to the Yalu region, or within a hundred miles of the Liaotung Peninsula. While the Japanese troops were pushing northward, the advance guard of the Russian army crossed the Yalu into Korean territory and occupied Wiju. The Russian headquarters were established at Harbin, the chief strategic centre of railway communication in inland Manchuria. Chenampo is one hundred and thirty miles north of Chemulpo on Korea Bay, and correspondingly nearer to the Yalu. Early in April, after the troops which had landed at Chemulpo two months before had completed their arduous march northward through the Korean Peninsula, and had captured the town of Wiju, on the east bank of the Yalu River, what was known as the main army, under General Kuroki, landed from transports at Chenampo. The success of the advance column had given the Japanese control of the mouth of the Yalu before Kuroki began to mobilize his co-operating columns, and two forces were thus ready by the end of April to force the passage of the Yalu and fight their way into Manchuria. [Illustration: LANDING THE MEN WHO FOUGHT AT THE YALU ] The Japanese troops were ferried from the transports to the shore at Chenampo in heavy, blunt-nosed sampans. These sampans are sculled from the stern ordinarily with huge sweeps. The boatmen can be seen over the heads of the seated soldiers, standing over their sweeps like gondoliers. At Chenampo the sampans were in most cases lashed together in groups of three or four and towed by tugs [Illustration: ARTILLERYMEN IN HEAVY MARCHING ORDER LANDING AT CHENAMPO ] [Illustration: JAPANESE BLUEJACKETS COMING ASHORE AT CHENAMPO ] [Illustration: GROOMING CAVALRY HORSES AT CHENAMPO AFTER LANDING THEM FROM TRANSPORTS ] [Illustration: JAPANESE TROOPERS CARING FOR A SICK HORSE ] [Illustration: KOREANS AND JAPANESE SALESMAN AT CHENAMPO ] The lone Japanese pedler is shown at lower right-hand corner of the picture sitting behind his wares. The men at the left of the picture are not armless, as it might appear, but have their arms inside their kimonos, as is their habit on cold days. The march of the Japanese through their country and the whole excitement of war stirred the placid Koreans to little more unrest than they show here [Illustration: KOREAN COOLIES CARRYING RICE AND BEEF FOR JAPANESE ARMY ] [Illustration: BRINGING LUMBER INTO WIJU FOR BRIDGING THE YALU ] [Illustration: COLLIER’S PHOTOGRAPHER AND COOLIES WITH MILITARY BICYCLES ] [Illustration: JAPANESE EXTINGUISHING FIRE CAUSED BY RUSSIAN SHRAPNEL ]