All the battalions were full before the battle. There was not one that did not lose at least ten or fifteen per cent of its quota—as the gaps in the ranks show. Kuroki’s army during the closing-in movement on Mukden was between Nodzu’s and Kawamura’s, the latter being on the extreme right wing. This photograph was taken by Frederick Palmer, Collier’s special correspondent [Illustration: RUSSIAN STEAMSHIP BEACHED IN THE HUN RIVER ] [Illustration: RUSSIAN CENSOR, BARON HOVEN, IN A GERMAN CART ] [Illustration: CHUNCHUSES LEAVING MUKDEN FOR SINMINTUNG ] [Illustration: RUSSIAN SCOUTS HALTING AT MONTOUR PASS, NEAR MUKDEN ] SCENES IN THE MUKDEN NEIGHBORHOOD BEFORE THE JAPANESE WERE NEAR [Illustration: WHERE SOME OF THE SHELLS BURST DURING THE ARTILLERY DUELS NEAR MUKDEN ] [Illustration: DESOLATION IN MUKDEN IN THE PATH OF THE JAPANESE ATTACK ] [Illustration: JAPANESE CELEBRATION OF THE MUKDEN VICTORY ] [Illustration: VILLAGE HUTS AND STOCKADE BURNING NEAR MUKDEN ] [Illustration: THE MAIN STREET OF SINMINTUNG, NEAR MUKDEN ] SCENES IN THE VICINITY OF MUKDEN AFTER THE RETREAT OF THE RUSSIANS CHAPTER XIV THE END OF RUSSIA’S SEA POWER BY CAPTAIN A. T. MAHAN, U. S. N., RETIRED The Battle of the Japan Sea resulted from the wish of Russia to overthrow the naval control which has enabled the island Empire of Japan to sustain her land warfare upon the continent of Asia. Preliminary to this struggle, it was desirable that the fleet despatched for the purpose, under Admiral Rojestvensky, should reach Vladivostok. There it could refit after its long voyage, and there leave in security the train of supply ships which had been the necessary accompaniment of so distant an expedition. After the junction of a second division under Admiral Nebogatoff, the whole Russian fleet moved northward, passing between the Philippine Islands and Formosa. Rojestvensky thus left open to doubt, and retained in his hands the decision, whether he would seek his port by the Straits of Korea, or, circumnavigating the main island of Japan, pass through the Straits of Tsugaru, opposite Vladivostok. It may be presumed he was as ignorant as the rest of the world just where Togo was; but he knew that, whether in the Straits of Korea or of Tsugaru, he would have to fight, if Togo chose, as he probably would. He decided to take the most direct and shortest route through the Korean Channel.