Nothing could be further from the truth, as anyone who reads these pages may discover for himself. The Japanese love the _arme blanche_, and never hesitate to use it. With the bayonet they have proved themselves again and again to be most dangerous foemen, whether singly or _en masse_. Before Liao-yang a whole division charged and carried a position at the point of the bayonet and never fired a shot. At the Sha-ho bayonet charges were almost hourly incidents, and demonstrated the fallacy, born in South Africa, that entrenched positions are unassailable save by powder and shot. The Japanese recognise no “lethal zone swept by a horizontal sheet of lead” within four hundred yards of an entrenched enemy. They found this the zone of comparative safety from rifle fire, and went in with the bayonet. “The Japanese make frontal attacks without attempting turning movements.” This certainly has not been characteristic of the operations in Manchuria. Wide flanking movements have been the distinguishing feature in Japanese tactics as well as in their strategy. It is true that at the battle of the Yalu they claimed to have won the victory by direct frontal attack, yet it cannot be denied that the flanking movement in the mountains on the east was the immediate cause of the Russian retirement. “The Japanese do not like night attacks and night marches.” Night attacks and night marches are always difficult and hazardous, and are not “liked” by any army, but the Japanese have never shown any reluctance to use the cover of night. From the Yalu to the Sha-ho the campaign has been remarkable for the number of night marches and night attacks, some of which, according to Japanese staff officers, have been on a scale never before attempted. I have given now a general idea of the fighting capacities of the rival forces as they appeared to one another. Those who are interested in technical details will do well to study the appendices. Enough, however, has been said in these chapters to enable the reader to follow with some insight the narrative of the active campaign. Chapter IV THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN AND THE JAPANESE LEADERS. A glance at the map will show that the Russian defence lay within an irregular triangle, of which Harbin is the apex, and Port Arthur and Vladivostock are the angles at the base. The railway from Harbin to Port Arthur passes through several towns, like Mukden, Liao-yang and Hai-cheng, upon which the Russians could concentrate rapidly, but south of Hai-cheng the line runs along the coast, and is open to flank attack from the sea.