The result was a composite force very different indeed in fighting power from the splendid machine which the Mikado's strategists had been carefully perfecting in time of peace in readiness for the struggle which they had so long foreseen. [Sidenote: The Thin Black Line of Reinforcements] In bringing even this haphazard collection of unco-ordinated units to the front in Manchuria, the greatest difficulties had been experienced. All that European observers had predicted about the working capacity of a railway like the Trans-Siberian for the conveyance of a huge army for thousands of miles came true to the letter. Prince Khilkoff, the Director-General of Russian Railways, undoubtedly did wonders, and the tremendous efforts which he and his staff put forth, especially in surmounting the great natural obstacle presented by Lake Baikal, were worthy of all praise. But to carry an army of 250,000 men, with all its necessary supplies and munitions of war, into Manchuria in the time required for the purpose of striking an effective blow at an enemy like the Japanese was a task beyond the powers of any railway staff in the world. The rickety single line, with infrequent sidings, which stretches across the steppes of Siberia from Harbin to the Urals was quite inadequate for such a feat of transport. By the middle of May, therefore, the position in which General Kuropatkin found himself--a position partly created by himself, as Minister of War, and partly created for him by the ineptitude of others--was widely different from that which the easy and thoughtless optimists in St. Petersburg had anticipated when the war broke out. The Fourth Army Corps was not across Lake Baikal; 30,000 or 40,000 men were shut up in the fortresses of Port Arthur and Vladivostock, and were not only useless for field operations, but were themselves liable to siege and capture; and, allowing the highest possible estimate, the Russian Commander-in-Chief had at his disposal for assuming the offensive in Manchuria no more than 100,000 men with 260 guns. [Sidenote: Position of the Russian Army]