The moral effect of this great victory of the Japanese was tremendous. The Russians, and with them a great many Continental critics, had attempted to minimize the importance of the battle of the Yalu. The Japanese, they said, were in overwhelming numbers, the position was one that could be easily turned, and General Sassulitch ought never to have tried to stand his ground. But such criticisms were silenced by Kinchau. The little Japs were seen to be equal, if not superior, man for man, to their Russian opponents, and the fierce, almost fanatical, fervor of their patriotism proved a factor in the struggle the importance of which few people had properly estimated. It was felt at once by military men in Europe, that if 12,000 Russians, armed with heavy guns, could not hold such a post as that of Nanshan against the onslaught of the Japanese, the fall of Port Arthur itself, provided there were no effective diversion from the north, was merely a question of time. [Sidenote: Terrific Casualties] Nor were the material fruits of General Oku's success less striking. His losses in _personnel_, of course, were heavy, amounting to 133 officers, and 4,062 non-commissioned officers and men killed and wounded. The casualties of the defenders were naturally not so great, but over 500 Russians were left dead upon the field, and it is estimated that their total losses in killed and wounded must have numbered over 2,000. Sixty-eight pieces of artillery and ten machine-guns fell into the hands of the victors. [Illustration: AFTER FOUR MONTHS. Continuing their advance, the first Japanese Army, under Kuroki occupied Kuan-tien on May 14. In the meantime the second Japanese Army, under Oku, had effected a landing on the Liaotung Peninsula at Pitzuwo. On May 16 they seized the Kinchau heights, and ten days later defeated the Russians at the battle of Nanshan. Dalny was occupied on May 30. The third Japanese Army, under Nodzu, began landing at Takushan on May 19, and on June 8 occupied Siu-yen. The shaded portion shows the Japanese advance.] Four days afterwards the Japanese entered Dalny and occupied that important station. With the exception of the great pier, all those enormous works upon which the Russians had been expending vast sums for years were found to be intact, and the invaders were able henceforth to use the port as an invaluable base for their operations against Port Arthur. [Sidenote: Alarm in St. Petersburg]