Kuroki Completes his Plans--The Scene of Battle--General Sassulitch's Defences--The Russian Dispositions--The Attacking Army--Clearing the Islands--Guards Half-way Across--Parallel Movements--The Searching Japanese Fire--Bridging the Yalu--Confusion in the Russian Councils--Kuroki's Consummate Strategy--Futile Russian Opposition--Masked Batteries at Work--Serpentine Line of Dark Forms--Two Thousand Deadly Thunderbolts--Inferno Let Loose--Howitzer High-Angle Fire--Co-operation of Gunboats--Miserable Array of Russians--Four Miles of Japanese--A Moment of Tense Expectancy--The General Attack Begins--Ridges Alive with Flame--Surprise of the Russians--The Plunge Across the Ai--Overwhelming Legions--The Circling Ring of Fate--Devastating Artillery Bombardment--Black Mass of Human Figures--The Blood-Red Banner--Fight Desperately Against Fate--General Sassulitch's Retreat--The Japanese Chase--The Last Gallant Stand--Rifle Fire and Cold Steel. [Sidenote: Kuroki Completes his Plans] The numerous small skirmishes between outposts which took place on the Yalu and its tributaries during the earlier part of the month of April need not detain us. They were mainly encounters between small reconnoitering parties, and though there were losses on both sides, fortune on the whole leaned in favor of the Japanese. The results of these reconnaissances in locating the positions occupied by the Russians, combined with the success of the Japanese transport arrangements, which, as stated already, placed an army of 60,000 to 70,000 men at General Kuroki's disposal, enabled him to complete his preparations for the great task before him by the beginning of the last week in April. The night of the 25th found him ready at all points, and on the morrow his army entered upon the preliminary stages of a series of operations which, culminating in the crossing of the river and the capture of the Russian position, first revealed to an astonished world the hitherto undreamt-of potentialities of Japan as a military power. [Sidenote: The Scene of Battle]