Bloody Sunrise

by Christopher Nicole

  Togo inclined his head. ‘That will be very satisfactory, honourable Marshal.’

  ‘You understand that this will be a lengthy business,’ Oyama pointed out. ‘What sort of time-scale do you envisage for the capture of Port Arthur, General Oku?’

  The general considered the maps for several minutes, making little movements with his fingers which presumably were objectives and possible troop manoeuvres. ‘Much will depend on how quickly I can force Nanshan Hill,’ he said. ‘And the quality of resistance I encounter after that. But I cannot promise to gain the port in less than six months.’

  Oyama nodded. ‘November at the earliest. Do you accept this estimate, Admiral Togo?’

  ‘Willingly,’ Togo said.

  *

  Nicholas didn’t like the estimate at all. Six months seemed to him to be too long on every count. But Togo appeared content.

  ‘So you have time to return to Japan,’ he told his Chief-of-Staff, ‘and see what new support you can give me. I promise you that you will be welcome here before the battle we all seek.’

  Nicholas knew he was right; there was much more to be done in Japan than cruising up and down the Gulf of Chih-li. But before leaving he paid a visit to Yashima, to see Nicholas. He had in any event a special interest in Yashima, one of the first of the modern battleships to join the fleet. With her twelve thousand ton displacement, and only ten six-inch to support her four big guns, she was of course outclassed by the four later ships, but she was as powerful as anything the Russians had in Port Arthur, and was a formidable weapon.

  Young Nicholas took great pride in showing his grandfather over the ship, and especially the guns. ‘When will we have the opportunity to use them in battle, honourable Grandfather?’ he asked.

  ‘I would say within six months,’ Nicholas promised him. And grinned. ‘When I rejoin the fleet, prepare for action.’

  *

  It seemed odd, and vaguely reprehensible, to be leaving the fleet and returning home in time of war, especially as the day he landed in Shimonoseki, 5 May, the Second Army began its landing forty miles north of Port Arthur. The decisive battle of the war was about to begin.

  But waiting for him in Shimonoseki was the news that Sue-Ellen had just given birth to a son. He decided to take some leave, as there would be none available towards the end of the year, and after dealing with the various matters which had arisen while he was with the fleet, took the train to Tokyo. By now Japan was in the grip of war fever; men in uniform were to be seen everywhere, and whenever he showed himself at a platform he was loudly cheered.

  He reported first to the Emperor, and found Mutsuhito a little older and more grizzled than he remembered. He listened to what Nicholas had to say, tapping his desk.

  ‘So Your Majesty will see that all goes well,’ Nicholas said.

  ‘Too well,’ Mutsuhito said. ‘One must not become overconfident.’

  Nicholas deduced that the Emperor was anxious; he too had been hoping for a short, sharp conflict, like that in 1894, and an equally decisive victory. The reason was explained to him by Katsura, whom he met later in the day.

  ‘We are scraping the bottom of the financial barrel, Barrett,’ the Prince said. ‘I really do not know where reserves of bullets, much less men, are going to come from. As for new ships, they are quite out of the question. His Majesty knows this, of course.’

  ‘How long have we got?’ Nicholas asked.

  Katsura shrugged. ‘Another year, perhaps. Then the state will be bankrupt.’ He gave a faint smile. ‘We hear reports from our agents that Russia is also on the verge of bankruptcy. It is a question of who will have to give up first.’

  Nicholas went home in a thoughtful frame of mind, but forgot his troubles in the enthusiastic welcome given him by Elizabeth and Sue-Ellen. Sue’s child was a delightful, cuddly young man whom she had also named Nicholas.

  ‘Mark Three,’ Elizabeth said happily.

  ‘I think that’s probably two too many,’ Nicholas objected. ‘What has been the reaction of the other grandparents?’

  ‘Nothing at all,’ Elizabeth said. ‘Sue wrote them, and sent them a photograph of the baby. But it was only last month, so maybe we’re being impatient.’

  ‘Tell me about Alexander,’ Sue said eagerly.

  ‘And Nicholas,’ Elizabeth added. ‘Mark Two.’

  ‘Fit and well, both of them, and looking forward to a scrap if we can ever get the Russians out.’

  ‘The papers are saying Port Arthur will surrender in a month,’ Sue said.

  ‘I think that’s a trifle optimistic. Oku’s men haven’t even got properly ashore yet. But it’ll happen.’

  He spent a delightful week, taking the two women and the baby up into the Hakone Mountains to enjoy the late spring; Fuji was still thick with snow but lower down, while it remained crisp, the sun shone and the world seemed a beautiful place. They returned to Tokyo on the evening of 17 May, and Nicholas found a message from Katsura waiting for him. ‘I would like to see you immediately,’ the Prime Minister had written.

  ‘Well, maybe Port Arthur has surrendered,’ he told the women, as he put on his uniform and hurried out. But in his heart he knew there was something wrong.

  This was confirmed the moment he was shown into Katsura’s office and saw the Prince’s face. ‘There is bad news from the fleet,’ Katsura said. ‘Sit down, Admiral Barrett.’

  Nicholas bowed, then slowly sank into a chair.

  ‘The report arrived yesterday. I have not yet made it public,’ Katsura said. ‘But I will have to do so tomorrow. Two of our battleships have struck mines.’

  Nicholas stared at him in consternation.

  ‘They have both sunk,’ Katsura went on, his voice flat.

  ‘Their names, honourable Prince?’

  ‘One is Hatsuse. The other is Yashima.’

  *

  Nicholas felt as if he had been kicked in the stomach, as he remembered the sinking of Petropavlovsk; she had gone down with all hands. Now two of his own ships had gone, and one of them as powerful as any unit in the fleet. While the other . . .

  ‘Hatsuse went down very rapidly,’ Katsura said. ‘Yashima did not appear to be so badly damaged, and was taken in tow.’

  Nicholas raised his head; could there be hope? ‘Then there were survivors?’

  ‘Unfortunately, very few. The crew remained on board, you see, in an effort to keep the ship afloat. When she suddenly capsized, there was very little time to get anyone off. Did you know the captain?’

  Nicholas nodded. ‘And the gunnery lieutenant. He was my grandson.’

  ‘But that is very tragic. You have my sympathy, Barrett san. In all the circumstances, if you would like extended leave, you must have it.’

  Nicholas shook his head. ‘I must get back to Shimonoseki.’

  I must rejoin the fleet, he thought. As if his presence there would make the slightest difference. But it had been his idea to lay the mines. Presumably the Japanese ships had struck Russian mines, as they should have known precisely where the Japanese fields were situated, but that didn’t alter the fact that the entire concept had been his in the first place.

  He went home to break the news to Elizabeth and Sue-Ellen. Young Nicholas was no blood relative of Elizabeth’s, yet since Aki’s death she had done her best to treat the boy as her own. Sue-Ellen could only stare at her Nicholas in terror; all three of them knew how easily it could have been Alexander. And still could.

  ‘I must go back, immediately,’ Nicholas explained.

  ‘To the fleet? Oh, Nicky!’ Elizabeth clung to him. ‘If anything were to happen to you . . .’

  ‘Nothing has, yet,’ he reminded her.

  *

  In Shimonoseki orders from Togo were awaiting him, requiring him to remain at the port for the time being; there was certainly enough to be done on the logistical side of the war, but it was galling to be sitting in an office when men might be dying at sea. It was even more galling as news was received that Oku’s
men had forced Nanshan Hill, and, despite the heavy casualties the general had anticipated, were making progress, slowly but surely, down the peninsular. By July his siege artillery was able to drop long-range shells into the harbour.

  Nicholas was in constant radio communication with Togo, and had to admire the Commander-in-Chief’s resolution. Although his fleet strength had been reduced by a third, Togo maintained his close blockade of the port, and seemed perfectly happy to accept battle whenever the new Russian commander, Admiral Vitgeft, was prepared to offer it.

  On 10 August, the Russian squadron steamed out of the now very exposed port. Vitgeft flew his flag in Tsessarevich, and was accompanied by his other five battleships, as well as four cruisers and fourteen destroyers. Nicholas received the radio message just before noon, and then could only wait for more messages to come in. But that there would be a battle seemed certain.

  The Russians, however, apparently sought only escape, to the new port of Vladivostock, north of the Sea of Japan. At one in the afternoon Togo signalled that he was opening fire. Then there was silence for an hour before the next signal. ‘Enemy have broken through. Am in hot pursuit.’

  The next hour was extremely tense, and it was not until four o’clock that the Japanese closed up to within ten thousand yards and were able to resume firing. Then reports streamed in one after the other. For a while it was difficult to decide what was happening, but at half-past six a signal arrived that a shell had struck the bridge of the Russian flagship, and she was on fire and dropping out of the line; this message was timed twelve minutes past six, and the Japanese later learned that Vitgeft had actually been killed by a shell splinter some minutes earlier.

  Now the battle was a rout, but catching the enemy ships as they split up and raced every which way for safety was a difficult matter as darkness closed in, and although Togo launched his torpedo-boats at the fleeing ships, no success was achieved. It was over the next week that complete reports arrived.

  Five of the battleships, together with a cruiser and nine smaller craft had regained the dubious safety of Port Arthur. The battered Tsessarevich and three destroyers made Tsingtao, where according to the rules of warfare they was interned by the Germans. The six thousand ton protected cruiser Askold and a destroyer reached Shanghai, and the protected cruiser Diana actually fled as far south as Saigon. All of these ships were also interned. Trying to escape to the north and Vladivostock, and chased by Japanese cruisers, the three thousand ton protected cruiser Novik ran aground. Abandoned by her crew, she was eminently salvageable, and Nicholas put the work in hand.

  Four days after the Battle of the Yellow Sea, as the encounter had been called, there was another and final clash between the Japanese fleet and the Russian Pacific Squadron. The armoured cruisers Rossia, Gromoboi and Rurik, which only ten years previously would have been described as battleships, averaging twelve thousand tons each with a main armament of four eight-inch guns, encountered Kamimura’s cruiser squadron in the Sea of Japan, as, uninformed as to the outcome of the Battle of the Yellow Sea, they steamed south from Vladivostock to give aid to their compatriots from Port Arthur.

  None of the four Japanese ships, Idzumo, Adzuma, Tokiwa and Iwate displaced ten thousand tons, although they too were all armed with four eight-inch guns. In the event, however, the Russians were again routed, with Rurik being sunk.

  Now there could be no questioning the magnitude of the Japanese victory. The five surviving Russian battleships might still lie inside the Tiger’s Tail, but the morale of their crews were shattered, and every day Oku’s army moved steadily closer to the port. Even Togo recognised that hostilities, at least at sea, were at an end, and leaving only a masking force of cruisers and destroyers off the Liaotung Peninsular, returned with his main units to Shimonoseki.

  *

  The fleet was given a tremendous welcome, and Nicholas went on board Mikasa to congratulate Togo and his officers.

  ‘We have still not destroyed the enemy,’ Togo grumbled.

  ‘You have ended his effectiveness as a fighting force,’ Nicholas pointed out.

  ‘He is still there,’ Togo insisted.

  But that he would soon not be there was evident, as Oku’s men continued their slow, bloody advance down the Liaotung Peninsular.

  Mutsuhito himself came to Shimonoseki to congratulate his admirals. ‘Once Port Arthur falls,’ he told Togo and Nicholas, ‘the Tsar will sue for peace. He will have to.’

  There was more than a hint of desperation in his voice. Nicholas understood that the financial strains of maintaining a fleet in being as well as a large army in Korea and Manchuria was beginning to tell. As Togo also understood. ‘Do you think he is right?’ he asked Nicholas.

  ‘I think he is being optimistic,’ Nicholas said. ‘The Tsar is building up an immense army in Manchuria. I do not think he is in a hurry to admit defeat.’

  In fact, in two huge battles fought at the end of August and in early October, the Russians gave almost as good as they got, and although eventually forced to retreat, left the Japanese looking at casualties numbering more than forty thousand men. Then Russian losses were reported as being greater than this, but Russian had far more men upon which to draw.

  There was a great deal of play left in the game yet.

  *

  In November Alexander obtained leave to return to Tokyo and see his baby son for the first time. Nicholas went with him.

  ‘How is it really going?’ Elizabeth asked him.

  ‘Not quite as well as we had hoped.’

  ‘But according to the newspapers, Port Arthur will now fall before the end of the year. The garrison is totally cut off, our heavy guns are bombarding the town day and night, they are running short of food . . . I feel so sorry for those poor people.’

  Nicholas nodded. ‘Yes. But it was the Russian decision to keep their non-combatants in the fortress. As to its falling by the end of the year, I think that is probably an accurate estimate, for a change. Unfortunately, we seem to have misjudged the Russian priorities. We felt sure they would fight for Port Arthur with everything they had. Certainly we were sure they would never allow their Pacific fleet to get itself into such a mess as to be holed up in a harbour which is under constant bombardment. But they seem to have written the port, and its garrison, and its fleet, off.’

  ‘That sounds an incredible decision. They must have a plan.’

  ‘Oh, they do, undoubtedly. One is that if they can defeat our armies in Manchuria, they may be able to retrieve the entire situation. But they must know that once we have got Port Arthur, we are not going to give it up without one hell of a struggle, and that as long as we have control of the sea, the fortress is impregnable, because we can supply it at will. So . . .’

  Her face paled. ‘The Baltic fleet!’

  ‘I’m surprised it hasn’t sailed by now.’

  *

  In fact it had. The despatches were waiting for Nicholas when he returned to Shimonoseki the following week. ‘The main body of the fleet consists of four of their very newest battleships, honourable Admiral,’ Flag-Captain Hirada said. He was somewhat agitated, as well he might be. ‘These ships are sisters, and they have all only been completed within the past year. They are Kniaz Suvarov, the flagship, Imperator Alexander III, Borodino and Orel. They displace thirteen and a half thousand tons, and will make over seventeen knots. They are armed with four twelve-inch and twelve six-inch guns. Our four ships are heavier, slightly more heavily armed, and slightly faster. But these are three years newer.’

  ‘Give me the rest of the fleet,’ Nicholas said.

  ‘Osliabia: she is twelve and a half thousand tons and has four ten-inch and eleven six-inch guns; she is also less than four years old, and can make better than eighteen knots. Sissoi Veliki: she is an old ship, just over ten thousand tons, armed with four twelve-inch and six six-inch guns, and can only make fifteen knots. Navarin: another old ship, ten thousand tons, four twelve-inch and eight six-inch guns, fifteen knots. Impera
tor Nikolai I: a very old ship, less than ten thousand tons; she has only two twelve-inch and four nine-inch guns, and can make fifteen knots. There is also one armoured cruiser, the Admiral Nakhimov: eight and a half thousand tons, eight eight-inch guns, seventeen knots, as well as three coastal defence ships; these are less than five thousand tons and have four ten-inch guns; they are capable of sixteen knots. In addition there is the usual escort of destroyers, unprotected cruisers, and auxiliaries. My information is that there is a total of thirty-eight vessels.’

  ‘Of which eight are battleships,’ Nicholas mused. ‘Two to one, even if three of theirs are old and weak ships. Who is in command?’

  ‘Now, this is interesting, honourable Admiral,’ Hirada said. ‘The fleet commander is Admiral Zinovi Rozhdestvenski.’

  Nicholas frowned. ‘I do not know the name.’

  ‘Well, you wouldn’t, honourable Admiral. He has spent nearly all his service life at a desk. Although he was for a time stationed in the East, so he may know these waters.’

  Nicholas stroked his chin.

  ‘Second in command is Admiral Folkersahm. Admiral Nebogatov is third in command.’ Hirada hesitated; he knew as much about his superior’s private life as anyone in Japan. ‘Sailing with the fleet as an observer, on board Imperator Alexander III, is retired Captain Count Rashnikov.’

  ‘Retired?’

  Hirada’s rather grim face almost relaxed into a smile. ‘He was requested to retire after he failed to appear for his duel with you, honourable Admiral.’

  ‘But they’ve let him go to sea as an observer?’

  ‘Well, yes, it seems, from the Navy Lists, that his son is gunnery officer on board this battleship.’

  ‘His son,’ Nicholas said, half to himself. But it would only distress Elizabeth to know that.