Photo By Erin Thompson | Capt. Peyton March, seated far right, with other western military observers and war...... read more read more
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by Michael E. Bigelow, INSCOM Command Historian
WAR DEPARTMENT SENDS OBSERVERS TO MANCHURIA
On 6 February 1904, the War Department began assigning military observers to cover the Russo-Japanese War in Manchuria. By the time the fighting began, the Army had eight officers with the Russians and seven with the Japanese. One of the latter officers was future Army Chief of Staff, then-Capt. Peyton March.
In early 1904, 39-year-old March wrestled with organizational and mobilization problems as a member of the War Department’s newly formed General Staff. An experienced soldier, he no doubt welcomed the opportunity to escape his desk to observe first-hand a large-scale war using modern weapons. In early March, he accompanied his staff division chief, Col. Enoch H. Crowder, to Japan. Upon arrival, the two officers were accredited through diplomatic channels as military attachés and awaited permission to join Japanese forces in the field. In late April, Crowder and March began their two-week journey to join Baron Tamesada Kuroki's Japanese First Army, already in Manchuria.
The Americans spent several weeks with army headquarters. There, the Western military observers formed a diverse group that included a number of future World War I generals. Yet, despite its future eminence, the group had to adjust to restrictions on what it saw and what it described in their reports. As Kuroki's chief of staff noted, "We are paying for this information with our blood."
From late June to late November 1904, Captain March accompanied the Japanese Second Division. During the campaigning on the Liaoyang peninsula and along the Shaho River, he jotted down his observations in a notebook and occasionally used a camera to get a photograph to supplement his comments. He attempted, whenever possible, to elude his Japanese escort to get a closer look at the fighting.
As an expert artilleryman, March’s particular mission was to report on field artillery. As such, he would find an observation point on a promontory to watch the great artillery duels. In general, he found that the Japanese guns were inferior to the Russian field pieces, yet the Japanese overcame this deficiency with superior training. March, however, did look beyond artillery tactics and equipment, and his reports included a wide range of details, from the description of a battle to the utility of the general staff to comments on Japanese sanitary precautions.
In November 1904, March was recalled when his wife, Josephine, unfortunately died. Eventually, his reports joined those of the other observers to form a massive five-volume, 1,800-page compilation of observations, commentary, and lessons learned from the Russo-Japanese War. With American interest in Asia growing at the turn of the century, these reports provided much information for a generation of Army officers to ponder, even until the eve of its own war with Japan.
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| Date Taken: | 02.05.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 02.05.2024 09:33 |
| Story ID: | 463166 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 86 |
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