This scenario is a follow-up to my "Heavenly Pass" scenario published in MWAN #104. The battle of Yosheri was fought after Heavenly Pass. Both actions at Heavenly Pass and Yosheri were part of the Liaoyang campaign. Liaoyang is North of Port Arthur and was a vital railway junction. The Russians were building up their forces there for a major offensive. Instead, the Japanese took the initiative and decided to strike first. Like my earlier Heavenly Pass scenario, I derived this one from the same book "A War Officer's Scrapbook" by Ian Hamilton. Though the orders of battle are vague (the Russians more so), the book features detailed maps. The battle of Yosheri is a more typical Russo-Japanese War battle with the Russians defending a trench line against a Japanese assault. Therefore, this scenario is adaptable to WWI. Background The battle of Yosheri was fought on July 31s', 1904. The Japanese were commanded by General Baron Kuroki. The Japanese forces consisted of elements of the Imperial Guards division and the 2nd division. Russian forces consisted of elements of the 3 rl Siberian Division, the 6 th Siberian Division, 9th Division plus parts of the 3 Id, 91' and 35 t h European Divisions. They were commanded by Lieutenant-General Turcheffsky. Hamilton states that the average Russian company only had 160 men compared to the Japanese companies who had 210 men. Yosheri was basically a mountain pass. Hamilton states that the battle terrain was quite rough, sprinkled with villages and rich with crops. The river that the Japanese had to cross was quite fordable being 50 yards wide and 2 feet deep. The Japanese guards were assigned to turn the Russian right flank position. Part of the 2nd Japanese Division would be positioned to the right of the Japanese Guards and assault the village of Towan. The rest of the 2nd Japanese division was attempting to take the Russian position at Penlin. The Japanese left Guard Column which consisted of one artillery battery, two troops of cavalry and three infantry battalions started marching the previous night and arrived midday at the position on the map. They then found four Russian infantry battalions at Russian position #1. The Japanese were tired from all of the marching and accomplished nothing except for a little skirmishing. The column lost just one man. The Japanese center guard column which had similar forces had the same results. The Japanese Guard Connecting Column consisting of one mountain battery, three troops of cavalry and three infantry battalions arrived at the position shown on the map at midday. Two Russian infantry companies were holding the villages of Hanchaputsu and Kuchaputsu. The Japanese skirmished with the Russians but didn't feel strong enough to take both villages. The skirmishing cost the Japanese 60 casualties. Hamilton attributes the failure of the Japanese left guard attacks due to lack of field telephones for signaling and coordinating movements. Hamilton divides up the Japanese Right Guard column into two forces, A and B so I will do the same. The Japanese Right Guard Column A's objective was to take the villages of Suitechansa and Chinchaputsu. This column consisted of two infantry battalions and one artillery battery. The Japanese battery started opening fire on the two villages. As soon as they did, the three Russian batteries at Russian position #2 opened fire and silenced the Japanese battery within 20 minutes. This position was so high that it dominated the whole battlefield. The Russians had clear lanes of fire from the villages of Hanchapurtsu to Towan. One battalion from the Japanese Right Guard column A was assigned to take the village of Suitechansa. After the battalion crossed the river, it disappeared in the high crop fields. The Russians resisted stoutly. The Japanese hooked around to the village of Chinchaputsu attempting to outflank the Russians. The Japanese then came under defilade fire from the Russian 21st Siberian regiment at position #3. The three Russian batteries at position #2 changed their targets and started firing on the Japanese. By 12:35 PM, the Japanese realized that the Russians weren't going to give up that easily. Hamilton states that the Japanese felt that the 21st Siberians were good marksmen. The Russians made a counter-attack in the afternoon on the Japanese at Chinchaputsu but they failed. By 4:00 PM, this portion of the battle was down to artillery fire exchanges. The Japanese assault had basically failed here. However, the Japanse right column B with three infantry battalions and one artillery battery were able to take the village of Yamarinza. However, they tried to advance and were stopped by four Russians battalions and a battery at Russian position #4. The Japanese 2nd division had six infantry battalions and three artillery batteries. At 9:00 AM, the batteries opened fire at the Russian trenches around Towan. The Japanese switched targets and fired at the Russian batteries at position #2. The Russians returned the favor and opened up on the Japanese batteries. The Russians killed or Wounded several Japanese gunners causing the rest to retreat. At 2:45 PM, the Japanese brought up new gunners and exchanged fire again. This time, the Russians couldn't repeat their earlier success. While this was going on, the Japanese 2nd Division was ordered to take Yosheri at 1:00 PM. The Japanese pressed the attack. At 510 PM, the Russian withdrew their artillery battery at position #5. By 5:30 PM, the Russians left their trenches at Towan and position #5. Hamilton states that he was curious why the Russians left. Russian Order of Battle Plodding command deck, all infantry battalions have 12 figures, artillery batteries have 4 figures unless Noted 6 infantry detachments at the Russian Held Villages: 6 Figures each (70% morale, -10/hit) Russian Position #1: 1 leader, 4 infantry battalions (70% morale, -5/hit) Russian Position #2: 1 leader, 3 nnediurn artillery batteries (70% morale -10/hit) Russian Position #3 1 leader, 3 infantry battalions (80% morale, -5/hit) Russian Position #4: 1 leader, 1 medium artillery battery (70% morale. -10/hit), 3 infantry battalions (70% morale, -5/hit) Russian Position #5: 1 leader, 1 medium artillery battery (70% morale, -10/hit), 3 infantry battalions (70% morale, -5/hit) Japanese Order of Battle Efficient command deck, all infantry battalions have 12 figures, artillery batteries have 4 figures and Cavalry troops have 6 figures unless noted Guards Left Column: 1 leader, 1 Medium Battery (95% morale, -10/hit), 1 cavalry troop (80% morale, - 10/hit), 3 infantry battalions (95% morale, -10/hit) Guards Center Column: 1 leader, 1 Medium Battery (95% morale, -10/hit), 1 cavalry troop (80% morale, -10/hit), 3 infantry battalions (95% morale, -10/hit) Guards Connecting Column: 1 leader, 3 infantry battalions (95% morale, -10/hit) Guards Right Column (A and B): 2 leaders, 5 infantry battalions (95% morale, -10/hit), 2 medium artillery batteries (95% morale, -10/hit) 2nd Infantry Division: 2 leaders, 6 infantry battalions (90% morale, -1 Whit), 2 medium artillery batteries (90% morale, -10/hit) Rule and Scenario Notes As you might remember, I use my own rules for the period that were published in MWAN #100. They are nice and quick. If you don't care for them, modified Fire and Fury or WWI rules should work. The command ratings for each side correspond to the command deck that my rules use. The morale ratings is the percentage chance of a unit to pass a morale check with the deduction for casualties. As I covered earlier, the river facing the Japanese is quite fordable so it should take three movement actions to cross. The key feature of the battle that needs to be simulated is the three gun Russian battery at position #2. These guns should have a line of sight to most of the Japanese staging area within reason. There are two options for playing the scenario. You can either follow the historical deployment for the Russians and the Japanese assaults or have each side draw their deployment on the map. For victory conditions, the Japanese must dominate Yosheri Pass and lose less than half of their infantry battalions to win. If they don't, the Russians win. The Russians also lose if they lose half of their infantry units. Conclusion The Japanese were able to take Yosheri pass when I tried this scenario. However the Japanese were so weakened that it was a pyrric victory. Map Back to MWAN #106 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2000 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com