Editing Russo-Japanese War (section)

== Status of combatants ==

=== Japan ===

Japan had conducted detailed studies of the Russian Far East and Manchuria prior to the war and, as it was mandatory for Japanese officers to speak one foreign language, Japan had access to superior maps during the conflict. The Japanese army relied on conscription, introduced in 1873, to maintain its military strength and to provide a large army in times of war.<ref name="RS" />{{rp|22–23}} This system of conscription gave Japan a large pool of reserves to draw upon. The Active army and the 1st line reserve (used to bring the active army to wartime strength) totalled 380,000; the 2nd line reserve contained 200,000; the conscript reserve a further 50,000; and the kokumin (akin to a national guard or militia) 220,000. This amounted to 850,000 trained troops available for service, in addition to 4,250,000 men in the untrained reserve.

Immediately available to Japan on the declaration of war were 257,000 infantry, 11,000 cavalry and 894 pieces of artillery. These figures were divided between the Imperial Guards division, 12 regular divisions, 2 cavalry brigades, 2 artillery brigades, 13 reserve brigades, depot troops and the garrison of Taiwan. A regular Japanese division contained 11,400 infantry, 430 cavalry and 36 guns – the guns being organised into batteries of 6. Though another 4 divisions and 4 reserve brigades were formed in 1904, no further formations were created as the reserves were used to replace losses sustained in combat. Japanese reserves were given a full year of training before entering combat, though as the war progressed this was reduced to 6 months due to high casualties. The Japanese army did not follow the European convention of implementing Corps, thus there were no corps troops or command and the Japanese divisions were immediately subordinate to armies.<ref name="RS" />{{rp|23–24}}

Olender gives a different appraisal of Japanese strength, maintaining that there were 350,000 men of the standing army and 1st reserve, with an additional 850,000 trained men in reserve, creating a total trained force of 1,200,000 men. The breakdown of the Japanese standing army was different too, with Olender giving each Japanese division 19,000 men including auxiliary troops; he also states that the 13 reserve brigades contained 8,000 men each and mentions 20 fortress battalions, which is omitted by Connaughton. It is further stated that the Japanese army possessed 1,080 field guns and between 120 and 150 heavy guns at the war's commencement.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Olender |first=Piotr |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1319074558 |title=Russo-Japanese naval war, 1905 |date=2007 |publisher=Mushroom Model |isbn=978-83-61421-74-0 |location=Redbourn |oclc=1319074558}}</ref>
Japanese cavalry was not considered the elite of the army as was the case in Russia; instead Japanese cavalry primarily acted as scouts and fought dismounted, armed with carbine and sword; this was reflected in the fact that each cavalry brigade contained 6 machine guns.<ref name="RS" />{{rp|23–24}}

=== Russia ===
There is no consensus over how many Russian troops were present in the Far East around the time of the commencement of the war. One estimate states that the Russian army possessed 60,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry and 164 guns, mostly at Vladivostok and Port Arthur with a portion at Harbin. This was reinforced by the middle of February to 95,000 with 45,000 at Vladivostok, 8,000 at Harbin, 9,000 at Haicheng, 11,000 on the Yalu River and 22,000 at Port Arthur.<ref name="RS">{{Cite book |last=Connaughton |first=R. M. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/56444019 |title=Rising sun and tumbling bear : Russia's war with Japan |date=2004 |publisher=Cassell |others=R. M. Connaughton |isbn=0-304-36657-9 |location=London |oclc=56444019}}</ref>{{rp|25–28}}

Olender gives the figure at 100,000 men including 8 infantry divisions, fortress troops and support troops. The entire Russian army in 1904 amounted to 1,200,000 men in 29 Corps. The Russian plan was immensely flawed as the Russians possessed only 24,000 potential reinforcements east of Lake Baikal when the war commenced. They would be reinforced by 35,000 men after 4 months and a further 60,000 men 10 months after the commencement of the war at which point they would take the offensive. This plan was based on the erroneous belief that the Japanese army could only mobilise 400,000 with them being unable to field more than 250,000 in an operational sense and 80,000–100,000 of their operational strength being necessary to secure supply lines and therefore only 150,000–170,000 Japanese soldiers would be available for field action. The possibility of Port Arthur being taken was dismissed entirely.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Olender |first=Piotr |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1319074558 |title=Russo-Japanese naval war, 1905 |date=2007 |publisher=Mushroom Model |isbn=978-83-61421-74-0 |location=Redbourn |oclc=1319074558}}</ref>

An alternative figure for forces in the Far East is given at over 150,000 men and 266 guns, with Vladivostok and Port Arthur containing a combined force of 45,000 men and with an additional 55,000 engaged in guarding lines of communication, leaving only 50,000 troops to take the field.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tyler |first=Sydney |title=The Russo-Japanese War (Illustrated Edition) Complete History of the Conflict: Causes of the War, Korean Campaign, Naval Operations, Battle of the Yalu, Battle for Port Arthur, Battle of the Japan Sea, Peace Treaty Tyler, Sydney. The Russo-Japanese War (Illustrated Edition): Complete History of the Conflict: Causes of the War, Korean Campaign, Naval Operations, Battle of the Yalu, ... Battle of the Japan Sea, Peace Treaty (p. 1). Madison & Adams Press. Kindle Edition. |publisher=Madison and Adams Press |year=2018 |pages=32}}</ref>

Unlike the Japanese, the Russians did utilise the Corps system and in fact maintained two distinct styles of Corps: the European and the Siberian. The two corps both possessed two divisions and their corresponding troop numbers, but a Siberian Division was much smaller, containing only 3,400 men and 20 guns, with a corps containing around 12,000 men and lacking both artillery and divisional guns. Russia only possessed two Siberian Corps, both unprepared for war. After war was declared, this number was raised to seven as the conflict progressed. The European Corps in comparison contained 28,000 soldiers and 112 guns with 6 such corps sent to the Far East during the war – a further three being dispatched that did not arrive before the war ended.<ref name="RS" />{{rp|25–28}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Olender |first=Piotr |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1319074558 |title=Russo-Japanese naval war, 1905 |date=2007 |publisher=Mushroom Model |isbn=978-83-61421-74-0 |location=Redbourn |oclc=1319074558}}</ref>

Russian Logistics were hampered by the fact that the only connection to European Russia was the Trans-Siberian Railway, which remained incomplete as the railway was not connected at Lake Baikal. A single train would take between 15 and 40 days to traverse the railway, with the common figure being closer to 40 days. A single battalion would take a month to transport from Moscow to Shenyang. After the line's eventual completion, 20 trains ran daily and by the conclusion of the war some 410,000 soldiers, 93,000 horses and 1,000 guns had been transported.<ref name="RS" />{{rp|25–28}}

The tactics utilised by the Russians were outdated. Russian infantry still held to the maxim of [[Alexander Suvorov|Suvorov]] over a century after his death. The Russian command still used strategies from the [[Crimean War|Crimean war]], attacking [[Echelon formation|en echelon]] across a wide front in closed formations; it was not uncommon for Russian higher command to bypass their intermediate commanders and issue orders directly to battalions, thus creating confusion during combat.<ref name="RS" />{{rp|28–30}}

=== Ship distribution ===
{| class="wikitable"
|+Distribution of naval assets<ref name="MP" /><!-- What do the numbers in parentheses indicate? -->
!Ship type
!Baltic
!Pacific
!Black Sea
!Total Russia
!Japan
|-
|Battleships
|6 (5)
|7
|8
|21(5)
|7
|-
|Coastal Defence
Battleships
|3
|
|
|3
|1
|-
|Ironclads
|4
|
|
|
|1
|-
|Armoured Cruisers
|4
|4
|
|8
|8
|-
|Cruisers
|5(3)
|7
|1(2)
|13(5)
|16(2)
|-
|Cruisers under 2000t
|5
|3
|
|8
|10
|-
|Torpedo gunboats
|4
|2
|3
|9
|1
|-
|Gunboats
|8
|7
|8
|23
|7
|-
|Destroyers
|18(4)
|25
|8
|51(4)
|19(3)
|-
|Torpedo Boats
|53(1)
|25
|6(7)
|80(1)
|77(8)
|-
|Torpedo Boats below 40t
|73
|7
|2
|82
|
|}