Battle of Sandepu

Battle of Sandepu (Battle of Heikoutai)
Part of the Russo-Japanese War
Contemporary Russian postcard
Date 25 January to 29 January 1905 Location South of Mukden, Manchuria Result Indecisive
Belligerents
Empire of Japan	Imperial Russia
Commanders and leaders
Ōyama Iwao Oku Yasukata	Alexei Kuropatkin Oskar Gripenberg
Strength
220,000	285,000
Casualties and losses
9,000 killed, wounded or captured	1,727 killed 11,123 wounded 1,113 MIA

The Battle of Sandepu (also known as the Battle of Heikoutai) (Japanese: 黒溝台会戦 (Kokkōdai no kaisen), Russian: Сражение при Сандепу) was a major land battle of the Russo-Japanese War. It was fought within a group of villages about 36 miles (58 km) southwest of Mukden, Manchuria.

After the Battle of Shaho, the Russian and Japanese forces faced each other south of Mukden until the frozen Manchurian winter began. The Russians were entrenched in the city of Mukden, whereas the Japanese were occupying a 160 kilometer long front with the Japanese 1st Army, 2nd Army, 4th Army and the Akiyama Independent Cavalry Regiment. The Japanese field commanders thought no major battle was possible and assumed that the Russians had the same view regarding the difficulty of winter combat.

The Russian commander, General Alexei Kuropatkin was receiving reinforcements via the Trans-Siberian Railway, but was concerned about the impending arrival of the battle-hardened Japanese Third Army under General Nogi Maresuke to the front after the fall of Port Arthur on 2 January 1905.

On Kuropatkin’s staff at Mukden was General Nikolai Linevich, who had been brought over from Vladivostok to command the 1st Manchurian Army and Kuropatkin’s left flank. The center was held by General Alexander Kaulbars’s 3rd Manchurian Army. The right flank was commanded by General Oskar Gripenberg, the inexperienced newly arrived commanding general of the 2nd Manchurian Army. The 2nd Manchurian Army consisted of the 8th European Army Corps, a division of the 10th, the 61st Reserve Division, the 5th Rifle Brigade, and the 1st Siberian Army Corps under General Baron Georgii Stackelberg, besides a large body of cavalry, or approximately, 285,000 men and 350 guns.

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