Bruno stood at the edge of the battlefield. He was smoking a cigarette while Heinrich gazed through the binoculars at the decimated Russian Forces. It had been nearly ten days since the battle of Mukden began, and as in the previous timeline in which Bruno lived during his past life, the scale of the battle was unprecedented in world history.
In less than a fortnight of fighting, the amount of munitions and ordnance that had been exchanged between the two armies was already greater than that of the 191 day Franco Prussian War, which took place in 1870-1871.
And yet, after ten days of conflict, the battle was over. Casualties were no doubt heavy on the Japanese side. Suffering 25,000 or so WIA, KIA, or MIA. Which was still considerably less than Japan sustained in the past timeline.
But as for the Russian Army, they had been obliterated to the last man. 292,000 Russian soldiers lie dead in the ruins of the battlefield located just south of the city of Mukden, which would one day be known as Shenyang.
The Russians had made a mistake, taking the bait Bruno sent towards them at their eastern flank via a diversionary assault. Once the Russians were misled into believing the Japanese numbers were greater than they actually were, they shifted forces from the west and the south to assist in the defense.
Unfortunately, this was exactly what Bruno was anticipating, advising the Japanese Generals in charge of the First, Fourth, Second, and Third Armies to take advantage of the diversion and encircle the Russian position.
Sustained fire from machine guns and artillery alike battered the Russian position for ten days straight until all that remained were the ghosts of the dead. Of course, just to make sure the enemy was truly annihilated the Japanese Generals sent in the rest of their forces to take care of those poor and unfortunate souls who were lying wounded in the craters that were all which remained of their previous fortifications.
Heinrich and Erich stood by Bruno’s side. Their mouths agape as they gazed upon the devastation that had resulted from the advice that their friend and commanding officer had given to the Japanese Generals.
Total annihilation of the enemy, that was what was achieved here. And thankfully without significant civilian casualties, as the Russians had taken up their defense south of the city. Rather than within it. Either way, Bruno’s tactics would have been the same. But it was nice to know that the native Manchurians were spared such unnecessary bloodshed.
But these were Bruno’s thoughts as he smoked silently in the background, gazing upon the death and despair which he had caused to the enemy. Utterly lifeless, that was what the battlefield could be described as, now that the Imperial Japanese Army had swept through the area and put whatever miserable Russian bastard who was still breathing out of his misery.
As for Heinrich and Erich, they did not have words to describe what they were looking at. I mean, they witnessed the ten days of shelling and sustained machine gun fire. Which pounded the Russian position ceaselessly.
Hell, they had been on the receiving end of a few Russian shells that landed nearby. But this was a level of devastation that nobody had ever seen before. Even the Battle of Cannae, which said to have stained the Italian soil red with the blood of Roman soldiers was not so gruesome to witness.
And while Heinrich and Erich gazed in horror at the overwhelming volume of death which they had helped cause. Bruno finished his cigarette, flicking the bud off into the dirt nearby, as if he was simply witnessing something insignificant.
An act which caught the attention of the two officers beneath his command, bringing them back to reality with his words as well.
“So ends the Russo-Japanese War… No doubt in the coming weeks the Russians will sue for peace… Perhaps under normal conditions they might muster another army to avenge their losses here today.
But when the Russian people hear that nearly 300,000 of their sons, brothers, and husbands have died pointlessly in the east. There will be hell to pay. You might very well be looking at the end of the Russian Empire, that is, if the Kaiser doesn’t make a move to intervene on his behalf.
Our work here is done boys, I think after all of this we have earned ourselves a drink… Don’t you agree?”
Despite posing a question to the two men, Bruno callously walked away without waiting for their response. He had clearly seen enough of death and pain over the course of the last ten days. And as a result wanted to be as far away from the carnage he helped inflict on the enemy, even if he himself was prepared to live with the memory of it.
—
As Bruno had boldly declared to the Japanese Emperor before leaving his palace and advancing to Mukden to catch up with the rest of the Army. The Russo-Japanese War had been won on behalf of the Empire of Japan before the leaves fell from the trees.
A War that was supposed to continue on until September of 1905, had ended nearly a year prior. Word of Russian’s defeat at Mukden quickly reached the Tsar in Saint Petersburg.
Initially, the response of the Tsar was to muster another army and send them to Manchuria to avenge their loss at Mukden. They, after all, had 700,000 soldiers in the region prior to the battle, the remainder of which could quickly be deployed into position when given the command.
But no more than a week after the loss at Mukden, riots broke out in Moscow, and Saint Petersburg. The people had suffered enough at the incompetency of the Romanov family. Red banners waved in the streets, as historical figures Bruno was all too aware of made the voice of the people heard.
Leon Trotsky, Georgy Gapon, Pavel Milyukov, all began to speak of a revolution in the name of the people. Shockingly enough, even Vladimir Lenin, who was living overseas, returned to Russia to rally the Bolsheviks and the Mansheviks together, mending their feud in an attempt to overthrow the Tsar.
All they needed was a cause to gain the popularity of the common man, who though aggrieved by the Tsar’s repeated failures, but not so much as to take up arms, stood on the sidelines and watched. That cause came early in this life.
Bolshevik dissidents in Saint Petersburg provoked the Russian Security Forces into opening fire upon them. And the press quickly went to work to hide the criminals acts of the Bolsheviks, while blaming the Tsar and his loyalists for the “atrocity.”
Bloody Sunday became the headlines across not only Russia, but all of Europe. With the cause given to them by the Tsar, thousands of men took up arms in the name of revolution. Forcing the Tsar’s representatives to meet with the Japanese Emperor on neutral ground and discuss the terms of their peace.
Over the span of two weeks, a treaty was signed in the United States, under the mediation of President Theodore Rosevelt, ending the hostilities between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire.
Because of the state which Russia now found itself in, having lost nearly half of their army in Manchuria in a single battle, and tens of thousands more in Port Arthur. The Japanese Empire gained significantly more concessions in this timeline than they had in the past.
The entirety of both Manchuria and Sakhalin Island fell under the immediate control of the Japanese Empire. While the Korean Empire entered the sphere of Influence of Japan without dispute.
In the past, Japan had only gained the southern regions of Manchuria and Sakhalin Island, as well as partial control over Korea. But now, with Bruno’s interference in this timeline they held total control.
Russia, of course, was forced to withdraw the remainder of its armed forces from these regions, and in doing so marched them west to counter the ongoing revolutions in Russia proper.
The victory gained in Manchuria signaled a turning point in relations between the German Reich and the Empire of Japan. Spurred on by Bruno’s wisdom, freely given to the Japanese Emperor, and the crushing victory he obtained at Mukden, which ended the war a year earlier than previously anticipated.
Emperor Meiji fully realized that the new century would be one, not of British dominance as the preceding century had been. But one ruled by the German Reich with iron and blood. Discussions for a formal military alliance, and the free flow of trade between the two realms were immediately pursued by the Japanese Emperor. One which the Kaiser was happy to accept.
As for the Tsar and the Russian Empire. Only time would tell if the Russian Revolution of 1905, or 1904, as it would be known in this timeline. Would spark into a greater conflict which would engulf the Romanov dynasty. Or fail to meet its aims, as it had in Bruno’s past life. Regardless, Bruno would be keeping a close eye on the developments he had caused.
