Reiwa Chemist Yōko Takatsukasa Reincarnation: Saving Japan with Plastic Material

A Hawk Above the Clouds on the Slope

Since the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese Army had been making rapid advances.

The 1st Army successfully launched a river crossing attack against the complacent Russian forces at the Yalu River. The 2nd Army, led by Major General Kikuzō Ōtani, who was a logistics officer in the original history but now serves as the chief of staff, achieved a great victory at Nanshan, capturing over 5.000 prisoners with minimal losses. Particularly noteworthy was the remarkable performance of Second Lieutenant Katsusuke Nogi, the eldest son of the 3rd Army commander General Maresuke Nogi, whose platoon captured six field guns.

Subsequently, in order to rescue the isolated garrison at Port Arthur, the 1st Siberian Army Corps under the command of Lieutenant General Stackelberg advanced towards Nanshan. However, they fell victim to the relentless command of General Yasukata Oku, the commander of the 2nd Army, and the skillful infiltration and breakthrough operation led by Chief of Staff Ōtani. They were completely caught off guard and retreated to abandoning their comrades and equipment. The 2nd Army entrusted the capture of Port Arthur to the following 3rd Army and advanced towards Liaoyang in preparation for the decisive battle.

And now, let's focus on the problematic 3rd Army. In this world, where they achieved a much more glorious victory than in the original timeline, an atmosphere of 'the Russian army is nothing to fear' began to prevail. The popular military song "Teki wa Ikuman" (Thousands of Enemies) circulated widely in society. Due to these circumstances and the Navy's request following the failure of the blockade of Port Arthur as in the original timeline, the Manchurian Army Headquarters planned to "quickly capture the Port Arthur fortress and achieve a significant military result to provoke war-weariness within Russia." Thus, they decided to attack and capture the Port Arthur fortress. The 3rd Army completed the encirclement of the fortress by June 30th, but...

"...This is more difficult than I imagined."

Looking at the report from his subordinates and the blueprint of the Port Arthur fortress compiled from intelligence provided by the British intelligence, Chief of Staff Kōsuke Ijichi of the 3rd Army frowned.

Ever since his defeat against Ōtani in the 1903 exercises and receiving direct guidance in infiltration tactics, Ijichi had made it a point to thoroughly scout the targets of his attacks. Understanding the weaknesses of the enemy positions was crucial for one of the four pillars of infiltration tactics, the "detour breakthrough." Even in the current assault on the Port Arthur fortress, he ordered meticulous frontline reconnaissance to find any vulnerabilities.

"At the very least, the eastern and northeastern fronts, which are close to the railway, have difficult terrain and numerous defensive structures."

The operations staff officer, Jirō Shirai, remarked. It seemed that there were no apparent weaknesses for a detour breakthrough based on the map, and the battle ahead would not be as easy as before.

"In that case, we have no choice but to attack from the northern or western front. However, even if we were to occupy the west bank of the Long River, will the fortress surrender?"

In the tactics of infiltration, which belong to shock tactics, the key is to confuse the enemy and undermine their morale to force them to retreat. Weak point attacks and detour breakthroughs are means to achieve that, so attacking weak areas would yield little advantage if the enemy doesn't panic due to the breakthrough.

"Fortunately, there are many hastily constructed fortifications, and it seems that we can crush them by pounding them with heavy firepower. It will require a significant investment of the nation's resources, but perhaps attempting to weaken the fortress through artillery bombardment would be a good strategy."