ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY AT WAR BULLA (Viktor Karlovich, Russian photographer)

Group of photographs taken during the Russo-Japanese war, giving a vivid picture of General Alexei Nikolaevich KUROPATKIN, (1848-1925), and his officers at work near the front, of military supplies being organised, the countryside through which they were fighting, and the railway itself, one print (no. 12) shows Kuropatkin at the railway station at Liao Yang, scene of some of the heaviest fighting in the summer of 1905, 28 prints 4½" x 6½", Manchuria, 1904 - one print has a small fault from light, otherwise in good average condition, edges a little worn

In 1904, Japan declared war on Russia over Russia's expanding influence on Chinese soil in Manchuria, where the Trans-Siberian railway had a branch, recently built, from Harbin to Port Arthur. Russia intended to keep Port Arthur, which was ice-free, as its main foothold, rather than Vladivostok. In this difficult terrain the railway became the main axis of the struggle.
Alexei Nikolaevich Kuropatkin, 1848-1925, one of Russia's best soldiers, was C-in-C in Manchuria but greatly hampered by Viceroy Admiral Alexeiev's defensive policy. Forced to changed plans more than once, Kuropatkin defended Lian Yang, a critical town on the railway, in a long struggle before falling back on Mukden , where he suffered a crucial defeat.
Carl Ostwald (Karl Karlovich) Bulla, 1853 or 1855-1929, 'the father of Russian photography', had a famous studio on Nevsky Prospekt. In 1904 his son Viktor went to report on the war with Japan.
All have Karl Bulla's contemporary stamp on the verso in Russian and German.
With a checklist.

CHECKLIST
1. Kuropatkin and other mounted officers reviewing troops before an engagement.
2. Military band grouped informally round the camera.
3. Kuropatkin (towards camera in middle distance) and other officers apparently discussing the terrain, near some birch trees, a group of soldiers with long poles in the right hand background.
4. Group of about 50 men and officers standing or lying down, facing the camera, one holding a tambourine aloft.
5. Nine officers on a hillock, two with binoculars, examining the terrain.
6. About 12 draught horses and their drivers, each pulling a large cask on wheels, about to set off from a depot.
7. Soldiers with Red Cross arm bands, rocky hillside in the background.
8. Troops marching through stubble, headed by two drummers.
9. Kuropatkin conferring informally with officers, hill with rough terraces in the background.
10. Kuropatkin emerging from a temporary headquarters structure, the poles supporting it wrapped in the Russian colours, his horse waiting.
11. Kuropatkin conferring with one of a large group of officers outside a train.
12. Kuropatkin at the railway station at Liao Yang, conferring with officers.
13. Kuropatkin with a small escort riding through a town.
14. Row of officers on a slight hillside.
15. Kuropatkin on horseback reviewing troops who are wearing greatcoats, spread out in the background are the mens' tents, a line of hills in the distance.
16. Kuropatkin on horseback, followed by other officers on foot, reviewing a company of soldiers in three ranks, on the grass back from the road.
17. Standard bearer on horseback leading wagons out of a town.
18. Kuropatkin on horseback talking to two men with rifles, in the foreground are two small ponies, in the background a wonderful view of the cultivation on the valley floor and the rocky skyline beyond.
19. Kuropatkin and his suite, on the same occasion as no. 9 above.
20. Soldiers examining a cart carrying some contrivance, the shafts are empty and there seems to be a wheeled piece of artillery to the left (obscured by a light fault).
21. Officers and troops spying out an area of scrubby ground.
22. Military band forming a circle and practising in a farm courtyard.
23. Injured soldier being stretchered from a train.
24 and
25. A goods train being loaded with stacks of round objects with a central hole.
26. Open-air service with priest and soldiers, bareheaded, small soldiers' tent in foreground.
27. Large group of soldiers mingling with local Manchurians.
28. Kuropatkin, as in no. 10 above, now mounted.

Item Date:  1905

Stock No:  53144      £1250

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