Battle of Motien Pass
The Battle of Motien Pass was a minor land battle of the Russo-Japanese War, fought between the Imperial Japanese Army under General Kuroki Tamemoto and the Imperial Russian Army under General Fyodor Eduardovich Keller over control of a strategic mountain pass on the main road between the coast and Liaoyang in Qing China on 10 July 1904.
Preliminary movements
General Fyodor Keller had assumed command of the Russian Eastern Force from General Zasulich after the Battle of Yalu River. His force of 25,000 men held Motien Pass, in the middle of Liaodong Peninsula, on the main road between Antung and Liaoyang. Keller, a loyal friend of General Aleksey Kuropatkin and a student of General Mikhail Skobelev, observed that the Japanese strategy was similar to that of the First Sino-Japanese War. Kuropatkin agreed, and in an effort to fortify his position at Haicheng, he began a series of complex and confusing troop movements as he endeavored to plug real or imaginary gaps in his defensive line. Keller, already weakened by the loss of men at the Battle of Te-li-Ssu, was further forced to give up two more regiments to Kuropatkin's defenses at Haicheng.The Japanese 1st Army, under command of General Kuroki Tamemoto, paused at Fenghuangshan from 2–8 July to await supplies and reinforcements. Kuroki decided to attack on 9 July, which was, by coincidence, the same day that General Keller received orders from General Kuropatkin depriving him of yet another regiment to support the defenses of Haicheng.
Guarding the strategic Motien Pass, the Russians had three infantry regiments, three artillery batteries and a Cossack regiment. To the west was the reserve infantry regiment supported by a Cossack brigade. During the night of 8–9 July, a Japanese force moved along an unguarded path to the rear of the Russian right flank. This force was supported by Maxim machine guns and mountain artillery. Another group, clad in Japanese straw sandals to mask their movements, moved around the Russian left flank undetected.