Staff on the Russian hospital ship Mongolia during the Russo-Japanese war

This photograph (here partially coloured by me) shows doctors and nurses onboard the Russian hospital ship Mongolia in Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese war. The photo was published in the Swedish magazine Allers Familj-Journal in 1905. 

Ladies of Russian aristocratic families making underwear for soldiers in the Russo-Japanese war

The noble ladies in the picture below gathered in St. Petersburg´s Vladimir Palace in order to make underwear for the Russian soldiers fighting in the Russo-Japanese war 1904-1905. The photograph was published in the Swedish magazine Allers Familj-Journal in September 1904. 

Wounded Imperial Russian general Paul von Rennenkampff (1904)

General Paul von Rennenkampf (in the middle) at the field hospital in Harbin.

Imperial Russian general Paul von Rennenkampff (also spelled Rennenkampf) was wounded during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. On this photograph (coloured by me) the general poses in front of a field hospital in Harbin, together with another wounded soldier and a servant.

Wikipedia gives this information about the general:

Rennenkampf, of Baltic German extraction, was born in 1854 in Konuvere Manor now in Märjamaa Parish, Rapla County, Estonia. He joined the Imperial Russian Army at 19 and attended the Junker Infantry School in Helsinki. He began his military career with the Lithuanian 5th Lancers Regiment. He graduated at the head of his class from the Nikolaevsky Military Academy in St. Petersburg in 1882. --

In February 1904, after the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Rennenkampf was appointed commander of the Trans-Baikal Cossack Division.[1] He was promoted to lieutenant general in July 1904, and was wounded in combat in the same month, during the Battle of Motien Pass (10 July 1904), where he was shot in the thigh as he attempted to assist Lieutenant General Fedor Keller halt the advance of Japanese First Army.[1] He remained hospitalized until after the Battle of Liaoyang (August/September 1904).[1] He returned to active service, commanding a division-size cavalry formation during the Rennenkampf, of Baltic German extraction, was born in 1854 in Konuvere Manor now in Märjamaa Parish, Rapla County, Estonia. He joined the Imperial Russian Army at 19 and attended the Junker Infantry School in Helsinki. He began his military career with the Lithuanian 5th Lancers Regiment. He graduated at the head of his class from the Nikolaevsky Military Academy in St. Petersburg in 1882. --Some additional information on Rennenkampf:(Colouring by me)General Paul von Rennenkampf was wounded during the Russo-Japanese war in 1904. Here he is with a servant and another wounded soldier in a field hospital in Charbin.

A Lutheran volunteer field hospital in Mukden 1904

Lutherans, primarily from the Baltic areas of imperial Russia, sent a field hospital staffed by volunteers to the Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905. The Lutheran field hospital, which was based in Mukden, was led by Dr. Oskar Schiemann (sitting in the middle). He was assisted by three doctors from Estonia, Valdemar Lange (on the left of Dr. Schiemann), Robert Bierich (on the right of Dr. Schiemann) and Eugen Kaegeler (right from Bierich).The man in the dark uniform behind the doctors is captain Gruenewald, who was in charge of administration.

The photograph was published in the Swedish weekly "Från krigsskådeplatsen - Allers Familj-Journals extra upplaga".  

Tsar Nicholas II blesses soldiers leaving for the front lines

On this photograph from 1905 Russian Tsar Nicholas II gives his blessing to soldiers

leaving for the Russo-Japanese war:

(Processing and colouring by me)

The Russian steam ship Okean in 1905

The steamer Okean accompanied ships of the Russian Baltic Fleet on their way to Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese war in 1905:

An Imperial Russian army "cook brigade" close to the front line during the Russo-Japanese war 1904-1905

"An army marches on its stomach."
   -- Napoleon Bonaparte

During the Russo-Japanese war 1904-1905 the Russian commanders were aware of Napoleon's words, and tried to organize the army food service as well as possible. The picture shows members of an Imperial Russian army "cook brigade" close to the front line somewhere in Manchuria.

Oskar Gripenberg, a Finnish general who commanded a Russian army in the Russo-Japanese war 1904-1905

General Oskar Gripenberg (1838-1916)

General Oskar Ferdinand Gripenberg was one of the Finnish officers, who served in the Imperial Russian Army during the Russo-Japanese war 1904-1905. (Finland was at that time an autonomous Grand Duchy under Russia). From 29 September 1904 to 29 January 1905 Gripenberg was the commander of the Russian Manchurian army.

This was the development that caused Gripenberg to resign as commander of the Manchurian army:

The Russian Second Army under General Oskar Gripenberg, between 25 and 29 January, attacked the Japanese left flank near the town of Sandepu, almost breaking through. This caught the Japanese by surprise. However, without support from other Russian units the attack stalled, Gripenberg was ordered to halt by Kuropatkin and the battle was inconclusive. The Japanese knew that they needed to destroy the Russian army in Manchuria before Russian reinforcements arrived via the Trans-Siberian railroad.

The commander in chief, general Kuropatkin refused to give Gripenberg the support he had asked for, and in addition Kuropatkin ordered the Manchurian army to withdraw against the its commander's will. Military historians consider Kuropatkin's indecisiveness and organizational deficiencies in directing large-scale military operations as a major element in the Russian defeat.

Noble St. Petersburg ladies sewing underwear for soldiers during the Russo-Japanese war 1904-1905

During the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) the ladies of the high nobility gathered in Grand Duke Vladimir's palace in St. Petersburg in order to sew underwear for Russian soldiers. The Vladimir Palace on the Embankment near the Winter Palace was the heart of social life in the Imperial capital at the time:

Danish steamer Prinsesse Marie - sunk by Russian auxiliary cruiser Terek in 1905

This is the Danish East Asiatic Company's (Danish: Det Østasiatiske Kompagni ) steamer Prinsesse Marie, which in 1905 was sunk in the China Sea by the Russian Imperial Navy's auxiliary cruiser Terek on June 22 1905. The Russians wrongly believed that Prinsesse Marie was carrying contraband to the Japanese.

"The Russian as Officer" - a characterization by a British war correspondent in 1904

The Daily Express's war correspondent Douglas Story and his servant,
photographed in Manchuria in 1905.

The famous British war correspondent Douglas Story was "embedded" with the Imperial Russian Army in Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 - 1905. On August 4, 1904, the Hobart newspaper The Merchant published the article "The Russian as Officer" by Story.

Judged by what he wrote, Story seemed to have a rather positive view of Imperial Russian officers:

"As a student, the Russian staff officer is a gentleman and a soldier of rare intellectual attainment. He has been allowed to follow his beat, has been stimulated in the study of tongues, has been encouraged to investigate the psychology of the peoples dwelling upon the borders of the Czar's domains"

"A born linguist, among the French he is a Frenchman, among the Germans a German, even among the  Chinese a Chinaman. I have met Russian officers who in appearance, in accent, and in manner were as British as myself."

"The adaptability of the Russian is amazing, the result of a wide humanity, a ready sympathy. Strangely enough, he draws most naturally to the British and the American. The French, despite of all treaties and alliances, of all European nations is the least compatible with the Russian character."

"One's general impression is that the officers are a good set of great-bodied, big-hearted, good-natured schoolboys, sadly pestered by the stone-throwing of the small boys from a neighbouring inferior but rival academy. I have not hear in all these weeks one ungenerous   word of their enemy from a Russian."

"There is something that is very captivating about the manners of the well-bred Russian officer and his easy camaraderie. One is sitting in a restaurant, where there enters a stranger. He strides straight over to the senior officer present, of whatever rank, salutes, clicks his heels together, bows, and shakes hands, announcing his name the while - Alexandrovitch. And so all around the table - salute, bow, click, shake hands, Alexandrovitch. In a minute, duly accredited, properly introduced Alexandrovitch is one of the party, and the conversation is general."

Story may have geen right in his characterization of the Russian officer, but, as we all know, the war did not go well from a Russian viewpoint.

Russian officers in Harbin during the Russo-Japanese War.

Douglas Story later published a book, "The Campaign with Kuropatkin", in which he was very critical of the yellow press:

"Those of us who take our functions seriously, who realize that war correspondence is as much a profession as that of the soldier or the engineer, resent the intrusion of the callous sensation mongers vomited from a hundred yellow journals."

Douglas Story had a rather sad end, at the age of 48. On July 11, 1921, the Montreal Gazette reported:

"Douglas Story Dead
Famous War Correspondent Found Dead in Train in India."

The brief article does not give any further information on what had happened on the train in Kotah.

Two Japanese peace delegates in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1905

The defeat in the 1904 - 1905 Russo-Japanese War was a major blow to Imperial Russia. Tsar Nicholas II chose a negotiated peace, brokered by American President Theodore Roosevelt (which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize). The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed on 5  September 1905 at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, New Hampshire.

The Japanese delegation at Portsmouth was led by Foreign Minister, Baron (later Marquis) Komura Jutarō - a Harvard graduate -, assisted by another Japanese nobleman, Baron Takahira.

The Japanese peace delegates, Baron Komura (on the right) and Baron
Takahira on board President Roosevelt's yacht Mayflower. Komura is said
to have inherited massive debts from his father, which he had difficulties with
repayment. As a result, he wore the same frayed coat for years, regardless of season
or occasion. Whether the coat on this photo is the frayed one, is difficult to tell.