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The Second Army and the Battle of Jinzhou [Chinchou]

Source: Impressions of the Front: Woodcuts of the Sino-Japanese War, Shunpei Okamoto, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1983, p. 14.
On September 26, 1894, the Japanese imperial headquarters had organized the Second Army.  Its objective was to conquer the Chinese dockyard and arsenal of Port Arthur and then to embark on a campaign into the Peking region after winter.  On October 24, while the First Army was crossing the Yalu River and entering China, the Second Army landed on on the Liaotung (Chinchou) Peninsula.  By November 3, the Second Army advanced toward Chinchou, the major stronghold before Port Arthur.  With a full-scale assault on November 6, the Second Army broke the stiff resistance at Chinchou, taking the fortress before noon. 

Source: Impressions of the Front: Woodcuts of the Sino-Japanese War, Shunpei Okamoto, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1983, p. 35.
Twenty-five-year-old Nanbu Kijiro, a second artillery lieutenant (better known as the inventor of the Nanbu rifle and machine gun), described what he saw as platoon commander of the Third Mountain Artillery Battalion during the battle of Chinchou: "The battleground smelled of blood.  deep craters remained where shells had flung earth into the sky.  Trees and rooftops were strewn all over.  The odors of blood and powder lingered.  Our fallen comrades had been laid out in front of grave makers made of available wood.  The area in front of these temporary graves was swept so clean it touched my heart.  I prayed there silently."

Private First-Class Kubota Chuzo, a twenty-one-year-old farmer, wrote in his war diary: "Today our company had lunch in the southern section of Chinchou.  Chinese corpses were piled everywhere.... Some enemy soldiers were found among the dead feigning death.  Our litter corps found them and slashed or stabbed them to death."