Battle of Urga (Via Latina)

From Alternative History

Russo-Chinese War
Conflict	Russo-Chinese War (Via Latina)
Date	1916
Place	outside Urga, Mongolia (Modern Ulaanbaatar)
Result	Russian Tactical defeat
Combatants Russian Empire (Via Latina) Sinitic Empire Commanders Roman von Ungern-Sternberg Li Yuan-hong Strength 2 infantry divisions, 2 artillery brigades, 1 cavalry division, 1 Cossack division, 1 horse artillery brigade 5 infantry divisions, 2 Mongol cavalry divisions, 3 Manchu cavalry divisions, 1 artillery brigades Casualties (not yet determined) (not yet determined)

A Russian Army Corps came within sight of Urga (OTL Ulaanbaatar) before encountering the Chinese forces that were in the area to guard the city under Li Yuan-hong.

In the first day about a fourth of the obsolete Chinese artillery was silenced by the more modern Russian artillery, and the Cossacks attacked the Chinese rear, where the artillery was positioned. The guns that still had crew were ordered to guard against a possible Russian attack on the Chinese rear, and so was realigned, with any guns that dared disobey the direct order silenced quickly by Russian counter-battery fire.

Mostly, the battle resembled an old field battle, with battalions marching directly into enemy fire. The Chinese had trenches, but only a few machine guns, which ran out of ammunition after the first few charges.

While the Russians fought to keep the numerically-superior Chinese forces from over-running the artillery, the artillery fired shrapnel and high-explosive rounds and then fired canister prior to retreating. The battle lasted 3 days with combined casualties estimated in the ten thousands.

Aftermath

the Battle was a tactical defeat for the Russains. however the Chinese lost large numbers of troops and the initiative on the Northern front, and were unable to stop the russian re-enforcing the front line.