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Before attempting to criticize General Fiuji's estimate of the Russian Army based upon the advance to, and the crossing of, the Talu, it will be wall to briefly review the operations concerned. They will be discussed in greater detail by other speakers. The Talu flows generally in a southwesterly direction across the base of the Korean peninsula and empties into the Yellow Sea. It forms part of the boundary between Korea and Manchuria. In its lower reaches the river is unfordable and offers a very considerable obstacle to any military operation. The country is broken and hilly. In 1904 the roads were few in number and almost passable in the springtime. Any advance from the south would have to be made paralleling the sea in order not to be too far away from bases of supply. This, of necessity, would bring the invading force to the Talu near its mouth. In April, 1904, Lieutenant General Sassulitch, in command of the Russian Eastern Detachment, consisting at this time of about 16,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry and 60 guns, had placed Major General Kasahtalinsky with about 6,000 infantry, 1,000 cavalry and 16 guns near the junction of the Talu and Aiho rivers with instructions to intrench himself on the north bank of the Talu near its junction with the Aiho. The front assigned this force was about twenty-four miles.