Yamagata Commands the First Army in the Sino-Japanese War

Japan organized the First Army in September 1894 from the Third and Fifth Divisions. Yamagata Aritomo commanded it, but the appointment did not make him the director of every Japanese operation in the war. A separate Second Army under Ōyama Iwao later landed on Liaodong.

When Yamagata reached Korea, Nozu Michitsura’s Fifth Division was already engaged in the operation against Pyongyang. Yamagata entrusted its direction to Nozu. The army’s victory opened the route north; it then advanced toward the Yalu rather than remaining a force protecting Japanese residents in Seoul.

The crossing into Qing territory required improvised bridges and a supply system extending through northern Korea. Troops crossed the Yalu in October, and Qing forces withdrew from Jiuliancheng. Food, horses and carriers were insufficient for the inland march. Dagushan’s occupation provided a coastal supply point, connecting the advancing force to shipping.

Yamagata was recalled to Japan in December. Nozu succeeded him and continued commanding the First Army through subsequent operations and the peace settlement. Yamagata’s command therefore belongs to the first phase of the land campaign. Neither the later capture of Weihaiwei by the Second Army nor the April 1895 treaty negotiations was his personal field operation.