[2] The Imperial Russian Army commander in the Far East, General Alexei Kuropatkin followed a strategy of stalling while waiting for enough reinforcements to come up to the front via the incomplete single-track Trans-Siberian Railway to take the offensive.

On April 22, 1904 Kuropatkin dispatched the "Eastern Detachment" under the command of Lieutenant-General Mikhail Zasulich with 16,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry and some 62 artillery pieces to fight a static delaying action on the north bank of the river.

However, Zasulich's force was spread out piecemeal over a 170-mile front, whereas the Imperial Japanese Army could concentrate its efforts on any single point of its choosing.

By seizing the port of Chinampo (modern Nampo, North Korea) at the mouth of the Taedong River outside of Pyongyang with the spring thaw, the Japanese were able to land the remaining components of the 1st Army by 29 March.

[3] The prelude to major action took place at 21:45 (9:45 pm) on the night of 25 April 1904, when two battalions of the Japanese 2nd Division seized Kintei, Kyuri, and Oseki Island in the Yalu River without opposition.

In full view of Russian positions, the Japanese began constructing a causeway across the Yalu River to Kintei Island with the intention of distracting and exposing enemy artillery fire.

With the Russians so engaged, the Japanese prepared ten other bridges that could quickly be moved into position for a rapid assault across the river at other locations.

They launched a lightning assault against unprepared Russian troops at strategic Tiger Hill, which overlooked the confluence of the Ai and Yalu rivers.

Two days later, Russian troops launched an attack on the Guards Division at Tiger Hill in an attempt to retake the position, but gruesomely failed.

Following this, the elements of the Japanese Guards and 2nd Division were able to establish a number of German 4.7 inch howitzers from Krupp on Kintei Island, which they concealed with natural foliage.

However, the general stubbornly refused to concede, even sending a telegram to Tsar Nicholas II in Saint Petersburg informing that victory was soon certain.

The 11th East Siberian Rifle Regiment, which was covering a retreat, was cut off by the Japanese and suffered large casualties during its breakthrough back to the other Russian forces.

With nothing preventing the Japanese from entering the poorly defended expanses of Manchuria, Kuroki and other generals involved in the campaign were ordered to launch a large offensive with a goal of crushing the massing Russian reinforcements at Liaoyang.

Furthermore, the defeat of the Russian Eastern Detachment removed the perception that the Japanese would be an easy enemy, that the war would be short, and that Russia would be the overwhelming victor.