Anatoly Stessel

Anatoly Stessel, born in 1848 as the son of Lieutenant General Baron Vinogradov Stessel, graduated from the Pavel Military School in 1866. Stessel participated in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). He subsequently commanded the 16th Ladoga Infantry Regiment in 1897, and then from 1897 to 1899 the 44th Kamchatka Infantry Regiment. He was appointed to head the 3rd East Siberian Brigade (1899–1903), and distinguished himself for his role in the suppression of the Boxer Movement of 1899-1901 in Qing China, being wounded in combat during the Battle of Tientsin in July 1900. He was subsequently awarded the Order of St. George (4th degree).[1]

From August 12, 1903, Stessel commanded the Russian garrison of Port Arthur in Manchuria - a total of over 50,000 men. Imperial Russia had occupied Port Arthur from 1897, and had heavily enhanced and modernized its defenses in the intervening years - its position was considered one of the most heavily fortified in the world.

The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 started in February 1904; Stessel was promoted to governor of the Kwantung Military District in March 1904, and Lieutenant General Konstantin Smirnov was appointed as his successor at Port Arthur. However, Stessel chose to interpret the orders to mean that Smirnov was his subordinate, and remained at Port Arthur, countermanding Smirnov's orders and denying his requests for supplies and reinforcements, and sending misleading telegrams to the Tsar blaming Smirnov for any setbacks. He also ignored orders from General Aleksei Kuropatkin (the commander-in-chief of the Russian land forces in Manchuria) to leave Port Arthur on a destroyer on July 3, 1904.[1] Stessel's command of the Port Arthur defenses was ineffective throughout the Siege of Port Arthur (July 1904 to January 1905). In August 1904, after the Japanese victory at the Battle of Nanshan in May 1904, Stessel refused Japanese offers to evacuate the women and non-combatants from Port Arthur, and by autumn food was in short supply.

Nogi (center left), Stoessel (center right) and their staffs

Following the death of General Roman Kondratenko on December 15, 1904, at Fort Chikuan, Stessel appointed the incompetent Alexander Fok in his place. On December 18, 1904, the Japanese exploded an 1800-kilogram mine under Fort Chikuan (東鶏冠山北堡塁 in Japanese), which fell that night. On December 28, 1904, mines under Fort Erhlung were detonated, destroying that fort as well.

On December 31, 1904, a series of mines were exploded under Fort Sungshu, Port Arthur's sole surviving major fortress, which surrendered that day. On January 1, 1905, Wantai finally fell to the Japanese. On the same day, Stessel and Fok sent a message to a surprised Japanese General Nogi Maresuke, offering to surrender. None of the other senior Russian staff had been consulted, and many were outraged.

General Nogi accepted the offer of surrender, and the two sides signed a ceasefire agreement on January 2, 1905, at Shuishiying. After occupying the city, the Japanese were surprised to find large stores of food and ammunition; the Japanese, along with some of the Russian officials, believed Stessel had surrendered prematurely. While Japan interned the surviving men and officers of the Russian garrison at Port Arthur as prisoners-of-war, it allowed Stessel to return to St. Petersburg in comfortable quarters on a British passenger-liner.[1] However, Stessel was discharged from the Imperial Russian Army on September 30, 1906, and was soon arrested (with several other members of the Russian military) and faced court-martial charges for cowardice and for surrendering Port Arthur to the Japanese. After a year of deliberations, he was sentenced to death on February 7, 1908.[1] This sentence was later commuted to ten years imprisonment.

On May 6, 1909 Emperor Nicholas II pardoned Stessel,[2] who continued his military service through the start of World War I. He died in 1915 in Khmilnyk (in present-day Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine).

• Order of St. George, 4th class
• Order of St. George, 3rd class
• Order of St. Anne 3rd degree, 2nd degree, 1st degree
• Order of St Vladimir 4th degree, 3rd degree.
• Order of St. Stanislaus 1st degree, 2nd degree, 3rd degree
• Order of the Rising Sun, 2nd degree, (Japan)
• Order of the Red Eagle, (Prussia)
• Pour le Mérite, (Prussia)
• Order of Bravery (Bulgaria)

• Connaughton, R.M (1988). The War of the Rising Sun and the Tumbling Bear—A Military History of the Russo-Japanese War 1904–5, London, ISBN 0-415-00906-5.
• Kowner, Rotem (2006). Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War. The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-4927-5.
• Jukes, Geoffry. The Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905. Osprey Essential Histories. (2002). ISBN 978-1-84176-446-7.
• Warner, Denis & Peggy. The Tide at Sunrise, A History of the Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905. (1975). ISBN 0-7146-5256-3.
• Nozhin, Evgenii Konstantinovich; Lindsay, Alexander Bertram; Swinton, Ernest Dunlop. The Truth About Port Arthur. London. John Murray, Albemarle Street, W. (1908)