Pennant of the Dead. Baltic Guardians

In Russia’s history, there have been many wars and conflicts, but the Russian-Japanese War of 1904–1905 holds a special place among them. Defeat in it was one of the reasons for the end of such a state as the Russian Empire. Yet ten years before the Russian-Japanese War, another conflict occurred—one that allowed the Japanese Empire to confirm its own strength. The Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895 became a graduation exam for the nascent armies and navy of the Land of the Rising Sun.

However, sometimes a single grain of sand is enough to throw a perfectly tuned mechanism off course. And such a grain of sand for the course of history was a simple—if not to say average—young man who, by the whim of unknown forces, ended up in the right place at the right time. He saved at least one of the people who had serious chances to change the course of the future war. No, the one who was saved wasn’t a member of the august royal family, and not a multimillionaire either. Not a brilliant scientist or a famous industrialist. But Captain 2nd Rank Ienish was considered one of the leading artillery specialists of the entire Russian Imperial Fleet.