CHAPTER XI.

The Opposing Armies in Manchuria—The Russian Advance—Reinforcements for Both Sides—Battle of the Sha-ho—Two Hundred Hours of Carnage—Awful List of Casualties—Threat and Counterthreat—The Veil Lifted from Port Arthur—Capture of Forts—Devices of the Besiegers—The Undaunted Stoessel—The Gallant Podgorsky—World-Wide Admiration—Uncertain News.

The Opposing Armies in Manchuria

The great battle of Liao-yang was fought in the last week of August and the first week of September; and for nearly five weeks after that tremendous struggle the opposing armies remained inactive, or rather gathered up their exhausted strength for the next desperate encounter. The Japanese had advanced as far as Yentai, a station about one-third of the distance—40 miles or so—that separates Liao-yang from Mukden. The position was valuable as giving the command of the Yentai coal mines—a most important acquisition to any general with a long line of railway communication to maintain. The Japanese entrenched themselves along a front of some 25 miles, stretching from Yentai on the railway to Pensihu, a village in the hilly country which lies north and south between the two rivers Taitse and Hun. There they settled down to replenishing the exhausted supplies, refilling the depleted ranks, and reorganizing the dislocated commands. Above all did they make speed to reconstruct the railway behind them, a work which had diligently been carried onpari passuwith the advance. Early in October through trains of the new 3 ft. 6 in. gauge were running from Dalny to Yentai, and thus the fighting-line was brought within an easy six days' journey of Japan. The Russians, on the other hand, in spite of the completion of the Circum-Baikal railway towards the end of September, were still from three to five times as distant from their prime base; for if the express time from Mukden to Moscow was sixteen days, the ordinary troop train's time was much nearer thirty days. In this all-important matter of rapidity of communication the Japanese possessed an advantage inherent to the situation and of the profoundest strategical influence. While they were recuperating thus at Yentai, the Russians were busy entrenching themselves behind the Hun-ho, the course of which from Mukden follows a line, roughly speaking, due east. At first it was asserted by those in the confidence of the Russian General Staff, that no determined stand would be made at the Hun-ho, and that Kuropatkin would only hold the enemy there until the defences at Tieling were completed. But as the days passed, and the Japanese showed no disposition to renew their advance, and as reinforcements continued to pour over the Siberian railway, counsels were modified. In the last week of September General Stackelberg, attending a banquet at Mukden, proposed the toast "To the March on Liao-yang"; and this startling suggestion of a new development in the Russian plan of campaign was speedily confirmed by a remarkable manifesto to his troops which General Kuropatkin issued on the 2nd of October. After the usual high-flown exordium, in which "the arrogant foe" was described as having suffered repeated repulse—a rather daring travesty of the facts—Kuropatkin explained that he had not thought the time ripe "to take advantage of these successes; but", he added, "the time of retreat was now at an end. Hitherto the enemy in operating has relied on his great forces and, disposing his armies so as to surround us, has chosen as he deemed fit his time for attack; but now the moment to go and meet the enemy, for which the whole army has been longing, has come, and the time has arrived for us to compel the Japanese to do our will, for the forces of the Manchurian army are strong enough to begin the forward movement. Bear in mind the importance of victory to Russia, and, above all, remember how necessary victory is the more speedily to relieve our brothers at Port Arthur, who for seven months have heroically maintained the defence of the fortress entrusted to their care."

The Russian Advance

The world was naturally startled by such a pronouncement—so much easier to explain than to justify; but the Russians and their friends in France were overjoyed, believing that the time of their tribulation was at last over. The Muscovite nature has during this war shown an unrivalled capacity for self-deception; and not only the General Staff, but Kuropatkin himself seem to have persuaded themselves that the enemy had been unable to get over the shock of Liao-yang. The perfectly natural delay of the Japanese in advancing was attributed to the discouragement caused by the enormous losses sustained in the last battle and to inability to make these losses good. There were other influences at work, as Kuropatkin's address shows. "The importance of victory to Russia", and the necessity of relieving "our brothers in Port Arthur", were circumstances that evidently dominated Russian counsels; and in Kuropatkin's mind there was probably another consideration of a personal nature. After Liao-yang the Czar had ordered the formation of a Second Manchurian Army under a separate command, on the ground that the active direction in the field of such enormous forces as these two armies would represent would be beyond the capacity of any one man. General Gripenberg, a tried old soldier, was appointed to command the Second Army, and there was talk of sending out a Grand Duke to take the supreme direction of the campaign. This would have meant in degree the suppression of General Kuropatkin, and that capable soldier may well have looked with dissatisfaction on such a reward for his signal services. He may have argued with himself that if he could only achieve a decisive victory at this moment his prestige would be restored and his paramountcy assured; and, according to the information which had reached him, that victory was within his grasp. But, unfortunately, that information was wholly erroneous. Far from being dispirited and exhausted, the Japanese forces were on the very point of advancing to the attack again when Kuropatkin formed his momentous resolution and issued orders for "the march to Liao-yang". If his movement was hailed with almost delirious enthusiasm in St. Petersburg, it was observed with hardly less satisfaction at Tokio, where it was at once recognized that the enemy were obligingly releasing Marshal Oyama from the necessity of a long march and another attack on fortified positions.

Reinforcements for Both Sides

By this time Kuropatkin's forces—thanks to the completion of the Circum-Baikal railway—had reached 250,000, with more than 800 guns. The Japanese strength, after reinforcements both from Japan and from the army investing Port Arthur, cannot have been much less; though at the close of the battle which was about to be fought Marshal Oyama asserted that at all points his victorious troops had been outnumbered. However that may be, the Japanese had the advantage of a prepared position, the key of which was in rugged mountainous country. Unlike the battle of Liao-yang, of which minute details have already been furnished, the battle of Yentai, as it was first called, or of Sha-ho, as it came to be known afterwards, can only be followed in its broad outline, mainly because the maps available are utterly inadequate. The place-names which mark the direction of the operations in one official report rarely agree with those in the other official report, and can only be vaguely identified. But a rough sketch-map is at least sufficient to give the general bearings of the operations. The Japanese front extended in a horseshoe formation from Yentai, on the railway, to Pensihu, on the Taitse River, with Oku on the left, Nodzu in the centre, and Kuroki on the right. The plan of Kuropatkin—a plan which in the light of after events we know to have been beyond the possibility of achievement—was to attack the right wing of the Japanese army under Kuroki, and roll it back upon Liao-yang, while the Japanese left and centre were held in front; then to shut up Oyama and his troops in Liao-yang, much as Sir George White was shut up in Ladysmith, while a rapid march southwards was made to the relief of Port Arthur.

Battle of the Sha-ho

On the 5th October the Russian advance began on both sides of the railway from Mukden, and from Fushan against the Japanese right. The flank movement, on the success of which all Kuropatkin's schemes were based, was entrusted to Stackelberg and Rennenkampf—Stackelberg attacking from the north, and Rennenkampf with his Cossacks, working round from the northeast. On Sunday, the 9th October, the first contact between the opposing armies was made, and Stackelberg—much to his own surprise—was able to occupy Bentsiaputse, a place north of the Yentai coalmines, commanding the main roads to Fushan, Mukden, and Liao-yang. It had been expected that the Japanese would make a desperate stand here, but they retreated after offering only a feeble resistance. Meanwhile, Rennenkampf fiercely assailed Kuroki's extreme right at Pensihu, while a force of Cossacks some 3,000 strong daringly crossed the Taitse River and severed Kuroki's communications in the rear. Up to this moment everything had seemed to go well with the Russian plan of attack. Several important positions east of Pensihu were taken by assault, and Kuroki's situation seemed critical for the moment. But Marshal Oyama appears never to have doubted the ability of his well-tried lieutenant to hold his own, and no sooner had the whole scheme of his enemy been developed than he decided to counter it with a vigorous offensive. Kuroki was reinforced on the 10th, while a force of cavalry detached to operate against the Cossacks south of the Taitse-ho succeeded in driving the enemy off and in restoring the interrupted communications. As soon as the reinforcements reached Kuroki at Pensihu he put the possibility of his being "rolled up" beyond all doubt by fiercely assailing Stackelberg and recapturing the positions which had temporarily fallen into Russian hands. Thereafter he remained completely master of the situation, and the desperate but futile assaults which he sustained in the next few days only resulted in a tremendous casualty list for the enemy—a list totalling at least 20,000. The decisive repulse of the Russian flanking movement involved the frustration of the whole of Kuropatkin's plans in advancing from the Hun-ho. But the battle had only just begun yet, for the Russian right and centre, which had begun their southward march with such confidence, now found theirrolechanged from attack to defence; and instead of the Japanese being, according to program, forced back upon Liao-yang, it became a question whether the Russians would be able to make good their retreat on Mukden. General Oku, advancing along the railway to the west, after two days' hard fighting drove back Kuropatkin's right to the line of the Shi-li-ho; while General Nodzu on the east of the railway was equally successful, and signalized his victory by a considerable capture of guns. Oyama's object now was to drive his enemy eastwards from the railway and back upon the Hun-ho, when it would be impossible for him to escape disaster. For some days this tremendous issue hung in the balance, and the Japanese forces were within an ace of accomplishing their purpose. But thanks to the dogged tenacity of the Russian troops, and thanks still more to the terribly wasting and exhausting effect of a week's continuous fighting, the impetus of the Japanese attack was not quite sufficient to complete the promised triumph; and at last the two great armies came to a standstill some ten miles south of Mukden, incapable of further action.

Two Hundred Hours of Carnage

From the 9th October to the 17th the relentless struggle raged along this wide front of more than 20 miles. Day and night the devoted troops on either side flung themselves with reckless bravery on the positions of their foes; while from nearly 2,000 guns an incessant storm of shrapnel and shell burst over the contested ground. Liao-yang had been terrible enough; but from all accounts the artillery duel at the battle of Sha-ho even eclipsed the terrific incidents of the earlier engagements. On the 13th the Russian retreat became general, and Oku, capturing twenty-five Russian guns, succeeded in driving the troops opposed to him back from the line of the Shi-li-ho to the Sha-ho, where behind defences which the forethought of Kuropatkin had provided, they prepared to make their last desperate stand. The forces before Kuroki had retreated towards Fushan in a northeasterly direction; and those before Nodzu in the centre, after suffering losses almost as heavy as Stackelberg's columns had sustained, fell back in something approaching to disorder on the line of the Sha-ho. The position of Kuropatkin's army was now exceedingly critical, and it was not without cause that he issued a general order that the ground occupied must be held at all costs. It is evident that to make good the retreat Stackelberg's troops on the extreme east, which were far in advance of the rest of the Russian line, must be withdrawn first, and that the central army under Zarubaieff, which again was far in advance of the right wing, must be drawn back next; and that during these perilous operations General Bilderling, who commanded the Russian right resting behind the Sha-ho, must stand firm. By the skin of his teeth, almost, Bilderling just managed to hold his ground. On the 13th Oku's impetuous assault upon the Russian lines succeeded so far as to break the Russian centre. Had that advantage been maintained nothing could have saved the Russian army. But by a tremendous effort the last reserves were brought up and recaptured the ground that had been lost. For thirty-six hours the battle raged with varying fortune at this critical point; but the Russians held on, and these thirty-six priceless hours being gained, the Russian centre and left were saved. On the 14th, five days after the battle had begun, a deluge of rain fell—a deluge precipitated, as at Liao-yang, by the heavy and incessant firing—and the already sorely-tried troops of Oku found their further movements grievously impeded. For several days more, however, the contest on the Sha-ho raged with unabated fury. Again and again the Russians made fierce counter-attacks on the Japanese, sustaining terrible losses in consequence. One position—a dominant elevation on the south bank of the Sha-ho, known as Lonely-Tree Hill—was the scene of long-continued and desperate fighting, in which both armies alternately captured and were driven from the vantage ground. It was here that the one substantial success of the Russian arms was achieved in the capture of twelve Japanese guns. During Sunday, the 16th of October the Russians had delivered no less than seven counter-attacks on Oku's troops, and all of them had been beaten back with loss. In these engagements a conspicuous part had been played by a force under Brigadier-General Yamada, made up of troops from Nodzu's and Oku's commands, which succeeded in penetrating the Russian line and in capturing two guns. But in returning to camp after this exploit, Yamada's force had ventured too far and was enveloped by a Russian division, and was only able to win through by the sacrifice of its guns, after a fierce hand-to-hand encounter in which the casualties were nearly 1,000.

JAPANESE OUTPOSTS RELIEVING GUARD NEAR THE SHA-HO.

Slowly, reluctantly, after fitful recrudescences, the great battle wore itself out, and by the 20th October the two armies were left facing each other on either side of the Sha-ho—a line 15 miles north of that which the Japanese had occupied before the engagement began. The net result, therefore, was a decided gain of ground for the Japanese, and the infliction of losses greater than had been sustained in any previous battle on the Russian army. Telegraphing to Tokio on the 15th, Marshal Oyama thus summed up the results of the fighting as far as it had gone—a summary which further events did not alter:—

"As a sequel to a fight lasting continuously for five days, we have driven back the superior forces of the enemy at every point, pursuing him and forcing him to the south bank of the Hun. We have inflicted heavy losses, and captured over thirty guns and hundreds of prisoners. We have defeated his plans and converted an offensive operation into a radical failure."

Awful List of Casualties

"Radical failure" in war means far more than defeated plans. It carries with it an awful and immediate penalty levied in killed and wounded, and when the tale of losses came to be counted it was found to exceed even the most pessimistic anticipations. The Russian dead left on the field alone numbered no less than 13,333; and as the wounded, at the lowest estimate, cannot have been less than four to one, it is apparent that the total casualties suffered by General Kuropatkin's troops must have been between 60,000 and 70,000. An index to the severity of the fighting is afforded by an analysis of these returns, which shows that more than 5,000 Russian dead were found before both Oku's army and Kuroki's. Even the Russian General Staff, which has shown a decided tendency to minimize losses, did not venture to place those sustained at Sha-ho at less than 45,000 rank and file and 800 officers. The total Japanese losses, on the other hand, though heavy, were but a fraction of their foe's. Oyama placing them at 15,879. But the loss in life was not the only disastrous result of the battle for the army of the Czar. The Japanese captured 709 prisoners and 45 guns, with large quantities of arms and ammunition; and against these captures are to be set the twelve guns lost at Lonely-Tree Hill, rechristened by the Russians Putiloff Hill in honor of the officer who achieved the success, and who was immediately decorated by the Czar. In one sense the battle of the Sha-ho may be regarded as indecisive, in that it left the two contending armies again at a deadlock. At Liao-yang the strategy of both generals had failed, and in a less degree the same result was reached at Sha-ho; for Oyama's initial success could not be followed up to its legitimate and triumphant conclusion. But, on the other hand, Kuropatkin's effort to march to Liao-yang and make a diversion in favor of Port Arthur had signally failed; and the army which he had ostentatiously declared to be strong enough to take the offensive and had been hurled back by "the arrogant foe," who were at last to be "compelled to do the Russian will." It was in that circumstance that the real measure of the Japanese victory was to be found—that after eight months of war the armies of the Czar were still unequal to the task committed to them. Had Kuropatkin been even in a measure successful in this, his first great offensive movement, the moral effect could not have failed to be incalculable. As it was, it inflicted one more discouragement on troops that had experienced nothing but retreats and reverses from the opening of the campaign. The temper in which the Japanese accepted the new laurels which their army had won was eminently characteristic of a nation which has, in spite of all temptations to vainglory and exultation, comforted itself with perfect sobriety and self-restraint. The Mikado issued a rescript to his people, the terms of which are worth giving, if only for the contrast which they offer to some of the addresses issued from St. Petersburg and the headquarters of Alexeieff:—

"Since the outbreak of the war our army and our navy have demonstrated their bravery and loyalty, while both officials and people have acted in unison to support the cause. So far, success has attended our cause, but, the ultimate accomplishment being yet far distant, it is necessary to be patient and steadfast in the pursuance of our action, and thus aim at the final accomplishment of our purpose."

Threat and Counterthreat

Another and even more striking testimony to the inflexible determination of the Japanese people was supplied by the Army rescript issued at the end of September in connection with the expansion of the Japanese military system. The Government of the Czar had demonstrated its intention to prosecute the war unflinchingly by the creation of a second Manchurian Army. Japan's answer to this menace was to extend the period of service with the colors in the Japanese army from nine to fourteen years, by which act the available reserves for the army in Manchuria were increased at a stroke by nearly half a million men. But though Japan could answer promptly and adequately the steps which her foe had taken to strengthen his armies in the field, it was not so easy to recompense herself for the elimination of a source of weakness in her enemy's counsels. Admiral Alexeieff, whose fatal influence had been as valuable as several battleships and army corps to the Japanese, was finally recalled to St. Petersburg at the end of October. On the 26th of that month the Viceroy issued an address to the troops, announcing, in his usually inflated style, that on his own request he had been relieved of the duties of Commander-in-Chief, while being retained in the office of Viceroy and assured of the continuance of the Imperial confidence and favor. In less than a week from the issue of that manifesto, it was announced that Alexeieff and his staff were on the way to St. Petersburg by express train, and that there was no probability of their return, while Kuropatkin was left in supreme command.

The Veil Lifted from Port Arthur

No sooner had the echoes of the great battle of the Sha-ho died down than the attention of the world was turned again to Port Arthur, where the long and desperate siege was continuing with undiminished determination on the part of the attack and invincible heroism on the part of the defence. For months together little authentic news of the progress of events had been allowed to leak out; but suddenly, in the beginning of November, the Japanese censor removed his restrictions, and a vivid and circumstantial narrative of the operations was allowed to come through. By the end of June the Japanese forces of investment had occupied a line across the Kwang-tung Peninsula running from Ingentsi Bay, on the north, southeastwards to a point on the south coast-line some ten miles east of Dalny. After another month's diligent assault they had advanced the line nearly five miles—from Vostikorablei Bay on the north to Takhe Bay on the south. Another advance in the beginning of August brought the extreme right of their line down to Louisa Bay on the west, and roughly round in a semicircle to Takhe Bay, confronting the main line of the formidable Russian defences. The great assault of the 28th August was, on the whole, unsuccessful, and achieved nothing on the east. But on the west the line of investment was drawn still further south until it rested on Pigeon Bay. It is now necessary to understand more exactly the nature of the task with which the Japanese army of investment was confronted. Port Arthur lies in a sort of amphitheatre formed by ranges of hills varying in height from 1,300 feet to 1,500 feet. These hills sweep round from Golden Hill—the promontory which on the east commands the entrance to the harbor—northwards for a distance of nearly three miles. Then, where the railway line and road pass through them, they turn westwards and southwards, extending down the toe of the Kwang-tung promontory to a point parallel with the base of the Tiger's Tail; while further south still is the formidable Liao-tie-shan range, some 1,500 feet high. On all these hills the Russians had constructed huge fortifications strengthened with every device which the military engineer's art could suggest, and armed with the most powerful artillery. It is true that some of the correspondents who paid hurried visits to the great naval fortress before the actual outbreak of hostilities were inclined to belittle the strength of the defences. Thus Mr. Bennet Burleigh, of the LondonTelegraph, in a most interesting account expressed his belief that the Russian stronghold was over-fortified, and that it would be possible for those who captured outlying defence to command the inner forts. On the other hand, it must be remembered that the most skilful engineers in the world had been employed by the Russians in the construction of the forts, and the fact that such a magnificent and substantial resistance was offered to ten times the number of soldiers as cleared out the Chinese in a few days, proves that the soundest military principles were adhered to. The main positions were defended by advanced works surrounded by deep moats, in which were built bombproof defences, roofed with steel plates, and by fanfasses, or mines filled with huge stones, which could be exploded by the pressure of an electric button. The approaches were rendered almost inaccessible by barbed-wire entanglements, pits planted with sharpened stakes, and by transverse works and trenches which commanded with an enfilading fire every possible line of advance. The broad scheme of the fortifications may be easily grasped. Fronting Takhe Bay on the east is the Petushan group of forts, with the Keekwan-Urlong forts commanding the approaches from the north and the northeast, and preventing the Petushan forts from being taken in reverse. West of these forts and on the other side of the parade-ground and railway are the Antszshan and the Etseshan forts, which prevent any attack from the northwest, while a chain of forts from Antszshan to Sunghslwo, running southeastwards down to the inner harbor, command the parade-ground and railway line. Another line of forts stretches due south from Etseshan to White Wolf Hill on the west side of the west port, while yet another series of heavy fortifications surmounts the high ground along the Tiger's Tail. Well might the Russians boast that their fortress was impregnable, for if any place of arms could be justly so described, Nature and military ingenuity had combined to earn that title for Port Arthur. At the outset of the investment, Port Arthur's garrison numbered, all told, some 35,000 men. It was made up of the 3rd, 4th and 7th East Siberian Rifle Brigades, with part of the 6th, and with the East Siberian Rifle Artillery Division, and, of course, with the crews of all the men-o'-war lying imprisoned in the harbor. The numbers were none too great to man adequately the great chain of works behind which Port Arthur's security lay; but the troops were of the best quality, and they had the invaluable inspiration of such a leader as General Stoessel, with such a capable and gallant lieutenant as General Fock. Stoessel, the hero of the Russian army in the present war, is descended from an old military family. His grandfather was a general in the Swedish army, who afterwards settled in Russia. Stoessel himself, who was born in 1848, entered the Russian army as a cadet at the age of ten, and received his commission eight years later, at the same time, curiously enough, as Kuropatkin. He served with distinction in the Russo-Turkish War, and afterwards held important commands in Siberia, while since 1899 he had been stationed at Port Arthur. To the assault and investment of the fortress, the Japanese, under Nogi, brought up at first 60,000 men, and, as the operations advanced, large reinforcements which not only made good the enormous losses sustained, but swelled the fighting strength to nearly 100,000 men. This number fluctuated to some extent, for at least two divisions were drawn off from the siege to reinforce Oyama at the battle of the Sha-ho; but at no time can the total forces before Port Arthur have been less than 60,000, and then superiority in numbers to the defence gradually increased until from a proportion of two to one, it had reached the proportion of six or seven to one. This growing disparity, of course, was due to the fact that while the Japanese could replenish their exhausted ranks, the Russian garrison could not fill the gaps caused by wounds and sickness; while a further reduction of at least 5,000 men in the forces at Stoessel's command was made by the naval sortie on August 10th. That feat, of course, deprived Port Arthur of the services of the crews of all the vessels that escaped to neutral ports.

JAPANESE SCALING FORT AT PORT ARTHUR.

Capture of Forts

In the great assault of the 19th-26th August the Japanese lost 14,000 men, and succeeded only in capturing the Banjushan fort, which is east of the Urlungshan forts. General Nogi then settled down to steady siege operations, drawing his parallels nearer and nearer to the Russian main position, and capturing the all-important Kuropatkin fort early in September. This fort, which stands on Division Hill half-way between Wolf Hill and the harbor, not only commanded the parade-ground, but gave the Japanese the possession of the waterworks from which the garrison drew the main water supply. Up to this moment General Nogi's heaviest guns had been 4.7 and 6in. pieces of the naval type, and they had been quite unequal to the heavy guns of the position mounted in the Russian works. But now heavy siege guns and 11in. howitzers arrived from Japan, and immediately their effect began to make itself felt, so that by the 19th September another assault was resolved on. This was directed against three points of the ring of defensive works—against the metre-hill forts on the west, and (the outworks, as it were of the great Etseshan and Antszshan forts) against the advanced works of Urlungshan on the northeast, and against the lunettes in the Shuishi Valley which connects the Antszshan and the Urlungshan forts. At this last point some of the fiercest fighting of the whole siege took place. The Shuishi Valley was defended by a series of strong lunettes connected by advance works, within fifty yards of which the Japanese had advanced their parallels. On the evening of the 19th September four desperate assaults were delivered against the westernmost lunette. All, however, were beaten back. At dawn the assault was renewed with greater strength, and the western lunette was carried, mainly by the employment of dynamite grenades. The Russian garrison were driven out of the trenches, losing three quick-firers, four machine guns, and two mortars, but inflicting on the victors losses amounting to over 400 killed and wounded. At the same time a determined assault was made on 203 Metre Hill and the adjoining ridge by three regiments of the right division. The assaulting parties reached the dead ground beneath the ridge, but there they were compelled to remain during the night. At dawn on the 20th a terrific bombardment on the position began and continued till evening; and when the night had fallen the Japanese rushed the trenches on the eastern extremity of the crest line after a fierce hand-to-hand fight in which not only bayonets but even stones were used. But only part of the work had been won. The fort on the southwestern slopes of the ridges was still untaken, and though a small party of the besiegers penetrated the defences here, they were driven out again next day, and four more assaults delivered during the next two days proved equally unavailing though terribly costly in life—the casualty list at this point alone amounting to 2,000. The defences of this advance fort on 203 Metre Hill were typical of the obstacles which the Japanese had to overcome in the prosecution of their assaults. The bomb-proofs connecting the network of trenches which seared the slopes of the hill were made of steel plates covered with earth, and a triple row of wire entanglements made the ground in front of the trenches impassable. In the operations from the 19th to the 26th September the Japanese lost more than 4,000 killed and wounded. In the assault at the same time on the advanced works of Urlungshan the parallels of the Japanese had been carried to within fifty yards of the defences, but the assault still proved a costly business. Again and again the assaulting rushes were swept back by rifle and machine-gun fire; but the indomitable spirit of the Mikado's troops at length prevailed, and the redoubt was carried at the point of the bayonet. The position thus gained in front of Urlungshan enabled the Japanese to mount their heavy howitzers in such a way as to bombard not only the main forts but the harbor with great effect; and in the course of a few days several of the warships lying at anchor were severely damaged by the high-angle fire. By hard fighting and diligent sapping the investing army now continued to make steady progress against the Urlungshan forts which lie just east of the road and railway and command their approach to Port Arthur. On the 10th October the attack managed to establish itself on the crest of the East Urlungshan fort, and on the 16th the entrenched hill between Urlungshan and Banjushan, the latter of which was already in Japanese hands, was taken by storm. On the 25th October the glacis of East Urlungshan was stormed and held in spite of repeated counter-attacks on the part of the Russians. In front of these forts on the northeastern side the fiercest fighting continued all through the latter part of October and the early part of November, the general result being that the Japanese saps were brought within less than 300 yards of the main positions while the fire from the howitzers finally silenced the great forts of Urlungshan and Shunshusan. But these successes, though considerable, were insufficient to make a really serious breach in the main lines of the defence, as long as the great forts on the west—Antszshan and Etseshan—held out, and forthwith the Japanese attack was diverted to the latter of those two strongholds. Meanwhile, the heavy and incessant fire directed on the harbor and the town had been most destructive. The naval repairing works had to be abandoned, and both the old and the new Chinese towns were rendered uninhabitable where their buildings were not razed to the ground or consumed by the fires started by the bursting shells.

Devices of the Besiegers

For the first time in history a fortress constructed according to the latest principles of military science, and defended by modern long-range artillery, was being besieged; and like the old walled cities of the 17th and 18th centuries, its defences could only be overcome by sap and mine and parallel. So much the assailants had learnt to their cost in their earlier and futile attempts at taking the place by storm. The exigencies of these operations led to the adoption of many ingenious devices by the forces on both sides—such, for instance, as a steel bullet-proof shield to protect the pioneer engaged in cutting wire entanglements; and the deadly grenade charged with dynamite, flung into the enemy's trenches by the hand or by means of wooden mortars bound with bamboo. At first the Japanese had chosen the night time for their assaults, but this plan had to be abandoned owing to the effective employment by the Russians of searchlights and star shells, the former having the effect not only of exposing the assaulting troops to the fire of the defenders, but blinding them in their advance on their objective. Throughout the siege the defenders had shown not only indomitable courage, but inexhaustible resource, and in spite of all the discouragement which the steady and inexorable advance of the Japanese might have been supposed to inflict, they continued equal to every demand on their fortitude. From time to time supplies reached them by means of blockade-runners, but this was but a precarious and inadequate means of replenishing the stores on which such a long and severe strain had been made. And yet, in spite of all rumors to the effect that ammunition was running short, the great guns continued to hurl their defiance at the Japanese artillery, and never in any single instance was the defence weakened by a failure of powder and shot. Though the Russians had failed to foresee many things which the course of the war has proved to have been fairly obvious, no one can pretend that they failed to equip their great stronghold in the Far East in a manner worthy of its claim to rank as "the Gibraltar of the East." After nearly six months of close investment and almost continuous bombardment, the fortress still held at bay an enemy who had proved himself, not only before the defences of Port Arthur, but in many a stricken field beside, to possess fighting qualities rarely equalled and never surpassed in the world's history of warfare—an enemy, too, who possessed every resource of military science, and who had studied in the best military schools. The fact that the Japanese, who had confidently expected to take Port Arthur before the end of the summer had not even by the middle of November made a decisive breach in its main defences, speaks volumes for the character of those defences. But even the strongest fortifications that human ingenuity can construct are only formidable when men of high spirit man them; and the chief credit for having baffled so long the most desperate efforts of Japanese skill and courage must ever be given to General Stoessel and the men who, serving under him, became infected with his spirit and inspired by his example. By the middle of November the Japanese lines had, indeed, been drawn very close round the devoted citadel of the Czar. They were in possession of the eastern ridge, and held practically at their mercy that great ring of fortified hills which shuts in Port Arthur from the Dalny side. They had cut the main water supply of the garrison, and they had possessed themselves of important ground to the north of the old town, and their siege guns were able to render the dockyards and the harbor untenable for ships of war. To the west the advance had been less signal, and their foothold on the great ridge which commands the fortress on the western side was at best slight and precarious; while not even the faintest impression had been made on the great chain of fortifications at Liau-tie-shan, in the extreme south corner of the peninsula.

The Undaunted Stoessel

Tremendous efforts had been made to achieve the capture of the place by the 3rd November, the birthday of the Mikado; but that auspicious day passed without the fall of Port Arthur seeming to be in any degree nearer, while General Stoessel continued to send cheerful and undaunted messages to his Imperial master whenever a boat succeeded in running the blockade of the Japanese fleet and in reaching Chifu. Through all these protracted and strenuous operations, the losses of the Japanese had been very severe; they cannot have been less than 40,000 men, and they may have been considerably more. The garrison had suffered less severely, but in the absence of reserves their losses were even more serious, and by the middle of November the total effective force was little more than 10,000 men. It will ever be a mystery how a force so utterly inferior to its enemy, defending, a wide perimeter of fortifications, every point of which was daily liable to fierce assault and bombardment, could for so many weeks endure the awful strain to which it was subjected. Yet the indomitable garrison was never quiescent or passive in its resistance. Besides repelling assault, it engaged in continual sorties and counter-attacks, and often, when driven from an essential position succeeded in recapturing it at the point of the bayonet. A remarkable instance of this offensive capacity was furnished in the course of the great assault from the 19th September to the 26th September. In operating from the north against the defences of the Shuishi Valley, which lies between Antszshan and Urlungshan, the Japanese, after their first success, pressed on against High Hill, a position of the most vital importance to the defence, as it permitted the principal forts on the west of the town to be taken in reverse. As any attempt to retake the hill must be a desperate enterprise, General Stoessel refused to issue an order for its recapture, but called for volunteers. The requisite number were at once forthcoming, and led by Lieutenant Podgorsky, they attacked the Japanese with grenades and drove them from the position which they had already begun to entrench.

In his dispatch of the 23rd September, this is how General Stoessel reports the affair:—

The Gallant Podgorsky

"The last assault on High Hill was repulsed to-day at 5 o'clock in the morning. The enemy had actually occupied some of the defences of the High Hill position and had placed machine-guns in them, which they directed against our troops. Lieutenant Podgorsky was dispatched to this part of the field by General Kondrachenko with a force of chasseurs and engineers, who under the direction of Colonel Irmann hurled grenades filled with pyroxiline into the works held by the Japanese. These exploded among the enemy, who fled in panic. Captain Sytcheff, of the 5th Regiment, pursued the flying foe with chasseurs. Colonel Irmann attributes the principal share in the work of compelling the enemy to withdraw entirely from High Hill to Lieutenant Podgorsky. The Japanese lost over 10,000 men. All our troops distinguished themselves. General Kondrachenko, Colonel Irmann, Captain Sytcheff, and Lieutenant Podgorsky won special distinction. The troops fought heroically, particularly the 5th Regiment. The whole garrison down to the last man is resolved to defend Russia's bulwark in the Far East to the last drop of blood."

World-wide Admiration

But even the greatest heroism cannot achieve the impossible; and in spite of Stoessel's persistent optimism, it became evident that his powers of resistance were daily diminishing. An attempt on the part of the Japanese General to induce the garrison to capitulate in spite of their leader, met with no response; but throughout the civilized world, whose sympathy and admiration had been deeply stirred by the heroic stand of Port Arthur's garrison, voices were lifted to urge that no more useless sacrifice of noble life should be permitted; and that the men who had done so much for the honor of the Czar should be spared at least the last mortal agony of the struggle with the inevitable.

Uncertain News

On the 15th, however, a Russian torpedo-boat bearing dispatches from Stoessel managed to elude the blockade and to reach Chifu, pursued by Japanese destroyers. The boat was warned that it must leave the neutral harbor within twenty-four hours or be disarmed, and rather than submit to either of these alternatives, the officer in command blew his vessel up. But his work had been done; and his dispatches containing the latest accounts of the position at Port Arthur reached St. Petersburg. Immediately afterwards the report arrived that General Kuropatkin had been empowered to treat for terms of capitulation for Port Arthur. But whether that was in fact the result of Stoessel's message, or whether the Czar's Government received from it encouragement in the belief that Port Arthur could hold out till the arrival of the Baltic Fleet, is a question which is still unanswered.

THE REMNANT OF A REGIMENT—AFTER THE BATTLE OF THE SHA-HO.

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