The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-09-02
MAP SHOWING FORTIFICATlONS OF PORT ARTHUR, WITH
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION OF EQUIPMENT FOR DEFENSE

ent campaign of the armies in the Tar
East. Reports from the seat of war
are that the Japanese are winning
point after point, hill after hill. forti-
fcations one after another, and are
now making the great eliminating
charge that must cost many thousands
of lives, and which may decide the
war in it's entirety. In view of this
anxious moment the following descrip-
lion of the technical construction Of
Port Arthur's formidable defenses,
given by military correspondent of
the London Times, must be of unusual
interest to those who have followed
the fortunes of the two contending
armies:
1.-The strategical value of Port Arthur
is that it commands, as far as any
land fortress can command, the CULTS
OF Korea and Liaotung, and might
serve as a base of operations either
against Taku and Tien-Tsin, Chefoo or
Wei-Hat-Wei. not to mention Kiao-
chau Its land communications, placed
as it is on a ,eninsula, are defective,
unless it's holders command the sea.
line of defenses across the Kinchau
Isthmus, impregnable from the front.
turned its Achilles heel to the Japa-
nese light-draught craft in Kinchau
Bay, which, silencing the guns on the
Russian left. enabled their brothers of
the army, wading waist deep in the
water, to turn the position. Tactical
EY Port Arthur is 6. difficult prize to
seize. It's defenses are divided into the
land and sea forts, which again may
be sub-divided into seven sections of
defense, four on land and three on sea.
The town lies in a great amphitheater,
its area encompassed by an oval ring
CT hills. rising by degrees to attitudes
of some 1000 to 1,400 feet On every
one of these kills are semi-closed
works-that is to say, forts whose
fronts toward the enemy on the land
side are hidden and protected by
mounds or parapets of earth, while
their gorges, or sides away from the
enemy, are closed by masonry walls
inaccessible to scaling ladders, and
provided with Sits or embrasures for
the defenders to fire through. 1t IS
General Vernander of the Russian en-
gineers, no unworthy successor to Tod
7eben. who is responsible for the site,
Their form is similar to that of the
works on Portsdown Hill, with modern
improvements. That is to say, tech
nically, they are on the kaponier trace,
the bitches being very deep and de-
Tended by kaporiers or projecting tur-
rets of masonry rooted with earth.
These are sunk deep in the earth 50
as to be immune from the bursting
shells of the enemy, and in them are
placed quick-firing guns which sweep
the bitches with a hail of iron pro-
jectiles. The works have also escarp |
and counterscarp galleries. The guns
in these forts I will presently describe. |
They resemble our 10 and II inch |
breechloaders. and among them are a |
few 5.9-inch guns taken from the Chi |
nese in 1900. I counted the hill forts
as drove round the excellent carriage |
road which leads from the Lake Ping |
Chui-Tze, a shallow lagoon east of the |
harbor in which the torpedo boats often |
lie, to Kee-Kwan fort, due north of the |
Chinese town. They are some fifteen |
in number Besides these are the bat |
tries on Golden Hill. I estimated their
number at six to eight. could not |
approach them. The guns in these lat
ter put down as 10 or IL inch, Pouti |
loft pattern, mounted on over-bank |
carriages, with smaller quick-hring |
guns mounted near the Marcoui mast, |
and at intervals down the side of the |
hin ,sloping steeply toward the sea-
ut will be better to describe the peri
meter of the works of Port Arthur, |
commencing from the east, and divid- |
ing its seven sections, or more or less |
interdependent areas of action. The
first Qand) sector, from the east, is |
1900 yards broad; it dominates Pe-Tou- |
Shan or Ri-Tung-Shan Hill above TAX |
he Bay. The Russian term is 'Drakovy |
position Its point d'appui is Pe-Tou- |
Shan fort, about $50 feet above sea |
level, with two dependent batteries on |
the sea side. Facing north are the two
large Urtung forts, with seven smaller |
works, not shown on the map, armed |
with in all eighty guns. OF these guns |
two are % centimeter, thirty-two are
% centimeter and forty-eight Is cent? |
meter caliber. These guns fire north |
and north-northeast. The second Qand) |
sector occupies the SUBMITS of the |
Keekwan Qchan) Hills. 1t comprises |
five forts, marked on the map, to the |
north and northeast of the old Chinese
town. This group of works prevents |
No. I sector from being taken in re- |
verse. The third sector comprises the |
heights west of the old and north or
the new Russian town. 1t comprises |
the large forts of An-Tsz-Shan and E. |
Tse-Shan supported by the Sungshoo |
or Sungsnan fort and three other works. |
Tt commands the parade ground, rail-
way and road and protects the preced-
ing sector from being turned on its |
western flank. The extent of this sector |
is one and half to two miles in depth |
and its front considerably more. 1t |
mounts sixty guns. probably of Is cent? |
meters caliber. There are many open !
works in it which cannot be shown on |
a small scale map. The fourth QanO |
sector extends from the south end of |
Sungshan or Table Hill chain along |
White Wolf Hill to the extreme south |
west of the wei-Yuen or Tiger PENN |