The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-20

15,000 shells fell upon the Russian po- sitions. making 1t absolutely impossi- ole owork the guns. The Japanese used both shrapnel and impact shells. and both were terribly effective The Russian redoubts. which were of the |, old-fashioned kind. offered scarcely any protection from the shrapneI
 while the new high explosive first used in this war by the Japanese caused fearful havoc. ripping up the entire top of the ridge like a plowed field. Notwithstanding this fire and the face that their artillery was no longer able to reply to the enemy's guns. the Russ rian troops on the ridges held their ground without fijnchlng. and would probably have continued to hold it hed they been called upon to do so
 The scene during this frightful can | nonade was typical of modern war.
 Looking toward the Japanese lines.
 nothing was visible except the brown
 ish- green slopes of the hills, ribbed by
 the darker shading of the gorges
 in the little valleys, nestled a Chinese village, its yellow mud walls and
 matched roofs bas-selieved by con- trast. Accasional stretches of the
 stream, where its course fell into line with the eye. were marked by a silvery sheen. Nowhere within the hill bound perimiter of vision the slightest sign of the enemy. The deafeninR
 roar of 200 guns. Jumbled by a quick
 firing mechanism into a sound like that | caused by a boy scraping a stout stick
 rapidly along a picket fence, smote the ear. But more real, more palpable than the noise was the vibration of
 the atmosphere, which quivered under the concussion like tuning-f fork
 causing keen, yet seemingly faraway. | juggling of the ear-drums. The roar
 was punctuated by the nearer more l acute. bursting of the shells and the
 raucous whine of shrapnel, after it | blows its head of, gave out a distinct
 note of its own. Shells were burst ing high up in the air, leaving a pale blue ring of smoke. as If some destruc- tive spirit had puffed upon an invisible cigar; others. nearer the earth. extend ed penetrating fumes. together with | their clusters of shot; still others of
 tsA impact variety. ricochetted over
 the ground, throwing up by their ex- | plosion cloud of stones and dust But still no enemy. Shells are burst ing by thousands, hundreds of men are being killed by them, but whence do they come?
 In this battle the Japanese used en- tirely the indirect method of firing,
 made possible by the long range and
 consequently high aiming elevations of modern field guns. For the information
 of the unsophisticated. I will explain
 that indirect firing consists in placing guns behind an elevation of the ground. and by raising their muzzles at an am gle mathematically calculated, firing
 at an object long distance away. Thus.
 while the projectile. which takes | curved flight. reaches the object at
 which 1t is aimed. line of visior which l Is direct cannot reach the gun from the object fired at. So the Russians at Wa Feng Goa were for hours under a ter
 rife artillery fire. yet moo once did they
 catch sight of a Japanese gun. Of
 coourse, while they were able to reply,
 they directed their own fire where the
 enemy was supposed to be. and prob | ably did him considerable damage until
 their own guns were put out of action
 by the superior fire of the Japanese.
 l have tried to make clear General | kuropatkin's situation and the difficult
 ties which have beset him. The Rus. ! sian Commander-in-C Chief has had more l handicaps than numerical weakness q
 strategically difficult position and
 lack of support in certain high quar- | ters. It is not to be wondered at that
 of late his temper has become SO IT,
 ritable that even his chief lieutenants
 hesitate to approach him. As for Gen
 eral Kuropatkin's relations with the | Viceroy, they are no longer even out
 wardly amiable. All pretense has been
 thrown aside. and the whole army
 knows that the Commanding Gener Il | and the Viceroy hold no communica- | tion with each other beyond what is
 absolutely necessary. As will readily
 be understood. this knowledge does not tend to increase the general morale