The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-09-12

!
of discharging one gun after another
rapidly and with precision. To-
day four Russian guns saluted
the Japanese for an hour as a
regiment of the latter was moving into
position before the Russian front. The
manner Of il was "Onei Two! Three,
Fouri" again Their infantry work is
on the same order. Occasionally the
japanese use volleys but most of the
time they fire at will giving the enemy
less information of their position and
gaining the advantage of individual
craftsmanship. They lie like hunter
in the bush waiting for his game and
when they see it they blaze away.
BOer Tactics.
"Boer tactics" their officers explain.
For the Russians it is as though
the Boer War had never BEEN an
English officer exclaimed, while watch
ing tAe fight of the seventeenth. The
Russian soldier has not the head to be
trusted to use his ammunition of his
own free WILL is the general eXplana-
ton. Moreover, it is the opinion of all
who have seen the two in battle that
the Russians are much poorer marks
men than the Japanese, although the
latter are not rated as high as certain
other armies.
No one who has seen this campaign
!
| superiority of the Japanese lies in the
| head work of officers and men. The
| scene around the temple nearest the
! pass when the correspondents arrived
on the field bore witness eloquently to
tn courage of the patient Slav.
Through four terrible hours the Thir-
| ty-fourth European Regiment held
their ground under fierce fire from
| the japanese redoubts above them. The
temple consists of one stored gray
| brick buildings forming three sides of
| a square, with a brick wall in front.
The compound is perhaps a hundred
feet square and looking in through the
| gates one sees the monster scarlet and
| gold painted mud effigies of grotesque
dieties of war who by their spells kept
| back the Japanese from the Molten
Ling ten years ago. This month their
shrine has sheltered many Japanese
| struck down by Russian bullets, the
Red Gross hangs in its gateway and
the telegraph ticks on its altar To the
right of the temple facing the pass)
| runs a road which, there, is about 1000
| yards from the main Japanese re-
| doubts on the topmost ridges, and
; whicE, gradually sScendi.e% stretches
to the right for half mile or more
at an angle nearing the trenches which
are separated from it by a wide, deep
i ravine most of the distance. For four
hours, from to 8, the Russian at
lacking line held the temple and the
| road above ii to the corner where it
/ turns toward the mouth of the pass
and for four hours the japanese in
their trenches poured a continuous and
deadly fire across the intervening
chasm.
Temple Slaughter House.
The temple itself became a veritable
slaughter house In the road and the
bushy field beyond it the Russians
left more than a hundred dead and
wounded, and it was said that at the
.angle of the road, the nearest point
to the pass which they gained, the
bodies lay so close that 1t was neces-
sary to pile them away to make room
for the ammunition trains that fol-
lowed the pursuing columns From Z
| to 3, the Japanese beyond the deep
ravine. fired shrapnel among the Rus
sian infantry at a range of little more
| than 1000 yards. Several shell struck
the temple walls. Two of them pene-
trated fifteen inches of compact bricks
and dropped inside the yard. All
over the temple and over the road and
the fields about it, shrapnel balls were
strewn thickly and the ground was
sowed with rifle bullets, which could
be picked up on every square foot.
They testified convincingly to the
staying powers of the Russian soldiery
as convincingly to the judgment of
their officers in electing to make a
frontal attack against the gateway to
SoIAhern Manchuria.
! L idence more striking was the harv-
est of the bullets. Not since Hamatan
has this army seen more men disabled
on a small area. Along the line where
the Russian wave broke it left a
fringe of dead and wounded. Five
bodies were close together in the
road just above the temple, all lying
with their faces toward the enemy
as they had dropped, apparently in
the first rush. One corpse was on its
hands and knees still clutching a rife
and but for the head fallen forward
on the chest might have seemed alive
and STOPPING to shoot. Others lay or
their faces as they had been stricken
with instant death. And others, some
not yet dead, had crawled behind
bushes and rocks in hope of shelter
Two rifles stuck up in the road against
little piles of stones, with handker.
chiefs tied to the bayonets just as haC
been done at Hamatan. The owners
it seemed. tired of the fight
had surrendered when the Japa,
nese came down upon them
They were not the only ones t
abandon the business.
The Search for the wounded.
s IHe SQuduS searching Tor WOunQeC
{ discovered several stalwart soldier.
a without any marks on them huddled il
= the shrubbery. OF one of these a for
/ eign attache, speaking Russian, asked
! II he was not ashamed mo" replied
e the soldier, Il have had enough of thi.
;. war, and / made up my mind to b,
= taken prisoner the first time / founc
r a chance" The reports current in tn,
?. army credit many Russian prisoners
( with the same action.
n The Russians go into battle will
2 heavy marching equipment, weighted
s down by all their effects. One soldier
e mortally wounded, wore his heavy Goa
n IN roll over his shoulder, an en-,
$ trenching spade, cooking pot. a can.
? vass bag filled with black bread
l canteen and a bandolier of cartridge
] We're strapped to him. and ! saw
= Japanese stop and cut these weight,
y from his enemy and drag him into IN,
v shade Of a bush, putting a blanket un.
p der his head and handkerchief ovei
his face. Russian impedimenta wer,
% strewn all over the field. Most no,
r ticeable were the heavy SNUFF colorec
s coats which prove useful IN Japanes,
}, hospitals the crude wooden watel
s TASKS. the pouches Of coarse bread. nu,
q merous rifles dropped in the retreat
Z and two or three drums emblazonet
. with The double-hcaded eagle. who's,
p abandonment b. almost Ike giving uI
y the colors
r. Gen. Nichi observed the end 81 th,
frna cement from fs.. attfsfssft - f.ff