The San Francisco call., 1904-12-06

DASH INTO
AMBUSCADE
Slaughter by Rennen-
kampff'S Men
Reported.
More Than Fifteen Hundred
Dead Left on the
Battlefield.
Nogi's Warriors Are Attacking the
Northern Line of Forts at
Port Arthur.

TOXIC, Dec. 6, 10 a. NIT is re-
ported that the Japanese lombard
ment against the fleet at Port Arthur
is proceeding to the satisfaction of the
attacking forces. On the evening of
the 4th inst. Sunday two or three
Russian ships were fired and burned
in a half hour. Their names and the
extent of the damage done are not
known. 1t Is generally believed that
the Russian fleet must either make an
early sortie or suffer irreparable dam
age.
LONDON, Dec. 6-A dispatch from
Chefu, dated December g. to the Daily
Telegraph says:
Heavy firing continues at Port Ar
thur to-day The Japanese are making
most determined and persistent efforts
to capture the northern forts"
MUKDEN, Dec. 5.-A four-day artil-
lery duel on the Russian center and
right wing has failed to alter the gen
eral situation.
There is considerable illness among
the Russian troops, consequent upon
close confinement TO the trenches and
bomb proofs and the continual nervous
strain.
There is a persistent rumor that the
force of Japanese sent to turn General
Rennenkampff's flank has been re-
pulsed With great loss. The story is
not vet officially confirmed. bur de-
tails are given with great circumstan-
tiality. 1t is stated that General Rem
nenkampff, who knew the movement
was maturing, awaited the Japanese
at the mouth of one of the captured
passes. and that the japanese turning
force threw itself unsuspectingly into
the ambuscade, where, after the fight,
the Russians collected 500 Japanese
corpses.
1t is added that there are 1000 more
Japanese corpses. which it is impossi-
BILE TO collect, owing to the fire of the
japanese. This does not include the
japanese loss in wounded.
The Russian loss. according to this
account, was only thirty or forty men.
ENTRAPPED AT POUTILOFF.
On the night of December 2 the Jap
anese began a heavy artillery fire on
Pcutiloff Clone Tree) Hill, paving the
way for an infantry attack. The Rus
sian artillery answered vigorously for
several hours and then slackened. The
Japanese, believing the Russian fire
had been silenced, flung themselves in
masses against the trenches, where
| they were allowed to come within close
|
ing volleys and a counter charge with
the bayonet The Japanese fed, hav-
ing sustained enormous losses.
A Cossack expedition which was sent
on the hight of December 2 to capture
| a Japanese battery on the Russian
/ right flank was only partly successful
The Cossacks killed the Japanese SEN
tries and gunners and got possession
of the battery, but were unable to re-
/ fO "a mi
rival of Japanese reinforcements.
On December Captain Gichkoon and
Corporal Companetz crawled up close
TO the Japanese position, where they re-
mained under a heavy fire all day.
making sketches of the whole position,
and returning in safety.
An attack by Japanese on PoutiIoff
Hill on December was probably due
in part to a wish to distract attention
from sapper operations on a neighbor-
ing hill near the village of Shakhe, but
these operations were discovered and
repulsed, and the japanese fed
RUSSIAN NIGHT ATTACKS.
Skirmishes continue. On the night of
November 80 Captain Alexandroff. with
thirty men, routed a force of fifty Jap
anese by a surprise attack on the
! trenches The same night volunteers
under Lieutenant Videtska surrounded
] Japanese near Tougou. This led to a
hand hand fight in the Japanese un-
derground trenches, where twenty more
! Japanese were bayoneted. The Rus
slams lost severely in this fight, a num-
ber being caught in wire entangle-
ments Altogether ten Russians were
killed and fourteen wounded.
The night of December 2 there was
another Russian attack on Japanese
trenches in which a number of troph-
les and rifles were secured, but at the
| cost OF the life of staff Captain Man
] koffsh. one of the most daring of the
Russian scouts, who was killed in
hand -to-hand fighting.
The Japanese did not reply to heavy
| cannonade of their works by Russian
siege guns south Of Suchiatun Ca rail-
way station near Shakhe village) on
| Friday. though they had previously
! shelled the vicinity of Suchiatun with
| the Identical ammunition and Russian
guns captured on board the East Asia
| tic Company's steamship Manchuria
last spring.
The capture of the Manchuria was a
| severe loss to the Russians, as it de-
prived them Of 1000 tons of ammuni-
| ton intended for the large long-range
guns at Port Arthur. 1t was said in
dispatches following the report of the
capture that If the Manchuria had
reached Port Arthur safely the whole
situation would have been changed
The Russian Government regarded
the Manchuria's cargo as of the high
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