The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-09-16
HOW THE FORLORW HOPE
DIED ON KZN-CHAU HEIGHTS
IVild Bayonet Charge Upon the Siberian Rifles Stopped
Al by Fatal Hail Of Lead-Not a Single Man rs.
CAPPED, but ''Batsai' Was Their
@ Last Cry.

higher yet + efore the game is won-or
lost. The, olonel is kneelling at the
head of his PROSTATE battalion, a dark
little staff officer kneels at his side.
The whistle summons the company com
manders. Upright, they stride over the
reclining men. What the colonel says the
men yet do not know; the majority 40
not care; they are lying on then, backs
t ti1eS In front of them are only Rus
sian feldworks, which are contempti-
BILE, and glorious death, Behind them
unfold the panorama of their beloved
country's strength, power, and-What |
sghsps 9ofS not To he 50 left nGs is tho
great blue shallow bay in which until
recently they were standing. The mid
die distance is broken by five gun
boats, whose war.-dulled hulls sparkle
with the constant flashes from the guns
The dirty smoke from their tunnels
great, somber pail above the Russian
works, so that the bright sunlight is
Scared with band Of sullen black.
Half dozen torpedo boats are circling
like terriers at wolf at bay, willing tt.
strike, yet conscious Of the power, of
this particular enemy. Well may they
be cautious, for the surface OF the water
is torn into splits of foam, as pro]ectlles
fall without lntermisslon IN ana among
panorama is more impressive. Behind
the PROSTATE troops, from the very
feet, almost, as far as eye can reach,
the narrow tongue of land is packed
with masses of infantry. The sun runs
riot upon acres of barred and flashing
walls of Kinchau, which those very
bayonets had won that morning: Men
and horse, $4,000 men, massed for the
feshing, suffering death at random-a
target impossible to mi missM a,1 the
their crude patriotism to the final test.
"The company officers return to their
commands, and the word passes down
the limo that the battalion, together
with the sister battalion lying parallel
nearest Of the Russian works. open up
the Russian forts is the expression
used, and a suppressed murmur Of BAN
zai! fickers down the ranks as the men
raise themselves on to their knees.
I" Right shoulder little. 1t is use
ton Of the peak. Right shoulder!, and
the easier path over the saddle will be
found. One minute, and the men can
almost feel the rush of air from the
race of proiectiles passing imme diately
above them; the next, and thru the gaps
front of them they see their goal, and
intuitively make mental measure Of the
distance to be crossed. Two hundred
yards to the bottom of the dip-here
the scattered buildings Of fishing vii
lage-and, then 400 yards Of gentle
climb to that skyline, with it's demarka-
tion Of unceasing flashes and it's dull
yellow-gray curtain of clinging picric
cloud.
"Above the thunder Of battle, the
crash and rattle of the guns, the grind
ing of the automatic death machines
and the sickening swish of metal,
sweeping poor human frames by scores
before it, rises the full-throated war cry
Of Japan, .Banzai!-Live a thousand
, years!' and almost before the men have
those that have. not been stricken down
, have reached the cover of the village.
, But what a trail they have left behind
them; the rearmost companies have to
open out and diverge to right and left,
95 te slope b is er mGs" Snd Of rpcR
their front intensifes and beneath the
rain of projectiles the meager walls of
r the village crumble and SUI side. A
= haze of sun-baked mud-dust rises. from
s the subsiding pile, and, clinging in the
! in its midst. A penthouse falls and
i, brushes hall a plat beneath it. A
y hevy of terror stricken women and
a children, bolted by flame, shell. and
. sights Of death, from their hiding
a places, dash blindly for the open-a
!. moment, and they, too, swell the tale of
= massacre. The fullthroated war cry of
+ Japan is dead >4
l.. IA thin wall Of sBanzai' goes up, an
s officer seizes the emblem of the rising
J. sun, and, bending low to meet the lead.
d en- blizzard, dashes for the slope
n Where, ten minutes ago, he had had a
V company to follow him, he now finds ter
j. or fifteen. men. To right and left little
8 knots of desperate infantrymen dash
l. out into the fury of the blast, only tc
l. wither before it. For, perhaps, ter
e seconds the color is erect and falters
Y onward. Then it is down
e Mahtsomahto Is at his captain 8 heel
d he seizes the loved emblem and raises
h it again. He turns back to wave it anC
J. is swept from his legs; he struggles tt
& his knees; the flag is upright again fo1
ls one second only, and then, as if by
le magic, the firing stops, and for one sec
le ond the Russians jump up upon Their
D. works and wave their caps and shou
r the shout of victory. The two Japanes,
a battalions which furnished the forlor1
t. hope had ceased to exist. The Rus
ic slams cheered, and then the japanese
supporting artillery reopened, and tn
% struggle returned to it's normal state
it The forlorn hope had failed, but wha
Is did that matter; were there not 10000
" as good infantry massed behind tn
i ridge prepared to carry on the DIES
TO perate work which the two lost bat
u talions had begun7
H. "By sunset the Japanese had cal
IF ried this work, and the whole line O
80 Russian defenses went with it. -