The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1904-09-04

| CHEFU, Sept. 3, g p. m.-On the
night of August 20 the Japanese sur
prised the worn out Russians at Pail
chuang and inflicted severe losses. The
Russians retired and the japanese oc-
cupied their position.
The next morning at 8 o'clock the
japanese, moving from their new van
| tage ground, in heavy force desper-
ateIy assaulted Palichuang and an adj
joining fort repeatedly until o'clock
in the afternoon, when they were
compelled to retire, losing more than
| 1000 men.
Finding those forts impregnable. on
the morning after the 31st, at
| o'clock, the Japanese forces hurled
| themselves against another fort near
Palichuang. By hand-to-hand fight
| ing they succeeded in driving out the
Russians and occupying their position
at z o'clock in the morning. Artil-
lery was brought up and desperate eff
forts were made to make the position
secure, but after enduring for seven
hours the artillery fire from the other
forts the Japanese were compelled to
retire. The Japanese succeeded, how
ever, in rendering the position useless
to the Russians and it is now unoccu-
pied.
1t is believed that this weakening
of the Russian line will attract fur
ther efforts to break through in this
quarter.
The bombardment of the town con-
tinues.
RUSSIAN SHIPS IN ACTION.
A copy of the Port Arthur Now
Krai of August 81 has reached here.
The paper speaks of the Russian bat
tleship Retvizan having shelled Jap
troONG Whn anOp9rpd near the
village of Wudianfan, and this would
indicate that some of the Russian
warships at Port Arthur are not so
seriously damaged as the reports from
Chinese sources have represented.
The Now Krai confirms the official
japanese report that the japanese
cruisers Kasuga and Nisshin lombard
ed two small forts near Golden Hill
some time ago, but it does not say
that these forts were silenced, as the
Japanese reported. These two forts
are in the vicinity of Wudianfan,
which is commanded by fort No. 2.
The Japanese mounted eight guns in
front of Wudianfan on August 20 and
have established one large and one
small fort to the northeast of the viii
lage. 1t was a detachment of Japan
csc cavalry and infantry, which ap-
peared in the open in the vicinity of
.Wudianfan, that the Retvizan aided in
causing to retire. A gun of one of the
new Japanese forts was struck by d
Russian shell and ruined. The ac-
count published in the Now Krai does
not go into details, but the inference
is obvious that the Japanese have
been assaulting the smaller Russian
forts dominated by Golden Hill. The
paper makes reference to a trench
along the hills and remarks that only
the heads Of the Japanese troops can
be seen above 1t.
ASK FOR AID TO REMOVE DEAD. !
On the night of August %. accord
ing to the Novi Krai, a piece of white /
paper on the end of a pole was hoist !
ed above the japanese trenches. The |
Russians ceased fire and sent de- |
tail forward to communicate with the |
enemy. The Japanese, in imperfect |
Russian, requested assistance in re-
moving their dead. The Now Krai !
considers this request to have been |
strange considering the fact that the /
Japanese do not allow the Russians |
to remove their dead.
At o'clock on the morning of Au- |
gust 26 a Russian searchlight- revealed |
the Japanese troops opposite fort No. |
1. beginning operations, and thereupon ]
the entire Russian line opened upon !
the enemy with rifle fire, occasionally |
using cannon.
In reply the Japanese fired irregu- !
larly at fort No. 8.
Daylight revealed the startling |
fact that the Japanese had advanced /
a trench to the north of fort No. 2. I
This trench was manned heavily with |
artillery, which interfered seriously
with the Russian fire.
The Japanese then opened fire with |
six-inch guns on the hill known as
the Eagles Nest in the meanwhile
continuing to use sand bags for the
further strengthening of their newly