The San Francisco call., 1904-09-03
Slavs Will Offer Desperate Re-
sistance in Their Last Line
of DefenSeS.
Three Japanese Armies Are Clos
ing Around the Army of
Kuropatkin.

, the "main positions of the Russians
are on the north bank of the river.
the dispatch becomes Ineligible. The
/ artillery fighting during the day
makes it evident that a screen Of Rus
sian guns was used TO cover the move
ment across the river. The guns ON
the north bank doubtless also were
employed for this purpose. being
placed so as to protect the railroad
bridge spanning the Taitse.
The review of the Third Siberian
Corps mentioned in the dispatch
probably was a march past Of the
troops while crossing the river, it be-
ing unlikely that formal review oc-
Cured while the battle was In prog
ress.
At 4:3O o'clock this afternoon the
War Office announced that the rail-
road between Liaoyang and Mukdeu
was open.
VIVID DETAILS OF BATTLE
A delayed dispatch to the Official
Messenger from Liaoyang, under date
of August 81, gives some details OF the
three days fighting from August 80.
The correspondent says that he was
with a battery on Koulack Hill. to
the left of the railway line. at dawn
on Monday, when the Japanese guns
opened fire.
1T was" he continues. "a stimuli
taneOus salute BY hundreds of can
mons and during the first hour the
firing was simply terrific. We were
under a perfect rain Of shrapnel, bull
lets and sDlinters Of shells. The Jap
anese did not know the country or the
location of our defensess so they con-
stantly shifted their batteries. trying
to search out our positions.
1T was in the course Of these
maneuvers that KOulack had become
an object of interest to the Japanese
artillerymen. The sight was a beauti-
full but terrifying one. Although we
were we'll masked and tO1erably pro-
tected, the sides of our hill were rent
aud torn by bursting shells; dirt. dust
and rocks filled the air: sand and
smoke hung like a golden halo over
head. We watched the shells fall
upon the ruins of the thousand-year-
old watch tower, where they COM
pleted the ravages of the. centuries.
JAPANESE GUNNERS ROUTED
''The Japanese got our range and
tried to enfi1ade US from village on
the right. Here we had the advantage
in knowing the range and simply
smothered them with shells. Conse-
quently the Japanese withdrew hur-
iiedIy. a second attempt to enhlade
Us was made at 10 o'clock in the
morning, but again it failed. We
swept the Chinese corn fields whence
the fire came and turned out the Jap
anese gunners like a nest Of angry
Tasps.,
"Our rifle brigade held the village
Of Maietung against the rolling waves
of Japanese infantry thrown out
against the position time and again.
until our reserves swept down and
cleared the front at the point OF the
bayonet.
THE roar of the fight was not
stopped by darkness. The scene be-
came infinitely more beautiful as the
hills were lighted by the glare from
fiame-spitting batteries, which had
been scarcely visible IN the daylight.
Each of the thousands OF shells be-
came a pyrotechnic spectacle. while
lines Of fire racked and duivered back
and forth where the infantry was
holding our trenches against tha
creeping japanese columns. The lat
ter had almost reached the trenches
of the Twenty-fourth Regiment, aided
bv the darkness. The men who were
at supper dropped their soup and
black bread, turned quickly and drove
off the Japanese with their bayonetS,
Then they returned to their soSely
needed meal.
'.The fighting on Tuesday was heavy
on the right flank. SPY, captured
while attempting to pass the lines,
said the Japanese Guard division suf-
fered terribly"