Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-12-19
THE PROGRESS OF THE WAR.


of 203-meter hill, which they captured
Nov. 2s. It took them just four day
to get large guns mounted in saie po
sitions at the summit, and then the
began to lombard the Russian battl'
ships in the harbor, They had bee
wasting great quantities of ammuni
tion on those ships for weeks past
but as their fire was then from the
north the ships could get protection
behind Peiyu Hill. Under the new con
ditions the japanese fire was from
the west, and the ships could get nt
shelter except by going outside the
harbor and hiding behind Tigers Tai
Peninsula, which for reasons best
known to themselves they did not care
to do
AS General Nogi's report of the
damage done to the Russian ships
are sent in great detail. we may as
sumo that they are accurate, though
OF course the observations are made
from hilltops four or FIVE miles dis
tant OF the Russian battle ships. the
Pobieda, Poltava, Retvizan and Per
esviet are all reported sunk. or. rather
submerged in whole or in part al their
anchorage. The Sevastopol. the only
remaining battleship, lies in such po-
sition that the japanese are not sure
whether they have damaged It or not.
The two cruisers, the Bayan and the
Pallada are reported as aground or
badly listed, and both have been on
fire. The gunboats and destroyers
are so small that they make hard tar
gets to hit, but those OF them not al
ready destroyed can hardly hope to
escape long.
This is a most inglorious end for a
btttle fleet, but we may be sure that
1t has not been tamely accepted be
cause of any lack of courage on the
part OF the Russian officers or men. A
more natural explanation of their re
fusal to make sortie is probably
that The sailors could not be spared
to die at sea when they We're so great
ly needed to help man the fortifca.
tons of the city Perhaps. also it may
have been the case that the naval
guns had long since been removed
for use in the forts and that the ships
had been without repairs SO long thai
they could not be effectively maneu-
vered at sea.
As to the future of the siege one
theory Is that the Japanese, having no
longer any fear of the fleet at Port
Arthur, and having made sure that
no other Russian ships can enter the
ha rtN nd i,ra will tn h1
slow process of starvation to capture
the town, instead of renewing their
assaults. Such may be their decision.
but. on the other hand. they seem to
be pushing their trenches and tunnels
steadily forward. and a desire to have
the houses in the city for the army to
live In during the winter may make
an assault seem worth their while.
Certainly the sufferings Of winter life
in the trenches would be very great.
kouropatkin and Oyama still con
front each other in strong intrench-
ments along the line of the Shakhe
river, and there is nothing in the ac-
counts of the skirmishes which come
to us from day to day to justify any
luleIcllCt us W tutlT Intentions. Little
herts seem to occur impartially at
all points of the line. Lone Tree Hill.
which the Russians call Poutiloff hill.
is, however. singled out for special at
tention. as the Japanese are reported
as bombarding it at least once or
twice week
While the armies are quiescent Ku-
ropatkin is availing himself of the
opportunity to reorganize his forces.
Since the departure of Alexieff he has
had free hand. At the present time
he has probably 100000 men all told,
but when his reorganization is com
plete he expects to have three armies
Of 10000 men each. which he can
match. army TO army, against the
commands Of Oltu, Nodzu and Kuro-
ki. His three commenting generals
will be Linievtch, who has heretofore
been at Vladivostok. Grippenberg,
who reached Hardin week ago, and
Kaulbars, who is due in Mukden next
Wednesday. If the next campaign
does not begin before spring we may
expect Russian leadership to show
itself vastly more effective then than
il has been heretofore-Record- Her
aid