The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-01-08


Interests are being decided draInat-
ically a greater climax is in store. In
military sense. the operations are
more extensive.
ON Aug 10 / ran four miles to see
the fan Of Port Arthur. Most of this
VAS up a mountain. 1t took me a
month to get my breath--nOt from the
climb, but from the spectacular iron
chain of forts hung on the brow of a
mountain range and splitting fire at
hosts Of tiny brown figures, SwaTming
up as ants swarm over pile of mouldy
crusts. BY night there was a change.
searchhshts playing pitch and toss in
the dark, and star bombs at humble
ty-peg with the mountains.
Thus IL has gone day and night now
Tor five months and a half. After
while 1 got down into the action and
saw the human impetus, the pallor. the
agony and the bravery of it. 1 saw
three grand assaults, seven skirmiShes,
battle on the plain, seven lombard
ments. two naval enga gements and
the sweat and toll Of monster heroism
in downright hard digging of dirt
and shale, such as labOrerS for money
dream not of.
The Colossal Stand at Port Arthur.
did not see the fail of Port Arthur.
but saw something sreater-the stand
of Port Arthur
Looking back. it seems a dream at
times ugly like a nightmare. again
celestial bar let through the coating of
that the tales history records and ro-
nance weaves-Theunopylae Syracuse.
ArcOla, Troy, Jerusalen1-are not the
burnt stick CarlecueS of a poets dream,
but that these things actually do hap
pen What is more, that you and L
have touched shoulders with an age
that has produced men as willing TO
fight and die any that ever trOd the
Yet it was glory too costly for joy.
Recalling that mighty panorama--bat-
teries peppered by shrapnel, but hanS-
ing to their work like microbes to dis
ease; the wounded whom no first aid
could touch; the dead whom no burial
squad came near; the sappers, creep
ing, digging in. the night, run to earth
by shells; the infantrymen in assault,
losing comrades, right-hand mess
mates. never pausing, onward going;
the dots Of foetid clay livid along the
slopes. until a handful out of a host
CriWls up and filings itself, fanattcal
with the lust OF battle, and worn in
the charge so that life can never be the
same again in sweetness, into the re
doubt paid for a dozen times in blood,
and which, even then, is but introduc-
ton to agony more terrible, for far be-
yond, rising tier on tier, series on
series. are redoubts and forts, meats
and Understanding on that the
soul grows sick to think that Port Ar
thur must be bought with sacrifice so
vast
The japanese did not take Port Ar
thur on Aug. 70. as had been previous
ly arranged, because they We're fight
ing not man alone, but Nature, which
did well by the Russians. They had
not only forts and batteries and a great
foe to face. but they fought also
against a mountain range This noun
tain range is so devised by a power
greater than a military engineer, that
every eminence is commanded by at
least two and some by a dozen others.
The forts are built on the shoulders
OF these mountains, and il is notorious
oh sasly.f 1axx -faF.lrz
mountains are not much affected by
shell fire That is why the fact that
twenty tons of steel and iron, thrown
bursting into Port Arthur, have not
SufTiced to reduce the fortress.
Mining operations are difficult, also,
and except where the troops have
fought their way up the slopes to the
parapets of the forts, they are impOssi-
Bile. Artificial Notifications stOrmed
by besiegers are sometimes undermined
and blown up. but men cannot blow up
a mountain range.
There have been two instances in
which dynamite has become effective.
but these entail vast labor, and the re
suits have proven them hardly worth
their cost
why They Must Use the Bayonet.
Consequently the japanese have been
compelled To return TO the ancient and
splendid method of warfare. whose
weapon is the bayonet There is but
IL.
There is but one way to reach the forts
by climbing the slopes.
study the placing OF these forts and
you will see what their intricacy is
The moment one is in danger the 9th
ers concentrate fire there. If the Jap
anese take il, the guns of the whole
fortress are turned on the captured re-
doubt
one thing alone saves the Japanese
from larger casualties, working, as
they are. so close 70 the enemy. This
is the lack Of Russian ammunition
Had the enemy plenty. to stay where
they are would be unbearable. As il is
the Russians send useless naval shells
which do not explode on land unless
they strike rock, until the moment
OF assault comes Even on assault
they wait. as Prescott told his men at
Bunker Hill TO wait. until they see the
whites OF the enemies eyes.
Then the work is not the sport of
war, where change of ground is made
with each battle. 1t is murder, for the
Russian guns are pointed in grooves
trained for three months against a real
and for seven years against an mag
mary foe. To sight the gun is unneC-
essary; they merely wait for the Jap
TO reach the certain spot. He can go
but one way; when he gets there the
Russian pulls the trigger. Thus. the
death foYerS find what they are look
ing for. II is not warfare: Il is more
like the hangman's signal in an execu-
ton chamber
Blood Running Into the Sea.
on Aug 9, in taking Taigushan and
Chokuzan (the Big and Little Orphans)
the Russians were driven into their
permanent works. Allowing a few
days for intrenchment and rest the
plan then was to enter the town Of
Port Arthur on Aug 81 Every man in
the Japanese army confidently expect
ed this; the empire was sure Of it. the
world thought II due.
To pierce the Russian right center,
enfilade the left flank and stand Port
Arthur on end-that was NOgi's inten-
ton. Gloriously IL was attempted, no
bly, 1t failed Regiment after regiment
went down.
The plain in front of the forts was
piled with dead. the creek ran red TO
the sea- its bed cl0gged with corpses
six and eight deep, desperate devils
lost in the thirsty sand. Through sew
en- days and seven nights, without ces-
sation, from sun to searchIigbt and
from searchlight to moon, the fight
ragged.
Companies were wiped out, batteries
demolished; regiments came in over