The San Francisco call., 1905-01-18

: PORT ARTHUR, Jan. 17.-Official
figures given out by the Japanese dc
not bear out the statements cabled &c
British newspapers by correspondents
who are seeking to discredit General
Stoessel. 1t is definitely announced
that the entire Russian force in and
around Port Arthur was originally
$4,000 men. There were actually sur
rendered 5000 soldiers and sailors, OF
whom a large proportion were unfit for
service To the remainder fell the task
of garrisoning more than forty forts,
large and small, against the attacks
of an army of 100000 men. In the hos
pitfalls of Port Arthur the japanese
found 10000 sick or wounded men.
During the siege 5S per cent of the
officers were killed, and cut OF the en-
tire number of officers only 2S went
through the siege unscathed.
The most surprising information
given out by the Japanese is that at the
battle of Nanshan Hill, the first great
combat on Liaotung Peninsula, the
Russians numbered only 1000 men,
and of these 1000 were killed or wound
ed before the japanese won the posi-
tion. The Japanese losses in the bat
tie of Nanshan Hill were estimated at
5000 men, and it was reported at the
time that the Russian force numbered
$4,000. From the figures now given out
an idea of the unpreparedness of the
Russians at the outbreak of the war
may be gained.
The fortress here could have held out
for some time longer but for the fire
of the Japanese eleven-inch howitzers,
which destroyed the food depots, the
workshops and the ammunition stores
and made the repair of the defensive
works impossible.
The latest news received by the gar
rison from General Kuropatkin was in
the middle of October, when he said
he had done his best to break through
the japanese lines for the purpose of
,succoring Pert Arthur, but that he
had not been successful
1t is difficult to understand how the
Russian infantry remained in the
trenches behind the Chinese wall, in
which great breaches were made. The
traverses and bombproofs of the bat
terry positions on Eboshiyama, in the
rear of East Rihlung Mountain fort,
fort H" and the new Banjusan and
Wantai Hill positions in the rear Of
the Panlung Mountain forts presented
IAN awful scene. Not a single gun
escaped being damaged by the Japan
ese bombardments. In the crest Of the
ridge great holes were torn and the
gun emplacementS were converted into
heaps of debris. Dozens of guns were
smashed and hurled from their car
riages down the diverse side of the
hill by the shell fire. Between Wantai
Hill and H fort battery of ten-inch
howitzerS had been emplaced, and ev-
cry one of these guns was damaged,
while some of them were totally de-
stroyed.
One gun was evidently being loaded.
A shell was in the carrier ready to be
put to the breach when a Japanese
500-pound shell severed the carrier
chain and exploded. The entire gun
squad was killed by the explosion
and the gun was torn from it's position,
while all around were the mangled re-
mains of the gunners.
The effect of this last bombardment
of the siege must have utterly de-
moralized the garrison, for the damage
done proves to have been much great
er than any one on the Japanese side
imagined at the time. The garrison
made its last attempt at resistance on
Christmas day against the Japanese
infantry, which by a spirited rush
captured Wantai Hill. At o'clock on
the following morning the Russians ex-
ploded mines under the battery posi-
tions on the crest of the big East
Keekwan fort. These positions, which
were we'll constructed of concrete, are
now an awful wreck, strewn with
broken guns and debris of all kinds
Not vestige of the former works is
left, and the entire crest of the hill, one
of the most powerful battery positions
OF the fortress, is a complete wreck