Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1905-11-22

| the Russians, the Japanese used their
| own dead and wounded to form final
breastwork of defense.
The point of the Wedge of Death
was within forty yards Of the Russian
parapet, and here aSsailants and de-
tenders lay watching each other
through chinks between sand-bags,
waiting for chance to shoot. A few
inches at time low steel screen
was pushed forward by the Japanese
sappers, and while Russian bullets
pattered furiously about it a little
more earth was dug away, and thus
the trench advanced.
The soldiers here were relieved
every thirty minutes. Human nerves
could not endure the strain longer.
The besiegers were more than fifty
days pushing forward this trench,
inch by inch; yet rarely, by night or
day, did minute pass without the
crack of a rifle or the rat-a-tat Of ma
chine guns, accompanied by the whiz
and patter of balls.
Yet up and down the shattered gray
slopes Of the hills and forts outside
there was never living thing in
sight. Both armies were invisible,
hidden in the earth, hidden yet watch
ing with grim determination. If dur
| ing the assaults and sorties soldier
| fell in the open space between these
grim lines there was no succor for
him. Biscuits and water-bottles were
often thrown to the sufferers, but not
even the Red Cross men ventured
forth to bring them in.
! On one evening in September, after
fierce bombardment all day from the
Japanese. siege guns and mortars, Gen.
Stossel ordered his own two guns to
cease firing, one by one, as if
Silenced.
Then as darkness drew on he in
structed the engineers in charge Of
the five searchlights on the east side
Of the fortress to cut off the electric
current suddenly from the first one,
then another, as if the Japanese shells
had injured the dynamos.
This ruse succeeded. Thinking the
moment favorable, Gen. Oshimo
ordered night attack on the Eternal
Dragon and Keekwan forts.
Three full regiments of Japanese
infantry, one of them the Ninth, is
suing silently from their trenches in
the darkness, began to climb the steep
mountain side.
When halfway up the Russian
stratagem was disclosed Suddenly
the searchlights played again, betray-
ing the assailants as they climbed.
Then the guns, supposed to be
silenced, belched shell and shrapnel,
and a regiment of Siberian sharp
shooters that had already filed out
from the moat of the fortress charged
the flank of the Japanese.
Then ensued for two or three hours,
in the alternate darkness and glare
of the searchlights, amidst barbed-
wire entanglements, one of those san
culinary hand-to-hand conflicts for
which the siege of Port Arthur is
without a parallel.
Neither side gained a definite ad-
vantage. The Russian survivors at
last took refuge in their fort, the
Japanese in their trenches, and in the
dawn, down the slope, lay five thou,
sand men, killed or so desperately
wounded that they were unable to
crawl away. Among the wounded,
close up to the moat of the Eternal
Dragon, was Capt. Okla, both legs
broken by a fragment of shell. At
about 9 o'clock that morning Lieut..
Vannoffsky was looking down through
loop-hole of the fort wall above. He
saw Okla stir feebly; and after a
second glance through a glass he
recognized him.
Twice the Russian spoke Oka's
name down from the wall, but could
not make him hear.
During the forenoon Lieut.. Van
noffsky descended to a caponiere in
the moat and tossed a flask over to
The WOunQ0Q man. IL I0ll Wlu6 VI
passed unnoticed; and it was not TIL
nightfall that the Russian was really
able to do anything.
Then after it had grown quite dark
land the searchlights were playing
elsewhere, the lieutenant climbed out
Of the moat and crawled cautiously
to where Okla lay, partly sheltered in
hole made by an exploding shell.
1t had been day of frightful suf-
fering for the young Japanese, but
he was still alive, and hearing Van
noffsky creeping near, he drew
pistol, thinking him one of the enemy
come to rob or murder him. Van
noffsl1y laid a gentle hand on his
arm, however.
Fear not. 1t is thy Alexandra
WITCH" he whispered; then he graspe1
his hand, held flask to his lips, and
inquired as to his wounds.
The searchlieht now came dancing
over them, and not to draw bullets,