Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-04-21
MODERN SIEGE DEVICES.
How the Japs Operated Against the
Russians at Port Arthur.

d
mated at all points by every degree Of
hostile fire. This did not appal them.
They accepted the problem. grappled
with 1t and mastered 1t. They honey
combed the valley, in the classic man.
ner, with 18 miles Of trenches and tun-
nels. The chief element in the problem
was to hide these from an enemy with
lookouts above the plain. The Japanese
attache in South Africa had seen the
Boer commandos, under fire, suddenly
vanish in waving stalks Of corn, pro-
1ected, screen-like, across a telltale
front. It was a savage trick, learned
by the Beers from the Kaff1rs; and
though school-bred British minds
sneered at ruse so apparently child
ish, yet many times their game was
lost through such manoeuvres. The
Beers used their maize in wholesale
fashion, covering their front with deep
layers of whole sheaves. The Japanese
improved upon this. Students OF ma
ture, disciples Of nature, they gave no
gross limitations. In late autumn, over
a field battle tossed for three months.
trampled by two armies, and sickled
by the husbandryman, Death, they ad-
vanced, resurrecting the cor Fields as
they went, till the Russian eye be-
yond could not guess the point where
maize standing by chance left OF and
maize erected by besiegers began.
Each angle Of advance was concealed
by these brown, withered sheaves.
Both sides had sailors on land. The
Japanese emplaced the navy six-inch
guns In the bottom Of valley. The
army field-guns were perched along
the peaks in front, from which they
could bark down like noisy house dogs.
But the savage bite came from the big
guns, a quarter Of a mile behind, the
location of which was mistaken by the
Russians as identical with that of the
clustering field pieces on the ridge.
The sailors did not trust alone to the
improbability of their hiding place.
They cut out earth the size Of ships
hull, mended the broken crust with
timber stalks, and thrust the noses OF
the six-inches out of two square OPEN
ings that might have been turret-
holes. Thus, entirely protected,
though within easy reach Of the enc
my, they escaped serious injury. This
was the most effective Japanese bat
terry; 1t has become famous for ten
acity.
For the first time coast-defence guns
battled with each other. The Russians
turned most Of theirs landward. the
Japanese learned that field artillery
was useless against either the feet or
the permanent forts. Such knowledge
prompted the assignment Of a naval
brigade to the initial bombardmenl'
which, with the first grand assault
failed. Then they Immediately turned
to home for heavier ordnance. Nor
tar for coast defence along the straits
of Shimonoseki and on the bay OF
Yezo were all but completed In the
military shops at Ozaka. Twenty-six
of them were Immediately sent by
transport to Dalny, and thence by rail
over the tip Of the mended Trans-Si-
berian to the last station outside the
zone Of the Russian fire. The ship
ment of these great guns, the mortar
barrel Of one Weighing eight tons, up
to that point, where cranes, steamships
and locomotives Of the finest type were
available, was a gigantic undertaking.
Arrived at the shattered station In the
night-for day work was impossible
the task was only begun. From there
the guns were hauled by hand, for
horses or Manchu oxen could not be
used where silence and concerted In
telligence were essential. Eight hun
dred men were detailed to each gun,
which was mounted on skids such as
lumbermen use in the north WOODS.
Four abreast, with hempthongs across
their shoulders, and all attached to a
long cable as thick as mans leg,
the men labored on through the mud,
after dark, with the Russian shells
fiinging out searching challenge over
their heads, occasionally a quart OF
shrapnel bullets squirting promiscu-
ously into their ranks. OF the posi-
tions to which the guns were thus TAX
en- the nearest were 1000 yards and
the farthest three and one-half miles
away. Once they were there, no en-
placement of shale or earth, such as
sufficed for field artillery and for ma
val guns, would do. So under each
gun was laid eight feet Of concrete,
firm and deep; and when it had har-
dened the gun was emplaced. All this
was done under fire, in the night, the
men being spat upon frequently by the
glare Of the searchlight, pelted some
times by wind and rain, and, toward
the end of autumn, scared by the
winds bowling in from two seas. 1t
was prodigious toll, obscure heroism
unbelievable. But 1t was successful,
for 1t was this coast defence artillery
that sank the Russian fleet. None 9TH
er could have done it. The monster
labor Of placing these guns on the
bleak Manchurian hills, from which
they have contested with the finest de-
fences in the world, is one Of the thrill
ing engineering feats Of modern times.
For the first time in history armies
battled under searchlights. There had
before been fights at sea, and at Kim
berley a few skirmishes under search
lights; but in front of Port Arthur they
have lighted up decisive engagements.
extensive manoeuvres and vast losses.
Science has intensified war. 1t has
limited numerical loss, but 1t has in
creased individual suffering; and, as in
modern city life, 1t strains brain and
nerves to the breaking point.
Kimberly saw the dawn Of the fire.
works branch Of warfare. 1t was left
for Port Arthur to bring into perma-
nent use this feu de joie Of holiday
nights, delight in peace, In war
spy. Rockets, such as we use on the
Fourth Of July, bursting above the
plain, threw phosphorus over the ad-
vancing sappers and lighted up acres
as though by candelabra of stars. The
Russians used three batteries Of such
otar hopohs and their dazzle added