The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-02-18

Attacking Time-Sight Of Russians
Thru Loopholes-The Fire-swept Zone
on Which the Enemy's Dead Lie, IN
shrouded, Observation-Disclosures of the
Japanese in sapping. Z" ''.-,.' =
New York Post.
Field Headquarters General Oku,
Second Japanese Army Our request
granted, said the messenger.
It was a beautiful autumn morning;
the clouds were notwithstanding on top,
straight on the bottom; the sun came
straight and warm thru the clear at
hands got numb from cold.
we issued from the .zigzag trench into
the village of Linshinpu. 1t had been
severely broken, for it constituted a
point which each side desired,
and after the Japanese occupied 1t the
Russians made seven counter assaults
to regain it. House walls had been
knocked over, matches dropped down to
inches in diameter had burst and rent
enormous apertures, SCATTERING the inte-
riors. 1t was the debris Of village,
with here and there a ridgepole stand
ing.
A captain comes from the house, but
toning his foxskin khaki coat; Would
we accept him for escort guide to- the
firing lines The commander was asleep,
and as they had suffered an attack last
night, he was tired
There are shrapnel cases about the
ground; there are numerous Russian bull
lets and whole cartridges; there are
many Russian rifles, broken at the
stocks, and twisted in the barrel, and
some empty l5-centimeter and TO-
centimeterr shells piled against the
house evidences Of what had been
the corner Of the house, we see a
gateway to a garden. Under the sill
of the gate there a trench begins, lead
ing forward. Bright steel Russian
shrapnel lie where they had lately fall
en- on the entertainments. This trench
is deeper than the "gateway trench -
by which we had come from the village
twenty minutes distant. Presently, it
opened into square pit; the paymaster
is sitting on the bottom making out his
roll. Beyond, there are galleries in all
garden has been turned into a maze of
catacombs! On either hand Of the gal.
leries are caves, scooped out of the stiff
clay-like soil, where soldiers are cook
ing, or writing letters, or reading news.
papers spread on mattings or, mlllet
canes. Everybody is awake, and every
body has his arms handy. Here is a
gallery so great in depth that the walls
are wet; we are cold as in a tunnel.
The Firing Trench.
We hear above the cracks Of the Jap.
anese rifle, the cracks Of the Thirty
sixth Year Of Meiji. Other arms are
called the Krag, or the Sprin gfield, or
the Mauser, or the Mannlicher;; This
one being government-made, like the
army biscuit and the timed beef, is
named for the year Of its adoption. The
cracking is sporadic. The men are
sniping. At last the captain says:
"The firing trench is just ahead. It Is
dangerous; cannot be responsible. Will
YOU 90 farther7' Getting his reply, he
leads on with smile. Only one may &c
at time, for there is very little room.
The firing trench is, indeed, crowded
Soldiers fatten themselves against the
wall, keeping their guns thru loopholes
their sight along the barrels, and let us
in singly. =
they see thru the piercings in the gar
denwall under which their pit is dug
The Thirty-sixth year Of Meiji keeps
cracking, at different points about us
for the forefront here is not straight
line, but, like fort, full Of angles. Ont
rises to an unoccupied loophole. There
is wide gulch, like a. dry moat; on it,
farther edge a ruined hut or two, and tt
the right ground with sextraordlnar.
burrows. Not thing moves; there are ne
birds; even the ever-present halt.w1lt
pariah dogs who roam the fields ar:
missing. All is desolate and serene anl
lovely. Yet shots come across the gulcl
ana bury themselves with spattin!
noise in our mud bulwarks. By aid O.
a. glass, details reveal themselves, Their
are loopholes over them, with eyes a
each one, no doubt, and also rifles; an
to the right where the big burrows ar
there are the entertainments. Some
thing moves. It is man in blue (th
first live uncaptured Russian one ha
seen), bending so that his head shall b
, concealed, passing along a trench in
,, tersecting that one which from our pc
> sition COLD be enfladed., Another ma.
, in blue is sitting still, unconscious tina
= he is visible. 49,,
It is not a neutral IS business to poin
him out to his enemy.
We are taken to firing trench fac
Ing differently Here in front is lon
Manchurian house, it's Tind ly an IN,
| w
It was TO that place scarcely 100 fee
away that the Russians came last nigh
i, in a. furious attempt to retake Lin-shi1
! pu. Steady desperate fire from this sid
= piled their dead so high that they SAY
. they could not gain the fortified ga
den. We are taken to a loophole lool
ing to the left, for Lin-shin-pu
|, shaped like a wedge. One stands up
n take a photograph. A cry runs alon
), our trenches. Even cap cannot be e.
i posed here without drawing fire. Their
q is a company of Russians very clos
almost under US. One Of them, anon
s a clump Of trees, rises, stands u
J. straight, like ghost suddenly appea
d ing. He remains several seconds. Th
: Japanese are for the moment int
d ested in the foreign visitors; perhaI
9 Thai is how the EXPOSED Russian soldie
:, escapes.
/ There is heavily-laden Cart befo1
e this loophole. Its horses are lying dea
n in their traces. "That Chinese baggae
s cart,O explains the captain, Htried
y cross between our lines yesterday, an
the Russians shot the two drivers an
L the horses.'
n Unable to Bury the Dead.
All about in front there are dead 50
!. up and buried by either Japanese
: Russians, because there is no let-up
!. the shooting. One Russian sits ha
! propped against a tree, not fifty fe'
o away. There is his water bottle in OF
:. stiffened hand; there is his haversac
:, and his bandoiier of cartridges.
One makes ont each detail and ma