The Washington times., 1905-01-08
AMMUNITION.

We're busy mining from the advantage
Gus hold they had on the north battery
They began digging straight down
through the solid rock.
Remember that they were fighting,
not only what the engineers of the great
New York subway and the engineers of
a railroad tunnel had to fight They
had the hiedea subtleties Of nature
against them, as well as the seientific
ingenuity and ali of the bitter hatred OF
a resourceful and hardy human foe
Work of Mine Makers.
They had TO use pick and shovel on
this shelI-swept height, and they could
do II only by night; and even by night
the Russians used their searchlights,
and whenever the searchlights found
them out theyriadfto cease work and
lie now They could continue only when
the searchlights went away
Then they could work only few men
at a time and these few could work
| only while the line protecting them,
but a few yards III advance. was held by
their comrades vigorously firing to Keep
back the enemy 100 feet beyond.
In the midst Of this, sometimes half
concealed in the earth, sometimes whoi-
Iy underground, and toward the later
stages many yards below, there would
suddenly break forth company OF des-
perate Russians, fired by hope OF re
ward, for Stoessel promised his men the
Cross of St. George, highest decoration
of Russian merit, as well as money
prizes for breaking up any japanese
work.
Dangerous, Hot Work.
Thus at night. bounded by shells.
sleuthed by searchlights, and routed by
heroes from across the way, the work
| has gone on. Forty feet down the dig
| ging went. Forty feet was necessary
| to get below the level OF the galleries
and bomb-proofs, then another twenty
feet forward TO pierce line lateral
with their heart AT last the work was
done, and on December is a quarter OF
a ton of dynamite was placed in two OF
| such mines. The galleries and bomb
proofs of the north battery were blowr
into the air, followed reluctantly by tht
demolished bodies Of some forty-hv'
Russian troops, forming the late garri
son.
| TIE numbers of japanese engaged ir
such work as this are not and could
rot possibly be very great The whol.
force engaged 1t any one time agains
! such single point is but several hun
dred. and the losses on any day, unless
1T be day of grand assault. do no
exceed one hundred. Yet the total los
mounts into the thousands, while th'
expenditure of energy and the test o
OF the finest stuff that men are mad
of are the hardest which physical con
ditions can impose on man.
Assaults on Two Dragons.
) Against the great Ehrlung Fort
known 10 all who have ever seen Por
Arthur as the Red Earth Redoubt. be
! cause 1t sticks out against the sky In
/ more conspicuously than any other for
) tification there, and known to ou
! language as the Mountain of the Tw
: Dragons. assaults Of the same numbe
/ and of equal fierceness have been con
: Quoted.
2 During the assault on October 2
!, which was expected TO reduce tn
{ fortress, introductory to q grand er
f trance into Port Arthur on the En-
peror's birthday, November 3. the be
5 siegers ran up against one of the numeI
: Gus Russian surprises.
f They knew moat lay around th
1 Two Dragons but how deep or ho'
S wide that moat was they did not kno'
and could not determine. For the sam
reason they could not determine tn
presence OF the caponieres in the North
east Cockscomb-
Scouts We're sent out to investigate
! but they had TO operate with"
hundred yards OF the Russian ss
shooters. over ground bare OF an,
Their work was done so hasu
apparently it vas not done We'll
Made Scaling Ladders.
Based on their reports and on /
CATION OF the distance through SPY
: es. Colonel Imazawa. the constr
: engineer, devised scaling ladders
. used by the assaulting party whef
Z | reached the moat for the purpo
: crossing It, The scouts had reporte
a moats Were Ten meters wide Ina -.1
: made his ladders fourteen meters /
n On the afternoon of October % th' b,
: saulting party went in under H.
fire with the scaling ladders The
S vivors who reached the brink or