The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1905-01-22
FORTRESS COULD
HOLD OUT LONGER
laps Are Somewhat Surprised
at Russian Surrender
DAMAGE WAS ENORMOUS
Fortlficatlons on East kekwan Fort.
Which Were Among the Strongest
at Port Arthur, Are To-
tally Wrecked.
DAMAGE WAS ENORMOUS

Headquarters of the Japanese Army,
Gable Correspondence of the Associated
Press.)-When the Kwantung peninsula
was bisected by the second Japanese
army the entire Russian force in the
military district of Tatien, which In
cluded Port Arthur and Dalny, was 35,-
900. The Russian force at the battle
of Nanshan Hill was 1000, and 1000 of these
were lost. There have actually surren7
dered at Port Arthur between 5000 and
10000 soldiers and sailors, of whom many
are unfit for duty. The sick and wounded
number 5000. Fifty per cent of the
officers of the garrison were killed, and
only % (probably means per cent? went
through the siege unscathed.
The fortress could have held out for
some time longer. but for the 11-inch
Japanese howitzers which destroyed the
food depots, the workshops and the am
munition stores, and made the repair of
the defensive works impossible.
The last news received by the garrison
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 succor-
ing Port Arthur, but that he had not
been successful
Howltzers Were Very Effective.
A close examination of the main line
of the defer Sc of the western half Of the
eastern fortified ridge from East Kek-
xxyor, f11ntt 4.f. g. of
Sunshu mountain, where the Japanese
infantry assaults and bombardments
were concentrated during the last days
of the siege, demonstrated the tremendous
effectiveness of the 11-inch howitzers.
The Chinese wall on the slopes, the bat
terry positions upon the crest of the ridge
and the captured guardian forts In the
rear were literally torn to pieces by the
heavy shells.
1t IS difficult to understand how the
infantry remained in the trenches behind
the Chinese walls, in which great
breaches were made The traversers and
bomb-proofs of the battery positions on
Eboshiyama, in the rear of East Rib
lung mountain fort III" and the new
Ranjusan and Wantai Hill positions, in
The rear of the Pentung mountain forts,
presented an awful scene. Not a single
gun escaped damage by the Japanese
bombardments. In the crest of the ridge
great holes were torn and the gun en-
placements were converted into heaps of
debris. Dozens of guns were smashed
and hurled from their carriages down the
diverse side of the hill by the shell fire.
Between Wantai hill and "H' fort a
battery of 1O-inch howitzers had been
emplaced, and every one of these guns
was damaged, while some of them were
totally destroyed
One gun, which was evidently being
loaded with shells, was in carrier ready
to be put in a breach when a Japanese
5O0-pound shell shivered the carrier chain
and exploded the piece. The entire gun
squad was killed by the explosion. and
the gun was torn from it's position, while
all around were the mangled remains
of the gunners.
Damage Was Enormous.
The effect of this last bombardment of
the siege must have utterly demoralized
the garrison, for the damage done proves
to have been much greater 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 spir-
tied rush captured Wantai HILL At 2
o'clock on the following morning the
Russians exploded mines under the bat
terry position on the crest of the big
East Kekwan fort. These positions,
which were well constructed of concrete,
are now an awful wreck strewn with
broken guns and debris of all kinds. Not
a 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 now complete wreck.
The Japanese always maintained that
there was a strong Russian trench line
in the gorge between the East Kekwan
and North Kekwan mountain forts This
they called the ghost trench, because
they could never find it, though hun
dreds of them were killed every time
they attempted to do so. 1t Is now evil
dent, however, that there never was
trench line at this point, but that In at
lacking the gorge the Japanese were sub
ject to a most awful enfilading fire from
the Kekwan mountain forts and the
Chinese wall, making the passage UP the
gorge death trap. owing to the unseen
rifles and machine guns.
The Russian prisoners were kept waiting
long time at Changlingtsu railway sta
ton before being sent to Da1ny. The Of
ficers had tents. but the men were COM
PEELED to sleep In the open.