The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-09-04
The FALL OF
COCKSCOMB HILL
THE JAPANESE STORY OF IT'S
REMARKABLE CAPTURE.
Desperate Enterprise Of Six Volunteers
Of the Imperial Engineers, Who
Dressed Themselves in Their Best and
Went to Certain Death-Work Of Gun
Cotton on Solid Masonry.
London Times

1OuuUu- times.
we have received the following trans
lation of an account written by a jan
aaese engineer officer Of the preaching
OF the defenses of North Keekwanshan
(Cockscomb Hill Fort):
1t was thus that the CAPTURE was
ANNOUNCED by the Official Gazette of the
north tort of Cockscomb Hill. which
was the beginning of the series of de-
structlon and captures of important
strongholds of the Russians at Port Ar
IN thar. On the 9th Of October, in the
1n,iT1t =: ae year of Meiii, part of the
walls OF North Cockscomb Hill fort was
blown up, by our working party. and
tne infantry assaulted successfully and
o 70 the fort securely by the 2Sth.
On that day at about 1880 pm. The
Mork1ng party in the right wing of the
niue gallery came across an onenino
measuring about ten centimeters by ten
oenIIimeters from which issued strong
S mada OF eoaltar. The discovery was
naoe thlrty-tWo meters from the en-
trance of the gallery leading in from ON
the sixth parallel. IL IL: Aioin
:, After examination we concluded
that we had fallen in with Tia ene.
miay.s counter-mining tunnel We fond
IL necessary to locate and, if possible
l1rog dest Inc 4exp1osiTe material set for
trusted to a party Of six men. Volun.
teers from the imperial engineer bat.
S Sail on the spot-sergeant Katsugi
Militant, Corporal Tameiiro. TakahasS
First Glass Privates Tomoichi Hori'
klnzo Furusawa, Toshiro~ Kawabata''
ana Second, Class Private Asataro Mat
s sqs They understood the desper-
ase nature OF the enterprise full well,
gentlemen soldiers Of Japan SHOULD ia thew 1ev
dressed in their best and Wentwfo
their certain death. At 1880 o'clock
exactly the sound of a violent exnlo-
sion rent the air, and the comrades
anXXlously waiting at the mouth Of the
ga allery were assai!ed by pebbles, shin
Furusawa were pulled out Of the cra-
ter by means Of the ropes which were
tied to their ankles for this purpose,
all severely wounded, while the rest
sacrificed their lives at the altar Of
49,. The quantity Of the dynamite used
Of the explosion SO great that it. utterly
demolished our mine gallery. But at
the same, time it split, the ground to
such an extent that the outer surface
OF the wall became detached from the
natural soil, enabling us to determine
the nature Of it. The wall appeared to
be about three meters thick, of con.
crete, tarred over on the outside and
cov 1eS with tarpaulin sheets: This
almost any caliber Of mobile siege
guns We at once organized party
for the purpose of blowing up the ex-
posed wall. Sergeant Ida, with two
frst-class privates Of engineers, crawled
up over the edge of the crater into the
ditch for purposes of reconnaissance,
returning 4 safely With n s7atisfact as re-
Corporals Horikawa, Fukunaga and
Private Muzuki They daringly ad-
vanced right up to the foot of the wall
crawling on their stomachs very slowly
and lying down al at every few PAGES aces
the guncotton; the explosion tore the
wall off the ground, leaving g, gap OF
four centimeters between. The Rus;
slams took not the slightest notice of
it; perhaps they imagined that to be
an impact of a Japanese shell, We
again inserted large quantity, OF gun
cotton under the wall and exploded it.
large for our assaulting party to enter.
$50 the persistent engineers deter
mined upon the third attempt They
shot down several of the Russians who
looked wonderingly out Of the rent.
The third attempt was entirely success
full; this time the explosion OF the gun
cotton tore hole in the solid masonry
of concrete about one meter in height
and one and one-half meters wide. Thru
this twelve grenades were thrown in,
and under the cover of the smoke and
confusion Of a party Of infantry, num-
bering not more than half company
filed in and occupied the part of the un.
derground chamber; the other part still
remained in the possession of the
enemy. The Japanese and Russian com
batants were separated only. by the
thin, khaki-colored wall Of sandbags be-
tween. We slowly and steadily ad-
vanced inch by inch, each soldier push
ing in front Of him a bag Of sand Or r., a
sounds Of bullets striking these parafn
tins was weird in the extreme. The
Russians sought protection under the
cover Of steel plate partitions, striving
stubbornly and yet in vain to stem
the tide Of the, Japanese advance. The
steel plates we exploded; the sandbags
we simply pushed aside. Thus, within
twenty four hours after the breach the
whole of north Cockscomb Hill Fort was
firmly and effectively occupied by the