The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-01-27
AWFUL RUSSIAN LOSSES,
Further information as to Conditions
at Port Arthur.


Gable Correspondence of the Asso-
Grated Press, Headquarters of the jap
aneSe Army at Port Arthur, Jan. Q. via
llentSln.-When the kWantung pen-
insula was bsected by the Second
Japanese army the entire Russian
1orce in the military district of Talien.
which included Port Arthur and Dal.
ny, was $4,000. The Russian ; force
at the battle of Nanshan hill was 900,
ana 1000 of these We're lost. There
nave actually surrendered at Port Ar
'huf between 5000 and 10000 soldiers
and sailors, of whom many were unfit
Tor duty. The sick and wounded mum
Der $4,000 Fifty per cent. of the Of
licers OF the garrison were killed, and
through the siege unscathed.
Inc fortress could have held out for
some time longer but for the fire of
lhe japanese 11-inch howitZers, which
destroyed the food depots, the work.
SHOPS and the ammunition stores. and
MADE the repair of the defensive works
impossible. The last news received nv
lhe garrison from General Kuropatllin
was in the middle of October, when
ne said he had done his best to break
through the Japanese lines for the pur-
pose OF succoring Port Arthur, but that
ne had not been successful.
cioSe examination of the main line
" utieHSeS OF the west half of the
eastern fortified ridges from east Kek-
wan mountain to the DESTROYED Sun
Shinc mountain fort. Where the Japa-
nese infantry assaults and lombard
lnentS were concentrated during the
last days of the siege, demonstrated
the tremendous effectiveness of the
ll-inch howitZers. The Chinese wall
on the slopes, the battery positions
upon the crest of the ridge, and the
We're literally torn to pieces by the
heavy shells.
1t is difficult to understand how the
infantry remained in the trenches he
hlnd the Chinese wall. in which great
breaches We're made. The traverses
and bombproofs of the battery posi-
tons on Eboshiyama in the rear Of
East Rihlung mountain fort Fort "1Ji
and the new Banjusan and Wantai hin
positions IN the rear of the Panlung
mountain forts. presented an awfnI
scene. Not single gun escaped dam
age by the Japanese bombardments
IN the crest of the ridge great holes
We're torn and the gun emplacements
We're 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 "II'
fort battery of 10-inch howitzcrs had
been lmplaced and every one of these
guns was damaged, While some of them
We're totally destroyed
One gun which was eyidentlv hei,,
loaded with shells was in a carrier
ready to be put in a breach when
japanese 3-pound shell shivered the
carrier chain and exploded. The entire
gun squad was killed by the explosion
and the gun was torn from its position
while all around We're the mangled re,
mains of the gunners.
The effect of this last bombardnen+
siege must have utterly demoralized
the garrison, for the damage done
proves to have been much greater than
on the Japanese side imagined
at the time. The garrison made it's
last attempt at resistance on Christmas
day against the japanese infantry
which, by a spirited rush, captured
Wantai hill. BY 9 o'clock on the fol-
lowing morning the Russians exploded
mines under the battery positions on
the crest of the big Kekwan fort These
positions. which We're we'll constructed
of concrete, are now an awful wreck
strewn with broken guns and debris of
al kinds. Not a single vestige of the
former WORKS is left, and the entire
crest of the HILL one of the most power
full battery positions of the fortress. is
now complete wreck
The japanese always maintained that