New-York tribune., 1905-01-02


position were repulsed. Nearly $1,000 men. jap
anese advites say. fell in these actions. On De-
eember is the north fort of East Kikwan Hill
was blown up and occupied by the Japanese,
whose losses were comparatively few.
Almost all the fighting In the assaults was
hand to hand. The bravery on both sides was
fanatical. At one period in the siege no quar-
ter was asked or given, and the heaps of man
gled bodies were left to rot the hillsides.
which in some instances ran with blood. Many
new devices marked the siege. Hand grenades
played deadly part In the attacks the Japan
ese inventing wooden mortar. which hurled
these missiles accurately hundred yards. To
cut the wire defences a steel shield was used as
a protection against the Russian bullets. Star
lights played large part in directing the fire
from the forts, and the Russians filled some OF
the moats with hay and petroleum which were
ignited by electricity when the japanese were
within the excavations. To cover an assault
great fires were built to watt the smoke into
the Russian positions. The garrison was able,
by its almost perfect lines of communication, TO
concentrate quickly against any threatened
point, and time after time a fort held by a
handful of Japanese was lost owing to the
pidity with which Russian reinforcements
reached the spot. No such desperate encounters
have been seen in any recent war.
Two o-hundred-and- -three-Metre Hill was the
first point won by the Japanese which COM
manded sweep of the harbor in which lay
the battleships Retvizan, Pobieda, Poltava, Sc
vastopol and Peresviet, the cruisers Bayan and
Pallada and a number OF smaller warships.
Heavy guns soon emplaced behind the
hill. and by December 10 all the larger Russian
warships were wrecks. the Sevastopol excepted.
This battleship took refuge outside the harbor
under the guns of Golden Hill, where the
nights of December Ia and 10 she was attacked
and disabled by Togo's torpedo boats.
The disabling of the Port Arthur warships re-
haved Admiral Togo's larger vessels from their
long blockade, which had not however, been
close enough to prevent some steamers with
supplies from entering the harbor. The admi-
raj had given slight assistance to the
japanese land forces by bombarding the fort
ress. but he lost November 80 the cruiser
Saiyen, which struck a mine and sank. with
thirty-seven men. The loss Of the battleshp
Yashima was reported, but not confirmed.
Events have moved with great rapidity in the
last few days and each hour has brought fresh
disaster to the besiegers The wedge which the
japanese began driving along the railroad track
was forced home by the capture of fort after
fort On Wednesday Of last week the fort on
Rihlung Hill was captured, with a loss Of about
1000 to the besiegers and several hundred to the
Russians. The capture Of this fort fairly pierced
the inner line Of the defences Of the fortress
On Saturday the Japanese, charging after the
explosion of several mines. captured the fort on
Sung-Shu-Shan, across the gorge from the Rih-
lung forts. and followed this by taking the ridge
in the rear Of Sung -Shu-Shan. At the same
time by attacks by the centre and right. they
occupied H fort and a new fort on Panlung-
Shan. and advanced their position on their ex-
The Russian 70 fhPSa
latest attacks was noticeably weaker, and their
losses were comparatively heavy losses
The career of the Port Arthur squadron during
the war had been disastrous. Shells falling in
the port drove it to sea on August 10. where
Admiral Togo attacked and scattered It. five
damaged batteships returning to Port Ar
thur, and one, the CZarevitch, reaching Kiao-
Chau, where she was dismantled. The cruiser
Askold reached Shanghai. The NOvik fed to
Korsakovsk Saghalien, where she was over
taken and so badly damaged by the Japanese
cruiser Tsushima on August 20 that she was
run ashore. The cruiser Chitose completed the
Novik's destruction the following day. The
Diana reached Saigon and dismantled there
Four days after Admiral Togo's victory, Ad-
miral Kamimura caught the Vladivostok squad
ron on the way to join the Port Arthur fleet
sank the Rurik, and inflicted great damage and
a loss Of $40 men the Rossia and the
Gromoboi
SQUADRON MAKES SORTIE.
This Russian squadron. inactive at its ice
bound port in the early part of the campaign
made one soTtie soon after the outbreak of war;
but inclement weather drove it back to port 1t
went out again on April 26 and sank off Won
the Japanese transport Kinshiu. two hun
dred of whose crew refused TO surrender and
perished. One Of the four fine armored cruisers
of the squadron. the Bogatyr, went on the rocks
near Vladivostok and has since taken part
in the operations. The three remaining warships
were reported in the Corean Strait on June 10,
where they sank the transport Hitaehi. with 800
men, and the transport Idzumi. and wrecked
the transport Sado. The squadron eIudeo Vice
Admiral Kamimura's squadron on both Of these
sorties. On July 81 the Russian warshi2s were
off the eastern Japanese coast. Lying OH TOXIC
Bay, they captured and sank a number Of ves-
sells, causing losses to trade estimated at S15,-
100000. Among the vessels destroyed was the
British steamer knight CommandeL The
squadron returned to Vladivostok on Juy 81.
The relative positions of the three apanese
forces in the Manchurian interior emained
practically unchanged when Field Marshal
Oyama ordered a movement Of the thre armies
against Liao-Yang on August %. TIE Japan |
ese covered all points of the Russia lines
Kuroki on the east Nodzu on the southeast and |
Oku on the south. Their total Strengn was eS- |
timated at 100000 men and 700 guns General |
Kuropatkin undoubtedly expected to able to |
hold Lao Yang. The Notifications, Wose outer |
lines in q semi-circle from eight tften miles
east and south OF the town were poularlY re
garded as impregnable. Here the Russian COM
mander in chief had gathered and reinforced |
from the north the army defeated at lai-Cheng.
Estimates of It's strength varied tfn 1IUrOOO
to 200 600 men, and from GOO to 800 nns many
of them emplaced
JAPAN's ARMIES SET IN NTION.
Japans combined armies Sc in motion
before the rains had ceased. A sers of sharp !
attacks on the Russian positions btan on Au-
gust "a. and the following T Kuroki's
left was in readiness to attack Lia-Dian-Sian,
about twenty miles southeast of OfLiaO-Yang.
This attack delivered early inhe morning
and lasted two days, while Oku al Nodzu as
Cnfla Al Alaa IsnGG GfaF fha II GnINfh