Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-09-27
BLOODIEST IN HISTORY.
Some Terrible Fighting In Russo-Ja-
panese War.


panese War.
Even though the RuSso-Japanese
war is now a matter of ancient his
tory. a visit to some of the battle
fields round Port Arthur cannot but
be interesting and instructive.
2O3 Meter Hill, the fighting for the
possession of which l propose to de-
scribe, was the scene of the most Sc
we're slaughter that took place during
the Russo-Japanese war 1t is hard
to describe ones feelings as one stands
on this hill and thinks Of the scenes
it has witnessed. Personally, l felt
the same sensation as / had whilst
visiting the crypt of st. Pauls Cathe-
dral, and one instinctively talks with
huShed voice as one does in the pres
ence of the dead. The horrors and
associations of the place are terrible;
and not only were men slaughtered in
hundreds by rifle bullet and bayonet,
but the hand grenade, an old but re-
Gently revived method Of destruction.
was uSeu. L he eileClS VI liSo0 hoiN
grenades. filled with melnite, pyroXy-
lin, dynamite. or some other powerful
explosive, are beyond description, as
they mutilate in such way as to tear
mems arms and legs off and to leave
them absolutely unrecognizable.
The scene on the hill itself during
one of the attacks must have been too
vivid to express in words. Imagine
two trenches packed with men and
about 80 yards apart. The occupants
of each trench are shooting at one
another, and are being shot at from
elsewhere. and men are falling every
second. Numbers of dead and dying
block the already narrow and congest-
ed space, and the dead bodies are
sometimes used to fill up gaps in the
sand bags. The horrible and indescrib-
able smell of blood in the air, and the
mud at the bottom of the trench Is
sticky with blood that was coursing
through the veins of human beings a
short time before. The Japanese ar
tillery are shelling the summit of the
hill, and the rain of shrapnel bullets
adds yet another factor to the hor-
rors of the Russian trenches and rifle
pits.
Suddenly Il telephone bell rings in
the japanese advanced trench-the
advanced trenches were always con-
nected by telephone to the divisional
commander, and from there to the
COMMUNICATIVE chief and the general
commanding the artillery-and at the
same time the artillery fire ceases.
The men in the trench are up in a
minute, and are scrambling over the
sand bag wall in front of their trench.
They rush in a confused mass at the
enemy's trench, a short 30 yards up
the hillside The Russian fire rcdou-
bles in it's fury and numbers of the at
tackers fall mortally wounded or kill
ed.
Eventually a small proportion OF
the men who left their trench have
reached the Russian line. The beard
Cd Siberans stand up to receive their
enemy with the bayonet, and the con-
flict resolves itself into series Of
hand-to-hand encounters all along the
line. The rifle-fre has practically died
away. and hand-grenadeS and bayo-
nets are at work. The trench-line is
a struggling maelstrom of figures, and
the once bright bayonets are dyed
deep red.
Hand-grenades are thrown into
crowded trenches and burst with fiend-
ish results. Quarter is neither asked
for nor given. and the sole idea OF
each soldier is to kill as many of his
opponents as possible before being
killed himself. Wounded men scream
in their agony. but there is no one
here to help them. Men are using the
butts of their rifles to dash each 9TH
er's brains out men seize each other
by the throat. and become infuriated
animals as they fight with the weapons
which nature has given them.
This is the sort of thing that used
| to occur every day until the hill was
finally captured by the Japanese.
Sometimes the Russians would be
driven out of their trench; shortly af-
terward. however. a counter-attack
| would be delivered, and the japanese
| would be driven pell-mell down the
| hill and back to cover of their own
trench. To and fro. they fought. day
after day and time after time, and on
each occasion the ground between the
trenches would be freshly piled with
dead and dying.
To help the wounded men was out
of the question: and happy was the
wounded man whose SufferingS We're
put stop tn by a merciful rife bull
let. and who did not have to die by
slow degrees.
| No wonder, then. what ones feel
| ingS are when one looks at the scene
of all this fighting. The ground is still
dotted with the yellow splaShes cauS-
| ed by the burSterS of the shells: she'll
CraterS abound everywhere, and she'll
SplinterS are scattered over the hill
side as If from gigantic pepper cas-
| tor. Every bOwlder is SplaShed with
bullets. The trenches themselves, Tor
| the most part. have been filed in, but
| human remains are still plentiful, and
the slope is still dotted with remains
of accOutcrmentS and fragments of
| uniform.
One could write 4 long account of
| the horrors of modern war. but the
| fighting which took place at 2O3 Meter
Hill stands alone for its awful feroci-
ty. The Japanese. although a young
nation compared with ourselves. are
excellent examples for us to follow;
and if we have an army of the same
bravery and morale as theirs we cam
] not go far wrong.--ChambcrS Journal.
|