Battle of Nanshan The was one of many vicious land battle s of the Russo - Japanese War . It took place on 25 May 1904 across a two - mile wide defense line across the narrowest part of the Liáodōng Peninsula , covering the approaches to Port Arthur and on the 116 - meter high Nanshan Hill , the present - day Jinzhou District , north of the city center of Dalian , Liaoning , China . Background . After the Japanese victory at the Yalu River , the Japanese Second Army commanded by General Yasukata Oku landed on the Liaotung peninsula , only some 60 miles from Port Arthur . The Second Army was 38 , 500 strong and consisted of three divisions : the First Division ( Tokyo ) , Third Division ( Nagoya ) and Fourth Division ( Osaka ) . Landing was completed by 5 May 1904 . The Japanese intention was to break through this Russian defensive position , capture the port of Dalny , and lay siege to Port Arthur . Russian Viceroy Yevgeni Alekseyev had been recalled to Moscow for consultations with the Tsar . He had left Major - General Baron Anatoly Stoessel in command of Russian ground forces in the Kwantung Peninsula , and Admiral Wilgelm Vitgeft in control of the Russian fleet at Port Arthur . Since no direct orders had been left , the indecisive and incompetent Admiral Vitgeft allowed the Japanese landing to proceed unopposed . General Stoessel had about 17 , 000 men and the 4th , 5th , 13th , 14th and 15th East Siberian Rifles , from which about 3 , 000 men of the 5th East Siberian Rifles under Colonel Nikolai Tretyakov were dug into fortified positions on Nanshan hill , where they planned to hold out despite knowing they would be greatly outnumbered . The reserve divisions were under command of Lieutenant - General Alexander Fok , a former police officer who had risen to his position through political patronage rather than experience or ability . The Russian forces had 114 pieces of field artillery , machine gun s , and had dug a network of trenches and barbed wire . The Japanese were well aware of the fortifications , as a Colonel Doi of Japanese intelligence was one of the " Chinese laborers " recruited by the Russians to work on the project in 1903 . The battle . On 24 May 1904 , during a heavy thunderstorm , the Japanese Fourth Division attacked the walled town of Chinchou ( modern - day Jinzhou District 金州 ) , just north of Nanzan hill . Despite being defended by no more than 400 men with antiquated artillery , the Fourth Division failed on two attempts to breach its gates . Two battalions from the First Division attacked independently at 05 : 30 on 25 May 1904 , finally breaching the defenses and taking the town . With his flank thus secure , General Oku could then commence the main assault on the entrenched Russian forces on Nanshan Hill . The Japanese infantry assault was assisted by a prolonged artillery barrage from Japanese gunboats offshore . The Russians , with mines , Maxim machine gun s and barbed wire obstacles , inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese during repeated assaults . By 18 : 00 , after nine attempts , the Japanese had failed to overrun the firmly entrenched Russian positions . General Oku had committed all of their reserves , and both sides had used up most of their artillery ammunition . Finding his calls for reinforcement unanswered , Colonel Tretyakov was amazed to find that the uncommitted reserve regiments were in full retreat and that his remaining ammunition reserves had been blown up under orders of General Fok . Fok , paranoid of a possible Japanese landing between his position and the safety of Port Arthur , was panicked by a flanking attack by the decimated Japanese Fourth Division along the west coast . In his rush to flee the battle , Fok had neglected to tell Tretyakov of the order to retreat , and Tretyakov thus found himself in the precarious position of being encircled , with no ammunition and no reserve force available for a counter - attack . By 19 : 20 , the Japanese flag flew from the summit of Nanshan Hill . Tretyakov , who had fought well and who had lost only 400 men during the battle , lost 650 more men in his unsupported retreat back to the main defensive lines around Port Arthur . Results . The Russians lost a total of about 1 , 400 killed , wounded and missing during the battle . Although the Japanese did not win lightly , having at least 6 , 198 casualties , they could claim victory . Among the 739 dead was the eldest son of General Maresuke Nogi . Due to lack of ammunition , the Japanese could not move from Nanshan until 30 May 1904 . To their amazement , they found that the Russians had made no effort to hold the strategically valuable and easily defendable port of Dalny , but had retreated all the way back to Port Arthur . Although the town had been looted by the local civilians , the harbor equipment , warehouses and railway yards were all left intact . After Japan occupied Dalny , a memorial tower was erected on top of Nanshan Hill with a poem by General Oku . The tower was demolished after the Pacific War , and only the foundation is left . A portion of a stone tablet with the poem is now displayed in the Lushun Prison , Dalian .