Chapter II: Appendix: IV. 385

INDEX 389

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

GENERAL SMIRNOFF FRONTISPIECE

ADMIRAL LOSCHINSKY TO FACE PAGE 20

COLONEL KHVOSTOFF " 23

ADMIRAL MAKHAROFF " 35

MAJOR-GENERAL TRETIAKOFF " 69

COLONEL LAPEROFF " 73

A WOMAN DRESSED AS A SOLDIER WHO WENT
THROUGH SEVERAL FIGHTS " 87

A BOMBPROOF " 105

REAR-ADMIRAL GRIGOROVITCH " 151

INSIDE A TRENCH ON THE EASTERN FRONT " 166

GENERAL GORBATOVSKY " 171

ON THE ATTACKED FRONT " 174

THE ASSAULT REPULSED " 182

BURIAL-PARTIES AT WORK " 185

COLONEL RASCHEVSKY " 188

PANORAMA OF NORTH-EAST FRONT " 193

A CANET GUN MOUNTED ON FORT V.,
SEPTEMBER 22 " 197

A COMPANY IN THE TRENCHES " 200

BOMBARDMENT: JAPANESE SHELLS BURSTING
ON HILL " 208

RESULTS OF A BOMBARDMENT " 210

GENERAL SMIRNOFF FIRING THE CAMOUFLET " 217

KUROPATKIN LUNETTE AFTER THE ASSAULT
IN OCTOBER " 221

B BATTERY " 231

RESERVES WAITING UNDER 203 METRE HILL " 246

GENERAL BIELY " 256

GENERAL KONDRATENKO " 276

NORTH FORT, CHI-KUAN-SHAN, SHOWING GREEN
HILLS IN THE DISTANCE " 285

ADMIRAL WIREN " 330

THE

TRUTH ABOUT PORT ARTHUR

'_Culpam pæna premit comes._'

Port Arthur has fallen....

The bare fact is now a matter of history; but at last the time has come to reckon up in detail all that happened during the blockade by land and sea. As late war correspondent in the theatre of operations in Kwantun, as a close witness of all that took place, and as one who voluntarily went through that terrible time, I look upon it as my sacred duty to narrate what this defence cost the garrison and inhabitants of the unhappy town--to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

All who went through that heartrending siege, and who reflected at all on what was passing before their eyes, became gradually aware of--and finally, I might almost say, resigned to--two great facts. First, that the Fortress Commandant, Lieutenant-General Smirnoff, had two enemies to fight--one inside the Fortress and one out; second, that it was the internal enemy which proved too strong. The immense efforts of General Smirnoff and of his immediate assistants--the late General Kondratenko, Admirals Grigorovitch, Loschinsky, and Wiren, and Generals Biely and Gorbatovsky--were in vain.

Why?

To this question the following pages will, I hope, supply the answer; but, before commencing my narrative, I should explain that I shall only recount facts either confirmed by documentary evidence or witnessed by myself.