Chapter XVIII: Introduction (16)

By this time in the history of the war, it seemed certain that in such a conflict as was to be anticipated, China would not entrust the ultimate defense of the empire to such loose levies as had been in the field. From the time of their organization, these troops under arms have constituted a danger to the peace of China, whether in victory or defeat, and perhaps there was a certain cynical calculation in the release by the Japanese of prisoners, that they might swell the ranks of brigands. It was believed by many friends of China that the dispersion of these troops would make room for an army built up on a different system, should the government be at last aroused to a sense of the necessity for military reform.

Until this time, the government of China properly so called, had not been able to bring its intelligence to bear on the question of imperial defense. That had been left in the hands of the imperial viceroy Li Hung Chang, who has for many years conducted the foreign as well as the naval and military affairs of the empire. But during the fall the Peking government was gradually gathering the reins into its own hands. The return of Prince Kung to the counsels of the emperor was a marked expression of the new resolution. The summoning of Von Hannecken by imperial edict to Peking was another indication of the suspension of Li Hung Chang’s function of general middleman between the empire and the world. Whether this new born energy for affairs was to have staying power sufficient to launch the government on the unknown sea of foreign science, and save the empire from disruption was problematical, but the war still raged on, and out of its immediate issues, it was predicted by many, was to arise a state of thing which would mock the slow progress of mere evolutionary reform, by a cataclysm which might do in one day what a century of deliberation could not accomplish.

THE ADVANCE UPON PORT ARTHUR.

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Landing of the Second Japanese Army at Kwa-yuen-ken—Capture of Kinchow—Taking of Talien-wan—Flight of the Chinese to Port Arthur—General Nodzu’s Force and its Action—Pekin Authorities Despondent—Prince Kung Asks Foreign Intervention—Propositions for Peace Fail—Contractors Want to Destroy Japanese Fleet—Foreigners in Chinese Service—The Emperor Receives Visitors—Drawing Near to Port Arthur—People of the Peninsula—Skirmishes on the Way—The Night Before the Battle.

The troops of the second Japanese army landed at a place called Kwa-yuen-ken near the mouth of the Pili River, northeast of Talien-wan Bay. From the mouth of the Pili to Kinchow, the principal town in the peninsula, the distance is fifty-four miles. The debarkation was completed without interruption, and the march southwestward began. The capture of Kinchow, at the narrowest point in the Adams Isthmus, was made without difficulty, and the victorious forces continued on their way. November 7 the Japanese occupied Talien-wan. The more the captured Chinese position here was examined, the greater became the astonishment at the poor defense made. The defensive works were excellent in design. Six large and strongly constructed forts commanded Talien-wan bay, mounting all together eighty guns of various sizes and patterns. Many of them were comparatively modern and excellent of their kind. All of these guns, as well as large stores of ammunition, fell into the hands of the Japanese.

Beside the forts on the bay, the Chinese had constructed across the narrow neck of the peninsula, which was here about seven miles wide, a series of earthworks of an elaborate kind. The whole system had evidently been planned by an engineer of high skill. It was completely fitted with telephones and other modern appliances for communication. The works had been designed to facilitate a concentration of troops at any threatened point in the shortest possible time. The batteries were powerfully constructed and well armed. The greatest strength of the forts on the bay was on the side facing the sea. Some successful reconnoitering revealed weakness upon the land side. An intimation was conveyed to Count Ito that the seaward forts were of such strength that a bombardment from the Japanese fleet would assuredly result in serious damage to some of the ships. Marshal Oyama informed his colleague that he believed a land attack would be attended with success, and that idea was therefore put into effect.

The Japanese fleet took a station off the bay, and opened a tremendous bombardment of the forts on the 6th of November. For many hours the firing scarcely ceased, and on the following day it was resumed. On the 7th, covered by the bombardment, the land force attacked Talien-wan at daybreak by a general assault, and the success was complete. The Chinese, taken by surprise, fled panic-stricken towards Port Arthur.

The losses in the capture of these two fortifications, Kinchow and Talien-wan, were not great on either side. The Chinese garrison at the former place consisted of one thousand infantry and one hundred cavalry. They fled to Talien-wan, which was defended by three thousand infantry and one hundred and eighty cavalry, and all together retreated thence towards Port Arthur. On the Japanese side the losses were only ten killed and wounded, and the losses of the Chinese, who offered practically no resistance, were not much greater. As in previous retreats, the Chinese threw away their arms in their flight, and reached Port Arthur with nothing but the clothes they wore.

During these days of action by the force under Oyama, General Nodzu’s troops had not been idle. Immediately after the capture of Chiu-lien, the Japanese headquarters’ staff moved there from Wi-ju. Two columns were sent after the fleeing Chinese. Colonel Sato moved upon An-tung, which was taken without fighting. General Tachimi, with the first division, moved upon Feng-hwang on October 27, and on the 31st the town surrendered. No prisoners were taken by the Japanese. The orders were to disarm and scatter the enemy wherever found, and this was done with vigor. By Marshal Yamagata’s orders, the peaceable inhabitants were treated with the utmost consideration. All food purchased was paid for and laborers were paid for any extra help required. As a result the Japanese camp was thronged with Chinese peasants offering produce, and more Chinese laborers asked for work than could be engaged.

The enemy divided in flight from Feng-hwang, some going to Mukden, others to Hai-tcheng, and others to Taku-shan. Most of the generals fled to Mukden. As the last fugitives left Feng-hwang it was set on fire, and the flames wrecked the village before the Japanese could extinguish them. Cold had set in among the Manchoorian hills by this time and some snow had fallen. The victorious army therefore took pains to make itself as comfortable as possible, advancing slowly, living off the country, and driving all enemies before it.

In Peking at this time the authorities were busy attempting to devise means of safety for their armies, and to provide for their own escape from threatening danger. Li Hung Chang was deprived of all his decorative honors. Liu Kunyi, viceroy of Nanking, was made viceroy of Tien-tsin. Chang Chi Stung, viceroy of Wu-chang, was appointed viceroy of Nanking. Hu Yuff, a judge of Kwang-hsi, and Captain Von Hannecken were ordered to enlist and equip a force of troops after the German model, as the nucleus of a new grand army of China. Finally Prince Kung was appointed Chief Controller of Military Affairs, with Prince Chung to assist him, thus further centralizing the power.

Another imperial edict gave executive effect to the sentence passed by the military courts upon General Wei. It declared that by his withdrawal from the battle of Ping-Yang he caused the defeat of the entire army. Furthermore, he was adjudged guilty of embezzling public funds entrusted to him for the specific purpose of paying his soldiers, and of gross incompetence and violation of duty in that he permitted the troops with whom he retreated to maltreat and rob the people along the line of route, thereby lowering the national character. For these offenses General Wei was degraded from military rank and deprived of all his honors. It was also announced that Admiral Ting kept from the knowledge of the throne many important matters connected with the naval battle of the Yalu, and that while losing some ships and getting others crippled he inflicted scarcely any damage upon the enemy. The admiral was therefore deprived of all the honors recently bestowed upon him under a misapprehension of the facts.

How despondent was the view of the situation held by the Chinese authorities may be judged by the first action taken by Prince Kung after his promotion. On Sunday, November 4, before the news of the Japanese success at Talien-wan had reached the Chinese, owing to the cutting of the telegraph wires, he invited the representatives all the powers to assemble at the Tsung-li Yamen to hear what the Chinese government had to say respecting the critical situation. At this audience Prince Kung calmly avowed the complete impotence of his country to withstand the Japanese attack, and appealed to the powers to intervene. He made an appeal for their assistance in bringing about some agreement for the termination of the war, indicating as a basis of negotiation a willingness of China to abandon her claim to the suzerainty of Corea, and to pay a war indemnity to Japan. This appeal was made formally and officially, and marked for the first time the fact that China recognized her utter defeat.

Having concluded his speech, Prince Kung handed to each minister a note embodying his remarks. The ministers were favorably impressed, and they applauded the frankness of China’s confession. They promised to support her appeal to their respective governments, with a view to the restoration of peace, and in order to avert the dangers threatening all interested. Simultaneously with this action of Prince Kung, the Chinese minister to Great Britain and France endeavored to enlist the assistance of the foreign offices of those countries, but again the effort to secure peace for China by the intervention of western nations met with little encouragement.

A diplomatic complication arose between Japan and France early in November which had an element of comedy in it and is of interest here. Two American citizens, John Brown and George Howie, of British extraction, offered their services to the Chinese government in the capacity of torpedo experts. They claimed to be in possession of an invention capable of most destructive effects in naval warfare, and having succeeded in convincing a Chinese agent of the validity of their claim, they were engaged to employ the invention against the Japanese navy, in consideration of a payment of $100,000 down, $1,000,000 for each naval squadron destroyed, and a proportion of the value of each merchantman sent to the bottom. With their contract in their pocket, they sailed from San Francisco, and at Yokahama transferred themselves to the French steamer Sydney. Meanwhile the Japanese authorities, having obtained intelligence of the two men’s proceedings, telegraphed instructions to Kobe, and in that port the alleged inventors were taken off the ship, together with their Chinese companions. The French minister inclined to push the case in their favor, but diplomacy and international law was so clearly on the side of the Japanese that he withdrew his efforts. After their arrest however, the two men signed a stringent guarantee binding themselves not to assist the Chinese during the present war, and this with the representation of the American minister secured their release.

The Japanese forces occupying Talien-wan used their time to advantage in strengthening their positions, completing the telegraph line along the north shore of Corea Bay, to a junction with the line which had already been built across the Yalu River from Corea, and in preparing for their investment of Port Arthur. Admiral Ito’s sailors and marines destroyed all the torpedoes placed by the enemy in the bay and its approaches. They also captured several torpedo boats and apparatus. The fleet and the transports all entered the bay, and there remained to act in harmony with the land forces. A few days after the occupation of Talien-wan, the advance column of the first Japanese army, pursuing from Feng-hwang that portion of the divided fugitive Chinese who were seeking Port Arthur, met the outposts of the second invading army, and communication was thereby established, both by telegraph and by messenger service, through Japanese garrisons, in a chain extending the full length of the Corean peninsula and around Corea Bay to Talien-wan.

Consternation was caused in Peking by the discovery, which one would have supposed not difficult, that the Pei-yang squadron was caught in a trap at Port Arthur. Li Hung Chang had made efforts to bring all the damaged war ships out of that harbor, ordering the squadron to keep within range of the guns of Wei-hai-wei. But on account of somebody’s violation of orders, a dozen Chinese vessels of war were now within the Port Arthur harbor, hemmed in by the neighboring Japanese fleet. The responsible Chinese officials appeared to be callous to the fate of the empire, giving their chief attention to matters of personal interest and gain.

Port Arthur was now effectively invested and threatened, and to provide for their personal safety, Kung, the taotai of the place, together with several military leaders, abandoned Port Arthur as hastily as possible. The effort made by one Englishman, anxious to preserve some Chinese dignity, to save Port Arthur, was received with considerable surprise and not by any means appreciated.

The position of foreigners in the employ of the Chinese government has always been anomalous, but the exigencies of the war have shown up the relationship between Chinese and foreigners in a vivid and highly instructive light. Their rooted aversion to foreigners, which springs from fear, does not withhold the Chinese from flying to seek foreign aid in their extremity. On these occasions they betray a superstitious feeling towards the foreigners, regarding him as a sort of medicine man who can see through a millstone or work any other miracle. Their idea is to hire him by the job, and when the job is done cast him off as any other laborer. When war came upon them, the Chinese fleet was in a quandary, scuttling about from one snug harbor to another, the officers knowing nothing of their enemy, his movements, or his capacities. Though they were told they had the strongest fleet, they would have preferred not to put its presumed superiority to too severe a test, yet they had the imperial order to destroy the enemy unconditionally. In this extremity, the authorities cast about for extemporized foreigners to help them.

A hardy Scandinavian came first to the rescue, offering to scout, pilot, or fight for them, run a torpedo boat, or do anything that youthful daring might legitimately venture. Only he stipulated for a twenty-knot steamer, performing, however, in the meantime, the emergency service in a common tugboat of less than half that speed. The promise of a fast steamer was broken, as every promise of every Chinese official, with few exceptions, from the beginning of time has been broken, and until the end of the war the hardy Norseman had to content himself on the deck of that same wet and lively tugboat. Comical indeed were the adventures he had with his convoys of troops, munitions, and stores, which never would follow the program laid down for them, sometimes bolting from the smoke of their own escort, and he chasing them back into their own ports whose forts would open fire on him. This was the uniform experience of Europeans who served the Chinese. The zeal and loyalty were all on the side of the aliens, whose hearts were broken in hopeless efforts to make the Chinese do their duty to their own country. Every foreigner who served China, no matter in what capacity, unless he belonged to the class which is content to draw pay and say nothing, had the same strenuous battle with his employers to compel them to interest themselves in their own service. The Chinese, on their part, failed to comprehend the folly of the foreigner who was not content to draw his pay and keep quiet.

At Port Arthur there were some half dozen rival generals, but no one in command, each caring only for his own camp, and all at loggerheads with the others. The head of the port, the poor taotai, of the literary graduate order, was a brother of the present minister to England. There was also the admiral of the Pei-yang squadron, the most likely man to assume the responsibility of a general command; but for fear of getting himself disliked by Taotai Kung or the generals, he kept his hands out of mischief. Finally, the English harbor master at Port Arthur went to Tien-tsin, and showed the condition of affairs to the viceroy. The result was that the viceroy sent instructions to Kung, which the latter ignored, flying from Port Arthur at the first chance. The collapse of Chinese resistance was proceeding at a rate which more than astonished the Japanese themselves. With Kinchow and Talien-wan captured almost without a blow, although amply supplied with the means of making a vigorous and protracted defense, and all the soldiers joining in an ignominious rush for Port Arthur, it seemed that the Chinese were exhibiting all that reluctance to make trouble which characterized Crockett’s famous 'coon, demonstrating their willingness to come down to any required extent if Marshal Oyama would only consent not to shoot.

The force under Yamagata, advancing from Feng-hwang in two divisions, one towards Port Arthur and one on the road to Mukden, met no resistance that was strong enough to intercept their advance, although there was some fighting at two or three stands. The right division advanced northwestward and entered the Manchoorian highlands by the Mo-thien-ling pass where a force was gathered to oppose it. The left division marched towards Siu-Yen where another Chinese force was encamped. It was the outpost of this division, pursuing the Chinese fugitives through Taku-shan, which made junction with the second army and completed the chain of communication.

On the 9th of November the Japanese advanced and attacked Namquan pass, a strongly fortified neck between Society Bay and Talien-wan. There was no concerted defense, and each Chinese detachment was separately routed. Some thousands of refugees from Kinchow, who were flying towards villages in the vicinity, were mistaken for the enemy and were fired upon from the rear of the defenses, many being killed.

Again the Chinese authorities in Peking decided to seek peace through the influence and intervention of western powers between herself and Japan. On the morning of November 15 the emperor gave an audience to the diplomatic representatives in Peking, and all the ministers were present. His Majesty’s action in thus receiving the diplomatists caused considerable stir in high Chinese circles, such a violation was it of imperial Chinese etiquette. This audience was granted on the occasion of the presentation of letters of congratulation by the ministers, on the sixtieth birthday of the dowager empress. For the first time in Chinese history the audience was held in the imperial palace itself. As an especial mark of courtesy the foreign ministers entered by the central gate, the gate through which the emperor only is usually allowed to pass.

The ministers had audience with the emperor separately, and the reception was of a distinctly formal character, lasting but a few minutes. The audience took place in the hall where His Majesty was accustomed to hear the Confucian classics expounded. He was seated cross-legged on the Dragon Throne, surrounded by a numerous body of princes and officials. In front of His Majesty was placed a small table covered with yellow satin, which concealed the lower half of his person. In the short interviews with each minister, who stood some ten feet from His Majesty, Prince Kung and Prince Ching acted alternately as masters of the ceremonies, and interpreted the speeches. The emperor spoke entirely in the Manchoo tongue. He appeared small and delicate, possessing a fine forehead, with expressive brown eyes, and an intellectual countenance. The emperor’s position, surrounded as he was by the dignitaries of his court, gave him an imposing appearance, although to a close observer he looked and spoke like a lad of sixteen or seventeen years. His Majesty did not indulge in any social conversation with the visitors, but spoke formally to all. The interview was granted in the hope that western sympathy would be secured for the threatened orientals.

Now that the approach to Port Arthur has brought the Japanese army almost to the walls, let us take a brief retrospect of the operations of the month. On the 24th of October the debarkation of the second army on the Liao-Tung peninsula began, to the northwest of the Elliot islands, at Kwa-yuen. No opposition of any kind was encountered, but natural difficulties such as shallow beaches and great range of tides impeded the operation, so that all the stores were not landed until the evening of the 30th. The troops however were put in motion at once, and on October 28th the advance guard reached Pitszwo, a place of some importance at the junction of the Niuchwang, Port Arthur, and Taku-shan road. This place was twenty-five miles from the port of debarkation. Forty-five miles farther southwest, the troops came upon Kinchow, at the point where the two post roads of the peninsula met. On November 6 the Japanese captured this town without difficulty, and the next day Field Marshal Oyama’s troops, pressing close on the heels of the flying enemy, reached the formidable isthmus a couple of hours after them, and to the accompaniment of a thunderous bombardment from the fleet, seized the defenses without a struggle. After such a singular display of blundering and cowardice on the part of the Chinese, what followed was not astonishing. The troops passing the isthmus, found themselves on the shore of Talien-wan Bay, one of the best harbors in North China. Ample preparations for defense had indeed been made, but they were not utilized by the cowardly soldiers. The Japanese themselves were taken by surprise. They had not contemplated such a fiasco.

Meanwhile the army had continued its march towards Port Arthur. Their line of communication to the rear, both by land and sea, was perfect. The commissariat was in the best condition for service. The hospital corps was active and modern in its manner of work. Nurses of the Red Cross Society, both men and women, accompanied the army and were provided with everything in the power of the commander to grant, being shown every courtesy. On the other hand, efforts made by hospital corps to reach the Chinese wounded from the Chinese side of the lines, met with utter failure. Two Red Cross nurses were turned back by the Chinese authorities at Tien-tsin, they declining to be responsible for the safety of non-combatants. The Taotai Sheng said, “We do not want to save our wounded. A Chinaman cheerfully accepts the fates that befall him.”

More than a fortnight had Marshal Oyama’s army been marching in two divisions, eastern and western, down the peninsula to Port Arthur. The distance was less than fifty miles, but the country was a difficult one, there being practically no roads available except in the cultivated valleys. As the army approached the objective point, there were occasional brushes with the enemy. At Ye-jo-shu on November 18, the army was more than half way from Kinchow to Port Arthur, and almost within sight of the goal. The next day’s march was expected to bring the forces to camp on the safe side of the hills, within an hour’s ride of Port Arthur, unless the Chinese should prevent. The next day was to be devoted to rest and to making sure that everything was properly arranged and ready for the fray; and it was confidently asserted that on the evening of the day after, November 21, the Japanese army would sleep peacefully in Port Arthur with Dragon Flags for bed quilts.

On the morning of the 18th the Chinese made a reconnoissance in force, but retired without discovering much except a Japanese scouting party, which had a narrow escape. The army was moving along steadily with General Nishi leading the vanguard, General Yamaji, his staff, and the war correspondents all with the main body, and General Nogi bringing up the rear. The field marshal and his staff were also behind, and General Hasegawa was on the left wing, with his forces practically covering the country down to the south coast. In front and on the right as far as the not very distant north coast, small bodies of cavalry and infantry were thrown out along the valleys. The country was magnificent for defensive purposes, studded with moderately steep hills, ranging from low undulations up to huge crags two thousand feet high, with hundreds of rocky ravines and gulleys; broad fertile valleys never very level, intersected by winding water courses, like a labyrinth, almost dry at this season.

Every two or three miles there were small villages roughly built of stone, nestling in hollows, with a few trees here and there. In and about the villages scores of natives crowded, curious to see the foreigners they feared; on the hilltops were the more timorous ones, watching awhile and then hurrying away perhaps to tell the Chinese army what they had seen, but no attempt was ever made to stop them, except occasionally to ask a question or two. The road was the military road connecting Port Arthur with Kinchow, Niuchwang and Peking. There was not the least sign of anything having been done to keep it in repair since it was first cut a quarter of a century ago, the soft parts were deep rutted, and would be well-nigh impassable after heavy rain, while the rocky parts were jagged and strewn with stones of all sizes and shapes. Over the plains dust drove in black clouds which enveloped the column, suggesting the great dust storms of North China. There was bright sunny weather, but the nights were cold during the march down the peninsula.

The day’s march which had begun at seven in the morning, was to end at Ye-jo-shu, a big village near the sea, about ten miles northeast of Port Arthur. Before entering the village General Yamaji was met by an aid-de-camp with news of fighting ahead, half way to Port Arthur. After a little hesitation the general granted the request of two of the correspondents to permit them to go forward, and they galloped off to the left in a southwesterly direction. Five miles away, among the hilltops, they caught a glimpse of a small, square, stone building, like a fort or watchtower, and all around it could be discerned figures moving amidst clouds of smoke. The road was lined many yards on either side with men and animals, all racing in the same direction, spurting to be first at a ford or a narrow defile, urging and helping each other, and only afraid the enemy might retire too soon.

It was an hour after midday, and Nishi’s force had just begun to pitch camp south of Ye-jo-shu, when a courier arrived and announced that the outer pickets were being forced and cut off. Firing had begun at eleven o’clock, but did not become serious until an hour later. Cavalry were rushed to the front, then infantry, then artillery and ammunition trains as they could be mustered and got away. The correspondents galloped hard where the land allowed, past soldiers looking to their rifles and pouches as they ran, past lumbering guns and kicking mules, past panting coolies and Red Cross men, threading their way through the throng, cheering the wounded as they were taken to the rear, smiling bravely in spite of pain. Progress was delayed in the narrow lanes of a picturesque village, in a little wooded hollow where the artillery stuck in a broad, shallow stream. But by eager efforts it was got clear, and went on scrambling up the bank, splashing and stumbling through half dried ditches, plunging in the soft sand, and bumping over boulders, sparing neither man nor beast in the rush up the glen to the top of the hill. There stood Brigadier-General Nishi, watching a “strategic rearward” movement of the Chinese in the plain beyond, and directing operations intended to cut them off if possible. Two strong columns were pushed out right and left, like the horns of a crescent among the hills encircling the valley, towards the sea northwest and Port Arthur southwest. The artillery was already on the spot, but was not used yet; there was no need to let the Chinese know how much strength was massing before Port Arthur.

The engagement originated simply in a surprise meeting of opposing scouts. The Chinese had been creeping all over the valley and surrounding hills, along the ravines and behind the ridges; Japanese had been striking out in twos and threes, reconnoitering many miles into the enemy’s country. Suddenly shots were heard, and a general move was made on both sides for the main road in the center. The Japanese seeing no great force in front, and knowing how quickly help could be brought from behind them, stood their ground at first. About noon however three strong columns of Chinese with cavalry and artillery, probably three thousand in all, filed out through the hills from main roads and by-paths leading from Port Arthur. The Japanese were in great danger of being surrounded before the advance guard could arrive. Only a score of cavalry and about two hundred infantry, they had to fight their way back at pretty close quarters, hand to hand at one point. The Chinese advanced with an immense display of banners almost to the foot of the hill where Nishi stood; but the small force of three hundred Japanese cavalry sent out to draw them on, seemed to scare them off, for by half past one they were in full retreat, in good order, over the same paths by which they had come, only just in time to escape the consummation of the Japanese flank movements. It was no use trying to pursue them into the hills about Port Arthur; for as the full force of Nishi’s brigade was collecting about the old stone monument the Chinese army was disappearing through the passes six miles away.

A cavalry patrol of seven went forward and followed cautiously along the main road until dusk, turning back at a village just under the hills. They saw the bodies of the seven Japanese who had been left dead on the field, hacked, stripped, beheaded, and in two cases minus the right hand; they saw the cavalryman’s horse lying partly flayed with the skin turned back where two large pieces of flesh had been carved out and carried away. They saw traces of the Chinese every few yards, but no bodies; they must have been removed, for the men of Satsuma had not died for nothing. They saw no signs of life except the patrols and men with stretchers for the dead, as they rode back slowly into camp at Ye-jo-shu, over ten miles of wretched roads, the horses nearly dead with the fatigue of a long day’s work, stumbling at every step, and finally having to be left with the coolies while the riders walked most of the way. These coolies were simply wonderful in their endurance; after the helter-skelter race for the monument they came up smiling only a few minutes behind, in spite of their forty pound pack on their shoulders.

The advance was slow during the 19th and 20th, the desire being to give the soldiers as much rest as possible before the hard work of the assault. On arriving at Dojoshu, a village at the foot of the hills near Port Arthur, about noon on the 20th, the troops were halted. Oyama had gone around to survey the field, and was expected back every minute, so the time of waiting was passed in a hurried midday meal. Suddenly the boom of heavy guns was heard, and the Chinese were seen advancing in two columns, the right one by Suishiyeh, under the eyes of the troops who held the hill where the army had halted, and the left by way of the west side of the valley, out of sight behind the foot hills. They had at last learned that the invading armies had almost surrounded them, and must be dislodged if possible. But it was not possible now. It was too late.

As soon as the advancing left column got within a mile, a portion of the Japanese artillery opened with shrapnel. The forts replied as soon as the positions were revealed. About 3:00 o’clock the Chinese column got within short range of the Japanese batteries, and was struck fairly in the center by the first two shells. The foolish banners dropped at once, and the column lay down. Bravely the line was reformed twice, but the shelling was too hot and too accurate. The Chinese got their field guns into position but could do nothing for practically none of the Japanese were exposed to them or to the forts. There was a little musketry fire on both sides, but of no importance. The artillery settled the affair, and by 5:00 o’clock the whole of the Chinese army had marched back into camp. The forts away on the sea-front got into action before dusk, and dropped a few 12-inch shells uselessly on the hilltops a mile beyond the Japanese; but when the last streak of daylight had disappeared, all was quiet. During the rest of the night there was no sound nor sign on either side.

THE CAPTURE OF PORT ARTHUR AND THE MASSACRE.

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Description of the Great Chinese Naval Station—Strength of its position—The Defenses—Arrangement of Japanese Troops, and Plan of Attack—The First Assault—Attack and Counter-Attack—Fall of the Chinese Forts—Action of the Fleet—The Japanese in the Streets of Port Arthur—Massacre of Fugitives—Japanese Red Cross Society and Its Previous Good Work—Shocking Details of the Atrocities Committed After the Taking of the Town—Four Days of Violence and Cruelty—Stories of Eyewitnesses—Japanese Explanations and Excuses—Effects of the Capture of Port Arthur on the War.

Port Arthur, or to give it its native name, Lu-shun-kou, was the largest naval station possessed by the Chinese. Situated at the extreme southern end of the Liao-Tung peninsula, Port Arthur in its earlier days afforded convenient shelter for winter-bound junks employed in carrying timber from the Yalu River to the ports westward. At that period it was merely a small village consisting of less than one hundred mud houses, an occasional shop, and three or four inns. The prosperity of the town began with the determination of the authorities in 1881 to establish a naval dockyard at the port. At first the work was entrusted to native contractors, who however proved to be quite incapable of carrying out so extended an undertaking, and in 1887 a French company took up the contract, completing the work in three years. The port then boasted of a large basin with a depth of twenty-five feet at low water. Spacious wharves and quays bordered this basin, and were connected with the workshops by a railroad. Two dry-docks were built ready for repairing ships of all sizes, from iron clads to torpedo vessels. Foundries and workshops were constructed on the most improved models, and containing the best modern machinery. The fact that the harbor was always free from ice, even in the coldest of winter, added to its value. By the time of the beginning of the war, the number of houses had multiplied until they were able to contain a population of about six thousand, exclusive of the garrison. There were also two large temples, two theatres, and several banks, besides the necessary stores and warehouses.

Such land defenses as this important dockyard possessed when the war broke out, were limited to nine small redoubts, connected by mud walls in some cases, on the north and northeast, and three redoubts on the southwest. On the north side a range of hills from three hundred and fifty to six hundred and fifty feet high, running from the sea to a shallow inlet of the harbor, enclosed the position. The tops of these hills were not more than two thousand five hundred yards from the dockyard and town. The original line of defenses was still closer to the town, and on the northern side was only about one thousand yards in advance of the vital point. The strongest part of the position was a group of three coast batteries surrounded by a continuous mud wall, and crowning a hill on the right of the entrance to the harbor. The works all appeared to be designed for the protection of the narrow harbor mouth, which at the entrance was only a few hundred yards wide.

Upon the outbreak of the war, much additional fortification was carried out. The normal garrison of four thousand was greatly increased, and the troops who were drilled on the European model garrisoned the fortifications, and were to be further assisted in the defense of the port by submarine mines and a fleet of torpedo boats. The forts were armed with heavy Krupp guns, and the artillery men were especially trained by a German officer. Within the defenses there were all of the most recent scientific appliances, electric search lights, torpedo factories, etc., and the forts were connected by telephone.

The Japanese army broke camp at Dojoshu village before Port Arthur at 1:00 A.M. on November 21, and marching by circuitous and very difficult routes over the outlying hills, sometimes quite close to the sea at Pigeon Bay, got into line of battle before daylight. The moon was in the last quarter, and gave very little light; the sky was quite clear, and the weather dry and cool. The positions were as heretofore described.

The key of the position was the northwest triple fort on Table Mountain, and there the whole weight of the opening attack was concentrated. The field marshal and his staff were mostly near the center of the line, and the heavy siege artillery was planted on the best position available near the center, and north to northeast of Port Arthur, five or six miles away, with Suishiyeh and the forts right opposite and well in range. The first division under General Yamaji occupied the right wing, and had the roughest and most broken country to traverse. Nine batteries of field and mountain guns were got into fine positions, on lofty ridges, nearly on the same level and almost within rifle shot of the forts; while behind the artillery lay large bodies of infantry ready for a rush. Brigadier-General Nishi had charge of the extreme right, and Brigadier-General Nogi the right center, near the field marshal. On the left, Brigadier-General Hasegawa had his mixed brigade rather wider apart, as the hills were not near enough to aid greatly in an assault on the forts; nor were the hills very good as artillery positions. Hasegawa had only two batteries, but the flying column under Lieutenant-Colonel Masamitsu, that had moved from San-ju-li Ho on the south shore road was with him, and had a mountain battery beside two battalions of infantry and a thousand cavalry.

The first shot was fired within two or three minutes of seven o’clock, from a battery of thirty guns, just as the day was becoming light enough for gun practice. Then for an hour the Japanese guns blazed into the Table-Top forts, which with their guns of all sizes kept up a spirited reply. In the forts, and in the rifle pits on the hillside under the walls, were about one thousand infantry; near the Japanese batteries trenches had been dug in the stony ground during the night, and sheltered ravines had been carefully selected, where practically the whole of the first division, at least ten thousand men, lay in wait. The Chinese shells came close by their ears in dozens, bursting or burying themselves on the other side of the little ravine behind. Many of the boulders about were struck, but strange to say not a man was killed. In the first half hour there must have been three hundred shells over an area of as many yards, but the average elevation was slightly too high, and no damage was done.

Meantime the Japanese were getting to work all along the line. Each battery had a telescope fixed to bear on the desired target, though the dense morning mist and the thick clouds of smoke frequently made it quite impossible to see for a time. It was easy enough to tell that the Japanese had got the reins from the very first. The opening shot of the day, which all watched with intense interest, had struck within five yards short of a Krupp gun in the nearest of the three forts. The closeness of this shot, in semi-darkness, at an unknown range estimated to be one thousand yards, was a fair indication of what followed. One by one the Chinese guns ceased fire towards eight o’clock, and suddenly a great shouting came across the valley from the fort. The Japanese infantry were singing a march song as they charged the forts, and in a few minutes a huge cheer ran all along the line over the hilltops and In the valleys where the rest of the Japanese were, and great cries of “Kot-ta—Victory!” The Chinese emptied their guns and small arms as the Japanese swarmed up on three sides, firing every few yards and then rushing forward. The enemy, not numerous enough for hand-to-hand combat, waited no longer but fled over the edge of the hill, down to the fortified camps before the town, and the Table Mountain forts displayed the flag of the Rising Sun.

After this first success, the rest of the battle was practically little more than a question of time, although there was still a great deal of hard fighting to follow. Neither side had yet lost more than fifty or sixty in killed and wounded, and there were still many thousand Chinese soldiers to be considered. Had the forts been fully manned with plenty of picked marksmen, they should have cost the invaders several hundreds if not thousands and should have held out longer. And if the Chinese artillery had been as accurate and steady as the Japanese, the vast difference in position and shelter should have more than compensated for the disparity in numbers. Careful planning, rapidity of attack, and individual bravery were all on the Japanese side. The Chinese did not, indeed, run at the sound of shooting, as has been said. They stood their ground manfully and tried their best to shoot straight up to the last minute; but they never attempted to face the foe hand to hand to “Die in the last ditch.”

Only one definite counter-attack was made; a large force, probably near two thousand of Chinese infantry with a few cavalry, marched out around the hills westward, north of the Port Arthur lagoon, to turn the Japanese right flank. General Yamaji, who never showed fatigue all day but kept near the front calmly and resolutely at every move, detected the attempt at once, and dispatched Brigadier-General Nishi with the third regiment and the mountain battery to meet it. The extremely rough, broken country rendered movement slow, and this part of the battle dragged on until the afternoon.

The second regiment had occupied the Isusen forts shortly after eight o’clock, and the artillery was then ordered forward. The guns had come on late from Talien-wan, by forced marches night and day, over a very difficult route, and only arrived at Dojoshu on the night of the 20th, after the enemy’s attempt to dislodge the field and mountain guns. The same night twenty of these large guns had been taken into position for the fight north and west of Suishiyeh, and from one to three kilometers from the nearest forts. They were supported by the whole of the first division, fifteen thousand men less twenty-four hundred men detailed to garrison Kinchow and Talien-wan. Deducting also the regiment of twenty-four hundred sent to head off the flank movement in the west, there were ten thousand left before the Table Mountain forts. Not more than a third actually took part in the storming. The rest were waiting ready for use if needed, all along the line from the advance guard under Nishi, near the lagoon, to the center under Nogi, about Peh-ka-shu village, where the skirmish was on the 19th. Here, midway between the camp at Dojoshu and the large village of Suishiyeh, Field Marshal Oyama and his staff remained during the first part of the day, communicating his orders by aides-de-camp, never by flag, or flash signal, or bugle, to Yemaji and Hasegawa on the left.

Peh-ka-shu was about a kilometer north of Suishiyeh, and Suishiyeh about five kilometers north of Port Arthur town, and one kilometer from Table Mountain fort on the east, and Pine Tree fort on the west. About half way between Peh-ka-shu and the sea, southeastward, was So-tai-shu where Hasegawa faced the line of eight forts along a wall of five or six kilometers. Of course this brigade did not cover all the country; he had about five thousand men near the center and two thousand near the sea. The five thousand were about equally divided between Shoju and Niryo, each one regiment of two thousand four hundred with artillery. In attacking, two battalions of eight hundred each formed the front, and one was held behind until within range. Then the whole opened out in skirmishing order and charged, and the Chinese exploded several mines, but without effect, as the fuses were not well timed. Some electric mines were also used but wrongly timed.

THE ATTACK ON KINCHOW.
Japanese Drawing.
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While Yamaji was attacking the northwest forts, Hasegawa engaged the attention of the northeast forts, in order to prevent them from concentrating fire on the Japanese right. No serious attack was made by the mixed brigade until the first division had made the winning move. Thus the Chinese right wasted their energy on almost bare country, while the weight of the Japanese attack fell on the almost entirely isolated Chinese left. The strategy succeeded completely, for by the time the Chinese discovered their mistake it was too late. The Shoju, or Pine Tree Hill forts opened a heavy fire across Suishiyeh plain, on the hills occupied by the Japanese; but Isu was already finished and the whole weight of Japanese artillery was centered on the largest Shoju fort. Thus the Japanese right wing, which had been briefly threatened by the forts on its left and the Chinese column on its right, was never really in any danger, for while the third regiment under Nishi was storming Isu, the second regiment with its back to the third beat off the enemy’s infantry, and the mountain, field, and siege batteries gave Shoju far more than it could face.

It was surprising how the Chinese stood to their guns; they worked like heroes and aimed their guns well. But what could a fort or a half-dozen of forts do, against fifty guns hidden in the mountains, moving to get better positions when possible, and firing systematically and simultaneously at one point.

A furious fusillade was maintained by both sides for nearly two hours; but the Chinese shots got wilder and wilder as the Japanese improved, until finally the Shoju magazine blew up and set fire to the sheds inside of the forts. Then shortly after eleven o’clock, Hasegawa charged all along the line, and took all the eight forts one by one. The big Shoju fort, which had done such determined work was, of course, evacuated as soon as it caught fire, and for two hours afterward the ruined wood-work burned and the piles of ammunition continued to explode. The second largest fort, Liang Leong, or Double Dragon, held out longest. Twice the Japanese advancing along a ravine tried to break cover and rush up the hill, but were met by bombs from the mortars, and had to get back into shelter and try musketry again. Again they came up magnificently at their officers’ call, and scrambled up the mountain side in the teeth of a galling cross fire. At the ramparts, not a Chinaman remained. They fled from fort to fort along the high wall, firing as they went, and making a stand at every point till too close for rifles. All over the hills they were chased and for many miles around hardly a hundred yards could be passed without sight of a Chinese corpse. Those who escaped got down into the town with the main body of the Chinese army.

Meanwhile there had been heavy firing, chiefly infantry, between Suishiyeh, Isu and Port Arthur. There was a flat tract about three miles square, with low ridges of mud and stones across, behind which the Chines riflemen lay. They had tried to make a stand about the walled camps below Isu, but shells and shrapnel soon cleared them out. The Japanese then mustered in the same place about two thousand men from the right wing and right center, increasing in number every minute, and ready to force the town itself. Between these camps and the big drill ground at the entrance to Port Arthur were some three thousand Chinese in skirmishing order, making the most of every bit of cover and firing desperately. Behind them the Chinese field guns, some dozen in number, tried to locate the enemy and occasionally succeeded; one shell shattered the corner of the largest camp, where a dense body of Japanese stood behind the wall waiting for orders, and killed several of them. Still farther back, a big hill which threatened the town swarmed with riflemen, who were sheltered by piles of stones and abundantly supplied with ammunition. Last of all the shore forts were firing a little, but could not aid much in the melee.

Steadily the Japanese crept forward from cover to cover, assisted by artillery from Suishiyeh, until the parade ground and the general’s pavilion overlooking it had been mastered and cleared, and nothing remained but the trenches of Boulder hill, or Hakugoku, the town itself, and the shore forts. Along the south of the parade ground ran a broad, shallow stream that came down the Suishiyeh valley, flowing into a creek west of Hakugoku. Three times the Japanese came out from behind the parade ground wall, to cross the bridge, but were driven back by a withering hail of bullets. At last they forced it and rushed across with a cheer, and spread out over the face of the hill pursuing the Chinese up to the town itself. The Second Regiment fired volleys as it advanced to the town. Not a shot was fired in reply. The battle was over as far as Port Arthur was concerned.

The Japanese fleet was not inactive during the assault by the land forces. At 10:30 A.M. the Japanese vessels, comprising the Matsusima, Chiyoda, Itsukusima, Hasidate, Yoshino, Naniwa, Akitsushima, Takachiho, Fuso, Hiyei, and Kongo steamed past Port Arthur, rounding the promontory. The Chiyoda here began to fire shells over the forts at a very long range. A tugboat from Taku was searched by the Japanese, but was allowed to proceed. At 4:00 o’clock the fleet returned, passing Port Arthur again, at a distance of about six miles, and one of the big forts fired at the Chiyoda but failed to hit her. The admiral did not respond to the fire nor alter his course but steamed slowly on. A few minutes later, as the Chinese troops were hurrying down to the harbor, ten torpedo boats dashed from the fleet, separating in pairs and firing three-pounder Hotchkiss guns at the exposed soldiers. The fire was briskly responded to by one fort to the left of the harbor, but not a single shot told. A steamer which had towed a junk out of Port Arthur with Taotai Kung in it, making his escape, was cut off on her return and ran ashore, where the crew deserted her and took to the hills.

As the Japanese troops reached the edge of the town, driving the Chinese before them, a halt was called before the army marched in, as the force was not yet assembled in strength. This delay enabled the Chinese to take to boats, and scores of sampans and junks were soon moving off, some over the lagoon to the mountain fastnesses of Lao-tieh-shan promontory in the southwest, and some out to sea, in full view of the Japanese fleet. When the first division was all assembled before the town, with the left wing to the northeast in case the enemy should rally and try to dash out, the order was given to enter the town and storm the inner fort, Golden Hill. The Second Regiment led, firing volleys file by file through the streets, past the docks, and the burning army stores, up the hill, and into Ogunsan, which was practically abandoned without an effort at defense.