Meanwhile there was no news from the north.
On August 4 we had the usual church parade and march past, and the usual martial9 speech to the troops from General St?ssel. The sun was shining, and to see this collection of gaily-dressed ladies and glittering[Pg 141] uniforms, one would not have said that an enemy was crouching10 below the hills within view of the heedless crowd. Its indifference11 was curious. Was it submission12 to fate, trust in luck, or stupidity?
The first bombardment from the land side began suddenly on August 7. It was a glorious day, and the churches were filled with crowds attending a service to pray for the safety of Port Arthur, when the booming of guns and shriek13 of shells commenced. Alarm was at once visible among the kneeling congregation, who got up, then again knelt down. The priest in a trembling voice brought the service to an abrupt14 end, and every one dispersed15 in search of safety. The bombardment continued all day, though doing little material damage.
Next morning, from 2 to 5 a.m., we heard heavy musketry fire from the direction of Ta-ku-shan: the enemy, leaving the town and the main defences in peace, were turning their attention to it. This hill corresponded in the east to 203 Metre Hill in the west, and was equally important and equally unfortified. It and Sia-gu-shan, the natural forts of Arthur on the eastern front, had a bad time. In the first place, they had not been made the most of, for in the original plan of defence of Port Arthur they had not been thought to be important points, and so had been neither fortified16 nor armed as their position with regard to the Fortress warranted, and Smirnoff had only recently succeeded in arming them to a small extent. In the second place, they became, after the abandonment of Wolf's Hills, open to flanking fire, and therefore untenable. The companies of the 13th East Siberian Rifle Regiment17 sent there went literally18 to their death, but, together with the gunners, they held on as long as possible. As Ta-ku-shan was not a fort or even a semi-permanent work, but only an artillery19 position, without casemates or splinter-proofs in which the defenders20 could get[Pg 142] protection during the artillery preparation, it can be easily imagined what the place was like when the enemy turned on to it the fire of both big and small guns. At eight in the evening the last small force on the right flank retired21 behind the main line of works after a desperate fight. The Japanese attacked fiercely in dense22 masses, and also pounded the whole of the eastern front, as well as some of the shore batteries. When they at length did succeed in getting possession of Ta-ku-shan and Sia-gu-shan, after heavy loss, we in our turn concentrated such a heavy gun-fire on those hills that they were unable to effect their object of building batteries.
Later in the evening I climbed up on to Golden Hill Battery to see what was to be seen. During supper a telephone message was received instructing us to open fire at once on Ta-ku-shan, firing at intervals23 of five minutes. Captain Zeitz, who was in command, immediately set to work at the chart and got out the range. Above, men began moving about the guns, while we remained below, sitting in the concrete casemate, which, in spite of its solidity, had been penetrated24 by a 12-inch shell during the sea bombardment. When after five minutes the battery opened fire with its 11-inch monsters the lamps in the casemate were at once extinguished, and several of the table utensils25 were smashed by the blast through the open hatch. Hatches and doors were then shut, but to little purpose, for almost every discharge put out the lights and the noise was deafening26. I went up on to the battery, and found it quite dark, though the howitzers, their muzzles27 cocked up, showed clearly against the white masonry28. The howitzer crews were moving about with lanterns.
'Number 1!' A streak29 of flame, a stunning30 roar, and away sped the steel messenger with its ever-lessening scream up into the air.
[Pg 143]
Down below in the casemate the telephone rang.
'Short, sir. Please shell the slopes towards the enemy,' was the message.
'Number 2!' Again the roar and shock.
One could scarcely distinguish the shots being fired from the neighbouring sea batteries. Uncle Moshinsky had opened fire, and, further off, Cape31 Flat and Cross Hill also; in fact, the whole front was rumbling32 with noise.
'Sir, that shell fell on the saddle of Ta-ku-shan. You are requested to shell the slopes towards the enemy,' again came on the telephone. Captain Zeitz ran down below into the casemate. After consulting the outspread map, he dashed up again and altered the sighting.
'Number 3!' Every five minutes a shot boomed out.
Going to the edge of the glacis, I looked over the steep precipice33 dropping down to the water. On the sea everything was quiet; the horizon was clear, and nothing was to be seen on the watery34 expanse lit up by the searchlights. Turning round, I saw the smooth edge of the hill; at an equal distance one from another, the four evil-looking mouths of the howitzers. Two minutes had passed since the last shot; everything in the battery was quiet and dark, and I was alone on the glacis. Down below stretched the town, buried in darkness, with no sign of light or life in street or house; it might have been a city of the dead. Suddenly the battery was lighted up as if it were day: a pillar of flame flashed from the mouth of one of the howitzers, and the blast swept up the pebbles35 from the ground and hurled36 them over the cliff.
I went back into the casemate, and found it hot and stuffy37. The majority of officers were lying down, as was every one in the battery above, with the exception of Zeitz; but it was impossible to sleep, because of the deafening noise of each shot. I sat down to the table[Pg 144] close to a lamp and began to read over my daily 'News' for the Novy Kry. The telephone rang, and orders came that we were to cease fire for half an hour. In the distance shots became fewer and fewer, and in the battery noise gave place to silence. For three hours incessantly38 the whole of the shore front from Golden Hill had bellowed39 at Ta-ku-shan.
Next day I was permitted to accompany General Smirnoff upon his inspection40, and had the good luck to witness our attempt to recapture Ta-ku-shan. Before giving me permission to accompany him, however, he warned me that by being with him I should probably earn St?ssel's ill-will. We first visited A Battery, where the garrison41 was taking cover from the enemy's rifle fire, and whence we could see the Japs moving about on the hill. Having given his instructions here, the General rode on, and we descended42 along the road leading from the Fortress into Dalny, where we found ourselves exposed to Ta-ku-shan, and bullets whistled overhead one after another. Smirnoff began to go slower, as if on purpose. Passing through the deep ravine towards B Battery, we saw a group of officers in the distance, amongst whom was General Gorbatovsky. On reaching the battery General Smirnoff gave orders for all the guns on the eastern front to open fire immediately, and for the companies which had been told off to advance and attack Ta-ku-shan. On the hill itself nothing was now visible; the Japanese had hidden. Our batteries were covering it with shrapnel and common shell, which we could see bursting on the slopes.
'Colonel Tokhateloff, order the batteries to shell the top of the hill and behind it: there is certain to be a number of the enemy there. What is the good of firing on the near slope?' said Smirnoff.
The Colonel dashed down into the casemate. He tried[Pg 145] to telephone to the further batteries, but could not manage it, as the central exchange would not answer.
'Put me on to A Battery! A Battery! I say, are you all mad? A Battery! A! A! A!'
At last the exchange replied, but time was flying, and the shells, instead of bursting on the top of the position, were still falling on the near slopes. At last those from A Battery began to reach the saddle of the hill.
'Ah! that's right; but only one battery has got the range. Pass the word to the others at once. What are they looking at?' said Smirnoff, getting angry.
Tokhateloff was beside himself; he shouted from the top to the nearest battery, and gave orders to transmit by semaphore. At last they all concentrated their fire on the top of the hill.
It was here and now that I for the first time realized practically the splendid inefficiency43 of our Fortress telephone system. Owing to its construction, the officer commanding a section of the Fortress artillery not only was unable to issue simultaneous orders to all the batteries under him, but could not even get through quickly to any one of them. In the central exchange they well knew that the Commandant himself was in B Battery on this occasion, and was personally directing the fire. And if it was not even possible for him to issue urgent orders in such a case, what must have happened when a mere44 section commander wanted to transmit an important order to one of the batteries under him? In some cases messengers actually went and returned before the stations were connected through.
The sun was fairly high when our infantry45 firing-line got near to the foot of the hill. Our artillery fire had intensified46 to prepare their way, and the hill-top was hidden by bursting shell. The moment for the assault was at hand, and we all nervously47 watched the attacking[Pg 146] columns. By midday they had begun to ascend48 the hill, and were with difficulty climbing up the spurs under a burning sun.
'Colonel Tokhateloff, tell the guns to cease fire,' said Smirnoff. Again the Colonel dashed down to carry out the order, a by no means easy task for a corpulent person like himself, and after a long time at the telephone, and much semaphoring, the fire gradually began to stop.
The interesting phase of the attack had begun, and in the battery and far beyond, to left and to right, there was the silence of expectation—the attention of the whole front was directed on the hill, of which our infantry had now seized half. We could see them crawling up higher and higher. Suddenly, from a ravine on the left slope of the hill appeared a column of the enemy, which quickly moved against the flank of our infantry, who, not seeing them, continued to press upwards49.
'Sir, sir,' shouted every one, 'look! there are the Japanese!'
'Open fire with shrapnel,' commanded Smirnoff. We watched the Japanese intently, and could clearly see them climbing up, with an officer in front waving a sword.
Captain Vakhneieff tried to get the range.
'No. 1!' It was short.
'No. 2!'
'No. 3!'
Still they dashed forward, though some were seen to fall.
'Why are the other batteries silent? Pass the word to the other batteries,' shouted Gorbatovsky.
Behind us Zaliterny Battery, high up on the hill, opened fire, as did one other battery on the left. But further to the left and on the right there was silence; either these batteries did not see the enemy, or they[Pg 147] were asleep. Colonel Tokhateloff, despairing of transmitting the necessary order by telephone, ran out to the gorge51 of the battery and shouted as loudly as he could and semaphored to them:
'Fire on the column—on the C-O-L-U-M-N—F-I-R-E!'
The fire gradually increased, and shrapnel after shrapnel tore after the Japanese, but it was late; they had got cover behind an outlying spur. Our men were still climbing up—on and on—they would soon be near the top! But they never reached it, for the enemy were too cunning. The moment the attackers became exposed, a ring of musketry fire burst out from the summit. Some of our men fell back, retreating right away down the hill; others could be seen to halt, take cover behind the rocks and folds of the ground, and to crawl along the hollows. More men came up from behind, but it was no good; they stopped gradually, and crawled downwards52 one by one. The attempt had failed.
The attack of this huge hill could never have succeeded by daylight, nor should it have been undertaken with so few men. To take it, a much larger force—at least one regiment—should have been sent; but although advised of this, General St?ssel would have his way. He considered that he knew best, and he alone was responsible for the failure.
Evening came on, and, according to the intelligence reports of the Chinese, there seemed every reason to believe that the Japanese would make a general attack that night. This information was common knowledge, and no one looked forward to the coming of night; we expected an assault, but knew not where the chief blow would fall. However, Chinese information was always most inaccurate53 and confused, and did not justify54 the reliance we placed in it.
The morning after this fight the Japanese did a thing[Pg 148] which surprised us: they fired on a small party of our stretcher-bearers which had gone out to pick up a wounded man who had lain all night on the slope of the hill, and succeeded in again wounding him and also one of the bearers—an action as disgusting as it was incomprehensible.
The bombardment of Arthur by land was now systematic55, lasting56 generally from 7 a.m. till 11 or 12 noon, and then again from 2 or 3 p.m. to 6 or 7 p.m. The shooting was apparently57 carried out by 'squares,' as all shells fired at the same time, fell into a comparatively small space. They did their best to destroy the fleet, the port, and the harbour workshops, and their shooting was so good that after two or three 'overs' and 'shorts' they were able to get on.
And now a word as to the press censorship in the Fortress. From August 9 right up to September 8 the Novy Kry printed my notes, under the heading 'News of the Novy Kry.' These notes were based entirely59 on personal observations or on information received by me in the Fortress Staff Office. By the direction of the Commandant and with the knowledge of St?ssel and Reuss, the following procedure was observed.[15] Every day, after going round the line of defences, I went to the Fortress Staff Office, where I was given all the telephone messages of the preceding twenty-four hours up to twelve noon that day. I busied myself with this budget in the office of the Chief of the Staff, in his presence, and under the supervision60 of Lieutenants62 Kniazeff or Hammer.
When my account was ready I handed it to Colonel Khvostoff for him to see, and everything that I said relating to the operations of the fleet was given to Lieutenant61 Mackalinsky of the Navy, attached to the Fortress Staff, to[Pg 149] look through. These two then deleted such parts of it as, in their opinion, ought not to be published, and at once returned it to me with permission to send to press. I then despatched it by my orderly to Colonel Artemieff in the Editor's Office, who in his turn cut out such parts as seemed to him suspicious—i.e., parts to which objection might be taken by the censors58. After he had done this—it always had to be done by him personally—the manuscript was sent to be set up. Two corrected proofs were sent, one to General St?ssel's Office and one to the Naval63 Office, to be censored64. The proofs, when signed by the censors, were returned to the printing-offices, where they were checked by the assistant editor, and sent by him to the type-room to be amended65. Thence a revised proof was sent to the editor for checking with the censors' original remarks. It was only after very careful checking of this revised proof with the original that Colonel Artemieff permitted it to be printed.
See what an amount of correction and checking my 'News' was subjected to before it reached the reader. However, notwithstanding all this absurd severity—the almost impossible requirements of two censors, naval and military—General St?ssel deemed it so dangerous that he stopped the publication of the Novy Kry for one month!
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1
fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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2
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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3
postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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4
conveyance
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| n.(不动产等的)转让，让与；转让证书；传送；运送；表达；（正）运输工具 | |
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5
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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6
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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7
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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8
evading
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| 逃避( evade的现在分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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9
martial
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| adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的 | |
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10
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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11
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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12
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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13
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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14
abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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15
dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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16
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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18
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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19
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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20
defenders
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| n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者 | |
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21
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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22
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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23
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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24
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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25
utensils
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| 器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物 | |
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26
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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27
muzzles
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| 枪口( muzzle的名词复数 )； （防止动物咬人的）口套； （四足动物的）鼻口部； （狗）等凸出的鼻子和口 | |
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28
masonry
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| n.砖土建筑；砖石 | |
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29
streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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30
stunning
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| adj.极好的；使人晕倒的 | |
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31
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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32
rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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34
watery
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| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
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35
pebbles
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| [复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 ) | |
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36
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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37
stuffy
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| adj.不透气的，闷热的 | |
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38
incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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39
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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40
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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41
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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42
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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43
inefficiency
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| n.无效率，无能；无效率事例 | |
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44
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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45
infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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46
intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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48
ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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49
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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50
mow
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| v.割（草、麦等），扫射，皱眉；n.草堆，谷物堆 | |
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51
gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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52
downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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53
inaccurate
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| adj.错误的，不正确的，不准确的 | |
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54
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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55
systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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56
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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57
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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58
censors
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| 删剪（书籍、电影等中被认为犯忌、违反道德或政治上危险的内容）( censor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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59
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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60
supervision
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| n.监督，管理 | |
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61
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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62
lieutenants
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| n.陆军中尉( lieutenant的名词复数 )；副职官员；空军；仅低于…官阶的官员 | |
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63
naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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64
censored
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| 受审查的，被删剪的 | |
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65
Amended
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| adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词 | |
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