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10 THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR
of these plans had, however, been carried out.
There had been endless correspondence forwards
and backwards between Port Arthur and St.
Petersburg, and a number of plans had been sub-
mitted for approval, and rejected or sent back with
new suggestions and proposals. It was only
shortly before the outbreak of the war that a com-
plete system had been decided upon, which was
to be finished within a period of five years. The
Russians did not for a moment believe that Japan
would dare to declare war, and they thought they
would have ample time to carry out their plans
undisturbed. The result was that, when the
Japanese fleet made its first attack on the Russian
squadron at Port Arthur on February 8th, the
“ fortress of Port Arthur ” did not, really speaking,
exist, much less any “ fortified district of Kuang-
tung.” The old Chinese forts, of which only a few
were of any real value against a modern army,
were the only defence works to oppose an enemy’s
attack from land, and even these were to a large
extent depleted of guns, or armed with old-
fashioned cannon. If, simultaneously with the
attack on the fleet, the Japanese had landed
10,000 men on the peninsula, there is little
doubt that they could have taken the whole place
by surprise, and marched practically unopposed
straight into the town, where the whole garrison
consisted of less than 3,000 men.
Of course, as soon as the first attack of the
Japanese had taken place, a large number of
troops and immense supplies of provisions and
ammunition were hurriedly sent to Port Arthur,
and the construction of the fortifications was com-
menced and carried out with feverish haste
according to the excellent plans of Colonel
Rashefsky of the engineers, and under the capable
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