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76 THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR
down under the murderous fire long before reach-
ing their place of refuge, and they gave up all
hope of relief.
On the morning of the 22nd their situation was
desperate. Even the attacks had been given up ;
they had been left to their fate. The officers,
however, reviewed the situation calmly, and, after
some deliberations, decided that it would be better
to die as brave soldiers in a fair fight than to
perish here like rats in a hole. They decided to
wait their opportunity when the vigilance of the
Russians had relaxed somew’hat, and then make a
bold attempt of taking the fort by surprise ;
the
distance which separated them from the walls of the
fort was not great. The engineers had brought
several charges of dynamite, encased in ordinary
tins—the first embryo of the later so-much-used
hand grenades.
Shortly after midday the rush was made.
The Russians, ignorant of the force in the trench,
not expecting any attack so near, were less ready
with their fire than on the previous occasions.
The sappers, who were in front, succeeded in
reaching the walls and climbing to the parapets
with comparatively small loss. They threw their
grenades into the bomb-proofs, partly destroying
them, and blowing a machine gun to pieces. The
men of the 7th followed close, running up the hill-
side as fast as possible ;
but the Russians soon
rallied ;
bullets and shrapnel swept down on the
bold attackers. The men stopped, hesitated,
wavered, and fled.
At that moment a young officer, by an heroic
act, saved the day. When the others turned and
fled, he did not follow. Accompanied by a couple
of men, he climbed the breastwork and planted a
small Japanese flag on the parapet. We could
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