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CHAPTER VllI
RETROSPECT
HE general attack on Port Arthur had
failed. The question naturally presents
A itself whether the Japanese ever stood a
chance of taking the place by direct assault, and,
if so, what caused the collapse of their plans.
The first part of the question is the most
difficult to answer. As the assault did not suc-
ceed, it is impossible to say what would or might
have happened if certain things had turned out
differently, and if the Japanese had obtained
advantages which they undoubtedly might have
gained with a little good luck and a little better
strategy. It is my personal belief that, at a
certain moment and given certain circumstances,
the Japanese really had a chance, and that the
dividing line between victory and defeat was for
a brief space of time very vague and undefined.
It seems to me, and I have heard my opinion cor-
roborated by Russian officers who personally took
part in these fights, that if the Japanese had been
able to push a large force forward just at the
crucial moment, when, on August 22nd, they had
driven the Russians out of the Panlung forts, and
had followed up their advantage here, regardless of
the losses which the neighbouring forts could have
inflicted on them ;
if they had rushed every avail-
able regiment through the breach, detailing three
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