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RETROSPECT 99
the besiegers. This important service was worked
with the greatest skill and ability. The way the
star-shells and the searchlights were made to
support each other in detecting the enemy, and
the handling of the searchlights to make them
perform a double task —illuminating the fields
over which the enemy passed, and also blinding
and confusing him—was excellent. That the
Russians have mastered more than the A B C of
this service, they fully demonstrated by the clever
way they used a searchlight to lure the troops of
the I St Division into a death-trap, by making
them believe that the light had been put out by
one of the Japanese shells.
As I said before, the Japanese do not care to
discuss the events of the night of August 23rd, or
to admit that the affair was a very serious thing.
Neither do they like to acknowledge the extent of
the damage caused by the Russian searchlights,
but it is nevertheless a noteworthy fact that after
August 23rd no night attack was ever made by
the Japanese on any place where the rays of
the light could reach them, whilst all the Russian
sorties and counter-attacks have been made at
night when they could have the great assistance
of their powerful lights.
Though the Japanese are loath to admit this
point, there is another to which they all agree,
and that is of the immense value of the Russian
machine guns to the defence. The searchlights
are stationary, they say, and the ground around
Port Arthur is so broken that they can get away
from them and avoid them; but the machine guns
can be moved about everywhere, and can be
easily shifted from place to place by a couple of
men. It is nearly impossible to detect them and
put them out of action, and their effect on the
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