Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XIII. September
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
SEPTEMBER 159
reach, and under the circumstances the Japanese
preferred to wait until darkness made the Russian
fire less accurate and less deadly. But even with
the assistance of night the Japanese failed to
reach their goal. They climbed over the first
trench lines and drove out the few Russians here
without difficulty, but they were stopped by the
ubiquitous wire entanglements and forced to
withdraw under a withering fire from the upper
trenches. Their sappers went to work and suc-
ceeded in cutting an opening through the wires ;
the rest of the troops spent the night in a bitterly
cold north wind, clad only in their thin khaki
suits, without overcoats, and we could see them
sitting there during nearly the whole of the next
day awaiting orders for another advance.
But while the infantry had thus a quiet day for
the best part of the 20th, the artillery were busier
than ever. From early dawn the batteries opened
fire and showered a rain of shells over both the
Russian positions, continuing until about noon,
when they commenced firing shrapnel. This
lasted for many hours, and never, before or since,
have I witnessed anything to equal it. Over the
whole extension of the trenches shrapnel burst
incessantly, and we could actually follow the
irregular trench lines reflected, as it were, in a
double line of the small white clouds above them,
so accurate was the Japanese firing, and with such
amazing precision did their fuses burn.
At five o’clock in the afternoon the infantry
began to move, and soon reached the upper
trenches through the gap in the wire entangle-
ments. The terrible shrapnel fire had evidently
done its work well, for comparatively few men
were shot down during the advance up the steep
slopes. The trenches were reached and the
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
