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WAYS AND MEANS 171
four-—four men in front of Erhlung fort. After the
experiences at Port Arthur it is not likely that
mines will ever come to play a prominent part in
fortress defence, and the Chefoo reports of whole
battalions being blown up at a time by mines,
which even the Japanese Minister to Great Britain
took an opportunity of ridiculing, become to us
even more absurd than the ordinary nonsensical
drivel on which the inventive gentlemen at this
little Chinese seaside resort fed the world for
many months, making of the grand, austere
drama of Port Arthur a silly, inane burlesque.
That fish-torpedoes should be used on land is a
thing which probably few people would dream of ;
but the Russians have evidently thought other-
wise ;
for at the said defence works no less than
eight torpedoes were found. To my knowledge,
however, they were never fired, although the
Japanese assert that the head of a fish-torpedo
was fired at them from a mortar during one of the
attacks on Erhlung fort.
To conclude this chapter I shall finally point
out the grim determination with which the Russian
soldiers stood to their posts, awaiting the bayonet
charges of overwhelming forces, and in most
places fighting to the bitter end. It seems that
up to this time the smaller but more agile Japan-
ese was at least equal, if not superior, to his
bulkier, stronger antagonist. I have been told
that he used to duck down and thrust his bayonet
from below, under the guard of the Russian,
stabbing him in the abdomen. Later on, it
seems, the Russians learnt to be on their guard
against this stratagem, and in most hand-to-hand
encounters, where the disparity in numbers has
not been too great, they proved to be more than a
match for their enemies.
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