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SECOND GENERAL ATTACK 199
Kikuan hill, and leading up to the next fort to
the south-east, a strong infantry trench was built,
provided with traverses and bomb-proofs ;
this
trench later came to be known amongst us by the
well-deserved name of “The Tragedy Trench.”
The distance from the trench up to the fort was
some 150 yards along a very precipitous slope.
Against this position it was that the com-
mander of the 44th regiment decided to direct
its attack. The galling fire of the defenders from
front and right flank had badly thinned their
ranks, but there was only one thing left for them
now they had launched on the undertaking—to
go on and try to take the place by assault. A
retreat under the converging Are from the fort,
the Chinese wall, and the higher battery positions,
would mean disaster, if not annihilation. Part of
the attacking force succeeded in reaching the
neck between the two batteries, but here they
were met by the Russians, who engaged them in
a hand-to-hand encounter. The Japanese were
decimated by the heavy fire and tired out with
their long climb, and, though they fought with
their usual bravery, they were no match for the
Russians. Nearly the whole force had to pay
the penalty of this rash attempt with their lives.
Meanwhile the 12th regiment attacked the
position from the north, advancing in two
columns. For about ten minutes the hill-side
was black with moving men. They overran the
“ Tragedy Trench,” and started on the last diffi-
cult climb up to the crest. It was hard work,
and the Russian shrapnel and rifle-bullets cut up
their ranks in terrible fashion. The number of
men that still moved up hill grew rapidly smaller,
while the hill-side became dotted all over with
corpses and wounded men. Still they pushed on.
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