Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XX. 203 Metre Hill
<< 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.
254 THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR
trenches, and stayed in the ruins in spite of the
heat and the smoke.
At Akasaka-yama, where the attacks were
mostly carried out by the 7th Division, the
Japanese could not make any more headway than
at its larger sister hill, and the history of the
fighting here forms a nearly perfect counterpart
of the events at 203 Metre Hill, consisting of a
series of attacks and counter-attacks, where hand
grenades and high explosive shells played the
principal role.
The enfilading position of the hill was of very
material assistance to the Russians in helping to
beat off the attacks on 203. On November 28th,
for instance, a force of about 400 Japanese had
been drawn together in the parallel B, where they
were completely sheltered against the fire from
any part of 203, and where they thought them-
selves in perfect safety. But the Russian sailors
on Akasaka-yama placed two machine guns in
positions where they could fire directly into the
parallel, and, before they had been discovered by
the Japanese, suddenly opened fire. The Japanese
were sitting huddled together in the narrow space,
quite unconcernedly, when the avalanche of lead
was poured into them. Within a few seconds the
trench was turned into a veritable pandemonium,
a seething mass of humanity, where men were
fighting wildly to get away, trampling on the
wounded, climbing over the piles of corpses which
blocked the entrance, or trying to escape over the
edge of the parallel down the coverless hillside.
But the Maxims did their work as only Maxims
can. Within a few moments practically the whole
force was wiped out ;
a few men were shot dead
as they ran down the hillside, but nearly all the
others were killed in the narrow trench. It took
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
