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COLLAPSE 281
battery positions, from East Kikuan to Sungshuh
—with the exception of the supporting fort of
Sungshuh—fell into the hands of the Japanese
without serious resistance. The strong East
Kikuan fort was blown up by the Russians about
two o’clock in the morning, completely wrecking
this, in all probability, the strongest of the
Russian positions. When I visited the place a
couple of days afterwards, a large and deep
crater, with immense blocks of concrete and large
fragments of heavy guns thrown together in
chaotic confusion, marked the site of the fort
which the Japanese for so long had vainly
endeavoured to capture.
Simultaneously with these events the Japanese
right wing was attacking positions at the foot
of Laotiehshan. The assaults on the eastern
battery positions were commenced, in the first
place, as a demonstration to draw the attention of
the besieged away from this attack ;
but finding
the Russian resistance so considerably weakened,
the demonstration was developed into a serious
attack, wdth the results mentioned, while the opera-
tions out west came to assume a more demon-
strative character.
Although the Japanese had in this way during
the last couple of weeks made enormous strides
towards their goal, nobody, even the best informed
at the Japanese headquarters, dreamt that the
end was so near. The inner line of defence,
which still separated the besiegers from the old
town, was very weak, and it was not conjec-
tured that the Russians would try to make any
determined stand here. The defence works were
completely dominated from the newly captured
positions, and the old town also was entirely at the
mercy of the besiegers from the moment their
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