Last time we spoke about the battle of Liaoyang. Kuropatkin yet again was forced to fight a battle he did not want to fight. The Russians had just suffered a string of defeats, gradually being pushed further and further north in Manchuria. While Kuropatkin would have liked to pull back and await more reinforcements, Alexeiev sought action. Despite the circumstances, the 3 layered defenses of Liaoyang were formidable, and better yet, the Russians outnumbered the Japanese. Yet Kuropatkin’s intelligence was flawed and under the belief he was outnumbered he acted in such a way that would cause his defeat at the hands of Oyama. Three Japanese divisions worked together to seize key features allowing for the collapse of each Russian defensive layer. Once the Japanese artillery began battering Liaoyang and her railway station it was all but over. Now Kuropatkin’s forces are withdrawing to Mukden and the prize of Port Arthur was for the taking.
#80 The Russo-Japanese War part 7: Nogi’s Siege of Port Arthur
Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War.
We just left off with Oyama and his 3 divisions defeating Kuropatkin at Liaoyang, sending the Russians fleeing towards Mukden. Yet while that story was occurring, an entire other battle, a crucial one at that, was occurring at Port Arthur. The last time we spoke about the Liaodong Peninsula, General Maresuke Nogi received the appointment of commander for the 3rd IJA. Nogi’s appointment was a bit of a shock for the other commanders, he had been brought out of three years of retirement for the job. He had played a part in the capture of Port Arthur back in the war of 1894, a battle that cost only 16 of his soldiers. The fight for Port Arthur in 1904 would cost much more than that.
Port Arthur had three lines of defense. The old part of the town was surrounded on the landward side by a great ditch. 4000 yards from the town was the old Chinese Wall, strengthened by new forts on multiple parts of it. Northwest and northeast of Port Arthur were a series of fortified hills, such as 203 Meter Hill which overlooked the town and harbor. If this hill was captured, the Japanese could place artillery upon it and destroy the Russian fleet at anchor. This fact was not lost on the Russians, especially not Viceroy admiral Alexeiv who sent a message to Admiral Witgeft on August 7th of 1904 ‘I again reiterate my inflexible determination that you are to take the Squadron out of Port Arthur.’ And so again Witgeft would again try to flee Port Arthur to hook up with the Vladivostok squadron. The fleet departed on August 10th, with the Peresvyet and Retvizan still damaged from shellfire, Retvizan was carrying 400 tons of water through a hole below her waterline. A subordinate pointing out to Witgeft the damaged ships would slow the fleet down, but he replied ‘My orders, are to go to Vladivostok with the whole Squadron, and that I shall do.’
Patrolling Round Island was Admiral Togo’s main battle fleet, with 3 Japanese divisions of 11 cruisers, 17 destroyers and 29 torpedoboats to the east and west of Port Arthur. The Russian fleet were crawling at a snail's pace and Togo was quick to pounce on such a wounded animal. Just before 12:30pm the Japanese began opening fire at 8000 yards. Togo attempted crossing the Russians T and by 1pm both fleets were opposite courses at a range of 10,000 yards. The Russians kept charging in the direction of Vladivostok as the Japanese sped after them cautiously trying not to receive terrible hits. At 4pm the Poltava began to slow down causing the rest of the fleet to also. Mikasa sped on, but was nearly stopped dead by a salvo of 12 inch shells from Poltava. The Japanese began to concentrate fire on Poltava as the Peresvyet landed hits upon Mikasa, Shikishima and Asahi. It looked as if the Russians might have brought doom to Togo.
Then at 5:45pm luck hit the Japanese. 2 12 inch shells hit Tsarevitch breaking down her foremast and one smash her conning tower right where admiral Witgeft was standing. All that remained of the admiral was part of his leg, the rest of his staff were blown to pieces. War correspondent Richmond Smith wrote ‘The steel roof of the tower was driven against the man at the wheel, and he was killed and jammed flat against the post with the helm hard over. The roof of the conning tower had to be cut away before the corpse could be cut away and the steering gear liberated.’ The Sevastopol and Peresvyet narrowly avoided running into Tsarevitch. Then the transfer of command signal was hoisted above the flagship, Prince Ukhtomski aboard Peresvyet hoisted his signal ordered the fleet to follow him. The Russians turned around to flee back to Port Arthur. The Japanese continued their chase, but Togo feared losing his precious battleships and elected to send the destroyers to chase the tails of the Russians. Despite their best efforts, not a single Russian ship was sunk, in what became known as the battle of the yellow sea. The morning of August 11th saw 5 battleships, 1 cruiser and 3 destroyers back at harbor. Their sailors, guns and ammunition were taken off the ships and allocated to the land defenses. Not all the ships returned to Port Arthur however.
Tsarevitch had been hit by 15 12 inch shells, her funnels were drained of fuel, she had burnt 480 tons of coal in just 24 hours. She was escorted by 3 destroyers to the German port of Kiaochou where she would be interned for the rest of the war. Diana coaled up at Kiaochou and would sail for Saigon where she was interned. Askold departed for Shanghai, hoping to repair herself quickly and make a break for it, but the Japanese sent piquet ships to watch her. The crews of Askold were thus forced to be interned. Ryeshitelni tried to make a break for it, but the Japanese hunted her down and managed to board her. She was renamed Akatsuki and would join the IJN combined fleet. Only the Novik would have a chance to fight again. Captain Mikhail von Schultz intended to take Novik to Kiachou to coal up before making a dash east of Japan to Vladivostok. Diana and Grozovoi declined following such a dangerous action, so Novik went it alone, departing Kiaochou on August 12th. Early on August 14th a Japanese merchant ship sighted Novik passing Yakushima and reported it to the IJN command. Captains Sento Takenaka and Takagi Sukeichi aboard Tsushima and Chitose received orders to hunt her down, both proceeding north through the Sea of Japan. Both ships met up on August 18th at Hakodate whereupon they received orders to patrol the western side of the Tsugaru strait.
The IJN believed the Novik intended to pass through La Perouse Strait to coal at Korsakov before heading for Vladivostok. Chitose and Tsushima independently searched the strait finding no sign of the Novik. Tsushima headed for Korsakov and at 4pm on the 20th observed smoke rising from the harbor. Schultz was alerted of the Tsushima and made a break for it heading south and by 4:30 Tsushima was opening fire upon her. Novik returned fire, but the Tsushima was more heavily armed and scored multiple hits. Novik took 5 hits below her waterline and one knocked out her boilers. Novik turned back for Korsakov and at 5:40 scored a hit on Tsushima below the waterline flooding two compartments. Tsushima began to list so heavily she was forced to abandon the hunt and make emergency repairs. As Tsushima repaired herself, Chitose rushed to the scene and during the night of the 20th both IJN cruisers watched the Novik anchored at Korsakov harbor, waiting for her to depart. Novik’s steering gear was damaged beyond repair, so Schultz ordered her to be scuttled in the shallow harbor water. At dawn on the 21st, Chitose entered the harbor to find the abandoned Novik sunk on a sandbank. Chitose closed in at 4400 yards and opened fire scoring 20 hits as the Russian crew on land withdrew. On August 13th the Vladivostok squadron was given orders to try and support Port Arthur’s trapped fleet so they set out to do so. The Rossiya, Gromoboi and Rurik were sailing when on August 14th they were intercepted by 4 IJN cruisers led by Admiral Kamimura. In the battle, Rurik sunk and Rossiya and Gromoboi barely made it back to Vladivostok.
Port Arthur was now on her own. Lt General Stoessel’s entire Siberian corps were withdrawn from the Kwantung Peninsula into the grand fortress of Port Arthur, under the command of Lt General Smirnov. Realizing there might arise problems with two competing commanders, Kuropatkin had sent orders back on July 3rd making Stoessel the superior officer, while Smirnov would focus on the command of the fortress itself. Stoessel had two divisional commanders who would be important during the siege. Our old cowardly friend Lt Fok and the much more competent and popular might I add, Kondratenko. Thus the chain of command was overall commander Stoessel, commander of the fort Smirnov and commander of the land forces Kondratenko. Major General Byeli commanded the artillery and to make matters more confusing, the units of the Russian navy would be under Stoessel.
Nogi had acquired the giant 4.7 inch land based artillery pieces that would begin bombarding Port Arthur on August 7th. The IJN also added their guns to the bombardment as Nogi’s army would begin to clear the hills northeast of the city, such as the 600 foot tall Takushan and smaller Hsiaokushan, known also as Big Orphan and Little Orphan Hills. Both hills were not heavily defended, only having a garrison of 3 battalions and some supporting fire from the eastern forts, but they were quite steep and held mutually supporting promontories with only the southern slopes providing decent access to their peaks. In front of them ran the Ta River and from the Japanese point of view there lay half a mile of absolutely open ground between them and the hills. If the Japanese could seize them, this would provide a strategic anchor, as explained by one of Nogi’s divisional commanders “The Great and Little Orphans may be likened to the meat between the ribs of a chicken, which is hard to get and yet we are reluctant to throw it away. As long as these hills are left in the enemy’s hands, we are sure to be overlooked and shot from them, even though after we have taken them ourselves, we cannot help becoming a target for the enemy.” If you look at a map, basically the hills were a major hindrance to any Japanese movement to other locations, they simply had to be seized.
At 7:30pm on August 7th, the Japanese infantry began their attack from the northeast and northwest. The artillery had been smashing the hills since 4:30pm. It was a rainy and dark night as the men advanced under artillery support, and the Ta River would drown many. The Japanese were forced to dig in at the foot of the hills and await daylight. At dawn the artillery commenced again as the infantry surged forward without much success. By midday a Russian flotilla led by the Novik hired upon the southern slopes. The Russian fleets guns were firing from Takhe Bay and they outranged the Japanese field artillery. To make matters worse the minefields were keeping the IJN ships at a distance. 3 inch howitzers were detached to the east coast hills and began to counter fire, forcing the Russian flotilla away and allowing the Japanese to resume their advance.
Now the Japanese artillery enjoyed supremacy as shrapnel poured upon the Russian gun crews. Gradually the Russians were forced from their trenches making a withdrawal during the night heading down the reverse slopes. The two orphan hills cost the Japanese 1280 casualties, a mere appetizer of what was to be the main course. The IJA forces were greatly upset by how easily the Russian navy was able to come over and shoot upon them. Thus the IJN brought up 4 12 pounder guns to make sure the Russian ships would not harass the land forces anymore. On the 13th the Japanese lifted a balloon above the Wolf Hills to provide photo reconnaissance. The Russians meanwhile had no balloons, nor pigeons or wireless telegraphy. It seems the reconnaissance did nothing to dissuade Nogi from performing a frontal assault aimed at hitting the heart of the Russian eastern position, these were the Wantai heights. Nogi deployed the 1st division on the right, the 9th division in the center and the 11th division on the left. Between Wantai and the city was a large ravine and Nogi believed if they breached Wantai, the flanking forts would fall easily leaving a path to seize the town.
Nogi devised a feint to create the illusion they were performing the exact same attack upon Port Arthur that was done in 1894. This also was done to protect his right flank for the frontal assault in the west. The 1st division was given the task of capturing 180 meter hill as a preliminary for the capture of 203 meter hill. It was hoped the preliminary operation in the west would draw away Russian forces from Wantai. At 9pm on the 13th the western advance began. The area of 180 and 203 meter hill was under the command of Tretyakov, who was under the command of General Kondratenko. Here were the 5th and 13th east siberians, reinforced with 2 companies of sailors. The Russians made an egregious error, they placed their artillery upon the crests of the hills, something their comrades further east in Manchuria had learnt the hard way. With the Russian field artillery basically neutralized, the Japanese crept towards the features losing a few hundred in the process. Yet it would not be the creeping Japanese infantry that tore the Russians from their trenches, but rather the Japanese concealed artillery. The Japanese guns first began to smash 174 meter hill. Streams of wounded Russians would go down the hill as fresh reserves were sent up. By midday on the 20th a messenger arrived to Tretyakov and Kondratenko’s HQ, he was joined by a visitor, General Fok. The messenger carried a note from the commander upon hill 174. He was requesting a company from the reserves to be dispatched over. General Fok overheard the report, and intervened claiming Tretyakov and Kondratenko lacked experience and should wait before releasing any reserves. Kondratenko, probably insulted agreed to wait a little, but Tretyakov looked up towards the hill with his binoculars and would recalled ‘I noticed three riflemen running away from the hill, and three men without rifles behind them. I drew General Kondratenko’s attention to them, and he evidently realised his mistake, for he said to me, “Ah! Now it is too late!”’ The trickle of men running turned into a disorderly retreat, as Tretyakov continues ‘A disorderly retreat is always started by one man, and in most cases this man is physically weak … What an enormous influence one man, whether officer or private, can have on the issue of a battle.’ Tretyakov and Kondratenko both rode out to try and stop the men from running. A counter attack was launched quickly, but it failed, to make things worse the Japanese had just seized a knoll north east of 180 meter hill. The Japanese paid for this with 1700 casualties, for the Russians it was 1100.
On August the 11th the Japanese had sent terms of surrender, on the 16th the Russian military council met and rejected the terms. Stoessel and Smirnov sent a signed response to Nogi on the 17th reading ‘The honour and dignity of Russia do not allow of overtures of any sort being made for a surrender.’ On the 19th the Japanese artillery began to systematically hit the eastern defensive forts such as Fort Shungshu and the Chikuan Batter. Countless Russian guns were being destroyed or neutralized. The Waterworks redoubt located north of the railway was attacked by a Japanese company. Out of 108 men, 30 would survive. The Russians launched a counter attack on the 20th and the withdrawing Japanese were caught in the open field by artillery, providing carnage. Simultaneous to the attack on the Waterworks Redoubt, the 9th and 11th divisions began their frontal assaults.
The Russian engineers had created nasty surprises for the Japanese. Planks were cut down with nails driven through them, you know that scene from home alone? The Japanese typically wore straw tabi, so this was particularly rough. They also hung telegraph wire all around to make up for a lack of barbed wire, anywhere that could trip an ankle or break the momentum of a charge. Some wire obstacles were attached to power supplies to give the Japanese quite a shock. During the night, magnesium flares, starshells and searchlights illuminated any attempt of the Japanese to sneak an advance. In terms of machine guns, the Russians typically enjoyed a 10 to 1 odds of superiority. Despite the grueling hardship, the Japanese kept the advance moving forward, under the threat of artillery, machine guns, terrible weather and booby traps.
August 21st began with a grotesque scene of Japanese bodies flung over wire all around. The 11th division attempted to leap frog towards the East Panlung fort over a watercourse and were cut to pieces by machine guns. The 9th division reinforced by a brigade was making slow progress. Then a small section of machine guns were knocked out in the East Panlung allowing some of the Japanese to seize forward trenches around the battery. The Russians fired into the trenches from the battery and from the West Panlung battery. The Japanese held on for the lives as reinforcements tried to creep over in 2’s and 3’s. When Russian riflemen tried to move closer to dislodge the Japanese, the Japanese artillery smashed them causing a bit of a standoff. At midday Japanese officers stood up grabbing the rising sun flag and charged a Russian parapet. All the men that followed them were shot down or bayoneted before the flag could be planted.
The Russians were beginning to severely suffer from the artillery fire. By 4pm a party of sailors came to reinforce the East Panlung, but a Japanese counter attack from a toehold near the parapet stopped them from reaching their destination. Then a Japanese company commander led his men into a watercourse between the East and West Panlung forts. The commander could see the Russian attention was focused on the Eastern Fort, so he led his men against the Western fort. The infantry swarmed up the northeast slopes towards West Panlung suffering few casualties. The fort was set ablaze by 6pm with its occupants ejected, but the Japanese were unable to occupy it because of the inferno. The old chinese wall forts began to fire upon the West Panlung to dissuade the Japanese from claiming it. Meanwhile two battalions of the 7th regiment charged the East Panlung and would seize it at a terrible cost. During the 7th regiments roll call the next day, out of 1800 men, only 200 were present.
With the Panlungs taken, now it was time to seize Wantai. A brigade of the 11th division and 9th division would use the Panlung forts as springboards to hit Wantai on the 24th. Moving up to the Panlung forts was something out of a horror film as described to us by Tadayoshi Sakurai ‘The dead and wounded were piled one upon another in nooks and corners, some groaning with pain, some crying for help, and some perfectly quiet, breathing no longer,’. The infantry moving up had to crawl over their dead and wounded to do so. As both brigades made their way, casualties mounted. Two companies seized the initiative and launched their attack and were cut to pieces by machine guns 500 yards from Wantai. The next day saw the exact same carnage, war correspondent Richmon Smith had this to say of the event “‘It looked as if there was not a single foot of ground which had not its own particular shell, and the whole ridge was enveloped in a thick cloud of smoke and dust from the explosions“ The following night the men began to pull back to the Panlung forts, leaving countless dead strewn in the hundreds over the hillsides.
Nogi was at his desk when he received a report indicating he had lost 18,000 men. To just give you an idea, a division is 15,000 men. Such a sacrifice had got him what? Just taking the Orphan Hills had seen 9000 men lost to sickness and wounds. His total casualty list was that of 30,000 all counted. The Panlung forts were hardly a prize as the Japanese were figuring out, Wantai was holding them back without them. Holding the forts caused more casualties as the Russians fired upon them. On the night of August 27th the Russians launched a counter attack against West Panlung that failed, but it did showcase the reality of the situation for the Japanese there. Wantai held a moat nearly 30 feet wide and 25 feet deep, its fortifications were extremely sturdy, it was not going to fall, the idea to seize it and then the city was fallacy.
A new strategy was needed. As Marshal Oyama was about to attack Kuropaktin at Liaoyang, Nogi required more men. 15,000 men led by Major General Teshima were enroute with siege artillery. On September 14th, the first battery of 11 inch howitzers would arrive. These colossal beasts fired 500 lb shells effectively 7700 yards. Nogi also unleashed sappers, who first targeted the Waterworks Redoubt. The Japanese were not experts at sapping as noted by Danish war correspondent Benjamin Wegner Norregaard ‘It was too slow for them, and it was taxing their tenacity and fortitude to a much higher degree than the most desperate attacks in the open. They did not like it, and they did not understand it, and the majority of their officers shared their feelings.’ The sappers began from the advance Russian trench lines and made a southerly course towards the redoubt. 650 yards of trench work, requiring tons of earth to be removed from the tunnels. In front of the Panlungs, 2000 yards of trench work was dug up to connect the 9th divisional HQ. What would later be normalized along the western front in WW1 was being seen in its infancy here.
After 19 days the general attack resumed on September 19th. Nogi now planned a feint attack against the eastern defenses while attacking the Waterworks Redoubt, the Sueshi Lunette and a more substantial effort would be mounted against Hills 180 and 203. At 5:40 a storming party lept from their forward trenches at the Waterworks Redoubt. They were stopped in their tracks and ran back to their trenches. At 2am the Japanese performed the same attack and this saw the Russian withdrawing. The Japanese suffered 500 casualties, but gained a new platform to sap from and captured the enemies water supply. The Sueshi lunette would fall the next day in a similar manner.
The 9th division occupied the Waterworks Redoubt and Sushi Lunettes while the 1st Division began attacking the Temple Redoubt, 180 and 203 meter hills. They both received new artillery support; 5 naval 12 pounders, 2 4.7 inch guns, 12 4.7 howitzers, 12 3.5 inch mortars, 60 field guns and 8 4 pounder Hotchkiss guns. 180 meter hill was narrow with steep sides, occupied by 6 Russian companies in shallow trenches encircling its crest. Upon its northern peak were 2 6 inch guns managed by sailors. The first Japanese breakthrough occurred on September 17th when some forward trenches were grabbed without firing a single shot. It would turn out the Russian 7th company, 28th regiment were eating their dinner when they were suddenly attacked. They tried to take back their trenches but were unable.
At 2pm on the 19th the Japanese artillery assisted by some IJN gunboats from Louisa Bay began to hit Tretyakov’s men hard. At 4pm on the 20th, a simultaneous two battalion attack smashed the Russians leaving Tretyakov to write “Our gunners failed to locate the enemy’s batteries, and thus remained impotent witnesses of the slaughter of our companies. Just then I saw the top of the right flank of Namako Yama covered with grey smoke and the men there rushing headlong down the hill. After the men on the right flank [they were Seven Company of the Twenty-eighth Regiment] had run, the others from the battery and the enemy appeared simultaneously on the crest.” Russian troops began to rout as the Japanese seized an observation post close to 180 meter hill. 130 Russians died in the trenches, for the Japanese it was close to 450 casualties. On that same day the Japanese seized the Temple Redoubt.
Back on September 18th, General Baron Kodama visited a depressed General Nogi. He advised Nogi to press further on with the sapping effort and looking closely at the battle map, raised attention to the 203 meter hill. He noted such a feature offered the perfect artillery placement to smash the harbor fleet and win the battle. It seems Nogi heeded the advice as on the 20th he launched a 3-pronged attack against 203 meter hill, bypassing 180 meter hill. The Japanese were repelled on two sides, but grabbed a foothold in the southwest corner. The Japanese swept up the hill with their artillery support as the Russian machine gun crews acted like deaths scythes raking them down. The Russians also tossed down boulders to gruesome effect.
On the 22nd Smirnov ordered some quickfires to be brought up to the lip of a ravine under the cover of Kaoliang. The guns caught the Japanese by complete surprise and fired upon them at point blank range causing panic and carnage. At night the Russian hill top defenders tossed hand made mines blowing Japanese in entrenched positions to pieces. Countless Japanese were forced to flee from their foothold on 203 meter hill. 2500 Japanese casualties had mounted against the formidable hill as Nogi ordered the men to back off and allow artillery to soften it up more. The Russian hand grenade proved to be a very effective weapon against Japanese hill charges. Three factories within Port Arthur went into full production because of it. Yet only so much ammunition was stored in the city, and the Russian commanders knew the shells would run out. The Russians were so meticulous, they began a program of finding Japanese shell duds and re-processed them to be fired back upon the enemy.
Food was not an enormous issue yet for the Russians, though dysentery and scurvy was increasing. Meanwhile the Japanese were seeing an exponential increase in Beriberi disease. In July they had 5000 cases, August 10,000, another 5000 in September. For those not familiar, beriberi is kind of like a scurvy one gets when their diet is restricted to just rice, particularly rice that is fermented in dampness and heat. The Russians began to hear rumors of the arrival of Japanese 11 inch howitzers. The Japanese had laid down a small railway from Dalny to move the giant 500 lb shells. By October 1st the artillery crews had prepared everything for the giant show of force, their target was to be Fort Chikuan. It took 100 shells, before it was turned to ruin. Nogi and his staff were very pleased with the performance of the new 11 inch howitzers, by October 15th two more batteries of 6 guns arrived. Four of the guns were placed ominously within a mile of 203 meter hill. Tretyakov wrote ‘This was serious news for us. One could feel that 203 Metre Hill was practically safe against six inch projectiles, but eleven inchs were a very different matter.’ Tretyakov solution was ‘to delve deeper into the rock’. Elsewhere upon the hill, feared they were doomed. ‘The wearing, trying uncertainty, the want of confidence, and the constant, unavoidable danger began to tell.The younger men lost their nerve, and suicides commenced.’
The sapping efforts had created a new north and northeast front. The 1st division now would attack Fort Sungshu, the 9th division Fort Erhlung and the 11th divisions fort Chikuan. Nogi issued urgency to their tasks as he wished to present Emperor Meiji the gift of Port Arthur on his Birthday, November 3rd. October saw countless Japanese attacks and sapping drawing closer and closer to Russian fortifications. On the 26th the area around the 3 forts were surrounded by Japanese infantry and sappers. At Fort Chikuan a tunnel reached within 50 yards of its moat. At Fort Erhlung the sappers were within 300 yards from the Russian forward trenches. The Japanese invented many gadgets and techniques during this process. They made wooden mortars within their sapper trenches that could fire 250-400 yards or so. To combat enemy grenades they made springy wire trampolines that bounced them off. They even began dabbling in some ancient fashion. Some Japanese created steel body armor, weighing 40 lbs or so that protected them from small arms fire, yet larger arms knocked them down. To combat this, they made two poles fastened to the pioneers waist to keep them up right.
On October 26th a Japanese artillery barrage began to build up, directed against Erhlung and Sungshu. Then Japanese infantry stormed forward trenches and for the next two days relentlessly pushed forward. By the night of the 29th two Russian counter attacks in front of Erhlung and Sungshu failed to dislodge them. On the 29th a large barrage was unleashed followed by Japanese storming across a front of just 50-100 yards. The Russians knew exactly where they would come from and all weapons were directed upon them. The attacks were simultaneous. Against Chikuan the Japanese crossed 40 yards and were gunned down by machine guns and torn up by shrapnel. Though little progress was made, some Japanese seized a parapet 200 yards west of the fort. The attack against Fort Erhlung was a complete disaster. The Japanese charged through the chaos and reached its moat only to find out their scaling ladders were 20 feet too short. At Sungshu the same problem was found, but the men were able to cling to the side of the fort. 6 days of desperate hand to hand fighting saw the Japanese lose 124 officers and 3611 men. The only gift the Japanese could provide to Emperor Meiji was a 101 gun salute with the rounds hitting Erhlung.
News hit Japan of the failures, the public was angered by Nogi. He was nearly sacked if not for Emperor Meiji’s personal intervention. Oyama was livid and sent Kodama to Nogi who strongly advised Nogi to focus on 203 meter hill. If Nogi did not comply Kodama was under orders to take over. Nogi attempted another general assault against the eastern defenses, but most of November would be dedicated to sapping and mining in front of Forts Erhlung and Sungshu. By late November Nogi received the 7th division, but the November assaults would only add to the butchers bill. After the second assault attempt on November 27th the Japanese lost 208 officers, 5933 wounded. A third November assault was made and this time General Kondratenko issued some brutal orders. Russian snipers were brought to the rear, and they shot those who tried to withdraw. The message was passed along the Russian line loud and clear. At 203 meter hill the Japanese were about to see 8000 casualties, for the Russians 3000. The world had rarely seen such slaughter. Kondratenko guessed they had seen the last general assault against the forts for awhile, so he gambled by thinning out the line, trying to build up a reserve for counter attacks.
Nogi was determined to seize hills 180 and 203. The 1st division reinforced with a Kobi regiment began an attack on November 28th at 8:30am. Under artillery support they performed a 3-pronged attack. The 11 inch howitzers fired 1000 500lb shells upon 203 and 180 meter hills that day. Two battalions attacked the southern peak, 1 battalion the north peak of 203 meter hill and 3 companies against 180 meter hill. The southern peak force reached the southwest corner of the hill where they became exposed to Russian artillery firing from Pigeon Bay. Being raked by shrapnel they could advance no further. The northern peak force fared no better. The attack against 180 meter hill saw no progress at all. Overall the only significant victory was securing the south west flank of 203 meter hill.
On November 29th the morning sun showed corpses strung everywhere across the hills going up to the Russian trenches, a grizzly sight. Japanese artillery continued to smash the hills and during the night the Japanese launched a further 3 pronged attack. After 36 hours the Japanese were exhausted. Nogi ordered the 7th division to relieve the spent 1st division and upon doing so a messenger suddenly rushed into his HQ with a terrible message. Nogi’s son Yasukori had died. His eldest son had died at the battle of Nanshan with the 2nd IJA and now his other son under him. He asked the messenger if his son fulfilled his duties as tears welled up in his eyes. He would write later ‘ If the death of my son was a compensator for the thousands of deaths incured in the 3rd army. I often wonder how I could apologise to His Majesty and to the people for having killed so many of my men.’ Nogi ordered his sons body to be turned to ashes and a small memorial stone was made at the foot of 203 meter hill marking the spot he died.
Meanwhile the mix of soldiers and sailors atop 203 meter hill were being slowly bled dry by artillery and attacks. Countless times men, mostly the sailors would turn to flight during combat, but Tretyakov with his saber in hand and open arms kept shepherding them back to their trenches. Tretyakov would hit men with the flat of his sword to restore order. He also handed out a supply of St. George’s Crosses to award those for brave acts. 203 meter hill was sponging up reserves and soon 9000 unemployed men within Port Arthur city were pressed into service. On November 30th another fierce artillery barrage rocked the hill and it was followed up at 2:30 by an attack from the 7th division. The men of the 7th vowed to take the hill or not return. When they came into view of the Russians on the northern slopes the fire was so intense they had to pause to allow their artillery to suppress the Russians. As best as they could, trying to crawl over their own dead, they could not reach the Russians. But one small party of Japanese managed to gain a foothold on the left flank, and there the rising son flag was planted. Tretyakov recalled ‘The sight of this flag always filled our men with fury. I knew this, and, pointing to it, shouted to the reserve: “Go and take it down, my lads!” and like one man, our sailors rushed into the work.’ The small party of Japanese would could not be removed.
General Fok issued a memorandum ‘In the same way that he must sooner or later succumb, so too must a fortress fall. No commandant should waste his men in an attempt to recapture a position yielded to the enemy.’ Stoessel concurred with the view and held an emergency council about the dire situation upon 203 meter hill. Fok at the meeting said ‘It’s absurd to try to hold out there longer. We must think of the men. It’s all the same: sooner or later we shall have to abandon it. We must not waste men; we shall want them later.’ Only Smirnov objected. That same night, Kodama was informed that a 203 meter hill was falling into their hands. So relieved he went to bed, but the next morning he found out it was not true. He furiously went over to Nogi, but fearing the man would kill himself he did not seize command, but instead demanded he be allowed to give orders on the 203 meter hill front alone.
On December 1st, Tretyakov tossed a counter attack, seeing hand to hand fighting, bayonets and grenades being tossed. Tretyakov wrote of it “A non-combatant detachment, under a quartermaster, came up to make good our losses of the preceding day. The men were placed in the trenches allotted to the reserves, and the officer stood looking at the road, and the piles of dead lying on it. I suggested to him that he should sit in the trench or stand close up under the almost perpendicular bank of the road. But the young fellow said he was not afraid of such missiles, pointing with his hand to an eleven inch shell which was hurtling away after having ricocheted off the ground; but just at that moment there was a terrific roar, and he was hidden in the black smoke from a large shell that had burst just where he stood. When the smoke had cleared away, he was no longer there.“ On December 2nd the Japanese attacks petered out. Twice wounded, Tretyakov had to be evacuated from the hill for surgery. This left few officers upon the hill, and those there were wounded.
On December 5th, the Japanese sappers drew closer to 203 and 180 meter hills. At 1:30pm bayonets were fixed and after the artillery barrage lifted 15 minutes later the Japanese charged. Major General Saito led his 14th brigade up the western slopes of 203 meter hill. Shrapnel was flying everywhere they looked, but the Japanese managed to get atop the western peak and now charged the Russian positions. To their amazement they had seized not just 203 meter hill, but also 180 meter hill. They found Russian dead and wounded everywhere, it turned out 4 days of artillery bombardment had devastated them. The Russians launched two counter attacks, but were unable to wrestle the positions back. War correspondents were allowed to visit the hills and the sight horrified them. Ashmead Barlett atop 203 meter hill recalled ‘There have probably never been so many dead crowded into so small a space since the French stormed the great redoubt at Borodino.’ David James wrote “The sight of those trenches heaped up with arms and legs and dismembered bodies all mixed together and then frozen into compact masses, the expressions on the faces of the scattered heads of decapitated bodies, the stupendous magnitude of the concentrated horror, impressed itself indelibly into the utmost recesses of my unaccustomed brain.”
The Russians had no more than 1500 men at any given time upon 203 meter hill and would lose over 3000. The Japanese took 8000 casualties taking the hill and the 7th division would see hundreds of dead from the 1st division as they stormed it. The 1st and 7th divisions after the battle for Port Arthur would virtually cease to exist as fighting formations. No sooner than it had been captured, did the 11 inch howitzers receive their 500 lb armor piercing rounds and began to smash the trapped Russian navy. On the 5th, Poltava took a hit below her magazine which exploded. Retvizan and Pobieda were severed damaged and on fire. On the 6th 280 11 inch rounds were fired and all ships in the western basin suffered numerous hits. On the 7th, Retvizan was sunk, two days later Pobieda and Palada rested at the bottom. Peresvyet and Bayan were on fire and wrecked. Sevastopol was hit 5 times, but remained afloat. The IJN watched this go on, a bit embarrassingly. Sevastopol managed to hide herself behind the Tiger’s tail, so IJN destroyers came to fire over 124 torpedoes at her. Despite her anti torpedo boom protection, she took 6 hits and was taking on water. On the night of January 2nd Sevastopol was tugged out to open sea to sink.
While that was the story of the death of the Russian navy at Port Arthur, the city itself was hit with artillery without mercy. The Russian commanders knew Kuropatkin was not coming to their rescue. The destruction of the fleet now meant the port was useless and the incoming baltic fleet would simply go to Vladivostok. Smirnov and Kondratenko argued they had a months reserves of food and ammunition and their duty was to continue to fight. Smirnov argued ‘I cannot allow any discussion with regard to a capitulation before the middle of January at the earliest. At home they are just preparing to celebrate the jubilee of Sevastopol. Our fathers held out for eleven months! We shall not have completed eleven months till January 8, and only then will the son be worthy of the father.’ Stoessel and Fok did not share the view. Stoessel declared ‘As to the surrender of the fortress, I shall know when that should take place, and I will not permit a street massacre,’ Kondratenko went over to Fort Chikuan on december 15th and was visibly depressed. At 9pm a 11 inch shell hit a weakened part of the fort's walls and killed Kondretenko alongside 6 senior officers. News of his death stunned and brought forth a sense of despair for the Russians.
At 10pm Smirnov received the report of his death and became bitterly upset at the loss of a friend and the only man capable of holding back Stoessel. Smirnov said to his chief of staff ‘We must go to Stoessel at once. Fok is next in seniority to Kondratenko, and Stoessel will certainly try to give him the vacant appointment. This must at all costs be prevented.’ The next morning Smirnov was surprised to see a Fok in a good mood, Fok had been given command in the western front while Smirnov took over the eastern front. Foks first order was to halve the strength in his forts and their supporting flanks. On December 18th, a 2000 kg mine was exploded under Fort Chikuan before the Japanese captured it with ease. On the 28th multiple mines were exploded under Fort Erhlung and it too was captured. On the 29th the Russians held a war council on the issue of the next fortress. The gunners, logisticians and even naval men agreed they could continue the struggle. Stoessl signaled Tsar Nicholas II ‘We cannot hold out more than a few days; I am taking measures to prevent a street massacre.I am extremely grateful to all of you for coming to such a resolution.’ New Years eve in Japan was one of joyous celebration. After 10am, Fort Sungshu had mines explode under it, by midday the last fort was captured. On New Years Day, Wantai fell with relative ease. Stoessel sent a message to Nogi on that day “Being acquainted with the general state of affairs in the theatre of war, I am of the opinion that no object is to be gained by further opposition in Port Arthur, and so, to avoid useless loss of life, I am anxious to enter into negotiations for a capitulation. If your Excellency agrees, I would ask you to be so good as to appoint accredited persons to negotiate concerning the terms and arrangements for surrender, and to appoint a spot where they may meet my representatives.” Upon hearing the news, Tretyakov angrily reported ‘General indignation against General Fok was apparent and every kind of accusation was heaped upon his head’.
Delegates met at Sueshi village on January 2nd of 1905 as Stoessel sent word to the Tsar “I was forced today to sign the capitulation surrendering Port Arthur. Officers and civil officers paroled with honours of war; garrison prisoners of war. I apply to you for this obligation.” For the Japanese the humiliation of 1895 was finally lifted. Tretyakov said to his men ‘Yes my lads. We have been ordered to surrender; but no blame attaches to the Fifth Regiment, and you can with a clear conscience tell each and every one that the Fifth Regiment has always looked death bravely in the face and has been ready to die without question for its Tsar and country.’ Tretyakov would write in his memoirs ‘Many of them burst into tears, and I could hardly speak for the sobs that choked me’. The Russian commanders were given the choice of parole back to Russia, promising not to take part in the war any longer or to be POW’s with their men. As the Japanese entered the city they found ample supplies of food, particularly champagne and vodka. A roll call revealed 16,000 sick and wounded in the hospital and 868 officers and 23491 men fit to march into captivity. The Japanese had anticipated 9000 POW’s and were somewhat ashamed of their opponents premature surrender. The Russians had suffered in total 31306 casualties, less than a third were fatal. The Japanese suffered twice that. The Japanese acquired 24369 POWs and for this they suffered 57,780 casualties, 33769 sick. The Russians had 6000 deaths, the Japanese suffered 14,000 deaths.
General Nogi was a broken man, he had lost two sons to the war and sent thousands of Japan’s youth to their graves. On January 14th he assembled 120,000 of the men to a shrine erected in honor of the fallen. Richmond Smith was there and recalled ‘In the form of a half circle, extending from the base of the hill far out onto the plain, was the victorious army, drawn up in divisions, brigades, regiments and companies, their fixed bayonets glittering in the sunlight.’ Companies came forward one by one to bow at the shrine. Nogi read an invocation ‘My heart is oppressed with sadness when I think of all you who have paid the price of victory, and whose spirits are in the great hereafter’.
After the Russo-Japanese War, Nogi made a report directly to Emperor Meiji during a Gozen Kaigi. WAfter explaining all that befell during the Siege of Port Arthur, he broke down and wept, apologizing for the 56,000 lives lost in that campaign and asking to be allowed to commit seppuku in atonement. Emperor Meiji told him that suicide was unacceptable, as all responsibility for the war was due to his imperial orders, and that Nogi must remain alive, at least as long as he himself lived.
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The siege of Port Arthur in many ways was a teaser of the horrors that would befall the world in 1914. For General Nogi it cost him another son and the experience broke him. For the Japanese and Russians in the east, they were some of the first to taste what warfare in the 20th century was going to be like.
