FIGHTING AT PORT ARTHUR.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXV, Issue 250, 19 October 1904, Page 2

FIGHTING AT PORT ARTHUR.

&. REALISTIC PICTURE. (From Special Correspondent of "Dailj t Telegraph," London.) (By Mail.) CHEFOO, .Septembers. Owing to the Russian action in renumbering their forts, it is difficult to state the exact position of the.,opposing forces. It is certain that the Japanese "grand assault" failed utterly, ag they were unable to. break, through the ring of forts in the places essential for the capture of the remainder. The artillery fire on both sides is excellent. As scon as men appear on the hills shelling instantly begins. The recent advance of the Japanese is described "as like that of a swarm of locusts. They waded through streams of blood, and were impalled upon the. line of bayonets. Men \vere killed wholesale while constructing - earthworks, but others stepped into the vacancies, calmly taking- up the picks -and shovels, until whqje trenches were swept away. As the Japanese were climbing on the shoulders of their comrades to. scale;the fort walls, they were stabbed by the bayonets of the Russian soldiers who were leaning over. Finally, the men dropping from.exhaustion, were trampled on by the fighting troops. On one occasion, at Fort No. 1, Russians and Japanese were wedged into a struggling mass between the walls, unable to use their arms. They detached their bayonets, however, and lunged recklessly, slashing faces, <: necks and arms. Many heads were nearly decapitated. It was, indeed, a-regular human shambles. fhe roar of the guns was deafening, and orders were given by signs. ! - The '\Nbvy Krai"' states that among the enemy's dead v» ere boys and greviaired men.