OUR WAR LETTER.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1676, 13 April 1904, Page 17

OUR WAR LETTER.

THE POSITION AT POET ARTHUR

JAPANESE MOUSE v. RUSSIAN CAT,

PROSPECTS OF LAND FIGHTING,

(From Our Special War Correspondent.) TOIvIO (Japan), February 27. Now that Japan has succeeded in stifling Russian naval activity, she is conducting herself much after the style of the playful oat with the captive mouse. The simile would no doubt be more appropriate could it be utilised indicate that the mouse had turned the tables cn the cat. To liken Russia .to the mouse and. J a pan to the cat would, as Euclid often put it, be absurd, for in size and disposition the former certainly has die stronger claims to the assumption of die feline role. Imagining Japan in v:he position of the victorious mouse, it is easier to understand just why it is she takes such glee in keeping the Russian eat cornered in Port Arthur without giving her so much as a vestige of' a hope of escape or the 'east reason to suppose that her agony will be materially shortened by a swift and decisive blew. Japan has the tyranny of 3-ears to get even with, and it is only consistent with, human .nature that she should cake full and free advantage of every opportunity offering tr> rub the significance of the reversal of positions in with her teeth, in the shape of battleships and cruisers. With her deadly torpedo craft fully exposed, she romps around Pert Arthur with evident delight. Peering from the fort •embrasures, through which crane the necks of guns of ineffective calibre and range, Russia sees, but cannot stop her. Smarting with humiliation, and trembling with fear, she remains thus from daylight to dark, and when the shrouds of night have enwrapped the corpse of the dead day, the terrors of purgatory possess her, for then it is that she lias most to dread from the blood-seeking death-dealing shells of rire without. Whether it be fair or foul on the face of the sea, starlight or inky black in the canopy' of heaven, or whether the wind blows soft or howls with -he thunderous roar of ten thousand tremendous demons whipping up the foamingwaves, or hurling, willy-nilly, great freezing sheets of blinding snow and sleet, tho valorous Japanese hissing torpedo darts through the night to wreak destruction. Shielded by sturdy fortresses, the Russians cower silently, as the brilliant flashlights gleam on the swiftlyspeeding ships, and, though the gunners trim tlieir brazen-tliroated arms and take keen sights, the shrieking shells rip foaming furrows in the swelling seas a nile away. “Banzai, Banzai, Nipppn !” floats round in the eddying winds as the scurrying shots shoot out of reach far overhead, and when the diapason of cannonades is out of heaving in the distance, the roar and wreck of the bursting bomb awakens the ' echoes, and the thrilling shrieks of dying men and the tearing noise of ripping steel show truly that another ship of war lias gone below the softly-lapping waves.

Tims it is that Russia has lost the use of shipping she could not spare at such a time as this, and until burning shame or courage re-asserted causes her to leave the shores and seek out in the open the satisfaction for the shocks received by shell, she will never win a victory. Crestfallen. she clings concealed to unreachable refuges, and neither chivalrous challenges nor cutting cries of scorn can move her. Day and night the watchful blockaders wheel their ships in circles out of reach of shell, and alert eyes pierce the fog or gloom of night unerringly, but in vain their vigils are,, for a move is never made by those whose boast it was that they could crush their midget foes sans loss, sans labour. Deftly the brave torpedo crews creep in unseen, and startle the ships and shore defenders almost out of their wits. But a. chaos or even bold attack are things undreamt of by the Slav. Bombardment even fails to draw but a feeble fire from the forts, and, though the town might blaze and 1 burn, no move is made to seek revenge. To people who have sprung from stock, whose deeds of daring have beoome renowned, this paralysing lack of action comes with startling force, and when they see no strenuous effort* made to stave off a dire disaster like the complete blocking of the port would mean, it strikes them dumb. Yet that is what they have all observed. On Tuesday night, a string of five big steamers, filled with stone, were steered to spots beneath the forts, and sunk to stop the channel, and though quite easy snaps for Russian guns, the marksmen failed to stop them ere they stopped themselves. The mien who went on the errand aire of the bravest of the brave, and although their names will never ring

about the land as rings tlie name of Hobson, of the Merrimac and Santiago harbour fame, tlieir deed was much braver. Shells shrieked round them as they sailed to the selected snots, but, undeterred, tlie v kept upon their course, and, sank where first designed. Under the shadow of the silent lighthouse, on the harbour’s left, the Nokokxx Manx went beneath the waves, and close to her the Bushu Manx filled and met her doom. Further away eastward, eastward of Laotieh, tlie Shan Bxxyo, Ten shin and Jin sen dropped to the ocean's bed, whilst all the crews escaped unharmed and sailed awav in swift torpedoers. The width of water stopped by this total of 10,000 tons of ships does not shut up the Russian fleet for good, but the failxxre does not detract in the least from all the credit dxxe to those who did the deed.

Trembling, lest the trick had tied them ur>, the Russian fleet sailed out at dawn of day to force a passage to the bay beyond, bxit finding that fortune favoured them, the Novik and tlie Bayan.cruised around whilst the others ran to cover in mi inner cove. Tlie sight of the ships without the harbour’s mouth impelled the Japanese to force another fight, and opening out in brave array, they cleared their guns and fired on the forts and every Russian ship in sight. The screaming shells shot .short at first, but creeping closer, the cannon sent the Russians on the backward run, and huge projectiles pierced their way through the buildings in the terror-stricken town. The fire and fumes .drove tlie frenzied people out of bouse and home, and, panic-stricken, they fled as fast as their feet could carry them to bomb-proof shelters. Ineffectively the forts endeavoured to frighten off the foe, but it was not till satisfaction had been secured that the cruisers ceased tlieir cannonading, and sailed for the open sea. And thus the Japanese, by frequent fighting, inspire the Russian heart with fear, and cause losses which cannot be replaced. On land, the Russians hope to reap revenge for all the.y have lost, but the indications are that they will fail as frequently as they have done at sea. As yet no trial of the strength of soldiery has taken place, and the chances are that none will como for some time yet. With silence the Nippon soldiers are sailing to Korean ports which hitherto have scarcely seen a ship, and by this time an army thousands strong is in Korea. South of the Yalu, Russian scouts keep careful watch for foes advancing, but the army lies many leagues away', unready' for. the war which it must wage along the thin steel line from Dalny and the north. Cossacks are camped at each and every' four-mile peg, and should the attacking bandits be above their strength a rocket sent up skywards warns the neighbouring camps. Thus Russia guards her only' hope of fast communication with her forces in the north, but it will not be many' weeks before the line will pass to other hands. THE BATTLE AT CHEMULPHG. DESCRIPTION BY AN EYE WITNESS. FEARFUL EFFECT OF THE JAPANESE FIRE. (From Our Special Correspondent). HONGKONG, March 2. Considerable excitement was caiused here by the arrival of the British cruiser Amphitrite, with aboxit 280 Russian refugees on board, and later on by the arrival of the Italian man-of-war Elba, with seven officers and 178 men from the Russian cruiser Varyag. which, it will bo remembered, was sunk by the Japanese fleet at Chemulpho cm February 9th. When the Elba arrived in the harbour I boarded her, and in the coai-se of an interview with one of the Italian officers, who, by the way, was a very obliging gentleman, and who spoke English with enough fluency' for me to follow liis story intelligently, I gathered the following particulars of the Chenmilpho fight:— “On the morning of February 9th,” he said, “we were in the harbour at Chemulpho, together with the French cruiser Pascal and the British cniiser Talbot. The Russian cruiser Varyag, under the command of Captain Ludoneff, a man. of fifty years of age, and thorotughiy conversant xvith French and English, and the gxinboat Koreytz, under Captain Teraieff, were also in the harbour. The Japanese fleet, consisting of the ironclad Asama, the armoured cruiser Cliiycoda, the cruisers Naniwa, Niitaka, i'akachiho, Cliiyoda and Suma, and nine torpedo boats, were sighted, and RearAdmiral S. Uriu sent a message into the port saying that unless the Russian vessels left before noon he would make an attack on them, as they lay in the harbour. THE RUSSIANS GIVE BATTLE.

"The Russian captain, recognising that his chance of victory against, such overwhelming odds was hopeless, endeavoured to obtain his officers’ signatures to terms of capitulation. This document the officers refused to sign, and it was decided to go forth and do battle for the Empire. The Japanese fleet formed into line off Phillip Island, a small island near Richy Island, just outside the entrance to Cheimiipho. The entrance to the harbour is long and narrow, and when the Japanese fleet had extended in a south-westerly direction, towards the beacon light in the centre of the entrance,all their guns covered the channel. It seemed to us from the inside that the Var.yag and Koreytz would bo blown to pieces if they attempted to go through the passage, but the Varyag turned lier bow to the open sea, -and. followed by the Korqaptz she slowly steamed out. The heroic conduct of the Russians in going out to almost certain destruction touched a responsive spot

in the hearts of the neutral men, and a rousing cheer went up for the hiave ellows. ’ TONS OF SHELL FIRED AT THE ■rno ■ VARY AG. “The Varyag acknowledged the salute,; and passed down the channel. It was then about noon, and as the v aryag came into the open water the Asama opened fire on her. The Varyag was steaming at ahout 23 knots an hour, and the Japanese ships were moored. Despite this fact the Japanese fire Avas much the more accurate of the two. As the Varyag approached Yodomi Islapd, a small island opposite the centre of the entrance, her steering gear broke down, and she.had to reverse her engines to prevent tunning on the rocks. She lay to for a. space of about five minutes, while the Japanese fleet poured tons of shell and shot into her. The funnels of the Varyag were riddled and smashed with the shells, both her bridges were blown away* aryil scores of the men Avere wounded. Midshipman Neirod was on duty-on the bridge taking the distance, when he was struck by a shell and bloAvu to atoms. All that was subsequently found of him was an arm, Avliich lay beneath the bridge on the deck. WHEAT SLAUGHTER. £- The Avreokage of the bridges impeded the men in their \A r ork iat the guns, and the shells of the Japanese created great havoc. The flaanes rose high in the air, and the fu-mes from the bursting shells killed several men outright. Around one gun the whole of the men, except one midshipman, were killed by a shell, and the middy stood to his post working the gun as best he could singlehanded, until another shell burst near him, a splinter of Avhich struck him in the face. He fell on the deck, both his eyes blinded with the blood that streamed from his face, but mercifully lie lost consciousness. He AA'as subsequently taken off the Varyag on, to the Pascal, where it was found that he Avould probably although on© eye Av-as destroyed. When the steering gear of the Varyag was improved, she Avas headed back to the harbour, preceded by the Koreytz. The Asania pursued them, pouring shell after shell into the retreating Russians. When the Russians .gained the channel, however, they were l comparatively safe, for the proximity of the Pascal, Elba and Taibot rendered it dangerous for the Japanese to fire without hitting them. The Asania accordingly returned to the open sea, where film joined the remainder of the fleet. SINKING OF A JAPANESE BOAT.

"Only one torpedo-boat of the Japanese squadron was injured, and the creiv of that wxs transferred to the other vessels before she went down. • As far as I could gather, there were no casualties reported -on the Japanese side, but -it is unlikely that they would have revealed thu V nature 'of them had any casualties occurred. The Varyag lost ona officer (Midshipman Neirod) and 40 men killed, while four officers and 60 men were seriously wounded, nine of whoan, I believe, have since died. Thisi, of course, does not include the slightly injured, but only those whose wounds were of any magnitude. When the Varyag and Koreytz returned to the harbour, it was seen that the cruiser was in an .almost sinking condition, having a decided list to port. The captain of the Koreytz, knowing full well that the chance of escaping with his ship was hopeless, decided to blow it up, and accordingly the men were taken off in boats, and soon the Koreytz Avas a mass of nying pieces of steel and spars. She sank in a few seconds. ©INKING THE VARYAG.

“The Varyag was too .large a ship to be treated in that way, without danger to the neutral vessels, so the sluiceboxes were opened, and sihe slowly settled down into the water. Shortly after she sank the Russian steamer Sunjgari was <eeen to be in flames, set on fire hy her captain to prevent her falling into the hands of the Japanese. The Koreytz was not damaged at all, and there were no casualties on her, the Japanese having evidently concentrated the whole of their attentions to the Varyag, the gunboat being apparently beneath their notice. The Varyag was terribly knocked about, both upper and lower; bridges being blown away; most of haayguns were put out of action, and two -largo holes were made in her port side-hone just below the water-line, caused her to have a list to p'drt. “The ships ail lie in shallow water, and the recovery of the Varyag would be no difficult matter. When the Koreytz wias blown up, the band on, the French bruiser Pascal played the Russian National Anthem, the _ Russian sailors on 'ih& neutral ships going down on their knees while the strains of the music floated on the breeze. KINDNESS OF THE BRITISH BAILORS. “When the news that the Amphitrite bad arrived in Mins Bay was circulated amongst Hie British fleet in the harbour, all the,-men subscribed half a day’s pay for the> purpose of providing luxuries for the Russian refugees. Tobacco, pipes 5 hnd even a piano were among the articles bo»3ght and sent round to> Mirs Bay. Tire voluntary action of the Jack Tans touched a weisponsive note in the hearts of the Russian soldiers, and their grata cade knew no bounds. The Russian Consul, in particular, was deeply \

affected by the treatment of the Russians by the Britishers, and expressed | uis admiration of their action in very : flattering terms.” i j) ■•m