A FALLEN HERO.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 10303, 10 March 1905, Page 4

A FALLEN HERO.

SCATHING EXPOSURE OF GENERAL STOESSEL. This week's Engjish mail has brought further particulars of tho remarkable despatch received! by the London Times from its Pekin ■correspondent, Dr. Morrison, who hadl spenib several days m Port Arthur, carefully inspecting the fortress, interviewing inhabitants, and investigating all the circumstances of the surrender, constitutes a crushing indictment of General Stoesseh

Dr. Morrison's message says: — "No on© wlvo has not seen all this (the state of Port Arthur) can fottn any conception of the stupendous strength of the positions held by the Russians, or of the incredible heroism displayed m the capture -of the forts. Port Arthur was stoutly defended! by the Russian soldiers, ami for long the resistance was splendid; but the death, on December 18, of General Kondrachenko, who was responsible for the plan of defence, was as disastrous bo the morale of the garrison as the death of Admiral Makaroff was to tliat of the fleet.

"No foreign officer can explain the reason for the capitulation. Want of men. certainly cannot explain it. The Japanese found! <m the fortress more than 25,000 strong, able-bodied' suldliers capable of making a, sortie. They were well clad and well nourished, and: included several hundreds of unscathed l officers. Only 200 : Russian officers are believed to have been killed or wounded during the siege. Of the 14,000 men iiv the hospitals only a small proportion were wounded, and there were many malingerens, . especially among the officers. "Nor was failure of ammunition the reason for the surrender," continues Dr. Morrison's despatch, ''for the first indication which tli© besiegers had! that the fortress would fall was the reckless throwing away of small-arm and gun-fino ammunition, which was aimlessly discharged from all tl»e defences throughout two days. Yet, m spite of this, andi m spite of the ammunition thrown into the harbor, large quantities remained. Three magazines have been exploded $ but the largest magazine of all — that m the torpedo depot south of the western harbor — has not been touched, and is full to the roof of all kinds of ammunition' for the naval guns."

General Stoessel's despatch of December 28 spoke of the impossibility of replying to the Japanese fire "for want of ammunition." On December 29 lie said: "We have hardly any ammunition left," aii'dl on December 16 he declared : "The ammunition is coming to an end."

Further, the Times' despatch shows that there was no lack eitlter of food or of shelter.

"There was ample food for three months, even if we assume that the supplies would not be replenished by junks from tli* mainland. The waters teem with fish, and there were 2000 horses m fairly good condition. No private stores had' been commandeered.

"One large building m the naval dockyard contained 6000 tons of flour untouched, most of which had recently been landed from the British steamer King Arthur ; and many private stores were full of provisions. There were also abundance of champagne and other wines and medical comforts."

Cold could not have been the reason; for the weather was mild, the troops had an abundance of warm clothing,, and there were large quantities of firewood. In addition there were stacks of coal near the railway and m private houses, and 72,000 tons- m tlie 'dockyard, including more than 32,000 tons of Cardiff coal.

Finally, want of shelter cannot explain the surrender, for practically no buildings m the whole of the new town are injured, nor were the fiu« barracks m Torpedo Bay much harmed. Even m the old town many buildings remained habitable.

Many buildings are marked with the Red Cross, but only one, which- was m a, direct line with the dockyard, was struck by one shell. Stories about the Red Cross buildings being wrecked bj' Japanese fire are admitted to be pure fabrications to obtain sympathy. As for the damag-e done m the har"bor —

"The Bayan is lying on li<er (side m the East Dock, and can be repaired, as certainly can the Poltava, the Peresviet and probably the Retvisan. The Pobiedii and the Sevastopol are m a hopeless condition. Tho prospect of repairing the others is "uncertain. Nearly all tlie ships were sunk by their own- officers ; yetthey had men, food', ammunition, guns aaidl sufficient steam coal to take them back to Russia."

"All accounts agree m condemning General Stoessel, who, if he had not

been checked by the resolution of General Kondrachenko, would have capitulated weeks before. All accounts agree m condemning the majority of the Russian officei's, who hadl more fear of tlie failure of other comforts than of ammunition. All accounts praise the courage of the. Russian rank and file, who were m too many cases shamefully commanded by their officers. All accounts agree that no man who ever held a responsible command' lessMtserved the title of hero than General Stoessel.

"Those who have witnessed the condition of the fortress, contrasting the evidence of their eyes with, the astounding misrepresentations of General 1 Stoessel, hadi their sympathy turned into derision, believing that no more discreditable (surrender kis been recorded 1 m history.

"Had, the Kaiser* waited' until he had,' received the reports of the German and other military attaches, he could' never have conferred tlie Order pour le Merite upon General Stoessel."