serene and calm dawned may 26, but by five o'clock we were aroused by the relentless sputter of machine-guns and the sound of bursting shrapnel—our réveillé—and all peace was gone. during the night the enemy had deployed their batteries along the heights between kinchou bay and khinoeze bay,[13] and were now concentrating their fire on us, taking our works in front and flank, while from kinchou bay some of their gunboats were pounding our left with 10-inch guns. this bombardment, now commenced, did not cease the whole day. the panorama from lime battery before the sun was well up was remarkable. in the dim light the flashes of the enemy's artillery showed up against the dark mass of gigantic mount samson like long threads of fire, like golden chains swaying up and down, rocking to and fro. as the sun crept higher the gold gradually faded into silvery white, and the chains seemed to turn into little bunches of fleecy clouds. higher and higher rose the sun; not a single cloud flecked the delicate turquoise of the heavens. from the ground rose clouds of dirty grey smoke, each followed by a dull roar: the enemy were firing rafales, half of the guns being loaded with shrapnel, fuzed to burst in the air, and half with common shell with percussion fuzes, which, bursting on impact, raised[pg 68] a pillar of dust and suffocating smoke. at present the fighting was limited to an artillery duel, but our position presented an awful sight, for now, under the concentrated fire of more than 150 guns, it was smoking like a crater. every minute the intensity of this fire increased, the guns being systematically directed on to each of our batteries in turn; it was hellish. lieutenant solomonoff, who was coolly directing the fire of his battery, came up to me, and glancing towards our centre batteries, remarked:
'i expected all sorts of things, but nothing quite like this. it is almost incredible. i doubt if any of them will get out alive. they are still shooting hard, but their fire is all over the place, for they can no more see the enemy's batteries than i can; we are firing into the valleys more or less by guess-work. by jove! how well the enemy mask their guns! and we——'
at that moment a shell burst by a gun on the right. 'take the wounded to the rear. steady there, steady! this is nothing.'
'they are ranging on us, sir, and will open on us in a moment,' said the sergeant-major.
'keep cool. they haven't touched us so far.'
'there's another.'
it was now after nine, and the attack gradually developed. the enemy had indeed got the range to a nicety, and soon began to plaster us—a repetition of what had happened to the centre batteries. a field battery came into action on our right, but being instantly smothered by a murderous fire, the detachments were compelled to move down in rear of the hill under cover. lieutenant-colonel laperoff, commanding the 2nd battery of the 4th east siberian rifle artillery brigade, took his unit over to the left flank to a well-concealed bit of ground on the tafashin heights, whence he was able to open a useful fire on the gunboats. at this moment the gunboat bobr[pg 69] appeared in khinoeze bay, and crumpled up the enemy's left flank with enfilade fire. its arrival and its comparatively successful fire had a wonderful effect just then upon us, for it awakened a feeble hope of a successful issue to the battle. we were at the centre of a circle, of which the enemy's guns composed the arc. while they were able, from their distributed position, to concentrate on to us, as a focus, we had to distribute our fire over a great distance in directions diverging like the sticks of a fan. the air-lines of the telephones were destroyed early in the battle, and all fire control or direction was impossible: each battery, under a storm of projectiles, replied spasmodically as it could. they fired because they felt obliged to, but the result was never visible, and so aim could not be corrected. colonel tretiakoff, who remained in no. 13 battery, was helpless: he could not telephone, and most of the orderlies sent off by him never reached their destination: this battery was subjected to such an intense fire that it was impossible to work the guns until the bobr diverted the attention of the opposing artillery about 10 a.m., by which time all our batteries had suffered sorely.
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major-general tretiakoff.
the infantry attack was now launched, and in spite of our steady rifle and machine-gun fire, the attacking columns fearlessly came on. at times they could be seen to halt and lie down, only, however, to rise again and creep to closer range. meanwhile, another column was seen to be advancing through the shallow water in kinchou bay, in order to turn our left flank; but lieutenant-colonel laperoff was able from the tafashin hill to get their range and to hurl them back.
when the attack was at its height, when our batteries were being gradually silenced, when hundreds of men had laid down their lives, and others were in their death-agony, major-general nadein, commanding the[pg 70] troops, received from somewhere a report to the effect that the japanese had been repulsed and were on the run! the news of a victory was instantly telegraphed to general st?ssel in port arthur, and was at once circulated all over the town. in st?ssel's quarters a convivial company gathered to drink champagne.
it is curious to picture the officer commanding the district sitting in arthur, sixty-seven miles off, drinking champagne and babbling of victory, while the first decisive battle of the war was being waged—a battle upon the issue of which depended the future course of events, not least among them the fate of port arthur.
the enemy's artillery fire supporting their attacking columns now became unendurable, and the whole of our position was enveloped in black-brown smoke. from lime hill i sadly watched our batteries being silenced in rotation. by 10.30 all the ammunition of those of our guns which still possessed gunners was expended, and by midday our artillery position was silent. the whole strength of the enemy's fire was then directed on the infantry trenches held by the 5th regiment, who were pouring a rifle and machine-gun fire on the attacking columns. the mangled remnants of our artillery began to move off behind the tafashin hills, from which fire was opened at times by the field batteries. the japanese were most skilfully directing their gun-fire and the movements of the attacking columns from hill 75 and mount samson. it was now evident that our position, having lost its guns, could be held no longer unless the 5th regiment received strong reinforcements.
one hour later general fock at last arrived on the field of battle by special train. at 1.30 the fire intensified, and the attack was renewed with greater fury. colonel tretiakoff sent message after message, begging for two battalions from the reserves; but fock refused.
[pg 71]
while at kinchou the 5th regiment literally melted away, defending the ground entrusted to it, the four regiments of the 4th division—16,000 bayonets—were kept behind the tafashin heights, doing nothing, passive spectators of the formal slaughter of their comrades!
fock arrived on the ground when the fight was practically over, and meeting gunners retiring along the roads to the rear, worn out with ten hours' fighting, said to them, 'get back to the trenches, cowards! take rifles and shoot!' the men crawled back utterly exhausted both morally and physically, and, rifle in hand, returned to die under the hail of shells in the trenches. these poor worn-out fellows, quite unfit for any work, were sent back, while 16,000 fresh men were, so to speak, round the corner doing nothing; for the general would not risk his division: it was wanted to defend the district and the fortress!
at four o'clock there was a lull. the japanese were evidently preparing for a fresh attack. every gun on the position was silenced, while the fire of those on the tafashin heights was ineffective. the position was still held only by the 5th regiment, and two companies of the 13th regiment which had arrived during the night. about twenty companies of the enemy with guns could be seen between mount samson and hill 75, quietly and slowly extending against our right flank. their advance was quite uninterrupted: they were beyond the range of our infantry, and our guns were silent. after an hour their guns again started to shoot and the attack was renewed. it was plain that the object was to capture the centre from the left, and therefore all the weight of metal was directed against that flank. tretiakoff saw it was useless to reinforce the left, and he wanted to keep his reserve, although small, in hand. he continued to ask fock for[pg 72] fresh troops, but in vain. line after line of the enemy now advanced against the trenches on the left flank. heavy musketry fire began; rifles got hot; the trenches were full of killed and wounded, whom it was impossible to carry away, for of seventy-two stretcher-bearers only twenty-eight remained. all along the line of trenches the parapets were battered into a shapeless mass, heaped up with dead. it was six o'clock, and it was impossible to hold longer on to the left flank without reinforcements. the companies, reduced in strength, began to withdraw, to hold the second line of trenches. the gun-fire slackened and the fury of the infantry assault increased. tretiakoff continued to ask for reinforcements. none were sent him.
the japanese made a desperate advance along the whole line, and the enfeebled regiment was unable to hold them back. ammunition ran short: it was impossible to replenish the supply. the companies in the centre of the position were in danger of being cut off from the left flank, which was giving way before the enemy's determined advance. communication between several of the redoubts and lunettes was interrupted, and tretiakoff felt the position to be desperate. but while daylight lasted a general retirement was impossible, and orders were given to hold on at all costs. seeing that some of the companies were falling back, he despatched his last orderlies to the rear to explain that a general retirement was out of the question till dusk, and to implore that even one battalion might be sent to enable him to hold the position till nightfall, and so prevent the utter annihilation of his regiment; but he was not reinforced by even a section.
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colonel laperoff.
while light remained the japanese refrained from actually charging to close quarters, and contented themselves with pouring a heavy rifle and a gradually slacken[pg 73]ing artillery fire on the position. the sun was almost setting. at about seven o'clock the 5th and 7th companies slowly gave way, and no sooner had stempnevsty's company abandoned its position on the extreme left than it was occupied by the enemy. from that moment the position of the company entrenched in the centre was very critical, as it was taken in a cross fire. the 2nd infantry scout detachment was surrounded; both its officers were instantly killed, and of 115 rank and file, but eighteen escaped. having occupied the central batteries, the japanese opened a steady reverse fire upon our trenches. but the sun was now sinking behind mount samson, and under cover of the rapidly increasing darkness, the retirement was carried out. the companies which had held the left flank retreated along the road leading to the tafashin heights, and thus covered the retirement of the centre and right. but though the japanese were now in possession of our batteries, and though their artillery had advanced to a position between nos. 2 and 3, for some reason or other, they did not press the pursuit, and contented themselves with shooting into our retreating columns.
lieutenant-colonel laperoff, who had all along kept up a fire from his battery on tafashin, noticed as darkness came on that the kinchou position was crowded with troops. his guns were excellently placed, and he could have poured a crushing point-blank fire into these masses in the open. but he had no orders, no information as to what was taking place, and though he and his officers strained their eyes endeavouring to make out who these crowds might be, it was impossible to ascertain whether they were friend or foe. that a general retirement had taken place, and that the japanese had occupied our main position, none of the staff had considered it necessary to inform him. he finally found[pg 74] fock at the railway-station, and was peremptorily ordered to withdraw his guns.
darkness came. the day had passed, and with it hundreds of lives—the usual price of every military triumph, on this occasion the price paid for the glory and honour of the 5th east siberian rifle regiment.