Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XIX. The Third General Attack
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
CHAPTER XIX
THE THIRD GENERAL ATTACK
BOUT the middle of November Marshal
Oyama, Commander-in-Chief of the
^ ^Japanese Armies, sent his Quartermaster-
General, General Fukushima, and his Chief-of-
Staff, General Kodama, to the investing army
in front of Port Arthur to report on the appar-
ently unsatisfactory condition of affairs at this
theatre of operations. As I pointed out in the
foregoing chapter, the advent of the Baltic Fleet
as a new factor in the game of war made it
imperative that the fortress should be captured
without delay, or at least that positions should be
taken to enable the Japanese to destroy the
Russian fleet at Port Arthur, or compel the ships
to leave the harbour. It is probable that the two
distinguished officers were sent here to push things
forward and see that everything possible was
done to this end. At the next attack, the
Japanese must continue their assaults without
stop or respite, even if the fighting should last
for weeks, until this goal had been attained or
until their last man had perished in the attempt.
The October attack proved that the besieging
army was not sufficiently strong to carry out this
programme or perhaps that the morale of the men
had suffered under the long-drawn-out struggle, so
that they had lost that indomitable, nearly super-
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
