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THIRD GENERAL ATTACK 233
ruin and made absolutely useless for such pur-
poses as mentioned. Later investigations on
the spot and conversations with several Russian
officers who took part in these fights have con-
vinced me that no such inner defences ever
existed. There were sandbag breastworks on the
ramparts and bomb-proofs under the banquettes.
In North Kikuan fort there was a sandbag
entrenchment at the rear of the fort, and in
Erhlung there was a covered communication
between the upper and the lower battery, but
all tales of a “ maze ” are simply due to the over-
excited imagination of the men who took part in
the fighting.
These examples, which show how the Japanese
in front of Port Arthur were beginning to lose
their nerve under the terrible strain, could be
multiplied, but I shall restrict myself to mention a
single other case.
After the capture of North Kikuan fort the
Japanese garrison here and the sappers who
worked up towards “ Q ” fort, suffered very
severely from rifle and machine gun fire without
being able to make out from where the fire
emanated. Some of it, they knew, came from
“ Q ” fort, some from the Chinese wall, but the
position of these fortifications was not such that
it could account for the galling fire to which they
were exposed. They imagined that there must
be a marvellously well masked position somewhere
between North Kikuan and “Q” forts, and as
they were not able to locate it, and it began to
inspire them with a kind of supernatural awe, they
gave the imaginary position the name of the
“ Ghost Trench.” This is, of course, nothing out
of the common ;
but here comes the extraordinary
part. Directly after the fort had been captured.
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