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38 THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR
fortifications was excellent. Lack of time and
means had, however, forced the Russian engineers
to content themselves in many cases with con-
structions that from certain points of view were
very defective. Several positions that were of
vital importance to the whole defence had only
been provided with semi-permanent fortifications,
and, although during the siege they were con-
stantly improved and strengthened, so that for
many purposes they were as strong as permanent
structures, they had not been provided with con-
crete casemates strong enough to give proper
protection to the garrison from the fire of the
enemy’s heavy ordnance. Especially was this
the case with the later so renowned 203 Metre
Hill.
Also, in regard to the construction of many of
the forts, and especially of the battery positions,
a critic would find many objections. It was
probably unavoidable that the forts should stand
out, as they did, very clearly with their light grey
or sandy red walls against the surrounding green
hill-sides, but with the batteries this ought not to
have been the case. The Russians had built
nearly all of them on the summit of some hill,
where they were silhouetted against the sky, and
provided an excellent target for the Japanese
gunners from their admirably masked gun em-
placements. As practically all the fortifications
had been improvised hurriedly at the eleventh
hour, it cannot be wondered at that in no place
were the guns mounted in turrets, and only in
very few cases provided with shields ;
but that no
kind of head-cover had been attempted, that no
bomb-proof shelters, or barely any, were available
for the squads close to the guns, and that the
guns all fired over the parapet, so that their long,
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