Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Preparations
<< 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.
42 THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR
though they had been placed in exceedingly
strong positions, he had been able to dislodge
them time after time, until they were now driven
to a standstill with their backs to the sea,—the sea,
over which there was no escape, no prospect of
relief, —the sea, where the Japanese fleet reigned
supreme.
The positions the Russians held now were cer-
tainly stronger than any they had occupied before,
but, as far as he could judge, they were far from
perfect. They had the same defects as all their
former fortified positions. The forts stood out
clearly against the sky or against the background,
and even their guns could be seen from afar, pro-
truding from the parapets. To Nogi, therefore, it
was simply a question of cost. He had driven
these same troops which he had before him here
out of their fortified positions on Kensan and
Ojikeisan, which looked more formidable than
most of the forts in front of him. It had cost
him so many thousand men ;
but he could afford
to lose that number and a good deal more, and he
thought that if he spent five or ten times this
number he would have a very good chance of a
successful issue. Japan had plenty of young men
to spare—had rather too many of them, as a
matter of fact—but she could ill afford to spend
the time and the large amount of money which a
long-drawn-out siege would involve.
And at the bottom of it all I think there was
still another reason which came to weigh heavily
in the balance ;
to wit, the whole national spirit of
the Japanese soldier. From time immemorial the
natural tendency, the inborn, unreflecting tactics
of the Japanese fighting-man have always been to
go straight for his adversary, get to close quarters
with him, and have it out in a square hand-to-hand
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
