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PREPARATIONS 43
fight. They have in this war performed frontal
attacks which probably no army in the world
would have attempted or deemed possible, and
they have pushed an attack home time and time
again where such a feat, prima facie, would have
appeared to be utter folly or madness. They
have thereby completely reversed the general
ideas and the well-established rules in European
armies with regard to this great fundamental ques-
tion of modern warfare. Often they have had to pay
for it dearly, but, having achieved their object, they
have found out that the price they had to pay was
no more than they could afford, often probably no
more than a slower way of proceeding would have
cost them, with, in addition, the time gained, the
self-reliance strengthened, and the enemy’s plans
and calculations upset.
So General Nogi decided that Port Arthur
should be taken by assault. But he was not
going to do anything rash. If the attack were to
fail, it should not be his fault, or for want of
preparation. Everything, down to the smallest
detail, was thought out, planned, and arranged
beforehand, and every precaution taken and every
means exhausted to ensure success.
The first question to decide was where the
attempt to break through the Russian lines should
be made. He had several alternatives to choose
between. Through the strong walls of fort-
defended hills and mountains which surround the
town on all sides two gaps lead ;
at the centre of
the positions the narrow southern part of Shuishi
valley stretches down to the old town, and on the
western flank a stretch of low land extends from
Louisa Bay to the inner part of the harbour.
During the war of 1894 the main Japanese
advance had been made along the latter route
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