Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XV. October
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OCTOBER 187
two other lots of men were seen to emerge from
the parallel. They did not reach the trenches,
but stopped short, without attempting to get any
nearer. The smoke that hung over this part of
the battlefield was so heavy that we could not see
what they were doing ;
they were apparently stand-
ing immovable there, and we supposed that the
enemy’s fire was too galling to make it possible
for them to cover the last little bit of the way
which separated them from the trenches, and that
they had found dead ground whereon to await a
favourable moment for their last rush. If our
theory was correct, there could be little doubt
about the fate of their comrades who had reached
and plunged into the enemy’s trenches ;
they would
stay in there for ever.
While we watched the attack on the trenches in
front of Sungshuh Fort—which seemed to pro-
ceed more satisfactorily—and followed the hard-
fought duel between the batteries on both sides,
we every now and again turned our glasses on to
the two small clusters of men under the Erhlung
trenches, but for some time we could see no change
in the situation here. They remained in the same
place. After a while, at moments when the cloud
of smoke was less opaque, we thought that they
had sat down, but on looking more intently the
actual state of affairs suddenly dawned upon us.
They were digging trenches. As we watched, the
figures gradually grew smaller and smaller, until
presently we lost sight of them altogether ;
it was
as if the earth had swallowed them up. But
instead of the men, we now saw two parallel black
lines leading transversely up towards the grey
glacis. We understood it all now. The Russian
trenches had been taken at the first assault, and
the Japanese had at once set to work to connect
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