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196 THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR
the Japanese tried to fill up the moat with sand-
bags. It would, of course, require a very large
number of bags to build a dam across, and they
went on throwing them in for hours, every now
and then probing with a long pole to see how high
the moat had been filled. But, although their
pole was forty feet long, they never succeeded in
reaching the bottom. For a long time they could
not understand it. Judging by the number of
bags already thrown in, they ought certainly to
have made more progress, even granting that the
moat was very deep and wide. At last it dawned
upon them that the Russians carried away their
sandbags as fast as they were thrown in. So the
Japanese gave up the task.
The attacks on the North Kikuan fort form too
long and too interesting a tale to be dismissed in
a few words. They deserve a chapter to them-
selves. Here also the Japanese had a month of
very hard work before they succeeded in capturing
the moat.
They had better luck with their attacks on the
fortified hill situated between the East Panlung
and North Kikuan forts, and which they mis-
named “P” fort, though it is simply a trench,
made partly bomb-proof with timber and sand-
bags, girding one of the many spurs that run out
from Wantai hill. The first rush was repulsed ;
but a fresh attack was made about twenty minutes
later, and this time the Japanese succeeded in
carrying the place, and driving the Russians back
behind the Chinese wall.
Later in the day two attempts were made to
break through the Chinese wall at the back of the
captured position, but the concentrated shrapnel
fire from the batteries in the rear, and the furious
fire from rifles and machine guns behind the
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