Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XVII. Hell
<< 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.
204 THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR
the ridge, after the Shuishi lunettes and the Lung-
yen redoubt had been captured. It followed,
therefore, that the operations against North Kikuan
were more advanced, and accordingly more experi-
mental, than at the other forts, where the Japanese
could benefit from their experiences here.
The Russian “assiduous obstructions” against
the sapping operations towards North Kikuan
fort were of a more determined character than at
any other place. The distance from the first
parallel to the fort was some 800 yards, and to
cover this distance approaches of more than 2,000
yards in length, and leading in forty-six windings,
had to be dug—not counting the six parallels
which they had had to construct in order to
defend the advance. The Russian surprise parties
and sorties, their continuous shelling and sniping,
had been most harassing; the saps had to be
made very strong and elaborate, and thus, though
the soil was alluvial and easy to work, nearly two
months elapsed before the Japanese had worked
their way so near to the fort that they could build
their last parallel —the sixth—at a distance of
some forty yards from the counterscarp.
For the best part of the way the ground had
been level or gently sloping, but for the last
hundred yards or so the incline became steeper,
and from the sixth parallel up to the moat it was
so steep, and besides, so exposed to shelling from
the higher battery positions, that the Japanese
decided to tunnel the last bit up to the moat.
The Russians soon discovered what was happen-
ing and started counter-mining on a lower stratum.
The Japanese sappers heard the faint clicking
sound of pickaxes somewhere below them and in
front of them without being able exactly to locate
it. They understood what it meant ;
but they
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
