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280 THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR
soon succeeded in laying bare the entrance, where-
upon the whole force, some i6o men, were taken
prisoners. The whole affair had been most tame ;
hardly a rifle shot had been fired ;
even the
artillery of the western forts, in an excellent
position for harassing the Japanese advance,
remained wonderfully silent and subdued.
The Japanese did not let the grass grow under
their feet. Although it was New Year’s Eve, the
one great festival of the year in Japan, to the
celebration of which they had long looked forward,
they at once followed up their advantage while
the enemy was still dismayed and unmanned by
the series of reverses which had befallen him.
At six o’clock in the afternoon a mine was
exploded under the Chinese wall behind East
Panlung, and through the breach thus made the
Japanese advanced to attack the different battery
positions on the tops of the ridge. New Panlung,
Eboshi, and “ H ” fort were taken without much
resistance. The Russians seemed benumbed,
and only at Wantai did they make a good stand.
This hill had only a very narrow plateau, barely
affording room for the two 6-in. guns which had
been brought into position there. Bomb-proofs
of timber and sandbags were constructed on the
southern slope right behind the battery, and all
round the sugar-loaf-shaped hill a girdle of
infantry trenches was built at a distance of
twenty-five to thirty yards from the guns. After
some sharp fighting, these trenches were captured
in the course of the night, and the small garrison
was thus completely cut off and surrounded ;
but
it still held out bravely, and not till five o’clock
in the afternoon of New Year’s Day did the
Japanese finally capture the position.
During the following night all the other
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