character had been built, and their armament
showed that, on this occasion, the Russian artillery was vastly
superior, both in calibre and in range, to the Japanese guns. Forts,
trenches, and rifle-pits, covered by mines and wire entanglements,
were constructed on every point of vantage and in separate tiers.
Searchlights were also employed, and every advantage was taken of the
proximity of a great fortress and its ample plant."*

*The War in the Far East, by the Military Correspondent of "The
Times."

It will occur to the reader that war-vessels might have been
advantageously used for the attack and defence of such a position,
and, as a matter of fact, Russian gunboats manoeuvred in Hand Bay on
the southeastern shore of the neck. But, on the western side, the
shoal waters of Kinchou Bay prevented access by Japanese vessels in
the face of the heavy batteries erected by the Russians on dominating
sites. This splendid position was held by a Russian army mustering
ten thousand strong with fifty siege-guns and sixteen quick-firers. A
frontal attack seemed suicidal but was deliberately chosen. At
daybreak the battle commenced, and, after sixteen hours of incessant
fighting, a Japanese infantry force turned the left flank of the
Russian line and the day was won. Over seven hundred Russian dead
were buried by the Japanese, and into the latter's hands fell
sixty-eight cannon of all calibres with ten machine-guns. The
Japanese casualties totalled 4912.

This battle finally solved the problem as to whether Japanese
infantry could hold its own against Russian. "With almost everything
in its favour, a strong, fresh, and confident Russian army, solidly
entrenched behind almost inaccessible fortifications and supported by
a formidable and superior artillery, was, in a single day, fairly
swept out of its trenches."* The victorious Japanese pressed forward
rapidly, and on the 30th of May obtained possession of Dalny, a base
presenting incalculable advantages for the prosecution of an attack
upon Port Arthur, which fortress it was now evident that the Japanese
had determined to capture.

*The War in the Far East, by the Military Correspondent of "The
Times."

THE BATTLE OF TELISSU

To have left the Japanese in undisturbed possession of the neck of
the Liaotung peninsula would have been to abandon Port Arthur to its
fate. On the other hand, the Russians ought not to have entertained
any hope of their own ability to carry such a