In order to put my plan into execution, I formed the men I had brought with me into one command, had hand grenades served out to each man, and, having given them a short harangue, sent them off, some against the left breastwork, and some against the right. Seeing that all was not yet lost, and led by young officers, the gallant fellows rushed upon the works with a wild cheer. This was about 7 p.m.
The left one was taken in a single rush. The other did not fall at once, and the men came to a standstill before it, but again rushed forward on their own initiative and drove the enemy out, many officers, including Lieutenant Yermakov, witnessing their action. Hand grenades were freely used and once again proved themselves invaluable.
I immediately sent a report to General Stessel and General Kondratenko. The former had given orders to me personally to let him know by telephone all that happened on 203 Metre Hill, and I now received a message of congratulation from him. As soon as the Japanese had been driven out of the breastworks, the enemy’s artillery fire became fiercer, and was directed mainly on the left flank of the circular trench and on the breastwork above it.
In order not to expose needlessly those of my men who were holding the now completely wrecked lower line of trenches, I ordered them to make their way round to the upper road at the rear, and form the reserve. We abandoned the ruined circular trench, with the exception of its left flank, but the enemy, unaware of this, continued to complete its destruction, expending thousands of shell.
I sent for sand-bags and reinforcements to make good at once the damage done to the trenches and breastworks on the top of the hill. A few hours later two companies of sailors and a two-wheeled cart with hand grenades arrived. I placed the sailors in the reserve dug-outs (deep ditches—one above and one below the lower road), which were practically immune from fire.
Lieutenant Fenster, a sapper, arrived on the hill, and proposed to repair the trenches and the breastworks during the night. The north face of the left breastwork, and the bomb-proof in it, were so ruined, that I could not climb across them to its western face, and the left end of the trench connecting the breastwork was levelled to the ground, but the rear face of the work remained intact.
It was imperative that all this damage should be at once repaired with sand-bags, provided there was no attack meanwhile.
All the enemy’s trenches round the hill were full of Japanese.
Night was falling on November 28, when hand grenades began to burst in the left breastwork, and a soldier ran up with the report that the Japanese were attacking. We rushed out on to the road where the reserves were. The communication passages from all the fortifications on the hill met there, and there was also a hollow in the ground, used as a dressing station. But the explosions of hand grenades suddenly ceased and all grew quiet, save for the roar of the cannon; our hand grenades seem to have driven the Japanese back into their trenches. But how would it be at dead of night when it was impossible to see how far off the enemy was? I was afraid there would be a panic. In repulsing the enemy’s attack so easily, we had had great assistance from the detachments led by Lieutenants Siromiatnikov and Nejentsev which had taken the enemy in rear from the direction of Major Soloveiev’s position.
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