My Experiences at Nan Shan and Port Arthur with the Fifth East Siberian Rifles

by Nikolaĭ Aleksandrovich Tret'iakov

The Battle of Nan Shan[25]

I spent the night of the 25th–26th with my adjutant and orderly officer on Battery No. 13 in a bomb-proof, which was placed high up, but nevertheless capable of protecting us from the enemy’s field-artillery fire. Everything was quiet in the evening, but at about midnight the enemy began to move; our outposts reported that they heard guns moving, and our posts on the right flank were driven back by advancing infantry. The weather was shocking—it was pouring with rain and there was thunder in the air. Foreseeing that the enemy would make an attack on our right flank and, if successful, would surround the town, and not wishing to make him a present of the four hundred men in it, who were indispensable to me on the position, I sent an order to the commandant, Lieutenant-Colonel Yermeiev, not to allow himself to be surrounded, but to retreat from the town on to the position while the southern gates were free, and to man the trenches on our left flank. The enemy attacked the town about 3 a.m., but, being unsuccessful, began to surround it, when the commandant passed out through the south gate and fought his way back to the position. One section, which was late in getting through the gate, jumped down from the wall, a height of 9 feet, and effected its retreat. But in the darkness the men did not reach the positions to which they had been assigned, and, instead of the whole of the 10th Company, only two sections, under Second-Lieutenant Merkoulev, reached the point they had been ordered to defend. The remaining half-company,[26] under Major Goosov, and half of No. 9 Company, under Major Sokolov, occupied the empty trenches near Redoubt No. 8. Some of the 3rd Scout Detachment occupied the lower tier of trenches of this redoubt, but the majority of them got to their proper positions on the left flank.

Our dispositions were as follows: the 2nd Company held the extreme right flank from No. 2 Redoubt; the 2nd Scout Detachment was near the railway and in Redoubt No. 1; the corner beyond was unoccupied; the 12th Company was near the quarry, and the 3rd farther on in the trenches; behind them the 8th and 4th Companies and the 1st Scout Detachment, and the 6th Company in Redoubt No. 8; farther behind the ravine were the 5th, 7th, and half the 10th Companies; and towards the shores of Chin-chou Bay two Scout Detachments of the 13th and 14th Regiments were in trenches. Near No. 15 Battery were the 3rd Company 14th Regiment, and a section of our 7th Company; the ground between the scout detachments and No. 15 Battery was absolutely undefended. Four machine guns under Second-Lieutenant Lobyrev were at the disposal of the 7th Company on the cliffs near the shore, and four naval machine guns, under Midshipman Shimanski, were placed behind our 1st Scout Detachment. The forts inside the position, which could have been fought individually, and so have increased the obstinacy of the defence, were without defenders: the central redoubt, Battery No. 13, and many trenches were absolutely unoccupied for want of men. I had in the reserve the 11th Company 5th Regiment, and two companies of the 13th Regiment, while I had detached the following officers to command sections of the position: right flank up to No. 1 Battery, Major Stempnevski; the centre—12th, 3rd, 8th, and 4th Companies;—Lieutenant-Colonel Bielozor; left flank—6th Company, 1st Scout Detachment, 5th and 7th Companies, and the whole of the left flank—Lieutenant-Colonel Saifoolin. The artillery consisted of guns placed in fifteen batteries, as on [Map I.]; No. 1 Battery being armed with eight 8·7-cm. field guns.

MAJOR STEMPNEVSKI (SEN.), COMMANDING 2ND COMPANY, 5TH REGIMENT.

[p. 43

From daybreak on the 26th the enemy began to bombard the position; and shells flew thick and fast, more especially on No. 13. When it was light enough, I looked at the enemy through my glasses. His batteries extended in an unbroken line from Chin-chou Bay to Hand Bay, and some batteries—apparently of heavy guns—stood on the slopes of the hills behind the town. The enemy did not husband his ammunition. Four gunboats, and perhaps destroyers with them, came close inshore in Chin-chou Bay, and two large ships lay near the entrance to the bay in the rear of our position. These ships fired very heavy shell. There was no sign yet of the enemy’s infantry, but the gun fire was so terrific as to compel us to retire into our bomb-proofs. Near by stood a bucket of water; being afraid of its being blown to bits, I ordered it to be placed under cover, and one of the men had just reached it, when a shrapnel burst close to him, and the water poured out over the floor, Bombardier Ptooski being wounded in the head, and I myself getting a scratch on my leg. As the shelter was filled with smoke, we found some difficulty in breathing in it, and the majority of us therefore went out into the redoubt. From there I saw the lines of the enemy’s skirmishers round our right flank; our 4th and 8th Companies had opened fire, but the lines nevertheless advanced slowly on us, leaving on the ground behind them small black dots. Our fire was apparently very effective; we had not measured all our ranges in vain. At eight o’clock a large ship appeared in the bay on our own right flank; “Well,” I thought, “the 2nd Company will be able to reach her.” Imagine my joy when I saw that she was firing on the enemy and I recognized our Bobr, though, unfortunately, she did not keep up firing for long, but put out to sea again. It was about 9 a.m. when the enemy’s skirmishing line was seen near Nan Shan station and behind the mounds close to the nearest villages, right in front of all the companies from the 2nd to the 8th. The rifle fire resolved itself into one continual rattle and roar. An orderly from Lieutenant-Colonel Bielozor came to me with a report, in which he had written as follows:

“The enemy is in front of us and is attacking, but do you know that there are 700 yards of trenches near us absolutely unoccupied? We must have help.”

I myself saw that the Japanese were directing their attack on our 8th Company. The line had come to a standstill before all the other companies, so I sent half of the 11th Company to the threatened point. At this time I had three companies in reserve, the 11th of my own regiment, and two companies of the 13th. The enemy’s companies got up to the wire entanglements in front of the 8th and 4th Companies, but, finding their advance barred, they retired in disorder, taking cover in the folds of the ground and thence opening a tremendous fire. I was now certain that we had nothing to fear from the Japanese infantry. Just then another orderly arrived from Lieutenant-Colonel Bielozor, asking for immediate reinforcements, but, having already sent him half the 11th Company, I felt sure that that was sufficient. At this moment the enemy’s skirmishing line in front of the 2nd Company occupied the southern extremities of a small village, and as this place afforded excellent cover, I saw that there was a danger of the enemy collecting considerable forces behind it and overwhelming the 2nd Company, the more so, as it was only 400 paces from the village to the position. On seeing, however, that such an attack would be taken in flank by the fire of the 2nd Company, I felt somewhat easier. The enemy’s infantry was now spread out round the whole position in a semicircle, like his artillery, and the crackle of rifle fire was absolutely incessant. Besides this, we saw that the troops composing his right flank had gone down into the water in the Bay of Chin-chou and were effecting a turning movement through the water; but this advance was checked after the lapse of a few moments by our gun and rifle fire (at very long ranges, however). In all probability the men of this column were nearly all killed, as no movement could be detected among the Japanese bodies lying in the water—all were still.[27] The enemy’s skirmishers kept closing in and then again retiring; but meanwhile our men, after beating back the infantry attack, suffered severely from artillery fire. I received word that Lieutenant-Colonel Radetski had been killed.

About eleven o’clock the commander of the 6th Company reported to me that his advanced trench was completely wrecked by artillery fire from the sea and from the front, and that it was impossible to obtain any cover in it. This was grave news. I noticed considerable movement among the enemy’s troops before our left flank, and a mass of men began to move from the centre to the left flank. The troops of the enemy’s right flank, which had been sitting in the water of Chin-chou Bay for some time, began to move forward. To defend this (left) flank I had: the 7th Company, half of the 10th Company, the larger half of the 3rd Scout Detachment of our regiment (the remainder had retreated into the trenches near No. 8 Redoubt), two Scout Detachments of the 13th and 14th Regiments, under the command of Lieutenants Bandaletov and Roosoi, and near No. 15 Battery the 3rd Company of the 14th Regiment, under Captain Ushakov, with one section of the 7th Company. We had sufficient men to beat back an attack, but the losses of the 5th Company had caused me some anxiety. In order, therefore, to reinforce the 5th Company, I sent the remaining half of the 11th Company into the trenches to the left of No. 8 Redoubt, so as to enfilade the troops of the enemy attacking the 5th Company, and earlier still I had sent Captain Rotaiski’s company into a so-called deep trench near by. These measures were sufficient to prevent the enemy from breaking through at the point held by the 5th Company. I built great hopes on our four machine guns, posted behind the 7th Company’s left flank (see [page 43]). They constituted a tremendous power, practically equalling a whole company, and they were, moreover, cleverly concealed in some small pits. I immediately sent in a report. (I had forwarded reports of everything that had taken place on the field and also the reports of the different commanders.)