This inspection left me with a very bad impression. The trenches were still very shallow, of overhead cover there was practically none, and the enemy had posted some batteries behind 174 Metre Hill and on the slopes of the hills in front of it at a very short range from us; but our men were in splendid spirits, in spite of the constant heavy fire.
On September 8 the company of Marines on the right flank was relieved by No. 7 Company of the 28th Regiment. This company had not shown up very well during the fighting on 174 Metre Hill, but I had no other unit to send up, and I thought that it would be anxious to redeem its reputation.
From September 8 to 17, things were fairly quiet on Namako Yama, but at the dinner hour, about twelve o’clock, on the 17th, the Japanese (about one company) made a rush from Extinct Volcano against the right flank of Namako Yama, and captured the trench occupied by the 7th Company of the 28th Regiment without firing a shot. The men of the company were having their dinners at the moment, and had not time to seize their arms before the Japanese were in the trench. Hearing of this by telephone from Division Hill, I immediately telephoned an order that the Japanese were to be driven out of the trench, and received an answer to the effect that Major Moskvin had ordered the 7th Company to reoccupy their trench without delay. This company, however, proved unequal to the task.
An attack by the 1st Company of Marines was also not wholly successful, as, though a part of the right flank of the trench was retaken, the Japanese held the other end, and blocked it with rocks and sand-bags.
Alarmed at such a state of affairs, I went with Colonel Irman to the hill. I personally inspected the place where the Japanese were lodged. They did not show themselves at all, and there was not a sign of life anywhere. They had built up a strong barricade, so high that a man could not climb up it without the help of another.
We could easily have dislodged them with hand grenades, but we had none. It was absolutely essential that we should drive them out, and as it seemed to me that it could best be done at night, I gave orders to that effect accordingly. For some reason, however, the attack did not come off, the commandant contenting himself with fortifying a small knoll on the right flank of the Japanese.
On the morning of September 18 the enemy opened such a terrific fire on the hill with rifles and five guns that came into action at a very short range, that all our trenches were knocked to pieces, and we suffered heavy losses.
On this day that splendid officer, Captain Saltovski, commanding the 9th Company, was killed, and the company itself lost 26 killed and 49 wounded.
The enemy attacked the hill during the day and captured the advanced trenches of our 9th Company, but the gallant fellows, quite unaided, reassembled on the crest-line, charged with the bayonet, and recaptured their ruined trenches. The hill was in a hopeless plight. Surrounded on all sides, it was an impossible position.
Colonel Irman and I sent a report to this effect to General Kondratenko, and then rode off to Akasaka Yama to observe and discuss the chances of holding the hill if it continued to be deluged with such a fearful fire from all sides.