"The tale of losses of higher officers is an indication of the enormous losses which we have sustained. Of ten generals, two, Kondrachenko and Tserpitsky, have been killed; one, Raznatovsky, is dead; two are wounded, myself and General Nadeine; and one Gorbatovsky, is suffering from contusions. The percentage of other superior officers who were killed or died of disease or were wounded several times is enormous. Many companies are commanded by ensigns, and on an average each company is at present composed of not more than sixty men."
It was stated that of the original garrison of 35,000 men, no less than 11,000 had been killed, while 16,000 were sick or wounded, and 8,000 remained in the forts, of whom, however, 2,000 were unable to fight.
These are the words in which General Stoessel announced to the Czar the surrender of Russia's "impregnable stronghold":—
"Great Sovereign! Forgive! We have done all that was humanly possible. Judge us, but be merciful. Eleven months of ceaseless fighting have exhausted our strength. A quarter only of the defenders, and one-half of these invalids, occupy twenty-seven versts of fortifications without support and without intervals for even the briefest repose. The men are reduced to shadows."
Even the Japanese were at first impressed with the same view of the situation, for they reported that of 25,000 combatants, 20,000 were sick or wounded.
The Japanese Occupy the Fortress
The greatest good feeling prevailed between the two armies after the surrender had been completed. The soldiers fraternized freely, and the Japanese did all in their power to deprive the situation of all trace of humiliation for their vanquished enemy. General Stoessel and General Nogi lunched together and exchanged fraternal compliments, but the bearing of the two men was strongly contrasted. There was a note of theatricality in the Russian's conduct which was significant. Having mounted his favorite charger and shown its paces to the Japanese victor, he begged to be allowed to present it to him—a proposal which General Nogi put by with the matter-of-fact observation that the horse already belonged to the Japanese Army, and that he could not accept it as a personal gift. But still all the world rang with praises of the heroic Russian garrison; and the German Emperor, with characteristic impetuosity, constituted himself a sort of supreme umpire, and with a great flourish of trumpets presented to the leaders of the two contesting forces in this historic siege the Prussian Order, "Pour le Merite." The Russians marched out of Port Arthur on the 7th of January, and the Japanese entered on the following day; and then the reports as to the condition of Port Arthur suddenly underwent a remarkable change. It slowly leaked out that the surrendered force amounted not to 20,000, most of whom were hors de combat from wounds or disease, but to 48,000, of whom 878 officers and 32,000 men were still available for the defence of the fortress. There were also discovered no less than 80,000 tons of coal and enough rice and flour to provision the garrison for two months. The troops, moreover, discovered no sign of starvation or exhaustion. They were found to be in splendid condition and well fed. Even the ammunition was very far from being exhausted. For the guns in the forts 82,670 rounds remained; 30,000 kilogrammes of powder; and 2,266,800 cartridges for rifles. "There are no signs of privation," wrote one correspondent. "The surrender is inexplicable." The town itself showed few signs of bombardment; and the only serious deficiency in stores was in meat and medical comforts. Then the sinister report came that the real weakness of the garrison was in the conduct of many of the regimental officers, who habitually applied for leave when attacks were expected, and left the command to sergeants. It was also declared that General Stoessel, far from having been coerced by his staff into surrender, had himself overridden their protests against capitulation. The real hero of the siege, it appeared from the same account, was not General Stoessel at all, but General Kondrachenko, who was killed by a shell on December 18th. After that calamity the spirits of the garrison never recovered. One of the Russian Admirals who was made prisoner at Port Arthur is responsible for this version of the facts, and his view was summarized in the following words: "It is difficult for a Russian officer to talk about the end. It was worse than a mistake, it was a disgrace. The fortress could easily have held out another month. We had food and ammunition sufficient for that period, and if Kondrachenko had been alive we should have held out for months longer. In Kondrachenko the garrison lost not only a leader, but the one man who had the power, through his tremendous earnestness, to control General Stoessel."
Discreditable Surrender
This view, startling and disconcerting as it is, was strongly confirmed by Dr. Morrison, the famous Peking correspondent of the London Times, to whom special facilities for inspecting Port Arthur were afforded immediately after the surrender had taken place. He was immensely impressed with the stupendous strength of the positions held by the Russians, and of the incredible heroism displayed in their capture, but he could find no explanation for the surrender. There were, he said, 25,000 able-bodied soldiers, and several hundred officers unscathed by wound or disease. Only 200 officers were killed all through the siege, and of those found in hospital a number were undoubted malingerers. As to the failure of ammunition, Dr. Morrison pointed out that thousands of rounds were fired off aimlessly for two days before the surrender, that thousands more were thrown into the harbor, and that yet a large quantity was found in store by the Japanese. The largest of the naval magazines was discovered "full to the roof" with all kinds of ammunition. Food was plentiful and the new town was uninjured by bombardment.
"Those who have witnessed the condition of the fortress," Dr. Morrison summed up, "contrasting the evidence of their eyes with the astounding misrepresentations of General Stoessel, had their sympathy turned into derision, believing that no more discreditable surrender has been recorded in history."