Siege of Port Arthur
Japan's greatest and only decisive achievement had been the taking of Port Arthur. The investment and actual opening of the siege began May 30, when the Japanese occupied Dalny, with their lines spreading westward to Louisa Bay, completely across the Liao-tung Peninsula. Between May 30 and November 30 the Japanese were engaged in taking position from which the attack on the main defenses of the fortress could be directed. It was tedious work. Probably between 30,000 and 40,000 Japanese lives were sacrificed. In the meantime Fort Kuropatkin, an outer defense north of the Urlung Mountain group of forts, had been captured, while on the west the Japanese, after tremendous efforts, had stormed and taken 203-Metre Hill. The final assault was delivered from saps which had been driven through limestone, up the steep slopes of the hill, a task of enormous difficulty which compelled the victors to share laurels with the engineers who at prodigious cost in men and labor made the assault possible. The capture of 203-Meter Hill gave the Japanese an observatory which looked down on most of Port Arthur. Their artillery, largely 11-inch howitzers, no longer fired at random. Sighting was scientifically directed from the vantage point. Within a week the entire Russian fleet had been destroyed and the whole city lay at the mercy of the irresistible 11-inch shells flung over the mountains with unerring aim.
From Fort Kuropatkin on the north the miner and sapper honeycombed the mountain sides with zig-zag trenches, which inched toward the crests, slowly, indeed, but surely. Outer works, one after the other, fell, and higher and higher the Japanese lines crept upward toward the fort-crowned summits. The climax came December 30. Vast mines under the main Urlungshan fort were fired. Before the smoke cleared the Japanese were flinging themselves over the shattered walls. In one grand climax to all the bloody work of the siege they annihilated the defenders of the fort and finally flung their flag from its battlements. With Urlungshan on the north and 203-Metre Hill on the west in their hands, Port Arthur lay completely at the mercy of the besiegers. The entire northeastern groups of forts fell in a day.
Port Arthur Surrendered
Then came the end. On January 2, General Stoessel surrendered Port Arthur to General Nogi. The city, forts and fleet, represented a value of $270,000,000. The cost of the siege to Japan was $100,000,000. More than 30,000 men were killed, while 70,000 who fell, wounded, increased Japan's casualties to 100,000 men. Russia's original garrison of 38,000 men was cut down during the eight months by 11,500 killed and 17,500 wounded.
The terms of the surrender were deemed liberal. All officers were offered freedom in return for their parole. Others were taken to Japan as prisoners of war.
A Campaign Analysis
Following the movements of the Japanese armies and fleets, it was easy to recognize the objects in view from the start, and to see that the campaign had been conducted with singular fidelity to the plan adopted at the beginning. The results were quite as complete as could reasonably have been looked for. There can be no doubt that a year before Russia had no serious thought of war; her policy was clearly one of bluff and diplomatic evasion and delay. With great foresight the Japanese Government had seen that war was inevitable and the sooner it came the better would be the position of Japan in the struggle for supremacy in the East. Her preparations had been made as carefully and completely as those of Bismarck when he chose his time to force war upon Louis Napoleon; and she moved with even greater celerity and skill than the Germans showed in the attack upon France.
Gaining Mastery of Sea
Japan's initial problem was to gain the mastery of the sea at the outset as an absolute essential; without it the employment of land forces would either be impossible or carried on at an enormous and perhaps fatal risk in the transportation of troops from the Japanese islands to the mainland Asia, or in supplying and reinforcing them when landed. The sea must be cleared of hostile warships before the war could really begin; and the complete success with which this problem was solved at surprisingly small cost rivals the brilliant achievements of the British navy which deprived the first Napoleon of any chance of success in war outside the European mainland, ruined his campaign in Egypt and made hopeless an attack upon the British Islands.