on October 29, 1904, which, leaving Nogi with the
deaths of an additional 124 officers and 3611 soldiers.
Nogi received additional reinforcements from Japan."
(from Wikipedia)
Battle of 203 Meter Hill
"The highest elevation within Port Arthur, designated "203 Meter Hill", overlooked the harbor. The "203-Meter Hill" consists of two peaks (203 meters and 210 meters high, and 140 meters apart) connected by a sharp ridge. " " It was also connected to the neighboring strongholds on False Hill and Akasakayama by trenches."
"The Russian defenders were commanded by Colonel Tretyakov".
"Japanese General Kodama visited General Nogi", having the Japonese loss of September 22 for over 2500 casualties, a Japonise loss of October for 124 officers and 3611 men.
"Japanese casualties in November 1905 year were officially 4,000 men, but unofficially perhaps twice as high."
Russian General
Roman Kondratenko
took the precaution of stationing snipers to shoot any of his front line troops attempting to abandon their positions.
1905 year,
"At 08:30 on November 28, with massive artillery support, Japanese troops again attempted an assault up the sides of both Akasakayama and 203 Meter Hill.
Over a thousand 500 lb (230 kg) shells from the 11-inch (280 mm) howitzers were fired in a single day to support this attack.
The Japanese reached as far as the Russian line of barbed wire entanglements by daybreak and held their ground throughout the following day, November 29, while their artillery kept the defenders busy by a continuous bombardment.
On November 30, a small party of Japanese succeeded in planting the Japanese flag at the summit of the hill, but by the morning of December 1, the Russians had successfully counterattacked.
Kodama assumed temporary command of the Japanese front-line forces, but officially maintained the despondent Nogi in nominal command.
The battle continued throughout the following days with very heavy hand-to-hand combat with control of the summitt changing hands several times.
Finally, at 10:30 on December 5, following another massive artillery bombardment during which Russian Colonel Tretyakov was severely wounded, the Japanese managed to overrun 203 Meter Hill.
The Russians launched two counter-attacks to retake the hill, both of which failed, and by 17:00, 203 Meter Hill was securely under Japanese control.
For Japan, the cost of capturing this landmark was great,
with over 8,000 dead and wounded in the final assault alone,
including most of the IJA 7th Division.
For Nogi, the cost of capturing 203 Meter Hill was that his last surviving son had been killed in action during the final assault on the hill.
The Russians, who had no more than 1,500 men on the hill at any one time,
lost over 6,000 killed and wounded."
(from Wikipedia)
Destruction of the Russian Pacific Fleet
"From the vantage point on 203 Meter Hill overlooking Port Arthur harbor, Nogi could now bombard the Russian fleet by relocating his heavy 11-inch (280 mm) howitzers with 500 pound (~220 kg) armor-piercing shells on the summit. This done, he systematically started to sink the Russian ships within range.
On December 5, 1904,
the battleship Poltava
was destroyed, followed by
the battleship Retvizan
on December 7, 1904,
the battleship Pobeda and
the battleship Peresvet and
the cruiser Pallada and
the cruiser Bayan
on December 9, 1904.
The battleship Sevastopol,
although hit 5 times by 11-inch (280 mm) shells,
managed to move out of range of the guns.
The Sevastopol was still afloat, having survived 124 torpedoes fired at her
while sinking two Japanese destroyers and damaging six other vessels.
The Japanese
had meanwhile lost the cruiser Takasago to a mine outside the harbor.
On the night of January 2, 1905,
after Port Arthur surrendered,
Captain Nikolai Essen
of the Sevastopol
had the crippled battleship scuttled in 30 fathoms (55 m) of water
by opening the sea cocks on one side,
so that the ship would sink on its side
and could not be raised and salvaged by the Japanese."
(from Wikipedia)
The surrender
"With the death of General Kondratenko on December 15, 1904, at Fort Chikuan,
Stoessel appointed the incompetent Foch in his place.
On December 18, 1904,
the Japanese exploded an 1,800-kilogram (3,968-pound) mine under
Fort Chikuan,
which fell that night.
On December 28, 1904,
mines under
Fort Erhlung
were detonated, destroying that fort as well.
On December 31, 1904,
a series of mines were exploded under
Fort Sungshu,
the sole surviving major fortress, which surrendered that day.
On January 1, 1905,
Wantai
finally fell to the Japanese.
On the same day,
Stoessel and Foch
sent a message to a surprised General Nogi,
offering to surrender.
None of the other senior Russian staff had been consulted, and
notably
Smirnov and Tretyakov
were outraged.
The surrender was accepted and signed
on January 5, 1905,
in the northern suburb of Shuishiying.
With this, the Russian garrison was taken into captivity,
and civilians were allowed to leave,
but the Russian officers were given the choice of
either going into prisoner-of-war camps with their men
or being given parole on the promise of taking no further part in the war.
The Japanese
were astounded to find that
a huge store of food and ammunition
remained in Port Arthur,
which implied that
Stoessel
had surrendered long before the fight was over.
Stoessel, Foch and Smirnov
were court-martialed
on their return to St Petersburg.
As for Nogi, after leaving a garrison in Port Arthur, he led the surviving bulk of his army of 120,000 men north to join Marshal Oyama at the Battle of Mukden."
(from Wikipedia)
