and
the smaller Hsuaokushan (Little Orphan Hill,
Ta River).
Gaining these two hills cost the Japanese 1,280 killed and wounded.
The loss of the two hills."
"Battle of 174 Meter Hill
(the Wolf Hills, 174 Meter Hill)
The Russian defensive positions on 174 Meter Hill itself were held by the 5th and 13th East Siberian Regiments, reinforced by sailors, under the command of Colonel Tretyakov, a veteran of the Battle of Nanshan.
With more than half of his men killed or wounded and with his command disintegrating as small groups of men fell back in confusion, Tretyakov had no choice but to withdraw, and 174 Meter Hill was thus overrun by the Japanese. The assault on 174 Meter Hill alone had cost the Japanese some 1,800 killed and wounded and the Russians over 1,000.
The assaults on the other sections of the Russian line had also cost the Japanese heavily, but with no results and no ground gained.
When Nogi finally called off his attempt to penetrate the Wantai Ravine on August 24, 1904, he had only 174 Meter Hill and the West and East Pan-lung to show for
his loss of more than 16,000 men.
With all other positions remaining firmly under Russian control, Nogi at last decided to abandon frontal assaults in favor of a protracted siege.
On August 25, 1904, the day after Nogi"s last assault had failed, Marshal Oyama Iwao engaged the Russians under General Aleksey Kuropatkin at the Battle of Liaoyang."
The siege
"Nogi had also been reinforced by additional artillery and 16,000 more troops from Japan, which partially compensated for the casualties sustained in his first assaults.
While the Japanese set to work in the sapping campaign,
General Stoessel continued to spend most of his time writing complaining letters to the Tsar about lack of cooperation from his fellow officers in the navy.
The garrison in Port Arthur was starting to experience serious outbreaks of scurvy and dysentery due to the lack of fresh food.
Nogi nor Stoessel seem to have realized the strategic importance of
203 Meter Hilclass="underline"
the hill was the key to the whole Russian defense.
Mid-September 1905,
General Nogi abandoned the attempt,
he had lost over 3500 men.
Nogi attempted yet another mass "human wave" assault on 203 Meter Hill
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."