RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7925, 5 October 1904, Page 5

RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

The Bombardment of Port Ar-

thur.

Garrison Resist Assaults.

(By , Electric Telegraph—Copyright)

Per Press Associaxioa.

LONDON, Oct. 4,

Terrific shelling on the 19th destroyed the redoubts protecting the waterworks and the garrison withdrew to the main fortifications..

The assaults on the high hill, which was captured on the 22nd inst., were preceded in each case by a bombardment which began on the 19th.

The Japanese determination to c&pture the position amounted to fanaticism. Their efforts were maintained for four days without ceasing

The Russian estimate' of the Japanese casualties is 10,000.

At one stage a battalion retreated through a valley exposed to Russian shrapnel, and was almost annihilated.

A field gun and two machine guns were ultimately mounted on a high hill behind a hastily constructed barrier, but its tenure was insecure owing to the fortress fire.

Russian volunteers provided with hand grenades storming, and Lieutenant Rogorsky's column charging, turned the tide, and a whole battalion was killed in the trenches.. Another detachment was driven through entanglements, where Captain Sychaft was awaiting them, and he completed the rout.

The slopes of the high hills were littered with mangled corpses. The Chinese buried 300 Japanese and 200 Russians in one trench. *

The water supply is now cut off, and excep- the nurses all women and children and many Chinese have been ordered to quit with a view of husbanding the food and water. A few springs are inside the town. Thirty donkeys are being slaughtered daily, the meat selling at 5s per pound. Eggs bring lOd each,

Negotiotions regarding the contraband question actively continue. Lord Lansdowne is exceedingly firm.