RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 284, 5 December 1904, Page 2

RUSSIA AND JAPAN.

THE CAPTURED FORT ON 203 HILL. HUSSIANS WANT IT HACK. (Received Dec, 4, 5.15 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 3. The Daily Express says that as the Hussiians aiv determined to retake Fort 208 at ul'l hazards the Japanese are piling company upon comua»y cm the hill. HUSSIANS FORTIFYING. PICKING OFF THE JAPANESE OFFICERS. LONDON, Dec. 3. Reuter states that Russia is further fortifying the Liuo-ti-shan district., Seventeen Japanese officers were killed and 04 wounded recently at Port Arthur, mostly in the attack on Port 203, A MUEF TRUCE. REMOVING CASUALTIES FROM FIELD. (Received Dec. 5, 0.33 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 4. A party of Russians, carrying a flag of truce, approached the Japanese left wing at Fort Arthur, and arranged u partial armistice for six hours on Frklay. This was desired to enable the dead and wounded to be removed. VARIOUS ITEMS. LONDON, Dec. 2. The attempt of the Hussians to recapture Fort 203 was heavily repulsed. The Japanese are finding sailors among the Russian dead. Field -Marshal Oyanm's reports claim that skirmishing on the Russian left flank favoured the Japanese. General Nakaiuaru was wounded m one of the legs. It is reported at Shanghai that the guns at Vladivostok sank a Russia* destroyer which was returning Irom a scouting expedition. There are 26,000 troops at Vladivostok. *ne Japanese peers acclaimed the tendered their thanks The Caten*. has been releaHed sali ' Md *** MiM ** Naga-

LONELY TREE HILL FIGHT.

St. PETERSBURG, Nov 18 EtaZnS "i TOr c °™spondent, telegiapbs a description of the rel fell into the hands of the Japanese during a .night/ attack while toe Hu SS , a „ s slept. He sa ys ._ the 'Oeneral Kuropatkin,, the foliowng day, ordered the hll to bV retaken, and the whole Russian artt ery concentrated at Ave o'efock in the morning and showered the hill V a«r C h CtilC % the aWful "pSU^te hat L *° ent)re ***• » seemed that no human being could outlive ! such an ordeal, yet the defenders £ ; maincd manfully at their po"ts _me sun was already declining S W torm KU^ atkin *"* the «SSto storm. Six regiments, advanced fording the river in the face of a ' "m The > e««terlnin«i to make us pay dearly for it Ho poured a hail (of gm \Z rifle Are on our advancing columns but .nothing could stop them. S ' T hoy .oaehed the other side, clambered 7* •"■dat eleven o'clock at night the lotion was in our hands, "i have ust visited the scene of our triumph m trenches are filled with dead Ja paneseand Russians clutched i„ J t death embrace.

''l saw no such ghastly sight at Mh" at Plevna ' credit f« the achievement belonos .■hi,.fl,, , th« ™, rixt , ; -f o Kines. Four other regiments nnwi c.pated. The Thirty-sixt™ atS" ro°m S e " 8 \" ndt *° Ni ~* horn the west. PoutilofT leading the brigade, and personally direct n* the attack, was the first toreach hj« summit, and was in the \ckoi the fiercest fighting around the Ja panose The Japanese, gunnes died y thanked the heroes for their galant exploit. The captured guns were brought to Mukden." g The general staff believes that tho storming on Lonely, Tree Hill! for valour and slaughter, will occupy a place by itself in military annals "' Un l 6V Whosc Vthcal sault was made, rechristened it PoutilofT Bill, i n honour of £ who-led the attack at the head of the second brigade of the East Siberian Rifle Division, and who was subsequently decorated on the field witt tne St. Georges Cross, w w h ''i is a P rec 'Pitous rocky height, and, although the Japanese had occupied it only a short™ ha f M^«'hup^r yst ron ences. The river running at its foot increased the difficulty of the taTk but it was scaled and carried sud cessfu y against the unprecedented 14MoT° f a ., JapanßSe «•»*■•<£ 14,000 men, with many guns. The Russian losses were terrible. The htfhtingon the crest of the hill was altogether with cold steel. Tho tesmn officers, with swords aloft, leading the scaling column, were llterally lifted in the air ty the Japanese bayonets, and tho Japanese then bayoneted the first of the R ussi a„ S A^!f s '', wh « Piled in the trenct" All the dead in tho trenches were unyonottud, their weapons bearlnK marks of tho dreadful combat

WAR NOTES.

The Russian newspaper Novosti hear tHat inclined to severely criticise us for our statement to the effect that the Hussmns ought not to have any mercy upon the Japanese, and that it >s our duty to annihilate them Only very foolish people could take exception to our remarks. To kill cows or sheep which are suflerinfr from epidemics, or mad dogs is in accordance with humanity. To let them survive is a departure from humanity. Not to annihilate the Japanese, prevented from doing so by weak sentiment, would be the same as allowing mad dogs to live The destruction of the Japanese would bo advantageous not only to Russia, but to the whole world. It is a case mu inR tho lesser of two evils The manifestations of the Japanese in their centre, which converges at a pomt where the plain meets the hills, have attained the greatest importance. These manifestations are being fully met by the Russians, so tnat the situation at this point of the prospective battlefield is now one of the greatest interest and apprehension. At the present moment the trenches on both sides are crowded with troops, and at many places the Japanese and : Russian's are within hailing distance. At the isolated Mil of Mnnnlon, on the plain, the rival forces are onlV 800 paces apart. The situation is', perhaps, the most remarkable in military annals. Two armies, each with the other as an objective, are approaching while constructing siege works, the making, of which both sides are accelerating, each morning revealing the work done overnight to the observation stations on everv hilltop. x '^