under a heavy
shrapnel fire from the Germans. A snowstorm, followed by rain, had
filled the trenches with water a foot deep, and it was in these that
the Japanese and British forces found themselves during the closing
days of the siege.

Friday, Nov. 6, was a bitter morning. A forty-mile gale was blowing
off the Yellow Sea, and with the thermometer at 2 below zero it was
not any too comfortable, even for those of us who were fortunate
enough to get near a charcoal burner.

Toward midnight Gen. Yamada, whose men were intrenched in front of
Forts 2 and 3, sent out a detachment to learn the condition of the
German garrison opposing him. The men approached the redoubt walls of
the forts, climbed ten feet to the bottom, and found themselves face
to face with wire entanglements twenty yards wide and running the
length of the wall. No Germans were seen. Reinforcements were called
for while the scouts were cutting the entanglements. At 1 A.M., Nov.
7, Gen. Yamada with more than 300 men was behind the redoubt walls of
Fort 3.

In the meantime, heavily protected on all sides by planks and
sandbags, a detachment of 200 Germans with machine guns was watching
the approach of Gen. Barnardiston's men, who had been stationed to the
right of Gen. Yamada. The Germans were unaware that the Japanese had
gained the wall, when suddenly a sentry heard Japanese voices. The
signal was given and the Germans rushed from their sandbag houses into
the shadow of the wall, hoping to reach their comrades, stationed 500
yards back along the casement walls. Some, perhaps, reached their
destination, but the majority of the men were shot down by the
Japanese infantry.

The capture of Forts 2 and 3 by Gen. Yamada was quickly reported to
Gen. Horiuchi, and within an hour his men had captured Forts 4 and 5
with very little resistance. Gen. Johoji, on the extreme left, with
Gen. Barnardiston of the British force, also advanced with the news of
the capture of the positions, but the Germans put up a stubborn
resistance, and it was not until 6:30 A.M. that the attackers gained
the coast fort and Fort 1.

With the capture of the redoubt fortifications there still remained
the mountainous forts, Iltis, Bismarck, and Moltke, a quarter of a
mile back toward Tsing-tao. With detachments of engineers and
infantrymen, Gens. Horiuchi and Yamada ordered the general attack. The
men rushed from their trenches for the base of the forts. It was to
be a hand-to-hand b