ere taken on the following day,
and their capture paved the way for the general assault, four days
later. This began with the furious bombardment of the height known as
174 Metre Hill, which was stormed and taken at the point of the bayonet,
later in the day, by the 1st Division, which immediately pushed
south-east, with the object of gaining possession of Namaokayama, or 180
Metre Hill. This hill was protected by, among other devices, an
intricate barbed wire entanglement charged with a high-tension electric
current, the penetration of which proved to be a task of almost
insuperable difficulty; nevertheless, it was eventually accomplished.
On the morning of 22nd August, by a splendid act of heroism and
self-sacrifice on the part of fifty Japanese, West Panlung fort was
captured, and this cleared the way for the capture of the East fort.
But the superhuman efforts made by the Japanese in capturing these
positions completely exhausted them, with the result that the assault
ended in failure, since the majority of the defences remained in the
hands of the Russians.

On 23rd August, the battleship _Sevastopol_--which, it will be
remembered, was one of the ships which contrived to make good her escape
from the Japanese fleet after the battle of the Yellow Sea--having been
patched-up, as far as the resources of Port Arthur dockyard would allow,
got under way and, steaming round to Takhe Bay, proceeded to shell the
Japanese lines in the neighbourhood of Ta-ku-Shan and the Panlung
redoubts. It was a rather daring thing to do, for there was not a ship
in the harbour capable of supporting her, while the Japanese blockading
squadron in the offing was close enough in to be clearly visible from
the heights. Included in that squadron were the new armoured cruisers
_Nisshin_ and _Kasuga_, purchased from the Argentine just before the
declaration of war; and no sooner was it seen that the _Sevastopol_ had
actually ventured outside the harbour, than these two powerful craft
steamed in and opened fire upon her, and also upon the Laolutze forts,
which were supporting her. The approach of the Japanese cruisers was
the signal for a hurried retirement on the part of the Russian
battleship, and she lost no time in effecting her retreat to the
harbour. But while entering, she struck a contact mine, which exploded
beneath her bows, inflicting such serious damage that it was only with
very great difficulty she succeeded in returning to her