The defense of Port Arthur (from July 17, 1904 (July 30, 1904) to December 23, 1904 (January 5, 1905)) is the longest battle in the Russo-Japanese War. During the siege of the fortress, new types of weapons were used, such as an 11-inch mortar, rapid-fire howitzers, barbed wire barriers, and hand grenades.
The value of Port Arthur
Fortress Port Arthur was located at the extreme southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula. The area was leased by Russia from China in 1898, after which the construction of an ice-free military port in the Pacific Ocean, which is badly needed by the Russians, began there. (Vladivostok froze in winter)
Japanese movement towards Port Arthur
Literally on the first day of the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese unexpectedly attacked the Port Arthur squadron, which inflicted heavy damage on it. 1904, April 21-22 - The Second Japanese Army of General Oku landed in the north of Liaodong, which went to Port Arthur to attack it from land. On May 13, Oku, having lost about 5,000 soldiers, was able to take the strategically important Jinzhou Heights in the center of the peninsula.
Commander-in-chief of the Russians, Kuropatkin tried to prevent the siege of Port Arthur by skirmishes at Wafangou and Dashichao, but was unable to achieve success. Before the inevitable encirclement of the fortress, the Port Arthur squadron tried to break through from it to Vladivostok. But the Japanese squadron of Admiral Togo blocked her path and after the battle in the Yellow Sea on July 28 forced her to return.
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After Jinzhou was taken, the Japanese ground army accumulated forces and did not disturb the Russians for a long time, who took up positions on the Green Mountains (20 kilometers from Port Arthur). The delay in the Japanese offensive was partly due to the fact that the Russian Vladivostok cruiser squadron sank a large Japanese transport, which was delivering 11-inch guns to the army intended for the siege. In the end, having received reinforcements, the Third Japanese Army of the Foot launched a powerful assault on the Green Mountains on July 13, 1904. The Russians were driven back from their positions and on July 17 they retreated to the area of the fortress. Then the defense of Port Arthur began.
Siege of Port Arthur. The first assault
Port Arthur was not only a naval port, but also a powerful land fortress. It had three lines of defense, even with concrete structures. The city was surrounded by a line of forts and a network of redoubts, defensive ditches, and batteries. These structures relied on the mountainous terrain favorable for defense. But not all fortifications were completed. The fortress garrison at the beginning of the defense numbered about 50 thousand. The defense of Port Arthur was headed by the chief of the Kwantung fortified region, General Stoessel.
On August 6 the first assault on the fortress was undertaken. It took place mainly at night, but for the first time, searchlights and missiles used to repel night attacks helped the besieged to destroy the attackers. After 5 days of violent attacks, the Japanese managed to break through into the depths of the Russian defense on the night of August 11, but they were thrown back by a swift counterattack. During the first assault, the last sailing of the ships of the Russian Pacific Squadron took place. The battleship "Sevastopol", accompanied by two torpedo boats, left the port, under the command of Captain 1st Rank Nikolai Essen. He supported the Russian defenders with fire from the side of the bay. But, on the way back, the Russian ships ran into mines, and both destroyers sank from the explosions. The first assault ended unsuccessfully for the Japanese side. They lost about 15,000 soldiers in the process. Russian losses amounted to 6,000.
Second assault
Unable to capture Port Arthur on the move, Nogi began a systematic siege. Only a month later, on September 6, 1904, having received reinforcements and after carrying out serious engineering and sapper work, the Japanese launched a second assault on the fortress. For 3 days of fighting, they were able to capture two redoubts (Vodoprovodny and Kumirnensky) on the Eastern "front", and capture the Long Mountain on the Northern "front". However, the attempts of the Japanese troops to seize the key object of defense - the Vysokaya mountain dominating the city - were broken by the fortitude of the besieged.
Reflecting the attacks, the Russians used new means of struggle, including mortars, invented by midshipman S. Vlasyev. During the second assault (September 6-9), the Japanese side lost 7,500 soldiers. (5,000 of them during the assault on Vysokaya). The losses of the defenders of Port Arthur amounted to 1,500 people. Great assistance in the defense of Port Arthur was provided by the ships of the Pacific Squadron, which from the inner raid supported the besieged with fire. Part of the ship's artillery (284 guns) was transferred directly to the position.
Third assault
On September 18, the Japanese side began shelling the fortress with 11-inch guns. Their shells destroyed fortifications that were not designed for this caliber. But the besieged, fighting on the ruins, were able to repulse the third assault (October 17-18), during which 12,000 Japanese soldiers were killed.
The position of the besieged fortress became more and more difficult. Food supplies were running out, the number of killed, wounded and sick grew all the time. Scurvy and typhus began to appear, raging harder than the weapons of the Japanese. By the beginning of November, there were 7,000 wounded and sick (scurvy, dysentery, typhus) in hospitals. The main struggle in November unfolded for Mount Vysokaya on the Northern Front, as well as for the 2nd and 3rd forts on the Eastern Front.
Fourth assault. Capture of the High Mountain
On these key defenses, Port Arthur Nogi concentrated the main attacks during the fourth assault (November 13-22, 1904). 50,000 Japanese soldiers took part in it. The main blow fell on Mount Vysokaya, which was defended by 2,200 thousand soldiers, under the command of the hero of the battles for Jinzhou - Colonel Nikolai Tretyakov. Within ten days, the assault units of the Japanese, regardless of losses, climbed wave after wave to attack the High. During this time, they managed to capture the height strewn with corpses twice, but both times the Russian counterattacks brought it back. In the end, on November 22, after another attack, the Japanese managed to capture the mountain. Almost all of its garrison was killed. The last night Russian counterattack on Vysokaya was repelled. During the period of 10 days of fighting, the Japanese lost 11,000 soldiers.
The shelling of Russian ships in the harbor of Port Arthur by the Japanese.
Having placed long-range artillery on Vysokaya (11-inch guns fired at a distance of 10 km), the Japanese side began to shell the city and port. From that time on, the fate of Port Arthur and the fleet was decided. The remnants of the 1st Pacific Squadron standing in the roadstead were killed under Japanese fire. To protect against fire, only the battleship "Sevastopol" under the command of the courageous Essen decided to go to the outer raid. On November 26, he stood in the White Wolf Bay, where for six nights he heroically repelled the attacks of Japanese destroyers, while destroying 2 of them. After receiving serious damage, the battleship was sunk by her team. In December, a fierce battle unfolded for the 2nd and 3rd forts on the Eastern Front. On December 2, the chief of the ground defense, General Roman Kondratenko, was killed. By December 15, the line of forts on the Eastern Front had fallen.
Surrender of Port Arthur
December 19, evening - after desperate battles, the besieged retreated to the third, last line of defense. Stoessel considered further resistance pointless and on December 20 he signed a surrender. This decision had good reasons. Continuing the defense of 10-12,000 soldiers after the loss of the main positions became meaningless. Port Arthur was already lost as a base for the fleet.
The fortress could no longer draw off significant forces of the Japanese army from Kuropatkin's army. For its blockade, now one division would be enough. The defenders of the fortress soon faced starvation (food remained for 4-6 weeks). But on arrival in Russia, Stoessel was put on trial and sentenced to death, which was commuted to ten years in prison. Such a harsh sentence most likely became a tribute to public opinion, excited by military failures.
The importance of the defense of Port Arthur
After the surrender of the fortress, about 25,000 people were taken prisoner (more than 10,000 of them were sick and wounded). Fighting under the conditions of a complete blockade, the Port Arthur garrison was able to draw off about 200,000 Japanese soldiers. Their losses during the 239-day siege amounted to 110,000. In addition, during the naval blockade, the Japanese lost 15 ships of different classes, including 2 battleship squadrons that were blown up by mines. For the participants in the defense of Port Arthur, a special award cross "Port Arthur" was issued.
With the capture of Port Arthur and the destruction of the 1st Pacific Squadron, the Japanese side decided the main goals that it set in the war. For Russia, the fall of Port Arthur meant the loss of access to the ice-free Yellow Sea, the deterioration of the strategic situation in Manchuria. Its consequence was the further intensification of the revolutionary events that began in Russia.