The battle of Pei-tsang--Drawing the enemy’s fire--The Japanese
artillery--Occasional jokes--A Chinese shell--A spot of comparative
safety--Japanese wounded--A narrow escape--Japanese humour--The Royal
Artillery--Chinese fire slackening--The British cavalry--The 41st
Japanese--Photographs under fire--Capturing enemy’s trenches--Heavy
casualties--A touching scene--The enemy driven from his trenches.
Shortly before any firing began I climbed with a friend over the
embankment to see whether the enemy was in sight, with the result
that we were ourselves placed in full sight of the enemy against the
sky-line, and three or four shells whizzed uncomfortably near us,
exploding, fortunately, a little way beyond. From this moment the
Chinese, suspecting the whereabouts of the Allies, began to send shell
after shell into our position with considerable accuracy, but did
comparatively little damage, as the shells burst twenty or thirty yards
beyond the embankment.
The Japanese artillery at this point of the advance was doing
splendidly, the officers calmly smoking their cigarettes as the shells
burst freely around them. The Chinese had found the exact range of the
Japanese guns, and were making their position very hot; the gunners and
their officers, however, were wonderfully cool and composed, cracking
occasional jokes when shells burst too near. The moment any one was
wounded he was bandaged up and carried away on an ambulance.
One soldier was standing under a tree, holding three horses, when a
Chinese shell dropped between him and the animals, and they were all
killed, and gashed about in a fearful manner.
Interesting as it all was, I thought that it was wiser for me to go and
see what the British artillery was doing a little further back along
the embankment. It had not yet come into action. Thinking this a spot
of comparative safety, as only occasional shells were bursting here,
instead of a regular hail of them, I was just talking to some soldiers,
when a shell exploded directly over our heads, wounding one man badly
in the neck, and another slightly.
There being no prospect of an immediate advance, and this artillery
duel continuing, I decided to go still farther back among the high
corn nearly to the place where the Bengal Lancers were in reserve. I
squatted down on the ground, and was writing up my notes, when some
Japanese Red Cross men approached, and asked me whether this was a safe
spot, as they wished to bring some wounded. On my answering in the
affirmative, off they went, and presently returned with two stretchers
on which were two Japanese severely wounded. I went to help them to lay
down the poor suffering creatures, when a solitary shell exploded just
above us, and again wounded one of the men on the stretchers.
There was some grim humour in the remark that the Japanese doctor made
to me. “I think,” said he, in his quaint English, “you make mistake
when you speak this place safe;” and he mimicked with his mouth the
noise of the bursting shell, and with his hands the way in which the
different pieces had whizzed past our ears. “May be not quite safe,
but you see I am Japanese! I may not know, you see.” And, with a
comical gesture, he looked up towards the sky to see if more missiles
were coming.
[Sidenote: ARTILLERY FIRE]
The Royal Artillery was now coming into action, the officers taking the
range from the embankment. It was interesting to see how smartly the
guns were brought up in position, but only a few shots were fired. Some
of our gunners were wounded.
[Illustration: JAPANESE ADVANCING UNDER FIRE]
The Chinese were gradually slackening their artillery fire, and
apparently withdrawing their guns, when General Fukushima sent word to
the British asking that the cavalry might immediately be despatched
to co-operate with the Japanese in the advance on the Chinese
position. Somehow or other, the British cavalry never arrived, and the
Japanese--only one regiment of artillery--marched forward alone.
The 41st Regiment led the advance with one battalion on the left wing.
The fighting was very severe, the Japanese suffering heavily, as can be
seen by the series of photographs here appended, which I took on the
spot.
[Illustration: JAPANESE SOLDIERS PHOTOGRAPHED AS THEY WERE BEING KILLED]
The Chinese were gradually driven away from their lines of trenches,
but made a stubborn resistance. The full-page photograph, which,
unfortunately, owing to the light at the moment it was taken, is not as
sharp as it might be, but which, being a document, I have left in its
original state, shows the plucky Japanese taking a short rest owing to
the fearful heat, after having captured one trench.
[Illustration: THE CAPTURE OF A CHINESE TRENCH]
The second full-page shows a Chinese old gun on the second line of
trenches firing on the Japanese. In the centre of the photograph a
detachment can be seen dashing across the corn to storm the position
while another detachment attacked the position from the left side.
Naturally the Chinese did not confine themselves to firing with a gun:
Mauser, Mannlicher, and gingal bullets were falling thickly. Moreover,
the Chinese were using Maxims with considerable success.
[Sidenote: SNAPSHOTS UNDER FIRE]
[Illustration: CHINESE SOLDIER KILLED]
As we advanced from one trench to the next under this heavy fire, the
plucky little Japanese dropped down, killed or wounded. Then a poor
corporal, whom I snapshotted, rolled down, a victim to a bullet; the
cross-page illustration is another snapshot which I took of the string
of soldiers, wounded and killed, that we left behind on the field. To
the left of the picture (page 344), in exaggerated proportions (as
they were close to me), are the haversack, water-bottle, and muzzle of
the rifle of the soldier just ahead of me, who was running and firing,
avoiding to tread on the bodies of the fallen. In the foreground lies
a man just killed, and, a yard or so further on, a couple more. A most
tragic scene had occurred in a few seconds. The one to the right
wavered ahead of us, apparently mortally wounded. His companion stopped
for a moment to support him, when he, too, fell dead by the side of his
friend. It may be noticed that the distance from these bodies--taken
just as they were falling--to myself was no more than three yards.
As the enemy was driven out of his positions and we came to their
trenches, we found the Chinese soldiers we had killed, one of whom is
represented in the next picture (page 345).
[Illustration: WITH THE JAPANESE
(Chinese gun-firing to be noticed to the left of picture, also, in the
centre of photograph, Japanese rushing the Chinese position)]