THE STORMING OF THE FORTS 609 been removed, and in the sequel the Japanese were able to use these very guns against the Chinese fleet.

Oyama made his attack on the eastern forts on the morning of January 30th. On the previous evening the left column had moved up to the bridge over the Wu-chiu River, on the land side of Beacon Hill,the highisolated peak south of the forts. Its outpost line ran along the bank of the little river, which was frozen over at the time andeverywherepassable. The right column prolonged the outpost line along a spur that stretches out from the other side of Beacon Hill to the sea at Three Peak Bay.

Meanwhile, the 6th Division, forming the right column,had attacked the forts. The first advance was made against Mo-tien-ling a little after half-past seven. The fort was stormed at a quarter-past eight without much loss, although in the last rush the stormers were exposed to a crossfire from the guns of Yang-fung-ling. A party of gunners accompanied the storming party, and at once turned the artillery of the capturedfort, part on Yang-fung-ling, part on a small fort between Mo-tien-ling and the sea. This smaller fort was rushed about half-past eight, so that the Japanese were in possession of the two works that protected the rear of the At dawn on the 30th six of the lighter cruisers of Admiral Ito's fleet steamed into Three Peak Bay and opened fire at long range on the two nearest forts, Yang-fung-ling and Shaichia-su, while the heavier ships bombarded the island forts on Liu-kung-tao. At the same time the mountain batteries of theright column came into action from the ridge opposite Fort Mo-tienling, and those of the left column opened on a body of Chinese troops who were holding the high ground to the west of the forts. When it was judged that the bombardment had produced eastern sea forts. They had suffered very little loss, but Brigadier-GeneralOtera had been mortally wounded by a bursting shell soon after the capture of Mo-tien-ling. He was the only Japanese general killedin the war.

The gunsof the captured forts, themountainbatteries, and the six cruisers inThree Peak Bay now concentrated their fire on the Yang-fungling fort. TheChinese garrison here fought bravely and repulsed an attempt of the Japaneseinfantry to close in upon the fort. But about noon it was seen that a fire had broken out inside the works, and shortly after i i .I.. s-7\.: *.!__ CAPTAIN McCLURE, I'Lc-AdniiraloftheChi ese Fleet. (IInto:Shanghailh>t,-gr.i,'hic EnlaigiugCo.)

. . r~.. ■ .s e . _. sufficient effect, the infantry of the 2nd Division advanced to the attack on the left, moving across the frozen river under a heavysnowstorm. With very little difficulty they drove the Chinese from the ridge back to a secondline of hills nearer the harbour. Bringingup the mountain guns to cover their advance, they pressed on to the second ridge, cleared it of the enemy, and pursued them for some distance along the shore of the bay towards the town of Wei-hai-wei. This pursuit was, however, soonchecked, for several of AdmiralTing's light cruisers steamedinto the shallow water on the south side of the bay and brought a heavyfire of shells and machine-gun bullets to bear on the leading battalion. The Japanese then drew back to the high ground they had won, after considerable loss, one shell alone killing fourteen men. This was between half-past nine and ten.

39 the fort was evacuated by the Chinese, the magazines blowingup almostas soon as theyleft it. The Japanese guns were then turned on Shai-chia-su, which was very soon abandoned by its garrison.

The Japanese nowattacked the sea forts on the shore of thebay from the high ground they had won. Chao-pei-tsui was abandoned as soon as the storming column advanced upon it, the garrison blowing up the magazine. The next fort, Lu-chuch-tsui, was rushed by a column composed of Japaneseinfantry and marines from the fleet. The Chinese fled along the shore, and the fuses they had lighted to blow up the magazine were discovered and extinguished by the captors just in time. The marines promptly turned theguns on the Chinese warships, which hadopened a furious fire on the captured forts. Lung-miao-tsui, the last of the sea forts, was captured about one o'clock. At the last moment