Port Arthur, Battle of

During the Russo-Japanese War, Japanese victory over the Russians after besieging the city of Port Arthur in Manchuria (now Lüshun, China) May 1904-January 1905. The Russian occupation of Port Arthur in 1897, later formalized as a lease in 1898, had been one of the main points of contention, and its loss was a significant blow to Russian morale.

Situation at Port Arthur After Port Arthur was formally leased to Russia, it was connected by rail to Mukden (now Shenyang) and from there to the Trans-Siberian Railway, and gradually converted into a Russian fortress and naval base. However, due to financial restrictions, the full plan for the fortification of the base was never completed, leaving severe deficiencies in its defences. The Japanese fleet had blockaded the harbour from the outset of the war, keeping the Russian Far Eastern Fleet penned in.

Siege The Japanese victory at Nanshan cut off Russian supply lines and the garrison of 47,000 troops under General Anatoly Stössel was besieged from the end of July 1904. Stössel was an incompetent soldier who had actually been relieved of his post by the tsar, but concealed the order from his staff and continued to exercise command ineffectually. The Japanese mounted a strong assault on the defensive line on 19 August, but were beaten off. They then launched a series of minor attacks periodically to test the Russian defences, until howitzers were brought into action on 1 October to batter the Russian defences and shell the fleet lying in the harbour.

Japanese victory More furious assaults were made 26 October-2 November without success, until ‘203-Metre Hill’, a pivot of the defensive line, was taken by the Japanese on 5 December. With this wedge inserted in the Russian line, the Japanese proceeded to deal with individual forts on the northern front, making a huge gap in the line. The garrison's morale began to sink and the death of General Kondratchenko, the moving spirit behind the defence, lowered it even further. Stössel surrendered on 2 December, with only 24,000 effective troops left and 15,000 wounded. Japanese losses were also heavy: 58,000 killed and wounded plus 34,000 hospitalized with various diseases.