The Liaotung peninsula, tapering southward, may be likened to a tun-dish of which the isthmus is the funnel, and midway in that funnel the Japanese position could be attacked by an army presenting a front no wider than their own lines, a position in which not more men could be employed to attack simultaneously than they, at any time, were able to provide for its defence--a position against which the whole of the military forces of Russia may be hurled in quick succession yet not be able to take by storm. As long as it is supported by the Japanese fleet on east and west, it is absolutely impregnable. It cut off Port Arthur from Manchuria effectually and permanently. [Illustration: THE FORTRESS OF PORT ARTHUR.] CHAPTER XIV The Defence of Port Arthur Having established themselves firmly in Kwan-tung by the end of May, the Japanese once more assumed the offensive. The first army under General Kuroki advanced rapidly towards Liaoyang, making flanking movements eastward, and at Motienling Pass threatening not only the Russian position at Liaoyang but opening a route for a flanking movement further north upon Mukden. The second army, under General Oku, advanced on Kaiping, thence north upon Tashichiao, to new and old Newchwang and Haicheng. The Takushan army, co-operating with General Oku’s force, advanced from its landing point west of Antung to Haicheng, forming the connecting link between the first and second armies. The third army under General Nogi, landed at Dalny, swept through the Kwan-tung peninsula southward, and attacked Port Arthur. Every mile of this ground was savagely contested, the Russians being driven from position to position, and gradually retiring upon the outer defences of the fortress. Altogether some two months were passed in opposing the Japanese advance. For days together the town would be continuously bombarded from the sea. As General Nogi advanced he was aided by a terrific bombardment of the coast from Dalny to Takushan, just outside the north-east forts of Port Arthur. The main weight of this advance was borne by General Fuchs and his Siberian division. The Russians repulsed an attempted landing at Kerr Bay, where General Nadin was severely wounded. The naval authorities were busy in clearing the navigable channel so that the repaired battleships might leave the harbour for the outer roadstead, and the torpedo-boat flotilla was occupied every day, being repeatedly driven in by the Japanese squadron blockading the port. From the Liaotishan forts at the southern extremity of the peninsula the Japanese vessels were cannonaded whenever within range, and there, and elsewhere, new batteries were established to command the coast immediately under the great forts. The fortifications on the Metre Range, High Hill and the heights outside the line of the land forts, were hurried to completion, and temporary forts were improvised in many situations, this work being