Lieutenant-Colonel Nihira had foreseen the extreme difficulty of the task and realised that the chances of living through it were small. Before placing himself at the head of his battalion he took out of his pockets all confidential papers and the portraits of his children, which it was his custom to hang upon the wall of any house in which he might be quartered. Having burned these papers and photographs he led his men forward to the hill where he halted for a moment to impress upon them the importance of their mission and urged them never to turn their back upon the enemy. Colonel Nihira was greatly beloved by his men and they vowed to follow him to the death. At three o’clock the second height was stormed and then came the final struggle. For three long hours the men lay on the slope while shrapnel thinned their ranks and shells sweeping over them fell among the enemy’s rifles on the crest. Seeing the terrible position of this battalion General Okasaki sent to its aid another battalion commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Taniyama who arrived only in time to learn that his gallant friend and comrade Colonel Nihira and most of his officers had fallen in the fight. Dashing out of the trench, Colonel Taniyama cried: “How can I alone remain alive!” and would have hurled himself into the fire swept zone had not his men dragged him back into the trench. The death of Colonel Nihira and of so many comrades roused the men to frenzy. Two companies sprang from the trench and rushed forward up the hill. I have told how they were rolled back and how they returned like an ever diminishing wave until at sunset I saw against the grey sky line a struggling mass of men shooting, bayonetting, wrestling and stoning one another. At six o’clock the hill was taken and the slope was slippery with blood. It bears the name Nihirayama, or Nihira’s Hill, in memory of a brave soldier. One battalion lost all its officers save two, and of the other battalion only five officers survived. Even now the day was not ended though the sun was sinking below a crimson horizon. The enemy was still entrenched in a strong position stretching due East from the plain under Nihirayama. Against this hill a regiment of the Okasaki Brigade was moving from a grove on the slope of Nihirayama, seventeen hundred metres from Lengesan--the name of the Russian position. To reach its destination the regiment had to descend the slope and cross the open fields under a heavy cannonade. Between the two positions is a grove of pines in which the Japanese found shelter after their first dash. In a few minutes they came out and ran to the foot of the hill. Many fell in the advance, but the survivors struck the enemy hard on the left flank, and there was another of those awful hand-to-hand fights which one recalls with a shudder.