The narrow neck of land, a mile and three-quarters in breadth, running between Kinchau Bay on the west and Hand Bay--a small inlet of Talienwan Bay--on the east, possesses great strategical importance. The high ground to the south of it, of which the salient point is the Nanshan Hill, completely commands the approach to Port Arthur from the north, and, as it cannot be outflanked by any ordinary method, it gives an admirable opportunity, to a defending force to resist an attack from that quarter. It is, indeed, commanded in its turn by an eminence called Mount Sampson, which lies to the northeast; but in this instance the disadvantage was more than counterbalanced by the fact that the Japanese could only oppose to the heavy fortress guns which the Russians had mounted on Nanshan, field artillery of an inferior calibre. After the landing of the enemy at Yentoa and the cutting of the railway had made clear the imminence of the peril which threatened Port Arthur, the governor of the fortress, General Stoessel, wasted no time in erecting powerful defences at this naturally strong position. During the ensuing weeks the Russian engineers went feverishly to work constructing entrenchments on Nanshan and the connecting chains of hills, and also on a second line of eminences further to the south, the chief of which is named Nankuenling. These careful preparations might well seem to have rendered the position impregnable. Ten forts almost permanent in character were established on Nanshan, and at every available point trenches and rifle pits were dug and concealed with the greatest skill, and their approaches guarded by barbed wire entanglements, while at convenient places mines were laid to entrap an unwary foe. Over 70 guns, many of them pieces of fortress artillery of heavy calibre, were placed in position here, and the whole was manned by a force of 12,000 men; the utmost number of troops that could with advantage be employed in such a confined area. Altogether, with the exception of Port Arthur itself, no more formidable obstacle has ever been presented to the advance of an invading army in modern times than was offered by General Stoessel at Kinchau. The village of Kinchau itself, it should be explained, though it gave the name to the battle, was of comparatively small strategical importance, lying as it does on the low ground to the northeast of the isthmus and offering an easy prey, but at the same time no particular advantage, to the enemy. [Sidenote: Japan Dispositions]