By five o'clock on the morning of Sunday, May 1st, the whole force from north to south was on foot, and prepared to move like one mighty machine to the execution of the great task before it. As the grey dawn lifted the curtain upon the tremendous drama which was about to unfold itself before them, the watchers behind Wiju saw the long lines of black forms marshalling upon the islands and taking cover behind the scrub and in the hollows of the low sand hills. Far out beyond Tiger Hill and along the left bank of the River Ai the lines extended, moving out of the shelter of the adjacent hills. It was a moment of tense expectancy. Now for the first time were Japanese Infantry to be pitted against European troops armed with modern weapons, in a conflict on the grand scale. Would they come out of the ordeal with triumph? Would they in their sphere of warfare rival the great achievements of their naval brethren? [Sidenote: The General Attack Begins] But before the infantry could move forward it was necessary to search the Russian batteries once more and reduce them, if possible, to ineffectiveness. The howitzers and field artillery, therefore, again opened their terrible fire of shell and shrapnel upon the heights opposite, the storm raging with especial severity over Chiu-lien-cheng and the Makau and Yushukau ridge. But to this the enemy made no reply. After the awful experience of the previous day, they had been compelled to withdraw many of their guns, and the front of their position was, as it afterwards appeared, deprived of this defence altogether. General Kashtalinsky, as already stated, had with him one battery of field artillery, but taught by past lessons he declined to unmask its whereabouts until the advance of the Mikado's troops made it absolutely necessary. After half an hour, therefore, the Japanese ceased their bombardment for the time being, and at last General Kuroki gave the eagerly-expected order for a general attack along the whole line. Gladly the soldiery of Dai Nippon answered the call, burning as one man to plant the flag of the Rising Sun upon the soil of the territory from which ten years ago they had been so contemptuously driven out by the haughty Muscovite. [Sidenote: Ridges Alive with Flame]