About 7 p.m. Kaulbars reported to me that the enemy had at 4 p.m. begun a movement in great strength towards their advanced positions. At the same time this movement became disclosed, and we opened artillery and rifle fire. As the reserve of the 3rd Army had already been given to the 2nd, I was obliged, as a temporary measure, to give Kaulbars the 72nd Division from my reserve. This left me with only thirty battalions of the 16th Corps, which had just arrived. Although the positions held by the Composite Rifle Corps and 1st Siberians had behind them an ice-covered river with steep frozen banks that hindered the crossing of all three arms, and were therefore inconvenient, yet the situation of the 2nd Army—enveloping San-de-pu, as it did—offered us certain advantages if we could only drive back the troops attacking the 1st Siberians and succeed in storming that place on the 29th. When, therefore, the above report came in from Kaulbars, the Chief of Staff of the 2nd Army was asked on the telephone when it was proposed to start the assault on San-de-pu. To this Ruzski replied that it certainly could not take place next day, as it had not been properly prepared by artillery, and that it was impossible then to fix a time for it. On account of the vagueness of this reply, he was instructed to report to Grippenberg the information sent in by Kaulbars, and also the orders in which the 2nd Army was instructed to take up a more concentrated position in the early hours of the 29th, assuming as their first task the defence of the line Ssu-fang-tai—Chang-tan—Ta-man-ta-pu. Grippenberg, who was in a neighbouring apartment with a telephone, did not say a single word to this message,[87] and these orders were carried out. All the enemy’s attacks on the positions Tou-pao–Chu-san-ho-tzu were repulsed by the 1st Siberians before retiring. Thus ended our first attempt at the offensive, and it cost us 10,000 men. The chief cause of our failure was, of course, our neglect to prepare properly the assault on San-de-pu, which again was a sign that we did not yet sufficiently respect our foe. Though a contempt of the enemy was all through the war evinced by the senior officers when they first arrived at the front, yet after our first actions it was generally, and perhaps unfortunately, replaced by an exaggerated idea of their merits. The absence of proper touch between Grippenberg and the corps under him was also responsible for much, as, owing to it, the transmission of orders and of information was greatly delayed. The whole of the 8th and Composite Rifle Corps, again, did not shine in action. For instance, on the 28th, certain units of the 15th Division, though not at all pressed, began to retire without permission. By doing so they exposed the siege battery they were covering, which was preparing to destroy its guns and blow up its ammunition preparatory to retiring itself.