Produced by Brian Coe, Graeme Mackreth and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was created from images of public domain material made available by the University of Toronto Libraries (http://link.library.utoronto.ca/booksonline/).) THE TRUTH ABOUT PORT ARTHUR First Edition April, 1908. Second Impression May, 1908. Third Impression September, 1908. [Illustration: GENERAL SMIRNOFF.] THE TRUTH ABOUT PORT ARTHUR BY MONSIEUR E.K. NOJINE ACCREDITED RUSSIAN WAR CORRESPONDENT DURING THE SIEGE TRANSLATED AND ABRIDGED BY CAPTAIN A.B. LINDSAY 2ND KING EDWARD'S OWN GURKHA RIFLES TRANSLATOR OF 'THE BATTLE OF TSU-SHIMA,' ETC. EDITED BY MAJOR E.D. SWINTON, D.S.O. ROYAL ENGINEERS AUTHOR OF 'THE DEFENCE OF DUFFER'S DRIFT' WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 1908 PREFACE The siege of Port Arthur was the event of the late war in the Far East which most attracted the attention and interest of the rest of the world. There were other military operations, it is true, of equal if not of greater importance to the ultimate issue of the struggle; but, owing to their complexity, their slowness, and the absence of definite advance information, their progress and purport were not easily grasped by any save military students. The case of Port Arthur was different. The long drawn-out agony of the siege was continued before the eyes of the world for many months,[1] and, while the imagination was touched by its romantic side, the point at issue was at once apparent. Even so, there was much mystery about the conduct of the defence and the eventual fall of the Fortress; for, owing to its remote position and almost complete isolation by the enemy, the available information almost entirely consisted of that supplied by correspondents with the Japanese, and was, therefore, information from the outside, and more or less a history of _results_ alone. In 1907, or between two and three years after the culmination of the siege, the inevitable disclosures--the aftermath of defeat--which sometimes help to an appreciation of _causes_ began to be made in Russia. More than one book has recently been written by Russians who saw the defence from inside the Fortress, and who therefore claim to be in a position to give the inner history of the tragedy.