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50 THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR
concerning the relative proportion of shell and
rifle wounds amongst the Russians; but I have
been told that the number of shell wounds has
been unusually large. In the Japanese army,
from the beginning of June to the end of October,
the percentage of shell and shrapnel wounds
amounted to 21 ’2 7 per cent., about double what
it has been in the latest wars, proving that the
artillery has been restored to its importance and
made to play the role which every great general,
from Gustavus Adolphus to Moltke, has assigned
to it.
I shall later have an opportunity of returning to
this subject. At present I shall content myself
with pointing out that, from all I have seen, it is
not the shooting which has been so superior on
the Japanese side. I have seen as good and
better practice in European armies ; and the finest
piece of gunnery practice I have ever seen was
by a Russian battery here on September 20th.
But the Japanese artillery tactics as a whole are
better than the Russian, considered both inde-
pendently and in connection with infantry opera-
tions.
During a siege, the guns are much more
stationary than in open battle, and it is princi-
pally in his choice of positions that the gunner
can show his qualities as a tactician. In this
respect the Japanese have shown themselves far
superior to their Russian opponents. I have
already remarked on the out-of-date manner in
which the Russian battery positions and gun
epaulements had been constructed during the
Peninsular campaign—nearly always on the crest
of some hill, standing boldly out against the sky,
while the Japanese batteries were so ably placed
and cleverly masked that they were most difficult
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