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CHAPTER IX
AFTER THE BALL
T
he first few days after the general attack
the Japanese seemed stunned. They had
felt sure of being in Port Arthur by now,
and all their plans for the future campaign had
been based on this assumption. Their mortifi-
cation at having been unable to perform what
they knew was expected from them at home
gnawed at their heart-strings and plunged them
into the deepest gloom. They realized that they
would have to undertake a regular siege, and they
knew the magnitude of such operations against
the large fortress, the fort line of which extended
over some twelve miles ;
the length of time it
would take them, the heavy cost it would involve,
the effect on the operations in the north of their
detention here. They had lost over 15,000 men
during these six days, and another 3,000 or
4,000 in driving back the enemy’s outposts at
Takushan and at the hills out to the west near
Louisa Bay—nearly as many as they had calcu-
lated the capture of the whole fortress would cost
them. The central division had lost almost half
of its numbers. Some of the regiments had been
practically wiped out. On August 25th the 7th
regiment, which had borne the brunt of the fighting
at East Panlung, could only muster six officers and
208 men, and other regiments had fared nearly as
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