with a dense crowd of Japanese infantry, who closely hugged the ground. . . . It appears that the Russians had occupied the heavy gun line which lies in the interior of the fort and with machine guns raked the front parapet and thus made it impossible for the Japanese infantry to leave their cover on the exterior slope. Meanwhile the Japanese brought up three machine guns, and with these replied to the Russian fire from the heavy line. . . . The bombardment kept up without diminution until about 1 p.m., when it slackened perceptibly on both sides. . . . About 4 p.m. the Japanese infantry could be seen working along the flanks of the work on the outside of the parapet. The Russians retired to the gorge parapet which had been arranged to fire to the front, and maintained themselves for several hours longer. By 7.30 p.m. the Japanese had fully mastered the position, and the largest and strongest of the permanent works on the front of attack fell into their possession. . . . A large number of field and machine guns[A] were included in the spoils of Fort Erh-lung. The assault entailed a loss of about 1,000 men to the Japanese."
During the attack on Wangtai Fort the Japanese used machine guns from the high ridge N.E. of the fort, and thus brought a heavy fire against the Russian interior line.
The Japanese invariably brought up their machine guns with the assault and lost no time
[Footnote A: A great many machine guns were added to the forts from the fleet
