On their approach to Port 
Arthur, the Japanese Army was
forced to go through the narrow 
isthmus known as the Liaotung 
Peninsula.  The two-mile wide 
isthmus was dominated by the 
Nanshan Hill.

Due to the geographic 
constraints, General Oku had 
no choice but to attack Nanshan 
Hill in a head on assault.  The 
narrow confine of the terrain 
left no room for tactical 
finesse, and the Japanese were 
forced to assault over open 
terrain against a fortified 
army on higher ground.  On May 
26th, 1904, the assault was 
launched.

Oku had three divisions plus 
naval guns in support.  The 
Russian defenders, under the 
command of Major General Fock, 
had 10,000 men, two destroyers, 
and a gunboat under his 
disposal.  The same command 
problem that plagued the 
Russians through out the Russo-
Japanese war was ever present.

The battle started with a well 
executed three-hour long 
artillery bombardment, not 
seriously affecting Russian 
positions.  All three Japanese 
divisions advanced at the same 
time in the tight German 
fashion.  Due to their lack of 
cover, casualties were great, 
as whole battalions were wiped 
out by devastating defensive 
fire.  The Japanese perservered 
and advanced to within 500 
yards of the main Russian 
position.  Unable to move 
further, they dug in.  

The Russian position was 
further defended with mine 
fields. The Japanese advanced 
with suicide squads in order 
to clear the mines.  This 
desperate effort was aborted 
due to accurate Russian fire.  
For close to three hours one 
single Russian division held 
up three Japanese divisions.

That afternoon, Oku ordered 
another assault.  With Japanese 
artillery support concentrating 
on the weakened Russian left, 
the 4th Division assault 
succeeded in breaking the 
Russian position.  Unable to 
coordinate a counterattack, 
the Russians retreated - the 
Japanese had taken Nanshan 
Hill.

The Russians lost 700 at the 
battle, against a total of 
4,855 Japanese casualties.  The 
Russians only committed 3,500 
in the battle out of a total 
force pool of 18,000.