Tt wax at the battle of Kinchow on May 26 that Stoessel first began to wake a mess of things. He ought have been present at that battle, for the defence of the outer fortifications Iwlonged to him (Smirnoff having entine charge of the fortress), but he declared that his. pre in Port Arthar was absolutely necessary and Port Arthur, therefore, he remained. while, ax Kupchinsky puts it, battle went on without any commander, for Stoessel had made no preparation to receive the enemy and had appointed no one to act in his place. The only energy he showed was in preventing the Russian gunboat Bobr from leaving the harbour in order to proceed along the coast towards Kinchow, where a Japanese gunboat which had got in close to the shore had rendered the Russian trenches untenable. He also prevented a night attack by the Ris sians at a time when the Japanese were shaken and had already begun to Tetreat.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.