Add to ORKGGeneral Nogi had 60,000 men before Port Arthur, and as Stoessel was assumed to have 35,000 men when the Japanese land army first confronted him at Nanshan, it was supposed that the Japanese outnumbered him enough to offset his great advantage in fighting behind bastions and stone walls. But the Russians were more stubborn fighters than their enemies had given them credit for. From the 26th day of May, when General Oku took Nanshan Hill, to the 12th of August, when the real siege cf Port Arthur began, fighting had gone on almost without interruption. Between Nanshan, where the peninsula connects with the main land, and Port Arthur there were four grand series of Russian defenses to be taken, each victory exacting a bloody price, and the capt...