Just after Wang Bin was promoted to General Shengjing, the situation in Lushun became more and more critical.

After continuous fighting, the Japanese army finally discovered the importance of the 203 Heights, and Nogi Noshinori finally advanced the whole army under the pressure of the base camp to launch an all-round general attack on Lushun, especially the 203 Heights is the top priority of this general offensive.

So the Japanese army of 50,000 people launched the first strong attack on the fortress, but because Nogi Noshinori underestimated the fortification of the fortress, he adopted the tactics of "meat and bullets" at any cost to attack in turn, and encountered stubborn resistance from the Russian army, which lasted five bloody battles, and the Japanese frontal attack was repulsed, with 16,000 casualties.

On January 19, the Japanese army launched a second strong attack, capturing two forts after four days of fierce fighting, but failed to capture the commanding heights of 203 northwest of Arthur Pass.

On January 23, the Japanese launched a third assault, targeting the Russian frontal fortress, and after four days of repeated onslaught, only one fortress was overcome.

In view of the fact that the Russian Baltic Fleet had set off to aid the Far East, the Japanese base camp strictly ordered the 3rd Army to capture Arthur Pass as soon as possible, and at the same time allocated additional 280 mm howitzers, reinforced one division and three engineer companies, and sent Gentaro Kodama, chief of the general staff of the "Manchurian Army," to personally command.

On January 26, the Japanese army committed 64,000 men to the fourth general offensive. The Russian army held the 203 heights and launched counterattacks many times, repelling the Japanese attacks and inflicting great casualties on the Japanese troops.

Although Nogi Noshinori concentrated his military forces on the 203 heights, the Russian army also drew out a considerable part of the reserves to concentrate on counterattack and defense, and as a result, the two were in a state of stalemate, and after Kodama Gentaro intervened in command, there were two adjustments, both in artillery.

The first is to concentrate the 280mm heavy artillery team on the east front to the west front in one day, completing the concentration of artillery fire, and suddenly increasing the artillery fire on the 203 heights on the west front.

After mobilizing the heavy artillery, Nogi Noshinori said with some concern: "What if the artillery team in the east is withdrawn and the Russians come out to counterattack." ”

Gentaro Kodama was furious and replied randomly, "I'm worried that he won't come out and fight back." ”

The second is to change the artillery-infantry offensive mode, ordering the artillery not to stop firing during the infantry assault, as mentioned in the above two items, so that the Russian army on the hill loses the time to occupy the position after the shelling in the usual mode to organize defensive shooting, and it is also unable to use reserves to support the threatened position.

At this moment, the situation of the Tsarist Russian troops as the guard was even more critical, all the ring trenches on the 203 heights were destroyed, and only two of the 43 shelters were intact, and the defenders had actually completely lost their concealment, and could only rely on grenades and self-fighting to carry out counterattacks, with heavy casualties. By the evening of January 31, 1905, 1,600 wounded had gone to the bandaging station alone.

In the five days of fighting for the 203 heights, the Russian casualties had already reached 1,500, and the commander in charge of the defense of the 203, Colonel Tretyanov, was also seriously wounded.

As a result, the commander of the Tsarist Russian land defense, Kontrachenko, had to constantly send reinforcements to the 203 heights, and the general reserve of the Arthur fortress was quickly exhausted, and began to draw forces from other parts of the land defense line and the detachment to reinforce the 203 heights.

At 7:55 a.m. on February 5, 1905, the Japanese army again poured a large number of 280-mm howitzers, explosive shells and armor-piercing shells on Heights 203, launching a desperate attack on Heights 203.

As soon as the shelling began, the commander of the Russian army's land defense, Kontrachenko, personally visited the headquarters of the 5th Regiment of the Russian Army, which was guarding the 203 heights, and directly commanded the defensive battle of the 203 heights.

The Japanese offensive began at 8:15 a.m., and the battle soon reached a fever pitch.

The Japanese are approaching at all costs, step by step.

A British Daily Mail reporter who was watching the battle on the battlefield later reported: "The biggest obstacle is barbed wire. The Japanese cut it with knives, pulled it with their hands, bit it with their teeth, pulled out the stake from the barbed wire, or tied a thick rope and dragged it away. ”

The Japanese and Russian soldiers fought each other in a fierce white-knuckle fight, and the 203 Heights suddenly became a huge graveyard of flesh and blood.

By 15:00 on February 5, 1905, the Russian commander found that the continued sending of reinforcements to Heights 203 would not only fail to turn the tide of the battle, but would weaken the forces of other sectors, potentially leading to the fall of other defensive positions.

At the same time, the Japanese army's flanking attack did not weaken, and from the early morning to the afternoon of the same day, four commanders had been changed in the 203rd Heights, and the Japanese troops had actually occupied the two main peaks of the 2O3 Heights.

After nine consecutive days of fighting, shelling, and hand-to-hand combat, the survivors of the Tsarist defenders on the 203rd Heights were bruised, exhausted, and unable to continue to resist the enemy. By 17:30 on the same day, the Russian army withdrew from the 203 heights. When night fell, the officers and men who had been withdrawn from Heights 203, with the assistance of two companies of logistics teams, tried to recapture their positions. However, the Japanese army had set up machine guns on the 203 heights, and the Russian army's attempts to counterattack were in vain. In this way, the 203 heights were firmly occupied by the Japanese army.

In just one week, 97 Japanese generals were killed, more than 8,000 soldiers were killed, 163 generals were wounded, and more than 10,000 soldiers were wounded, totaling nearly 20,000 dead and wounded.

In order to attack the 203 heights, the Japanese army used more than 60 large and small artillery pieces and fired 11,000 shells, including 2,254 shells for 280mm howitzers, weighing 489.118 tons.

In the battle for the 203 heights, the Japanese army suffered more than 30,000 casualties, and the Russian army suffered more than 9,000 casualties, which was the fierce battlefield with the largest casualties on both sides of the Russo-Japanese War Lushun Fortress.

After occupying the 203 heights, the Japanese army seized the initiative on the battlefield in Arthur. From the 203 heights, the Japanese bombarded the Russian ships in the port and the Russian military facilities in the city with heavy artillery, and the Russian Pacific Fleet ceased to exist.

Then, step by step, the Japanese army first conquered a series of Russian fortresses, and then occupied more and more of the city of Arthur.

After that, the Russians lost hope of victory, and a few days later the Russians stationed at Arthur surrendered.

The Battle of Arthur was an event of great significance in the Russo-Japanese War. As long as Lushun contained a large number of Japanese troops, and as long as the Russian fleet at the mouth of Arthur still existed, the Japanese army could not decide the outcome of the war. If the Russian fleet in Europe were to move eastward, it could also change the situation at sea and cut off the Japanese supply lines at sea.

Therefore, the Japanese army must capture Arthur at all costs, and in the final analysis, it is necessary to solve the fundamental problem of the Russo-Japanese War -- sea supremacy.

And after the fall of Lushun, half of the Japanese army's goal had been achieved.

During the entire Battle of Arthur, the Russian army lost more than 45,000 people, the Japanese army lost about 80,000 people, and the Third Army was completely disabled, but Lushun still fell into the hands of the Japanese after all.