A battery of "Osaka Babies"

A battery of "Osaka Babies"

139

The Russian fleet in Port Arthur had been twice defeated by Togo, but there was enough of it left to become dangerous, possibly at a critical moment, and it was the duty of the besieging army to destroy this fleet. The eighteen "Osaka Babies" brought from Japan accomplished this task, besides smashing the Russian forts and thereby disheartening the obstinate foe and raising the hope of the besiegers. From the top of 203 Meter Hill, eight miles away, on the other side of Port Arthur, the effect of every shell was observed and the range corrected, until the warships in the port, might they dodge as they pleased, were hit with unerring precision. The bomb-proof vaults of the forts too were smashed, and the smooth, unscalable fronts of the forts were ripped open and pitted, so that the assaulting infantry might find a foothold and a resting place on their bloody way up the sheer precipices. The gun at the left is ready to fire. Observe the high angle at which it is poised, minutely calculated so as to drop the shell within a space not longer than twelve feet square.

1 stereograph. 2 photomechanical prints on stereo card : halftone, stereograph, color ; 9 x 18 cm

1905 Ingersoll, T.W.

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