Siege of Port Arthur

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Siege of Port Arthur
Part of the Russo-Japanese War
Russian 500-pound shell bursting near the Japanese siege guns, near Port Arthur
Date August 1, 1904 – January 2, 1905 (5 months and 1 day) Location Port Arthur (modern Lüshunkou District, China) Result Japanese victory
Belligerents
Empire of Japan	Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Nogi Maresuke Kodama Gentarō Ijichi Kōsuke Nakamura Satoru Tōgō Heihachirō	Anatoly Stessel  Roman Kondratenko † Alexander Fok  Konstantin Smirnov  Robert Viren
Strength
201,000 150,000 troops 51,000 reserves 474 artillery pieces	101,000 50,000 troops 44,000 volunteers 12,000 sailors 7,000 recruits 506 artillery pieces
Casualties and losses
91,549 57,780 army casualties[1] 33,769 sick[1] 16 warships lost including 2 battleships and 4 cruisers[1]	55,675 31,306 army casualties[1] 24,369 captured[1] Entire fleet lost[1]

The siege of Port Arthur (Japanese: 旅順攻囲戦, Ryojun Kōisen; Russian: Оборона Порт-Артура, Oborona Port-Artura, August 1, 1904 – January 2, 1905) was the longest and most violent land battle of the Russo-Japanese War.

Port Arthur, the deep-water port and Russian naval base at the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula in Manchuria, had been widely regarded as one of the most strongly fortified positions in the world. However, during the First Sino-Japanese War, General Nogi Maresuke had taken the city from the forces of Qing China in only a few days. The ease of his victory during the previous conflict, and overconfidence by the Japanese General Staff in its ability to overcome improved Russian fortifications, led to a much longer campaign and far greater losses than expected.

The siege of Port Arthur saw the introduction of much technology used in subsequent wars of the 20th century (particularly in World War I) including massive 28 cm howitzers that fired 217-kilogram (478-pound) shells with a range of 8 kilometers (5.0 miles), rapid-firing light howitzers, Maxim machine guns, bolt-action magazine rifles, barbed wire entanglements, electric fences, arc lamp, searchlights, tactical radio signalling (and, in response, the first military use of radio jamming), hand grenades, extensive trench warfare, and the use of modified naval mines as land weapons.