During  the  numerous  assaults  of  Port  Arthur  wire  entanglements
played  a  very  important  role.  However,  if  masked,  they  would  have
proved  still  more  useful.
For  overcoming  these  entanglements  the  Japanese  used  wire  cutters,
pliers,  etc.,  destroying  our  entanglements  usually  at  night.
As  a  variety  of  this  kind  of  obstacle  we  used  barbed-wire  entangle¬
ments  for  exterior  ditches  of  Kingchau  fortifications  and  for  closing
the  outlets  of  ravines  on  the  left  flank.  To  make  such  entanglements
difficult  to  overcome  by  means  of  fascines  or  kaoliang  mattresses,
sharp  iron  tridents  were  set  on  the  stakes.  (See  Fig.  48.)  Another
variety — electric  fences — promises  to  prove  one  of  the  most  powerful
weapons  of  defense,  but  it  must  be  prepared  in  time  of  peace.
In  Port  Arthur  fougasses  were  used  in  great  quantity.  They  proved
very  useful  at  the  storming  of  the  Ugloviya  Mountains  (Angular
Mountains),  of  the  battery  letter  B,*  and  in  other  places.  Fougasses
laid  in  one  row  do  not  present  a  great  impediment.  It  is  necessary
to  lay  the  fougasses  in  several  rows,  and  the  last  row  should  be  laid
as  near  as  practicable  to  the  fortifications,  in  order  to  utilize  the  brief
panic  following  the  explosion  and  to  repulse  the  enemy  with  bayo¬
nets.  Single  fougasses  carried  forward  to  a  distance  of  300  to  400  paces
will  not  stop  the  enemy.
ib)  OTHER  ARTIFICIAL  OBSTACLES.
