page_title: Siege of Port Arthur
section_title: The surrender
hierarchical_section_title: Siege of Port Arthur / The battles / The surrender
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 黄金山より見たる陥落後の旅順西港English: Port Arthur viewed from the Top of Gold Hill, after capitulation in 1905. From left wrecks of battleships: Peresvet, Poltava, Retvizan, Pobeda and Pallada cruiserPolski: Wraki rosyjskich pancerników - od lewej Piereswiet, Połtawa, Retwizan, Pobieda i krążownika Pałłada w Port Artur, 1905
context_page_description: The Siege of Port Arthur, the deep-water port and Russian naval base at the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula in Manchuria, was the longest and most violent land battle of the Russo-Japanese War.
  Port Arthur 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 including massive 28 cm howitzers capable of hurling 217-kilogram shells over 8 kilometers, as well as rapid-firing light howitzers, Maxim machine guns, bolt-action magazine rifles, barbed wire entanglements, electric fences, arc lamp, searchlights, tactical radio signalling, hand grenades, extensive trench warfare, and the use of modified naval mines as land weapons.
context_section_description: Following the loss of the Pacific Fleet, the rationale for holding onto Port Arthur was questioned by Stoessel and Foch in a council on December 8, 1904, but the idea of surrender was rejected by the other senior officers. Japanese trench and tunnel warfare continued. With the death of General Kondratenko on December 15, 1904, at Fort Chikuan, Stoessel appointed the incompetent Foch in his place. On December 18, 1904, the Japanese exploded an 1,800-kilogram (3,968-pound) mine under Fort Chikuan, which fell that night. On December 28, 1904, mines under Fort Erhlung were detonated, destroying that fort as well.
  On December 31, 1904, a series of mines were exploded under Fort Sungshu, the sole surviving major fortress, which surrendered that day. On January 1, 1905, Wantai finally fell to the Japanese. On the same day, Stoessel and Foch sent a message to a surprised General Nogi, offering to surrender. None of the other senior Russian staff had been consulted, and notably Smirnov and Tretyakov were outraged. The surrender was accepted and signed on January 5, 1905, in the northern suburb of Shuishiying.
  With this, the Russian garrison was taken into captivity, and civilians were allowed to leave, but the Russian officers were given the choice of either going into prisoner-of-war camps with their men or being given parole on the promise of taking no further part in the war.
  The Japanese were astounded to find that a huge store of food and ammunition remained in Port Arthur, which implied that Stoessel had surrendered long before the fight was over. Stoessel, Foch and Smirnov were court-martialed on their return to St Petersburg.
  As for Nogi, after leaving a garrison in Port Arthur, he led the surviving bulk of his army of 120,000 men north to join Marshal Oyama at the Battle of Mukden.
caption: Wrecked ships of the Russian Pacific Fleet, which were later salvaged by the Japanese navy
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