Siege of Port Arthur

The Siege of Port Arthur 1 August 1904 – 2 January 1905), the deep-water port and Russian naval base at the tip of the Liaotung Peninsula in Manchuria, was the longest and most violent land battle of the Russo-Japanese War.

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 11 in (280 mm) mortars capable of hurling 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) shells over 8 kilometers (5.0 miles), 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 (and, in response, the first military use of radio jamming), hand grenades, trench warfare, and the use of modified naval mines as land weapons.

Siege of Port Arthur in The War That Came Early
The Siege of Port Arthur had been a victory for the Japanese during the Russo-Japanese War. However, it had been extremely mentally stressful for those soldiers who went through it.

As Japan went to war with the Soviet Union in 1939 and subjected the port city of Vladivostok to a siege, memories of the hard, bitter and costly battle at Port Arthur returned to haunt those soldiers in the front line.