56             A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
on the south side of the rocky ledge, and the Japanese could not get beyond the cover of some rocks at fifty yards distance from the same ledge on its northern side. Kigoshi, from his last message, seemed to have little hope of forcing a passage until after dark. The battery was under fire from both sides. Neither could the Russians remove the guns or the Japanese definitely capture them.
I think General Kuroki is fairly easy in his mind. The capture of the whole of the Kosarei mountain has not been achieved, it is true, but the possession of even its northern half enables Kigoshi to threaten the communications of every Russian east of the Tangho. {See Map XXII.)
Sasaki's Twelfth Brigade of the Twelfth Division has captured Papanling and Chipanling without much trouble or loss.
The Second Division has stormed, and now holds, the formidable line of mountain called Kungshan, immediately overlooking Amping, which is only four or five miles distant.
The Guards' Second Brigade, under Watanabe, have been brought to a standstill opposite Daidenshi on the main Pekin road, but should by now have been joined by the Army Reserve, consisting of the 29th Kobi from Tiensuitien.
The Guards' First Brigade, under Asada, on the extreme left of the line, is causing much greater anxiety. The Russian extreme right is entrenched on the hills forming the western slopes of the valley, through which flow the upper waters of the Tangho. Asada's Brigade had marched north-west from Tashinpou with the intention of outflanking and turning these entrenchments.    In executing the movement they have lost