Casemate 76

The Tide at Sunrise. A History of the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905:

Denis and Peggy Warner. PB, 628pp. 59 b/w photos, 12 maps. ISBN 0.7146.8234.9. £22.99 PB, £65.00 HB.
Published by Frank Cass, 2004 (2nd edition).

Excellent text, full of illuminating anecdotes, fluent and readable.

'Fortresses are useful, in offensive as well as defensive warfare. True, they will not in themselves arrest an army, but they are an excellent means by which to retard, weaken, and annoy an enemy' - Napoleon.

Port Arthur lived up to this billing to the full, diverting 2, and eventually 4 divisions of Japanese troops from the main business of driving the Russians out of Manchuria. The siege occupies about 200 or so pages of the book.
Maps are a bit minimal, that of the defences of Port Arthur too small scale and not clear enough to follow the action closely.

Charles Blackwood.