| Show STOESSEL CONDEMNED FOR SUR RENDERING PORT ARTHUR story being circulated that der was not necessary and that soldiers itterly resented such action correspondents from the of operations in the far east are now sending in a story which places gen era stoessel the defender ot port arthur in a bad light and which Is intended to show that surrender of the port was really unnecessary in a dis patch from the headquarters of the third japanese army appears the fol lowing proposals for the surrender ot port arthur were first made december 29 at a council of war general stoessel was in favor of surrender but some of his general officers and the troops were not consulted the first news they had of the surrender was january 1 after general stoessel had comno with the japanese the scenes following the surrender were disgraceful drunken soldiers filled the streets and refused to obey their officers many of them de strayed the guns upon the positions they had defended and came into the city without permission the infantry loudly protested that the fortress had been given away they threw their rifles and ammunition into the harbor and proceeded to break into ware houses and loot and drink vodka un til in a helpless condition it was evi dent that the surrender was not feces sary as there were effective men in the fortress the supply of ammunition was short but it was not exhausted food was scarce but vate stores were not requisitioned by the military there Is no difficulty in getting good meals in the city even now from the stores in private pos session A portion of the fortress was capable of defense tor months longer it was the opinion of the non combat ants at port arthur that the der was unnecessary as the troops were willing and able to fight to the bitter end general stoessel was much blamed for what was characterized as a dis graceful conclusion of a splendid de tense which ended with the death of major general kondratenko who was loved by the soldiers and was the life of the defense |
