five o'clock in the afternoon
Situated as I was at a distance of more than two miles from headquarters , upon an outlying spur of the Nanshan Heights , and quite alone , save for the companionship of a solitary assistant signaller , with only occasional curt orders from the General in reference to the signals which he wished me to transmit to our ships in the offing , I was naturally ignorant as to the critical pass at which we had arrived , and could only draw my conclusions from what I actually saw happening . What occurred at staff headquarters during this momentous day , and especially at this momentous hour , I did not learn until several hours later , but , so far as is possible , I propose to relate events in their chronological order , that the proper continuity of my narrative may be maintained ; I will therefore briefly state here that when the General received the artillery commander 's message that his ammunition was practically exhausted , he summoned a few of his principal officers , and held a brief council of war . What was to be done , under the circumstances ? It was now five o'clock in the afternoon , and the bringing up of further supplies of ammunition would involve a delay of at least two hours , and probably more , while to suspend all action meanwhile would practically be to defer the assault until the next day . Certain of the officers present strongly advocated this postponement , giving it as their opinion that to attempt to storm the heights unsupported by adequate gun-fire was merely to make a useless sacrifice of whole brigades of sorely needed men ; one or two officers , indeed , ventured to express their conviction that the heights were impregnable . The discussion lasted about a quarter of an hour , at the end of which time General Oku , who had been listening but saying nothing , abruptly broke up the council by announcing his determination to risk everything upon a single cast of the die ; the gunners were to expend their reserve rounds of ammunition upon a slow , carefully considered , deadly bombardment of the heights , while the entire infantry force was to move forward simultaneously to the assault . The officers who had ventured to advise delay shook their heads doubtfully , but at once proceeded to their stations , fully prepared to loyally support the General to their last breath .