Russian prisoners boarding a Japanese transport at Port Arthur on the Liaodong Peninsula in the ...

Russian prisoners boarding a Japanese transport at Port Arthur on the Liaodong Peninsula in the south of Manchuria. Port Arthur had been fortified into a major Naval base by the Russians in 1903, and the Japanese wanted to control the sea in order to fight a battle on the Asian mainland, launched a surprise torpedo attack on Port Arthur on the 8 February 1904, badly damaging two Russian battleships. The attacks developed into the Battle of Port Arthur the next morning, and Port Arthur finally fell on 2 January 1905.