During the siege of Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904, the bodies of Russian soldiers killed by the Japanese army were piled up on a hillside outside the city and were waiting to be buried in a common grave.

 During the Siege of Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904, the bodies of Russian soldiers who had been killed on the hillside outside Port Arthur were piled up and left to wait to be buried. The bodies of the Russian soldiers, who had been lined up and scattered across the ground in the suburbs of Port Arthur, waited to be buried in a common grave. In mid-August 1904, the Japanese Army launched a general offensive against the Port Arthur area. The Japanese offensive force numbered around 50,000, while the Russian garrison defending Port Arthur numbered around 40,000. Both sides suffered huge casualties, and many soldiers were killed in the intense bombardment and gunfire.

The Battle of Port Arthur, which began on August 19th 1904 and ended on January 1st 1905, marked the start of the Russo-Japanese War. Port Arthur was a deep-water port at the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula in Manchuria, and was the base of the Russian Navy. Lüshun Harbor was one of the most heavily fortified positions in the world at the time. It was the longest and most intense land battle of the Russo-Japanese War. During the siege of Lüshun, the Russian Army suffered 31,000 casualties, including 15,000 killed, wounded or missing.

During the siege of Port Arthur, the Russian Army suffered 31,306 casualties, of which at least 6,000 were killed. A lower figure of 15,000 dead, wounded or missing was also claimed. At the end of the siege, the Japanese Army also captured 878 Russian Army officers and 23,491 other ranks. In addition, the Russian fleet based in Port Arthur was lost, with all ships either sunk or interned. The Japanese army took 8,956 sailors prisoner. The Japanese army's casualties (dead, wounded, and missing) were officially announced as 57,780, with 14,000 of these being deaths. In addition, 33,769 people fell ill during the siege, of which 21,023 suffered from beriberi. The Japanese Navy lost 16 ships, including two battleships and four cruisers. The number of Japanese casualties was estimated to be higher, ranging from 94,000 to 110,000.