at 08:30 on november 28, with massive artillery support, japanese troops again attempted an assault up the sides of both akasakayama and 203 meter hill. over a thousand shells from the howitzers were fired in a single day to support this attack. the japanese reached as far as the russian line of barbed wire entanglements by daybreak and held their ground throughout the following day, november 29, while their artillery kept the defenders busy by a continuous bombardment. nonetheless, the japanese forces suffered serious losses, as the russian defenders were well positioned to use hand grenades and machine guns against the tightly packed mass of japanese soldiers. on november 30, a small party of japanese succeeded in planting the japanese flag at the summit of the hill, but by the morning of december 1, the russians had successfully counterattacked. still retaining the authority to replace nogi if necessary, kodama assumed temporary command of the japanese front-line forces, but officially maintained the despondent nogi in nominal command.