The cement mortar specimens with a central slits are tested under uniaxial com-pression.The test results show that tensile cracks initiate,as a rule near the tip and may propagatesteady for a certain length.Mean while shear fructures appear and propagate slowly to the failurestate in the zone of compressive stress concentration. So the fracture strength of rock under compres-sion might be differentiated into the initial tensile strength,the peak strength and residual strength.