The Siege of Tsingtao, Germany vs. Japan/China in WWI

[JoaMei]

Battles: The Siege of Tsingtao, 1914
Updated - Saturday, 16 August, 2003

Although actually in China Tsingtao (Qingdao today) was leased to Germany as a colony by the Chinese government in the wake of the murder of two German missionaries in the late 19th century. In order to appease the German government following the two deaths China granted Germany a 99-year lease on the colony in 1898.

Germany subsequently built a port and naval base at Tsingtao, establishing it as the main German installation in the Far East. Tsingtao was consequently garrisoned by some 4,000 troops.

However on 16 August 1914, a full week prior to the formal Japanese declaration of war with Germany, General Mitsuomi Kamio was instructed by the Japanese government to make advanced preparations for the siege of the German-controlled port.

The day prior the Japanese Prime Minister addressed an ultimatum to the German government, ordering the latter to remove German men-o'-war from Japanese and Chinese waters, and to hand over Tsingtao to Japanese control. (Click here to read Minister for Foreign Affairs Baron Kato's rationale for war with Germany.)

Thus on 2 September 1914, shortly after war was declared by the Japanese, Kamio's 18th Division of 23,000 men backed by 142 guns began a bombardment of the port. Britain, wary of Japanese intentions in the region, decided to send 1,500 troops to assist the Japanese (and to keep a watchful eye upon proceedings).

The Germany garrison, despite being outnumbered by some six to one, held out for over two months before finally surrendering on 7 November and handing over the port three days later. Kamio's siege tactics were much admired for their effectiveness; he advocated night raids and eschewed frontal attacks of the type shortly witnessed along the battlefields of France and Flanders. With the port's capture British forces were withdrawn and reallocated elsewhere.

Following Chinese acceptance of Japan's Twenty-one Demands of January 1915 (agreed four months later) - issued upon pain of war - Tsingtao returned nominally into Chinese hands but did not in fact revert to Chinese control until 1922.

Click here to read a German newspaper reaction to the loss of Tsingtao.

http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/tsingtao.htm

This is a comparably unknown chapter of History, but verym interesting.
Because of the british sea blockade it was impossible to send supplys or reinforcements so the colony finally surrendered.
But the remains of that colony can still be seen in form of german buildings there. And if you ever were at a chinese restaurant and ordered Tsingtao-Beer, it is still brewed acording to german traditions....

[tsuri]

Why didn´t they send a Zeppelin? They managed to send one to Letto Vorbeck why not to Tsingtao?

[JoaMei]

Originally Posted by tsuri

Why didn´t they send a Zeppelin? They managed to send one to Letto Vorbeck why not to Tsingtao?

Well, how much supplys can a Zeppelin carry? For sure not enough.

[Marmot1]

Originally Posted by tsuri

Letto Vorbeck

??? Who or where it is... can someone enlight me since it apear to be interesting story.

[JoaMei]

Originally Posted by Marmot1

??? Who or where it is... can someone enlight me since it apear to be interesting story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Er...Lettow-Vorbeck

Paul Erich von Lettow Vorbeck

He was a true Hero and old school Gentleman.

[Mark Sman]

Check this out. From Photos of the Great War
http://www.gwpda.org/photos/greatwar.htm

Japanese artillery shelling Tsing-tau



Japanese artillery in Shantung province (China) enroute to Tsing-tau

[beNder]

Thanks for posting JoaMei, this is a little chunk of history that I did not know.

[Minardiau]

Originally Posted by JoaMei

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Er...Lettow-Vorbeck

Paul Erich von Lettow Vorbeck

He was a true Hero and old school Gentleman.

He was never defeated either.

[Hellfish]

The zeppelin never made to to East Afrika - the British intercepted a radio transmission and convinced the zep crew to turn around. They ended up crashing in Egypt, IIRC.

The distance from Europe to China is several times that of Europe to the far, far East. Even though the trip to Africa was amazing in it's potential, a zep to China would have been epic.

[Count Lippe]

Yeah, flying over hostile Russia, the Himalaya, or Africa and India, which were in British hands wouldn't have been a grat idea...

[JoaMei]

Originally Posted by Count Lippe

Yeah, flying over hostile Russia, the Himalaya, or Africa and India, which were in British hands wouldn't have been a grat idea...

Well, its not impossible to do but.... to what purpose?

[Count Lippe]

It was impossible untill someone did it in the last years.

But you're right, one Zeppelin would have achieved nothing!

[ED209]

Thanks for the post it's really interesting and I had no idea that this happened.

[sig]

Also interesting is the the story of the "Flieger von Tsingtau" http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/pluschow.htm
He shot down an Japanese Aircraft with his Luger P.08.

[ED209]

Originally Posted by sig

Also interesting is the the story of the "Flieger von Tsingtau" http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/pluschow.htm
He shot down an Japanese Aircraft with his Luger P.08.

Great stuff, thanks again