Captain Meyer-Waldeck, Governor of Kiautschau and Tsingtao. The city and its beach are on the right. Tsingtao Bay is in the middle distance and Kiautschau Bay in the distance. Tsingtao fell to an Anglo-Japanese assault on November 7, 1914.
Kiautschau mit der Außenreede und dem Hafen'Einstehe für Pflichterfüllung bis aufs Äußerste'Kapitän z. See Meyer-Waldeck, Gouverneur von Kiautschou-Tsingtau.Kiaochow with the outer harbor and the port 'Sworn to the fulfillment of duty to the utmost' Sea Captain Meyer-Waldeck, Governor of Kiaochow-Qingdao.Reverse:Message field postmark, Commando of the Torpedo-boat Harbor Flotilla
August 15 to November 7, 1914
China
Searching for colonies in Asia, Germany used the occasion of the murder of two German missionaries in 1898 to seize the territory of Kiautschau, including the city of Tsingtau from Japan, forcing a 99-year lease upon China.
Since 1898 Germany had developed the city and territory, improving the harbor and erecting lighthouses, constructing a railroad and radio station, and fortifying the city, particularly on the heights and across the peninsula and approach to Tsingtao. The city had a standing garrison of 5,000 German marines.
On August 15, 1914, Japan had delivered the following ultimatum to Germany:
(1) All German warships must be withdrawn at once from the waters in the neighbourhood of Japan and China. The ships that cannot be withdrawn must be disarmed.
(2) The German Government must unconditionally and without compensation hand over to the Japanese authorities the whole of the leased territory of Kiao-chau before the 16th September, 1914, for the purpose of handing this territory back to China.
Receiving no German response, Japan declared war on August 23.
Electing not to be trapped in Kiautschau Bay, the German East Asiatic Squadron under Admiral von Spee fled Tsingtao. The battleship Emden broke off to raid Allied shipping in the Indian Ocean while the rest of the Squadron began a journey that would end in the South Atlantic. The Austro-Hungarian battleship Kaiserin Elizabeth which had left the port, returned after Austria-Hungary declared war on Japan on August 25.
The German Governor commanding the defense was Captain Meyer-Waldeck. The attacking force was largely Japanese, acting in conjunction and with support from its British ally.
After removing over a thousand mines from the sea, Japan began blockading the coast of Kiautschau on August 27 while awaiting the arrival of Japanese land forces. By September 18, a Japanese army of 23,000 commanded by Lieutenant-General Mitsuomi Kamio began advancing on Tsingtao in cooperation with a small British force.
The approach along the peninsula to Tsingtao was dominated by Prince Heinrich Hill and by three concrete and steel hilltop forts on Moltke Berg, Bismarck Berg, and Iltis Berg. Kamio began his attack on September 27. The German guns from the forts and from three ships in Kiautschao Bay (on the Japanese right) opposed fire from the Japanese warships and the British battleship Triumph. Two of the defending forts were heavily damaged, and the Germans retreated from Prince Heinrich Hill on September 28.
For the next weeks, Kamio awaited the arrival of heavier siege guns. On August 15, the American consul left the city with German women and children and some Chinese.
The Kaiserin Elizabeth was scuttled on November 2, along with the German warships defending the city. On the 3rd, the defenders destroyed the wireless station. On November 6, a German airman von Pluschow escaped, flying across Kiautschau Bay to Chinese territory. The Allies continued advancing on the 6th, taking 200 prisoners, seizing two German gun batteries, and the fort defending the German right. On the morning of November 7, 1914, the German defenders surrendered.
In the siege, the Japanese lost 236 killed and 1,282 wounded, the British 12 killed and 53 wounded. Over 4,000 German prisoners were taken and imprisoned in Japan.
Start Date: 1914-08-15
End Date: 1914-11-07
