Siege of Tsingtau

Postcard from Tsingtau, after 1914

date	September 2, 1914 to November 7, 1914
place	Tsingtau (now Qingdao)
output	Japanese-British victory

Parties to the conflict
German Empire German Empire Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary	Japanese Empire Japan United Kingdom United Kingdom 1801
Commander
Alfred Meyer-Waldeck	Kamio Mitsuomi , Katō Sadakichi
Troop strength
4,700	Japan about 56,000 Great Britain 1,500
losses
194 dead, around 400 wounded	Japanese: 507 dead (236 army, 271 navy), 1,282 wounded; British: 12 dead, 53 wounded

First World War outside Europe

The siege of Tsingtau (English Siege of Tsingtao ; Japanese 青島の戦い ) took place in the early stages of the First World War . The Tsingtau (according to today's transcription: Qingdao ) in China, owned by the German Empire, was besieged by united Japanese and British troops during the First World War, between September 13th and November 7th, 1914 . The siege ended in a Japanese-British victory.

background

In the late 19th century, the German Empire, like other major European powers, tried to expand its influence in the world through imperialist expansion . In China , the Empire interfered in local affairs. After the murder of two German missionaries in 1897, the Chinese were forced to lease the Kiautschou area on the Shandong Peninsula to the German Empire for 99 years from 1898. The Germans then began to expand their influence on the rest of Shandong Province and built the port of Tsingtau. The port became the main base of the East Asia Squadron of the Imperial Navy , which primarily served to protect the German colonies in the Pacific Ocean .

The British viewed the German presence in China as a threat to their own interests and thereupon leased Weihaiwei , which was also in the Shandong province, while Russia and France took possession of leased areas in Port Arthur (now Lüshunkou ) and Kwangtschouwan (→ Russian colonies , French Colonies ). In addition, the British began to forge close ties with Japan .

Japan also acquired colonial property at this time , including on mainland Asia. The rapprochement between Japan and Great Britain resulted in the signing of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance on January 30, 1902 . Japan saw it as a further step on the way to becoming a world power. With the victory in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Japan gained enormous prestige over the major European powers. The alliance was further strengthened and lasted until the First World War.

With the outbreak of World War I , Britain asked for Japanese help. The government under Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu saw the rise of the military and its influence on Japanese politics as a serious threat and believed that it could also maintain control over its own military by providing assistance to Great Britain. The Japanese navy , whose structure resembled that of the Royal Navy , and the Japanese army as well , increasingly demanded an expansion of the Japanese sphere of influence.

The Japanese government decided to assist the British in the war. On August 15, 1914, Japan issued an ultimatum to the German Reich, according to which all German warships were to be withdrawn from Chinese and Japanese waters and Tsingtau to be handed over to the Japanese. The following day, Major General Kamio Mitsuomi , commander of the Japanese 18th Infantry Division , was given the task of preparing to capture Tsingtau. After the ultimatum expired on August 23, Japan declared war on the German Reich, and the blockade of Tsingtau from the sea began on August 27.

At this time, the East Asia Squadron under Maximilian von Spee had left the port of Tsingtau, as it had started a South Sea cruise as planned in June and was located near the German colony Pagan in the Mariana Islands . With the exception of the cruiser SMS Emden , which was dispatched to the Indian Ocean , the squadron continued from there through the South Seas and then to the west coast of South America . There it destroyed a British squadron in the sea battle near Coronel , but was destroyed a little later in the sea battle near the Falkland Islands .

Qingdao October 31, 1914-7. November 1914

German troops on the way to the external defense positions

German marines in their positions

The Japanese liner Suwō was the flagship of the Japanese expedition fleet at the Battle of Tsingtau

The Japanese aircraft mother ship Wakamiya , from which the world's first ship-based air raids against German positions in Tsingtau were flown

Destroyed German gun in the Bismarck fortress

Battery, Bismarck Mountain

Japanese troops approach the coast at Tsingtau

British troops on arrival at Tsingtau

Soldiers of the Japanese 18th Division in an abandoned German trench

A Japanese 75mm Type 31 field gun of the 18th Division during the siege

Lineup

On August 27, the Japanese Navy initially dispatched some ships under Vice Admiral Katō Sadakichi on the liner Suwō (ex-Russian Pobeda ) to block the Kiautschou, which was under German control. During the Tsingtau maneuver, the Japanese were joined by the British ship of the line HMS Triumph and the destroyer HMS Usk . The British ships were integrated into the second squadron without major problems. The Japanese squadron consisted of mostly outdated, but also some more modern ships, including the battleships Kawachi and Settsu , the battle cruiser Kongō and the aircraft mother ship Wakamiya .

The 18th Japanese Infantry Division spearheaded the first landing operations with 23,000 men. It was supported by 142 artillery pieces. The British government and other great powers were concerned about the possible intentions of Japan in the region and decided to send a symbolic British contingent from Tientsin . The 1,500-strong force was commanded by Brigadier General Nathaniel Walter Barnardiston and consisted of 1,000 soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the South Wales Borderers , which were later joined by 500 soldiers from the 36th Sikhs .

The landing began on September 2nd at Lungkow, where at that time there was a floodplain, and later, on September 18th, in the Bay of Laoshan, 30 km east of Tsingtau. In total, no fewer than 58,000 Allied soldiers were deployed against Tsingtau, who were equipped with around 100 siege guns in addition to the usual field artillery.

the defenders

The Germans reacted to this threat by mobilizing Tsingtau and concentrating all existing Asian auxiliary troops in the city, including the naval detachments from Tientsin and Beijing . Kaiser Wilhelm II declared the defense of Tsingtau to be a top priority because he feared a loss of prestige if the city fell. The base was only inadequately fortified against an attack from the land side, because the Reichsmarineamt administrating the city had given preference to the expansion of the port facilities.

The German garrison under Governor Captain Alfred Meyer-Waldeck consisted of about 1,400 soldiers of the III. Sea battalions (four companies of marine infantry, one battery of field artillery and one mounted company) and approximately 3,400 other naval members (among these four companies of the Kiautschou Sailor Artillery Department and the East Asian Naval Detachment ), soldiers, colonial police officers and volunteers. Together, the defenders came to around 180 officers and 4,550 combatants, including Chinese and Austro-Hungarian forces.

The Tsingtau fortifications consisted of:

Fort Hui-tschien-Huk on the headland of the same name on the Iltis Bay with 3 × 15 cm rapid-loading guns in armored turret mounts and 2 × 24 cm Krupp long-barreled guns,

Fort Yu-ni-san on the peninsula of the same name at the harbor with 4 × 21 cm Krupp long-barreled guns,

Tsingtau battery at the port with 2 × 15 cm rapid loading cannons and 2 × 15 cm Krupp long-barreled guns,

Battery Bismarckberg with 4 × 28 cm coastal howitzers , mounted in armored domes with 360 ° effective range and embedded in the natural rock,

Iltisberg battery with 2 × fixed 10.5 cm rapid charging guns with splinter shield in the upper battery and 6 × free-standing 12 cm fortress guns with high wheels on wooden racks in the lower battery,

five infantry units , numbered from south to north, on the land side.

Many of the heavy guns were captured when the Taku forts were captured in 1900; the 12-centimeter guns of the Iltisberg battery were outdated siege guns and had already taken part in the siege of Paris in 1870.

The armored cruisers SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau of the East Asia Squadron had left the city on June 20, 1914 for a planned South Sea cruise. The only remaining cruiser SMS Emden expired on July 31 and returned on August 6, again with his first pinch, the Russian steamer Rjäsan after Tsingtao back to the same day with his future companion steamer Markomannia and the auxiliary cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich leaking again and to join the cruiser squadron under Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee near Pagan .

A few smaller warships were still available: the Austro-Hungarian protected cruiser Kaiserin Elisabeth , the German torpedo boat S 90 and the five cannon boats Iltis , Jaguar , Tiger , Luchs and Cormoran , their armament and personnel for the equipment of the two auxiliary cruisers Prinz Eitel Friedrich and Cormoran served.

Of the gunboats, only Jaguar remained operational after equipping the auxiliary cruiser . The crew of Empress Elisabeth was partly withdrawn to reinforce the land troops, and her bow and stern guns were also removed to reinforce the land batteries, while the remaining artillery gave the defenders fire support. There were also two aircraft in Tsingtau - two Rumpler pigeons - that had reached the port with one of the last ships before the sea blockade was set up and one of which was flown by Gunther Plüschow , who later became known as the "Flieger von Tsingtau".

The attack

Tsingtau, shelter

First death

A mass grave of German soldiers

Fire in the shipyard

Tsingtau, splinter effect

The first wave of landings, which landed at Lungkow on September 2, consisted of 2,300 Japanese and 2,000 British soldiers. The defenders added makeshift field fortifications to the fortifications of the city to make it more difficult for the Japanese to approach. When the attackers marched on, Meyer-Waldeck withdrew his troops from the two outer defensive rings and concentrated them on the innermost line of defense.

On September 26 and 27, the attackers tried in vain to overrun the fortifications with rolling assaults, and suffered heavy losses in the process. The next day the city was completely encircled and the actual siege began. As a precaution, the defenders sank the disarmed gunboats Iltis , Tiger , Luchs and Cormoran and the Lauting mine- layer the following night . While the Japanese worked their way closer to the fortifications, positioned their siege artillery and dug several parallel trench lines, the German defenders did their best to disrupt the besiegers' work. The two aircraft rendered valuable services, the aerial reconnaissance flew and the German land and ship artillery supplied target data. One of the two aircraft, flown by Lieutenant Friedrich Müllerskowsky, crashed on the first flight, seriously injuring the pilot. The other one, flown by Gunther Plüschow, constantly gave the Japanese annoying pinpricks, and German propaganda turned him into the heroic "Flieger von Tsingtau", which, however, also enjoyed the respect of his opponents. Plüschow claimed to have shot down a Japanese Farman MF.7 plane and occasionally dropped small bombs made from artillery shells on their positions and ships. The Japanese were vastly superior in the air, however, and the machines on the aircraft mother ship Wakamiya made history as the first aircraft to successfully attack land and sea targets from a ship. The Austro-Hungarian cruiser Kaiserin Elisabeth and the German gunboat Jaguar were the target of the first sea-based air raid in history off Tsingtau on September 6, 1914 (midday), both ships were not hit. The Wakamiya planes were also the first to bomb during the night.

The naval forces of the defenders did not remain idle either, the artillery of the gunboat Jaguar and Austro-Hungarian cruiser Empress Elisabeth gave the infantry fire support. On the night of October 17, the torpedo boat S 90 tried to break out of the port and sank the Japanese protected cruiser Takachiho with a single torpedo , which went down with 271 of its 354 crew members. However, the boat could not escape the blockade forces and sank itself in Chinese waters after the fuel supplies were exhausted.

On October 31, the Japanese launched a general attack to bring the city down on the birthday of the Japanese emperor. However, they were repulsed, and so they began a seven-day scheduled bombardment of the fortifications, using a procedure similar to that of the siege of Port Arthur nine years earlier . As in the past, land-based Japanese 28 cm howitzers bombarded the fortifications and forts, while the infantry, under the protection of the barrage, drove their trenches closer to the city in order to be able to attack. The Germans offered tough resistance and returned fire with their heavy artillery until the ammunition ran out. On November 2nd, the remaining crew of Empress Elisabeth sank her cruiser after it ran out of ammunition.

On the night of November 6th, the Japanese infantry managed to break into the last line of defense, and despite heavy resistance, the defenders were thrown back into the city. The attackers now dominated the heights above the city, and since the Germans had fired their ammunition and further resistance was pointless, they destroyed the defenses that were still intact, sank the last remaining warship, the gunboat Jaguar , during the night and asked to be admitted Surrender negotiations.

The surrender and consequences

Arrival of the first returnee prisoners of war in Wilhelmshaven (February 1920)

Tsingtau Fallen Memorial, 1931

On November 7, 1914, the German troops surrendered together with their Austro-Hungarian allies. The city was handed over under honorable conditions, and the soldiers and many German officials such as Karl Joseph Wilhelm Juchheim were interned in Japan, including in the Bando prisoner of war camp . Most of the German civilians were able to stay in Tsingtau and continue their business. Only Gunther Plüschow escaped with an Etrich Taube as the only German from Tsingtau, he carried the last dispatches from the governor and headed the battalion flag of III. Sea battalions with them. 76 seriously wounded were handed over to the British, who had taken no prisoners but had asked Japan to release prisoners. Most of the prisoners were released in December 1919 and January 1920.

On November 7, 1931, a memorial was inaugurated in Tsingtau in memory of those who died in the 1914 siege.

literature

Contemporary literature

Otto von Gottberg: The heroes of Tsingtau. Ullstein, Berlin / Vienna 1915 ( digitized version )
Gunther Plüschow: The adventures of the plane from Tsingtau . Ullstein, Berlin 1916 ( digitized version ); New edition: Deutscher Verlag, Berlin 1939
Tageblatt für Nord-China (Ed.): Diary of the Siege of Tsingtau, July 23 to November 29 . Tientsin 1915 ( digitized version )
Otto Wiesinger: As a war volunteer in Tsingtau: Pictures and experiences from the time of siege; Nössler, Shanghai 1915

Later literature

Charles B. Burdick: The Japanese Siege of Tsingtao (1976)
Cyril Fallsm: The Great War , (1960). Pp. 98-99.
Edwin P. Hoyt: The Fall of Tsingtao (1975)
John Keegan : The First World War , Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1998, p. 206
Gerhard Hirschfeld (Ed.): Encyclopedia First World War , Schöningh, 2004, p. 930
Donko, Wilhelm M .: Austria's Navy in the Far East: All trips by ships of the k. (U.) K. Navy to East Asia, Australia and Oceania from 1820 to 1914.
Hans-Martin Hinz, Christoph Lind (Ed.): Tsingtau. A chapter of German colonial history 1897–1914. German Historical Museum u. a., Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-86102-100-5 , online .
Peter Andreas Popp : The fight for Kiautschou and Tsingtau. August to November 1914 . In: Markus Pöhlmann , Harald Potempa , Thomas Vogel (eds.): The First World War 1914–1918. The German deployment into a warlike century . Commissioned by the Center for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr, Bucher, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-7658-2033-5 , pp. 274–281.

Remarks

↑ Donko, Wilhelm M .: Austria's Navy in the Far East: All trips by ships of the k. (U.) K. Navy to East Asia, Australia and Oceania from 1820 to 1914. Verlag epubli GmbH, Berlin, 2013 - page 4, 156-162 and 427.
↑ GND 127325476 : Otto Karl Wiesinger (* on January 14, 1885 in Waldsassen (Bavaria); † on July 1, 1956 in Hamburg , buried there in the Ohlsdorf cemetery) was a German businessman in China and the United States. He fought in both world wars and in the first was taken prisoner by Japan. Since his daughter Edith Wiesinger (1917–2009) was married to the American Julius W. Gilbert (1902–1984), his estate has been in the archive of the Hoover Institution at Palo Alto since 1986 ( overview of the collection ).

Web links

Commons : Siege of Tsingtau - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

[1] Donko, Wilhelm M .: Austria's Navy in the Far East: All trips by ships of the k. (U.) K. Navy to East Asia, Australia and Oceania from 1820 to 1914. Verlag epubli GmbH, Berlin, 2013 - page 4, 156-162 and 427.

[2] GND 127325476 : Otto Karl Wiesinger (* on January 14, 1885 in Waldsassen (Bavaria); † on July 1, 1956 in Hamburg , buried there in the Ohlsdorf cemetery) was a German businessman in China and the United States. He fought in both world wars and in the first was taken prisoner by Japan. Since his daughter Edith Wiesinger (1917–2009) was married to the American Julius W. Gilbert (1902–1984), his estate has been in the archive of the Hoover Institution at Palo Alto since 1986 ( overview of the collection ).