CAPTURE OF TSING-TAU

Tsing-Tau fell early on the morning of the next day, November 7, 1914. Encouraged by the unexpected successes of the night, the Japanese commander gave the order for a final grand assault. Nobody was more surprised than the Japanese themselves. They had expected a last-ditch resistance and feared they would have to sacrifice a thousand men before gaining these positions commanding the city. But the Germans, their ammunition almost gone, stunned by the continuous rain of shells and broken by long fighting, had decided that further resistance was useless.

The Japanese infantry occupied the central positions on the main line of defense soon after midnight. Just before dawn they captured the north battery on Shaotan Hill, then the east battery of Tahtungehin and the Chungchiawa fort on the west. The heaviest loss suffered by any of the Japanese detachments in the final assault fell upon a company that was caught by machine-gun fire in an attack upon Redoubt No. 2. Out of 250 men only 87 escaped. The total Japanese casualties in the final assault were 450 killed and wounded. The British casualties were slight.

Daylight found the Japanese and British in possession of every position commanding the city and nearly 20,000 men were awaiting the signal to charge the last line of defenses when a white flag appeared on the Tsing-tau military observatory. Within the next hour flags of surrender were flying from all the other German forts. So unexpected was the sudden collapse of the defense that at six o'clock, when the Governor sent Major von Kayser, his adjutant, with a white flag to make terms, the signal of surrender was not observed and the Japanese, far from suspecting the German officer's purpose, opened fire, killing Von Kayser's trumpeter and shooting his horse under him.

The formal capitulation of Tsing-tau came at 7.50 o'clock on the evening of November 7, 1914, when both sides signed the Japanese terms. The Germans surrendered unconditionally, but were accorded the honors of war. On November 10, 1914, at 10 a. m., Governor Meyer-Waldeck formally transferred possession to General Kamio, and German's last foothold in Asia passed from her possession.

News of the fall of Tsing-tau, although not unexpected, caused great rejoicing throughout Japan and among her allies, and profoundly stirred the German world.

The German attitude was expressed by an editorial in the Berlin "Lokalanzeiger," which said: "Never shall we forget the bold deed of the yellow robbers, or of England that set them on to do it. We know that we cannot yet settle with Japan for years to come. Perhaps she will rejoice over her cowardly robbery. Here our mills can grind but slowly. Even if the years pass, however, we shall certainly not often speak of it, but as certainly always think of it."

The Japanese and British forces made formal entry into the captured city on November 16, 1914. The Germans had done all in their power to destroy supplies, nevertheless the spoils of victory included 100 machine guns, 2,500 rifles, 30 field guns, a small amount of ammunition, about $6,000 in cash, 15,000 tons of coal, 40 motor cars, and a large quantity of provisions. Prisoners taken numbered 4,043, including the governor general and 201 German officers and 3,841 noncommissioned officers and men.

The casualties on both sides, considering the length of the siege and the intensity of the gunfire in both directions, were remarkably small. The Japanese had 236 killed and 1,282 wounded, the British had 12 killed and 63 wounded, including two officers. The Germans estimated their losses in killed and wounded at about 1,000 men. To the Allies' losses must be added 10 killed and 56 wounded, all Japanese, by the explosion of German land mines several days after the surrender.[Back to Contents]