The German Gibraltar in the Far East Which Fell to the Japanese
The combined forces then advanced until they were only five miles from Tsing-tau. The German warships were bombarding the Japanese troops fiercely, and were being replied to by the Japanese squadron in the mouth of the harbor. The great waste of German ammunition led General Kamio to the opinion that the Germans did not contemplate a long siege. He then determined on a vigorous assault.
Before the attack was made he gave the non-combatants an opportunity of leaving, and on the 15th of October a number of women and children and Chinese were allowed to pass through the Japanese lines. On October 31st the bombardment began, and the German forts were gradually silenced. On November 2d the Kaiserin Elizabeth was sunk in the harbor.
The Allied armies were pushing their way steadily down, until, on November 6th, their trenches were along the edge of the last German redoubts. At 6 o’clock on that day white flags were floating over the central forts and by 7.30 Admiral Waldeck, the German Governor, had signed the terms of capitulation.
Germany’s prize colony on the continent of Asia had disappeared. The survivors, numbering about three thousand, were sent to Japan as prisoners of war. Japanese losses were but two hundred and thirty-six men killed. They had, however, lost one third-class cruiser, the Takachiho, and several smaller crafts. The whole expedition was a notable success. It had occupied much less time than either Japan or Germany had expected, and the news was received in Germany with a universal feeling of bitterness and chagrin.
After the Japanese capture of Kiao-chau Japan’s assistance to the Allies, while not spectacular, was extremely important, and its importance increased during the last two years of the war. Her cruiser squadrons did continuous patrol duty in the Pacific and in the China Sea and even in the Indian Ocean. She occupied three groups of German Islands in the South Sea, assisted in driving German raiders from the Pacific, and by her efficiency permitted a withdrawal of British warships to points where they could be useful nearer home. She patrolled the Pacific coast of North and South America, landed marines to quell riots at Singapore, and finally entered into active service in European waters by sending a destroyer squadron to the assistance of the Allies in the Mediterranean.
The Japanese fleet was one of the strongest in the world. It had twenty-one first- and second-class cruisers, ten superb new destroyers, with a reserve of twenty others, as well as twenty battle-ships and battle cruisers.
One of Japan’s most important contributions to the cause of the Allies was her assistance in convoying to Europe the Anzac troops, and it was because of the approach of her fleet that the German raiding squadron in the South Pacific was driven to the point near the Falkland Islands where it was destroyed by Admiral Cradock’s British cruisers.
But while the aid of Japan’s navy was important to the Allies, her greatest assistance to the Allied cause was what she did in supplying Russia with military supplies. The tremendous struggle carried on by Russia’s forces during the first years prevented an easy German victory, and was only made possible through the assistance of Japan. Enormous quantities of guns, ammunition, military stores, hospital and Red Cross supplies, were sent into Russia, with skilled officers and experts to accompany them. Before the Russian revolution disorganized Russia the total value of those supplies had reached $250,000,000. This tremendous exportation, of course, enormously benefited Japan, but it was essential to Russia. Japan also shipped to both England and France vast quantities of flour, beans, peas and canned goods, and other supplies in proportion. Japan’s financial aid was also of great value. She made great loans, to Russia $60,000,000; to Great Britain $50,000,000. She has become today a great workshop, and her merchant shipping has grown in proportion to the growth of her manufactures. Immense cargoes were moved, not only from Japan to Allied countries, but from the American seaboard to Vladivostok. More than one hundred thousand Chinese laborers were put at the service of the Allies in France and England, and a great part of her magnificent merchant fleet was sent as a reinforcement to the merchant fleets of the Atlantic powers when they had been depleted by the attacks of the German submarines.