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Landships II -> Landships WW1 Forum -> Miscellaneous -> German East Asiatic Squadron. (Sea Ship, not Landship related, sorry)
Post Info TOPIC: German East Asiatic Squadron. (Sea Ship, not Landship related, sorry)
Vilkata


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German East Asiatic Squadron. (Sea Ship, not Landship related, sorry)
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Germany colonised the 552 square kilometer area of Kiautschou Bay in China in 1898. This followed by them leasing the area from China for 99 years. The Germans used Kiautschou Bay as a naval base, stationing the German East Asiatic Squadron there, consisting of the flagship of the group, the SMS Scharnhorst, and the SMS Gneisenau, both armoured cruisers, aswell as the light cruisers SMS Nürnberg, SMS Leipzig, and SMS Emden.

During the early part of WWI, the squadron left port to engage in commerce raiding, as they were outgunned by every enemy navy in the area. The Emden broke off from the main group to raid alone in the Indian Ocean. Shortly after the SMS Dresden joined the squadron and participated in the decisive victory over the British at the Battle of Coronel, and the decisive defeat at the hands of the British at the Battle of the Falkland Islands, where Dresden was the only ship to escape, eventually breaking down and being found by the British and scuttled. The Emden, meanwhile, was marauding to such an extent in the Indian Ocean, that eventually 60 warships were tasked with aprehending it. It was eventually destroyed, outgunned by the HMAS Sydney, a light cruiser, during the Battle of Cocos.

However, those weren't the only war vessels stationed at Kiautschou. Japan actually lost a few ships attacking Kiautschou.

During WWI, Japan lost 1 battleship to an internal explosion at Yokosuka, 2 light cruisers shipwrecked, and an auxiliary lost in a typhoon.

Furthermore, the Takachiho, a coast defence ship, was torpedoed by German destroyer S90, 60 miles south of Kiautschou Bay, 18th October 1914. The destroyer Shirotaye was wrecked during engagement with the German gunboat Jaguar in Kiautschou Bay, 4th September 1914. Torpedo Boat No.33 was mined at the entrance to Kiautschou bay, 11th November 1914.

On 23 August 1914, imperial China cancelled the German lease of Kiautschou. On 7 November 1914 the bay was occupied by Japan.

This is all the story I can piece together from online encyclopedias and my Janes Fighting Ships of WWI book. Is there more to the story of the Kiautschou colony? Were they occupied peacefully, or was there a land battle? Were there any losses to the German defence ships still stationed there? Is there any books about these engagements? Germanys Kiautschou colony in China is a fascinating piece of history for me.

Sorry this was off topic!

---Vil.

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Roger Todd


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Kiautschou is more usually known as Tsingtao (or Tsing-Tao, Tsingdao, or about ninety three other spellings...!). Here's some information about the name(s): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiautschou


"The Chinese name Jiaozhou, also rendered as Qingdao or Tsingtao, used to be westernized as Kiaochow, Kiauchau or Kaio-Chau in English and Kiautschou in German."


If you look up Siege of Tsingtao on t'internet, you'll find out all sorts, e.g.:


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


This has a lot of detail:


http://www.gwpda.org/naval/tsingtao.htm


Among other things, the Japanese used their famous 11" howitzers at the siege:


http://www.landships.freeservers.com/jap28cmhowitzer_info.htm



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Centurion


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 One fascinating sidelight was the story of Gunther Plüschow who with his Etrich Taube formed the air defence of Tsingtao. When the fortress was about to fall he flew his aircraft into China until he ran out of fuel. He was eventually captured by the Chinese, escaped, was captured by the Japanese, escaped and took ship for Europe. He was unfortunate that his ship was searched by the Royal Navy when passing Gibraltar and he became a POW with the British being sent to England where he escaped. This time he managed to stow away on a ship bound for neutral Holland and made his way across the border to Germany - where he was promptly arrested as a spy. He died in an air acident in South America in the 1930s. I believe that one of his grandsons was at one time German Ambassador to Great Britain.


Plüschow was the only German POW to make a successful escape from Britain in WW1. Indeed he was the only German POW to make a successful 'home run' from Britain in both World Wars (the other escapee, in WW2, jumped from a train in Canada and crossed the US border).


Given that in WW1 there were many successful escapes by British, French and Russian POWs one wonders why german POWs were generally so unsuccessful.



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Roger Todd


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It probably helped that Britain is an island, so there's no chance of legging it over a narrow border into neutral territory. Plus I suspect the traditional British countryside dweller's mistrust of strangers: "You b'ain't be from round these parts, be thee?" and all that. An escaping German in the middle of nowhere in Britain wasn't going to get far with that to contend with...


As for the Siege of Tsingtao, I forgot this link, to the ever-charming Great War in a Different Light site:


http://www.greatwardifferent.com/Great_War/Tsing_Tao/Tsing_Tao_00.htm


Quite apart from the dreaded 11" inch howitzers, in action here...


http://www.greatwardifferent.com/Great_War/Tsing_Tao/Tsing_Tao_04.htm


...I believe this is a Type 45 24cm howitzer of 1912 (though it lacks the customary shield):


http://www.greatwardifferent.com/Great_War/Tsing_Tao/Tsing_Tao_08.htm



-- Edited by Roger Todd at 20:12, 2006-03-15

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Vilkata


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Thank you guys for all the great links!

So all in all, the Tsingtao German Garrison had around 4,000 men, and only 199 of them were killed in the battle, while the Japanese lost around 700 men. It seems that the German forces had a victory in that they managed to keep deaths of their soldiers extremely low.

It also figures that Chinas one export beer, Tsingtao, was originally a German brewery.

Does anyone know what happened to the German destroyer S90? After torpedoing the Takachiho, it managed to get away from the persuing forces and interned itself at a Chinese port down the coast. Was it eventually scuttled? What's the story of that ship? While an "ancient" vessel, it did score the only German ship kill of a Japanese warship in WWI, I do believe. The Shirotaye was torpedoed by the gunboat Jaguar, but Shirotaye had already ran aground and its crew escaped when Jaguar finished it off, so I'm not sure if that would be counted an actual military kill.

---Vil.



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Roger Todd


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Vilkata wrote:


It seems that the German forces had a victory in that they managed to keep deaths of their soldiers extremely low.


But a crushing defeat in that they, ahem, lost the colony!


As for S90 (http://www.worldwar1.co.uk/sunk14.htm):


S90, German, S90 class Torpedo Boat
Scuttled at Tsingato after running aground.


Turns out S90 was a Schichau boat, so-called because it was built by the shipyard of that name. Apparently another boat, the Taku, was of the same class, and as it happens (now then, now then, boys and girls...) I have a photo of Taku in a book. I'll scan it if you want.


However, this is a model of another Schichau boat, and is not too dissimilar:


http://www.vth.de/modellbau/werft/Wer05_01/Bauplan/bauplan.htm



-- Edited by Roger Todd at 23:34, 2006-03-15

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Vilkata


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Well wait... This article that you linked to Roger,
http://www.gwpda.org/naval/tsingtao.htm
never mentions the torpedo boat Taku, nor that the S90 was scuttled in Tsingtao, but that it was interned at a different Chinese port. I'm inclined to think that the article probably has it right, it seems very well informed.

It would be interesting to see what happened to the merchant raiders launched from Tsingtao:
"Iltis, Tiger and Luchs each gave up some men and guns to arm corsairs."
"The mail liner Prinz Eitel Friedrich arrived, picked up guns and left to raid shipping as an armed merchant corsair."
"The captured Russian liner Rjasan took over all the guns and crew of refitting gunboat Cormoran, leaving the old gunboat a floating hulk. This liner, too, became a corsair, taking the name Cormoran."

Were the corsairs succesful in taking out some shipping?

---Vil.

Edit:

Oh, and check this out! It's a site all about the German prisoners of the Tsintao colony kept in Japan during WWI. Its really interesting stuff. Just click your language preference, and then "forward" when your ready for the next page.
http://www.city.narashino.chiba.jp/siyakusyo/kyouiku/horyo/index.html


-- Edited by Vilkata at 23:52, 2006-03-15

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Roger Todd


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The Taku wasn't at Tsing Tao, I only said that I had a photo of her and as she was from the same class as S90 you might be interested.


As for her ultimate fate, that I do not know. The article does seem very meticulous, so probably pretty trustworthy. As is so often the case, though, the internet is only the first port of call when researching something...


Marvellous site, that, always throwing up surprises!



-- Edited by Roger Todd at 00:11, 2006-03-16

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Vilkata


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Ohhh, I'm sorry Roger. You mentioned the Taku, and then in the list of ship casualties link, it says:

"28 September 1914
Cormoran, German, Bussard class Light Cruiser
Taku, German, Taku class Torpedo Boat
Scuttled at Tsingtao."

And I got confused.

---Vil.

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Roger Todd


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Ah, so it does, sorry Vilkata , I really did only mention Taku because of the family resemblance, I didn't actually see the reference to her being scuttled there! Too many links, too little time... I'm confused now, because the Taku I meant was a Schichau boat originally built for, and sold to, the Chinese, but captured by the British during the Boxer Rebellion and pressed into Royal Navy service on the China Station at Hong Kong, where she sat around doing not a lot during the Great War until being sold for scrap in late 1916 (David Lyon, 'The First Destroyers'). Maybe that list-site you mentioned means another Taku? Or maybe it's wrong? I don't know, Ted...

-- Edited by Roger Todd at 00:36, 2006-03-16

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Vilkata


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So indeed there seems to be a bit of mystery surrounding the German Tsingtao naval forces!

What actually happened to S90?
Was a ship named "Taku" actually stationed there?
What happened to the corsairs launched for merchant raiding?

Everyone likes mysteries, hehe.

---Vil.

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Centurion


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Vilkata wrote:

Thank you guys for all the great links! So all in all, the Tsingtao German Garrison had around 4,000 men, and only 199 of them were killed in the battle, while the Japanese lost around 700 men. It seems that the German forces had a victory in that they managed to keep deaths of their soldiers extremely low.

Its quite normal in a siege situation for the attacking force to loose considerably more than the defenders (this is why in earlier periods garrisons were encouraged by good treatment and terms to surrender early and punished  by harsh terms, sacking of the town, massacre etc for drawing out the siege even when the eventual out come was not in doubt). To add to this it appears that the Japanese organisation was somewhat shambolic and there were food shotrtages and outbreaks of disease. This led to a significant program of overhaul and modernisation of the Japanese army.


At this time the Japanese treated POWs extremely well and the Germans were looked after in Japan to the extent that some of them settled down, founded businesses, married and never went home to Germany. I understand that there are still German bakeries in Tokyo today.



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Roger Todd


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Fascinating stuff there, Centurion, thanks.


Vilkata - there are always mysteries! You may want to post a question or two here:


http://www.shipmodels.info/mwphpBB2/viewforum.php?f=14


Warship stuff, you never know...



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