The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-01-26

1 is 2arrow and easily defended. The ! bay, itself. is about 20 miles square,
 and it has enough deep water | to contain the fleets of the world. The Germans dredged it out here and
 there. They built a breakwater of
 stone quarried from the hills nearby | and brought down on railroad built l for the purpose. They made great ! piers and docks. including dry docks
 and erected ring of 12 forts along i the ridges surrounding the bay ] Three of these forts were especially | strong and they played a part in the siege. They are on the hills. directly l back of Tsingtau, and in front of them is a barbed wire entanglement
 and a 1o-foot wall. whitewashed so 1 that anyone trying to take the forts might be more easily seen. In ad ] dition the Germans had bomb proof shelters and trenches all of which
 were taken by the Japanese when they captured the fort.
 The German improvements were of | the most lasting character. They spent s7.O0O,000 in dredging the har- bor and bay. The piers are of granite They have q floating dock, capable of l lifting 16,000 tons. and a moderate craving dock. which can accommodate 1 the largest merchant ships and men of-war afloat. Within 10 years the | E0.00O on the harbor alone, and it is safe to say that their expenditures on the town of Tsingtau and the rail- roads which they have built into the interior have cost more than ,000,- coo.
 The town of Tsingtau is one of the finest foreign settlements of the far east. It lies right on the end of the peninsula. at the entrance of the hay. l it's red-roofed houses climbing tn ; slopes of the hills. with the fortifica-
 tions behind. The seashore is border ed by massive wall and along the top of this is a driveway which forms the chief promenade and driving place in the evening. Facing this drive is
 tre Hotel Prince Henry and some of the chief business buildings
 Tsingtau has boulevards and well ordered streets. It has sewers and
 waterworks, electric lights and the
 best of sanitary conditions It's houses
 are of German architecture, each for
 eign dwelling having a big front
 yard, with beds Of tulips, four o'clocks
 and other beautiful flowers. There is
 three-story postoffice building, a
 Sl,uOo,000 clubhouse, stone bank
 building, which was owned by the Ger
 man Asiatic company, and substan-
 tial railroad depot, well as stone
 barracks for the German garrison, which
 with its officers, has been everywhere
 in evidence At the time of the siege
 the Germans were less than 5000 in
 number, whereas the Japanese had 23,OO0 soldiers. Nevertheless the forts held out for six weeks after the block.
 ade was declared, and for more than week after the Japanese had begun to lombard them with their big guns, 40 in number. The bombardment be gan October 21, 1914, and it was not until November that the garrison capitulated.
 In the siege the Germans did credit to their military regulations. When the imperial Japanese government sent its demand that the fort be given up the governor of Kiauchau,
 Capt Meyer Waldeck, replied: %If the enemy wants Tsngtau it must come and take it." This was August 15, 1914 The Japanese did not wait long to accept the challenge Twelve days later the second squadron of their fleet was in front of the harbor and the blockade began. The port was bombarded by the ships and the
 forts on shore responded. In ths meantime, the three German gun
 boats, the Emden, the Scharnhorst
 and the Geneisenau, had left the
 town to it's own resources, the Emden
 starting out on that remarkable
 cruise during which she destroyed