hibited the
employment of women in warlike operations. When one of the small boats
that acted as mine sweepers was blown up during the dragging that
followed the women renewed their offer, but again it was declined.

The first landing on the Shantung Peninsula was made September 2,
1914. Ten thousand troops were put ashore; but it was not until
September 25, 1914, that the invaders made their first capture of a
German outpost, Weihsien. The check on the Japanese advance, however,
was due less to the defenders of Tsing-tau than to the torrential
rains, which swelled the streams and for a time effectively barred
further movements. The Japanese artillery was compelled to return to
Lung-chow, their original base on the mainland.

The Japanese leaders proceeded with deliberation and caution. They had
the enemy penned up with no hope of reenforcement, and nothing was to
be gained by haste or the unnecessary waste of men and equipment. On
September 19, 1914, to facilitate the movement of their troops behind
the beleaguered city, they seized the railway connecting Tsing-tau
with the Chinese province of Shantung, and China, prompted by Berlin,
protested against the act as a violation of neutrality. This was the
second Chinese protest, the first having been sent to Tokyo after the
Japanese made their first landing on Chinese territory at Lung-chow.
To the former objection Japan had no answer except to set forth that
the landing was a military necessity and made with no intention of
permanent occupancy. To the second protest, however, she replied
without hesitation that possession of the railway line was justified
since it was owned by Germans. The wide area covered by the Japanese
investment campaign is shown by the fact that by September 13, 1914,
they had established guards at the railway station of Kiao-chau--a
town having the same name as the whole German concession--twenty-two
miles distant from Tsing-tau.

While the Japanese infantry and engineers waited for the floods the
naval airmen were not idle. The first damage inside the city was
inflicted by two seaplanes which dropped bombs upon the railway
station and barracks. Although one of the planes was hit several times
by the German guns, both made a safe return. This raid was the
forerunner of a systematic air campaign, designed as much to strike
terror and discouragement into the hearts of the garrison and the
civil population as to gain any military end by the actual