10. TSINGTAO
During the month of September the Sixth Marine Division prepared for an operation, the forthcoming occupation of Tsingtao, China. From 2 October until 11 October the division was aboard ship en route to China and commenced unloading at Tsingtao on the latter date.
While aboard the division command ship en route to Tsingtao, General Shepherd stated the general mission of his command:
“Our mission is to land and occupy Tsingtao and the adjacent Tsangkou Airfield; to assist local authorities in maintaining order and in preventing disease and starvation; to release, care for, and evacuate Recovered Allied Military personnel and Allied internees; to cooperate with Chinese Central Government forces; to accept, when necessary, local surrender of Japanese forces, as authorized by higher authority, and to assist the Chinese in effecting the disarming and confining of these forces.”
The city of Tsingtao, with 1,300,000 inhabitants is situated on a promontory on the southern coast of Shantung Peninsula. It is regarded as one of the finest ports in China, and is second only to Shanghai as a textile manufacturing center. When the division landed, it found the citizens of Tsingtao to be a polyglot group: Communist agents, former Nazis, White Russians, Koreans, Japanese civilians, Japanese military personnel, Europeans, Eurasians, and Chinese.
Politically, Tsingtao, as the most coveted city on Shantung Peninsula, was a hotbed of intrigue and strife. The Communists, with a stronghold at Chefoo, hoped to gain control of the peninsula, and the city. Resisting them were Japanese troops, protecting rail lines leading into the city. Here too, were independent factions ostensibly aligned with the Chungking government. Still in evidence, but ineffective, were puppet groups. At large, but not easily identified with either Chungking or Yennan, were small groups of brigands which terrorized Tsingtao despite the Mayor and his poorly trained and discipined troops.
Most of the interior of the Shantung Peninsula was controlled by Communists; their only access to the sea was at the port of Chefoo. Early in the month of October an emissary from the Commander-in-Chief of the Liberation Army of the Communists entered the harbor and sought an audience with General Shepherd. Permission was granted and a letter was presented which proposed, in essence, passive collaboration between the Marines and the Communists. Offering to enter the city to “restore order” by killing puppet troops, that is those troops who professed allegiance to Chiang Kai-Shek’s Chinese Central Government, the Communists promised not to disturb the Marines of the Sixth Division. To this General Shepherd replied firmly that he would have no part in a fratricidal war between factions in China, and that his combat veterans could prevent any disorders in the city.
Obviously, the Communist forces had hoped to gain complete control of the Shantung Peninsula at the cessation of hostilities through the surrender of Japanese troops to them.
One of the earliest problems to confront the men of the Sixth Marine Division in Tsingtao was a financial one, the fluctuating rate of exchange. With inflation rampant, attempts to stabilize the exchange at one American dollar to 2,000 Chinese Federal Reserve Bank dollars failed. Black markets flourished for a while and speculation in local currency helped to make that currency unstable. Food was plentiful but there was a shortage of coal.
Law and order was more a matter of theory than practice. Throughout October uniformed Chinese perpetrated many small crimes against both the Japanese and Germanresidents. These usually consisted of breaking into houses, threatening the occupants with rifles or pistols, and stealing jewelry, silver, or small valuables. Marine roving patrols remedied this situation. It wasn’t long before the Sixth Marine Division found itself regarded as the guardian of minority groups within the city.
The morning of 25 October found the Twenty Second Marines, the Twenty Ninth Marines, the Sixth Tank Battalion, the Sixth Engineers, the Sixth Marine Division Headquarters Battalion, and other troops, marching out to the race track at the edge of Tsingtao to witness the surrender ceremony of the Japanese to representatives of the United States and Chinese Central Governments.
At 1100 the ceremony began. For the Japanese,Maj.General Eiji Nagano, commanding officer of the Japanese5thIndependent Mixed Brigade, stepped up on the platform and affixed his signature to copies of the surrender document. After laying his sword on the table Nagano withdrew to rejoin his staff, who immediately followed his example. On the platform representing the United States was General Shepherd who signed his name next.Lt.Gen.Yen Nien Li, deputy commander of the 11th War Area and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek’s personal representative, signed for the Chinese Central Government.
The surrender document stated that all Japanese forces in the Tsingtao area were to surrender unconditionally to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek and that all equipment and records were to be turned over to the Allies in good condition. Civilian internees and prisoners of war were to be released immediately. General Shepherd, as Commanding General of the Sixth Marine Division, was named as Chiang’s authorized representative.
By the end of October, the division had settled to its routine duties. Guards had been established over American properties and Japanese warehouses; patrols were maintained throughout the non-Chinese sections of the city. A new training program was started. Special Services distributed athletic gear and arranged athletic events; in addition, an education program had been started. The division began to make plans for withdrawal as soon as the8thChinese National Army arrived. By 23 November, before a lapse occurred, 6,701 Japanese military personnel and 877 Japanese civilians had been evacuated to Japan. Along with the repatriation of the Japanese, many members of the division were “repatriated” to the United States through rotation as point scores dropped.
During the month of December the Sixth Marine Division continued its duties in Tsingtao; 7,827 military and 18,390 civilian Japanese were repatriated. Near the end of the month Major GeneralA. F.Howard,USMC, arrived to relieve Major General LemuelC.Shepherd, Jr.,USMC, as Commanding General of the Sixth Marine Division.
Gradually many of the functions of the division were absorbed by the8thChinese National Army and the division turned to schools and training prior to deactivation on 1 April, when from its units the Third Marine Brigade was formed.
The career of the Sixth Marine Division had been relatively brief, a few days less than nineteen months, but in that short time the division had won a respected position among the fighting divisions of this war. For its excellent work on Okinawa the division was warmly commended by bothLt.General RoyS.Geiger, Commanding General,IIIAmphibious Corps, and the lateLt.General SimonB.Buckner, Commanding General, Tenth Army. To each of the three infantry regiments of the Sixth Marine Division, the Twenty Second Marines, the Twenty-Ninth Marines and the Fourth Marines, went the highly coveted Presidential Unit Citation. While it lived, the division not only upheld all the proud traditions of the Marine Corps, but added to the impressive record of brave deeds long associated with the Corps.