Which Japanese-led siege captured the German port of Tsingtao in 1914?

The Japanese-led siege that captured the German port of Tsingtao in 1914 was the Siege of Tsingtao.

Tsingtao, now Qingdao, was the capital and principal port of Germany's Kiautschou Bay concession on China's Shandong Peninsula. When the First World War began, Japan joined the Allies and demanded that Germany withdraw from the territory. Britain supported the operation with a small military contingent, making the campaign an Anglo-Japanese attack rather than a purely Japanese action.

The siege began in late August 1914. Japanese forces landed, advanced through the surrounding countryside, and gradually tightened their lines around the German defenses. Naval forces also supported the assault, while Japan used aircraft from the seaplane carrier Wakamiya for reconnaissance and bombing missions—an early example of air power in naval warfare.

After heavy bombardment and a final assault, the German garrison surrendered on 7 November 1914. Japan occupied Tsingtao and retained control of the former German concession until postwar diplomatic settlements changed the territory's status. The battle is sometimes confused with the Siege of Port Arthur, a Russo-Japanese War campaign fought a decade earlier.