Editorial Board of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Thursday, February 25, 1915
Osaki Satoshi had assumed that the whole of February 1915 would be one of the most boring months of all time. But then came an important event that finally exposed the weakness of the British Empire. In Kenya, rebels rose up against the occupying power and the Empire had great problems getting the situation under control.
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Editorial office of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Wednesday, March 3, 1915
The fact that not only the fighting, but the entire conflict was on the wane was also evident from the fact that the navy shifted its priorities. The turn of the month brought important research results that would have a lasting impact. Osaki Satoshi now expected the start of new peace negotiations every day.
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Editors of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Thursday, March 18, 1915
March also bobbed along. There was little or nothing to be noticed of the Royal Navy in Asia and it would probably stay that way.
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Until now, Osaki Satoshi had little time for the foreign press. Until his forced leave, he had also hardly paid attention to the Japanese newspapers, including his own. Now, however, for the second time in a short time, a French editor had attracted his attention.
Although the war was not yet over, this man raised the question of the post-war order and Japan's next plans. That was kind of brazen, because he should have asked this question himself long ago. It seemed that the Empire of Japan was moving more and more into the focus of the foreign press.
He could not deny it, Japan had entered the stage of the great powers and was thus in the spotlight of the world public!
Whether that was an advantage or not, of course, was not yet clear.
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In the middle of his thoughts, one of his editors burst into his office and held a document under his nose.
Satoshi recognized at once that this document should never have come out of the Ministry of the Navy. It contained all the information about the current condition of the 帝国海軍航空隊 (Teikoku Kaigun Kōkūtai - Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force). It was particularly piquant that all current aircraft designs had been classified as pathetic.
But then Satoshi felt the scales fall from his eyes!
He counted: Fifty-six plus fifty-six plus fifty-six plus twenty-eight. That makes one hundred and ninety-six. 196 completed aircraft were listed there, but not a single one was in service! And that was not surprising, because Japan had not yet designated a single base for its aircraft. At least not officially.
There was probably a lot going on in the ministry. He had to find out whether this was related to the hasty change of government, or whether there were more fundamental problems here?
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Then he couldn't believe his eyes. On the second page, there were comparisons with the other nations in the field of aviation. Where did Japan get this information from? These were not particularly precise, but the existence alone spoke for extensive Japanese espionage activities. If that came out, it could become a burning fuse on a powder keg.
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Editors of the Tōkyō Shinbun – Monday, April 5, 1915
At the beginning of April, the news came that the Navy had begun to build airfields near its important bases. But Satoshi's attention was more attracted by the fact that the Royal Navy had a new tactic: cruiser warfare!
The number of losses of Japanese merchant ships due to British trade disruptors and mines had risen sharply. The Royal Navy was probably not capable of more at the time, but the Royal Navy was excellently positioned for a cruiser war with its worldwide bases.
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Extra sheet of the Tōkyō Shinbun from Friday, April 30, 1915
VICTORY!
The British Empire has agreed to the Japanese surrender conditions.
On the first of May, the war is over!
In the early hours of this morning, a British battle squadron dropped anchor off Hong Kong. The envoy of Her Majesty King George V was taken to the Japanese battlecruiser Iwate, where the peace treaty was signed in a short ceremony.
From tomorrow, the guns fall silent and the British Empire recognizes the bases of Wēihǎiwèi and Hong Kong as Japanese mandate territory. All properties of British citizens in Hong Kong and Wēihǎiwèi will also become Japanese property.
The war is over!
The British Empire was unable to continue the conflict and had to acknowledge Japan's claims in Asia. In his magnanimity, the Taishō-tennō did not impose any further conditions on the British Empire in order to give the British people a sign of Japanese generosity in their distress.
Picture 123: The defeated British fleet brings the royal negotiator to Hong Kong for surrender
Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Bri ... _Fleet.jpg
Author: unknown
Info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire
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#118 RTW2-JAP#
