The first of the steel boats employed for this purpose crossed the iver in fifteen minutes, followed by others, The Japanese boats are stated to have plied between the northern and southern bank of the 300-metre-wide river "like shuttlecocks,"
An exchange of severe rifle and machine-gun fire occurred at first, but soon died down with the swift advance of the Japanese troops.
With the fall of Tsinan. all the capitals of the five provinces of North China are now in Japanese hands, The retreat of the Chinese forces in Tsingtao has now been cut off,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.