page_title: Operation Beleaguer
section_title: Shantung Province
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Beleaguer / Operations / Shantung Province
caption_attribution_description: The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Princeton (CV-37) pictured at anchor in Tsingtao, China, with aircraft of Carrier Air Group Thirteen (CVG-13) on the flight deck, circa November 1948. Note that her airgroup was composed only of Grumman F8F-1 Bearcat fighters (VF-131, VF-132) and Grumman TBM-3E/-3Q Avenger bombers (VA-15, VA-135).
context_page_description: Operation Beleaguer was a major United States military operation led by Maj. Gen. Keller E. Rockey. He commanded 50,000 men of the III Marine Amphibious Corps that deployed to northeastern China's Hopeh and Shantung provinces between 1945 and 1949. The main objectives of the operation were the repatriation of more than 600,000 Japanese and Koreans who remained in China after the end of World War II, as well as the protection of American lives and property in the country. During the course of nearly four years, American forces engaged in several skirmishes with the Communists as they engaged in a successful operation in repatriating and evacuating thousands of foreign nationals. The United States government's attempt at mediating a peace treaty between the opposing Nationalist and Communist forces was however unsuccessful.
context_section_description: The situation in Shantung Province was different from that of Hopeh. In Shantung, the Communists controlled most of the countryside and the coast, and they were also stronger in numbers than in Hopeh, where there was a growing Nationalist presence. According to Shaw, "Tsingtao remained a Nationalist island in a Communist sea." The Japanese held the railroad leading from Tsingtao into the interior.
  Immediately after General Rockey accepted the surrender of Japanese forces in the Tientsin area, he left for Chefoo with the 29th Marine Regiment, 6th Division, to investigate conditions at that port. However, when he arrived, Rockey found that Communist troops had already taken control of the city from the Japanese and installed a new mayor. The Communists in Chefoo were not cooperative with the Americans. Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid, commander of the United States Navy's 7th Fleet, sent a message to the Chinese commander requesting that he withdraw his men from Chefoo before the Marines land. Following a conference on October 7, 1945, with the Communist mayor of Chefoo, who asked for withdrawal terms that were unacceptable to the Americans, Vice Admiral Daniel E. Barbey, commander of VII Amphibious Force (VIIAF), recommended that the landing be postponed. Rockey agreed, so the 29th Marines were ordered to land with the rest of the 6th Division at Tsingtao on October 11, instead of going in ahead.
  According to Shaw, on the day of the landing, "the 6th Reconnaissance Company [landed first and] moved through the crowded streets, lined with a cheering, flag-waving throng, to secure Tsangkou airfield," which was located about 10 miles (16 km) from the city. On the following day, observation planes from the escort carrier USS Bougainville landed safely at the field, and by October 16 all of the Marines had been put ashore and assigned to billets.
caption: USS Princeton off Tsingtao in 1948
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