File No. 763.72/1106
The Ambassador in Japan (Guthrie) to the Secretary of State
Tokyo, October 20, 1914, midnight.
[Received 2:30 p.m.]
[Telegram]
Japanese Navy Department to-night issued following statement:
The portion of our fleet which has been operating toward Jaluit Island has strategically taken possession of the Islands strategically Important among flit Marianne, the Marshall, and the East and West Caroline Archipelagoes. During the action we found two of the enemy’s war vessels in hiding. One sank herself and the other was captured, with her crew. We suffered no damage.
Navy Department states that to disclose names of islands taken possession of might defeat the object of the Japanese Government, namely the restriction of the area of operations of the German Fleet which, has heretofore been able to coal and plant mines at will The Japanese Foreign Office has informally stated to newspaper men that it regards recent captures as on the same basis as that of Jaluit Island and that the Japanese Government has been all along acting with the knowledge of and in conjunction with Great Britain. [Page 186] The naval attaché has been informed that Japan has assured the British authorities that at any time it is desired she will turn over Yenchow to a British force.