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These prisoners were German marines captured by the Japanese following the fall of Tsingtao, the main city of the German colony of Kiachow on7 November 1914. In conformance with the Anglo- Japanese Treaty, 1902, the Japanese issued an ultimatum to the German colony on 15 Aug and when the Germans did not reply declared war on 23 Aug. The Japanese landed troops along with about 1500 British troops and on 31 Oct the main attack started finishing with the surrender on 7 Nov 1914. The city was occupied on 16 Nov and the garrison were transferredto POW camps in Japan. The full garrison was about 4500 (including some chinese troops and about 400 Austro-Hungarian sailors.
There were in total 16 camps in Japan between 1914-20 (not necessarily all open throughout the period. The card is presumably from Oskar Niesenhaus, Marine 1 Comp, 3rd. Batt. German Marines from Essen, Rhineland. Prisoner No.3545 in Kumamoto Camp to 06.1915, Kurume Camp to 08.1918 Bando Camp, freed 12.1919. The recipient Gustav Knobel, Lance Corporal, Pioneer Comp 3rd Batt. German Marines from Ehringen, Wurtemburg. Prisoner No. 2976 in Matsuyama Camp to 04.1917, Bando Camp until freed 12.1919 for further information see the following sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Tsingtao and http://bando.dijtokyo.org/ (in German)
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