Germany–Japan relations Kaiserliche Marine in and around Chinese waters. Japan, eager to reduce the presence of European colonial powers in South-East Asia, especially on China's coast, sent Germany an ultimatum on 14 August 1914, which was left unanswered. Japan then formally declared war on the German Empire on 23 August 1914 thereby entering the First World War as an ally of Britain, France and the Russian Empire to seize the German-held Caroline, Marshall, and Mariana Islands in the Pacific. The only major battle that took place between Japan and Germany was the siege of the German-controlled Chinese port of Tsingtao in Kiautschou
German military administration in occupied France during World War II underground to avoid imprisonment and subsequent deportation to Germany. For the most part, those "work dodgers" ("réfractaires") became "maquisards". There were German reprisals against civilians in occupied countries; in France, the Nazis built an execution chamber in the cellars of the former Ministry of Aviation building in Paris. Many Jews were victims of the Holocaust in France. Approximately 49 concentration camps were in use in France during the occupation, the largest of them at Drancy. In the occupied zone, as of 1942, Jews were required to wear the yellow badge and were only allowed to ride in the last carriage