Podcasts about Ammunition

Last time we spoke about the reaction after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. After four years of fighting Japan almost alone, China's Chiang Kai-shek learned of Pearl Harbor with profound relief. Japan's attack, meant to neutralize American naval power, instead galvanized the entire Western world against Tokyo. Within hours, Chiang declared war on the Axis powers, transforming China from an isolated nation to a recognized Allied member. The strategic mathematics were clear to Chiang: America's industrial might would ultimately crush Japan. China simply needed to survive long enough. The United States quickly formalized this partnership, pledging military support through Lend-Lease and elevating Chiang to leadership of Allied forces in the China theater. Yet Pearl Harbor brought catastrophe for Western civilians in China. Americans and Britons, previously protected as neutral foreigners, were suddenly rounded up and interned in camps. For many, decades of presence in China ended in hasty evacuation, leaving behind lives built over generations.   #216 The Battle of Hong Kong Part 1: The Approaching Storm Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Japan emerged as a significant threat to British interests during the 1920s following the collapse of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. This concern intensified dramatically after Japan's invasion of China, with the ensuing Sino-Japanese War escalating tensions further. British assets in the region came under direct assault, including attacks on Western military and commercial vessels such as HMS Ladybird. Yet despite these provocations, the British Government maintained an inconsistent stance toward Japan, responding with only feeble diplomatic and military countermeasures. This contradiction characterized London's approach: while diplomatic channels remained conciliatory, military planners viewed Japan with genuine apprehension. During the 1930s, Singapore and Malaya represented Britain's most valuable and prosperous holdings in the Far East and consequently received substantial garrison reinforcements. By contrast, Hong Kong was widely acknowledged to be indefensible—a conclusion reached repeatedly by successive military studies. Despite this consensus, the British Government proceeded with the Hong Kong Defence Scheme in 1936, which aimed to transform Hong Kong Island into a fortified redoubt while establishing delaying positions in Kowloon and the New Territories. The Hong Kong Garrison's mandate was straightforward: repel external attacks and prevent enemy use of the harbour and dry dock. The underlying strategy relied on a simple principle: hold Hong Kong Island as an impregnable fortress and await relief from the Royal Navy. Consequently, protecting the harbour became the paramount objective. Japanese strategists were correctly identified as Hong Kong's primary threat, with military planners anticipating attack from the sea rather than overland. To counter such an offensive, the defence scheme incorporated five successive layers of protection: naval mines fitted with indicator nets and anti-submarine booms formed the first barrier; coastal artillery provided the second; beach installations featuring pillboxes, wire entanglements and mines constituted the third; infantry strongpoints positioned on commanding heights guarded against amphibious landings; and finally, a mobile reserve force stood ready to counterattack and eliminate any successful enemy incursion. The 1936 plan also mandated extensive fortification of Kowloon's bottleneck approaches through bunkers, trenches and blocked passages, with a principal defensive line—resembling a miniature Maginot Line—constructed across the mountains immediately north of Kowloon. The garrison structure comprised three infantry battalions plus the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps (HKVDC), a unit approximately regiment-strength equipped with armoured cars, engineers, artillery, anti-aircraft guns and infantry. These forces organized into three brigades: mainland, island, and garrison reserve. The air component was planned to be formidable: a reconnaissance squadron, a fighter-bomber squadron, two torpedo squadrons and a flight of auxiliary spotting aircraft operated by the HKVDC. Naval forces consisted of a modest destroyer contingent, an MTB flotilla, gunboats and patrol vessels. When Japan occupied Guangzhou, Hong Kong found itself effectively encircled. In response, limited conscription was implemented, though restricted to non-Chinese males for HKVDC service. Chinese personnel were largely confined to non-combat positions such as air-raid precautions and medical duties. The expanding Japanese threat prompted a substantial expansion of the Hong Kong Garrison to four regular infantry regiments—two British units (one specializing in medium machine-gun support) and two Indian regiments. Supporting forces included two coastal artillery regiments, a field artillery regiment-plus, and an anti-aircraft regiment. The Royal Navy expanded to include the 2nd MTB flotilla (eight 60-foot, 29-knot motor torpedo boats armed with twin torpedoes and eight Lewis guns each, plus two smaller 55-foot vessels), four shallow-draught river gunboats (HMS Cicala, Tern, Moth and Robin), four aging World War I S-class destroyers (HMS Thracian, Thanet, Scout and Tenedos—the last transferred to Singapore in 1939), HMS Cornflower sloop, and various auxiliary vessels including tugs, boom defence ships and minelayers. The Fleet Air Arm deployed three Supermarine Walruses—single-engine reconnaissance amphibians—at Kai Tak Airport. The Royal Air Force remained the weakest service, equipped with only four Vickers Wildebeest torpedo-bombers and a handful of HKVDC aircraft: one Avro Tutor, two Hornet Moths and two Cadet biplanes. When World War II erupted in Europe, Britain's focus necessarily shifted to national survival, inevitably leaving distant imperial outposts like Hong Kong neglected. Rather than receive reinforcements, Hong Kong actually lost capable personnel; many veteran troops were repatriated to Europe, leaving behind a less proficient garrison. Peacetime duties had proven a poor preparation for combat—officers and men had passed their time socializing rather than maintaining combat readiness. Governor Sir Geoffrey Northcote persistently urged London to adopt a firmer stance against relentless Japanese provocations: aircraft incursions, sinking of junks and fishing vessels, and infiltration by Taiwanese fifth columnists (Japan had colonized Taiwan in 1895). Recognizing the hopelessness of his position, Northcote recommended withdrawal in October 1940, arguing that defending the colony would inevitably result in mass civilian casualties and widespread destruction—a pragmatic assessment given Hong Kong's indefensible state. London categorically rejected this proposal, reasoning that withdrawal would demoralize China, embolden Japan and undermine American confidence in British resolve. Underlying this decision was an additional consideration: the long-standing dispute over Hong Kong's sovereignty. Since Britain acquired Hong Kong in 1841, the prospect of surrendering it, even temporarily, raised fears about reclaiming it afterward. Preserving the appearance of British determination was deemed crucial to demonstrating to Chiang Kai-shek, Nationalist China's leader, that Britain intended to retain the territory. Despite these political calculations, London consistently refused fresh troop deployments. Major-General A. E. Grasett, the China theatre commander, requested reinforcements only to face rejection—London offered only Indian or other colonial forces. Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, appointed British commander in the Far East in 1941, likewise pressed for garrison strengthening, to no avail. The situation shifted dramatically after Grasett, a retired Canadian who had recently left his China post, travelled to Britain via Canada. Upon arriving in Canada, he independently approached his former classmate Major-General Crerar, Chief of the Canadian General Staff, and advocated for reinforcement. Grasett argued persuasively that deploying two or more additional battalions would enable the Hong Kong garrison to withstand an extended siege. When Grasett reached London in early September 1941, he presented this case directly to the British Chiefs of Staff, simultaneously proposing that Canada could provide the extra units. His arguments proved persuasive; the Chiefs of Staff altered course and convinced a reluctant Churchill to reconsider. In light of accelerating Japanese pressure, Britain substantially enlarged the Malaysia/Singapore garrison from nine to 32 battalions and despatched two capital ships—HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse—to the region, reasoning that this show of force would deter Japanese aggression against British Far Eastern interests, including Hong Kong. The original defence strategy envisaged holding Hong Kong Island exclusively while denying the harbour to attackers. A single battalion (the Punjabis) would execute delaying actions across the New Territories, followed by a three-battalion defensive stand on the Gin Drinkers Line. This brief mainland resistance would allow time for demolishing stores, power installations, docks and wharves, clearing food stocks and removing vital matériel before withdrawing to Hong Kong Island for a protracted resistance awaiting relief from Singapore or American forces from the Philippines. The Gin Drinkers Line—styled after the French Maginot Line in miniature—ran approximately 18 kilometres south of the Sino-Hong Kong border. Beginning near Gin Drinkers Bay west of Kowloon, it extended 17 kilometres across the Kowloon Peninsula hills toward its eastern extremity. The strategic expectation was that this line would delay the Japanese assault for three weeks or longer, permitting battalion withdrawal to Hong Kong Island for sustained resistance while mainland forces completed evacuation procedures. The 1937 war plan stipulated that four battalions would be necessary for an effective delaying action and seven for an adequate Gin Drinkers Line defence—figures which excluded the aircraft and naval support essential to success. With only a single army brigade available and virtually no air capability, planners abandoned the mainland defence concept, leaving defensive works incomplete and deteriorating under tropical conditions. Chinese personnel were conspicuously absent from initial war preparations and strategic planning, only being incorporated late in the process. The largest Chinese component was the volunteer contingent serving with the HKVDC. On the regular army side, approximately 150 Chinese recruits were enlisted in mid-1941 for the 5th Anti-Aircraft Regiment. The Hong Kong Chinese Regiment, hastily constituted on 3 November 1941, comprised officers borrowed from British and Indian units alongside 52 Chinese junior NCOs and other ranks with minimal training. A Royal Engineers troop staffed entirely by Chinese soldiers saw service, and some Chinese personnel served with the Royal Navy and Dockyard Defence Corps. Chinese participation increased substantially in auxiliary services—air-raid precautions, auxiliary police, nursing, St John Ambulance and fire brigades. This reluctance to fully integrate Chinese forces likely reflected prevailing attitudes of the era. Pre-war British propaganda had frequently mocked Japanese military capability, portraying officers and soldiers as myopic and incompetent. Japanese combat prowess was systematically underestimated; their victories in China were attributed to facing inferior opposition rather than evidence of genuine military strength. Japanese weaponry was dismissed as inferior to European standards. Consequently, British confidence remained high that the colony could hold indefinitely if adequately reinforced. In September 1941, Hong Kong received heartening news: two additional Canadian battalions would be deployed to the garrison. Brigadier John Maltby promptly revived the pre-war plan for defending the Gin Drinkers Line, developing a strategy centred on three mainland battalions (2nd Royal Scots, 5/7 Rajputs and 2/14 Punjab) supported by HKVDC elements and four artillery troop detachments, while three island battalions (1st Middlesex, Royal Rifles of Canada and Winnipeg Grenadiers) bolstered by the bulk of the HKVDC would hold Hong Kong Island. Command responsibility was divided between two brigades: the Island Brigade (Hong Kong Infantry Brigade) under Brigadier Lawson, a recently arrived Canadian, and the mainland Kowloon Infantry Brigade under Brigadier Wallis. The Canadian regiments arrived on 16 November 1941. Maltby was commissioned into the Indian Army in 1911, and  saw extensive service across multiple campaigns: World War I, the Persian Gulf (1913–14), and the North-West Frontier (1923–24). His early promise earned him selection for accelerated advancement through prestigious staff colleges at Quetta and RAF Andover. By 1937, he was again serving on the North-West Frontier, and by 1939 commanded both the 3rd Jhelum Brigade (later the Calcutta Brigade) and the 19th Infantry Brigade in Deccan. In 1940, posted to China, Maltby orchestrated the closure of the North China Command by withdrawing two infantry battalions from Shanghai. Promoted to major-general as GOC China in August 1941, he had only three months to prepare the colony's defenses, a race against time he could not win.  The Gin Drinkers Line occupied a naturally dominant position atop mountains spanning northern Kowloon's breadth, yet possessed inherent weaknesses that would prove fatal. The line lacked defensive depth and remained vulnerable to flanking manoeuvres, with two sectors representing particular danger: Customs Pass and the gap between Golden Hill and Laichikok Peninsula near Gin Drinkers Bay. Given the extended front, each battalion arranged its forces in a string of platoon positions with gaps covered by daytime fire and nighttime patrols. One company per battalion could be held in reserve within prepared positions guarding the most dangerous sectors. The reserve company of the centre battalion (2/14 Punjab) initially advanced as forward troops, screening demolition operations and delaying the enemy's initial thrust. The hasty decision to establish mainland defences meant that essential support systems—communication networks, artillery registrations, mortar calibrations—remained incomplete when combat commenced. Ammunition shortages compounded the problem. For instance, the 2/14 Punjab conducted only a single 3-inch mortar practice session before the attack; adequate ammunition arrived only in November and totalled a mere 70 rounds per battalion for both training and combat. These mortars were registered for the first time in their battle positions, with combat beginning just 12 hours later. The 2-inch mortar situation was even more desperate: troops received live ammunition only as fighting started, making their baptism of fire an actual combat situation. Transportation deficiencies—trucks and animals in short supply—forced manual ammunition transport across Hong Kong's challenging terrain, imposing severe physical demands on already stretched personnel.   On 6 November 1941, Imperial Japanese Headquarters ordered its Commander-in-Chief in China to prepare plans for capturing Hong Kong. The 23rd Army, part of the China Southern Expeditionary Army Group and commanded by Lt. Gen. Sakai Takashi with Maj. Gen. Kuribayashi Tadamichi serving as Chief of Staff, would form the invasion's backbone. All preparations were to be completed by the end of November 1941. The operation, designated 'Operation C', sought to 'seize Hong Kong within ten days'. Takahashi was the son of a factory worker, and rose through the ranks to become a veteran of China campaigns. He was tasked with capturing Hong Kong using the 38th Division normally assigned to the Southern Expeditionary Army Group. Despite setbacks and humiliation over requests for additional resources—particularly following intelligence reports of tanks (actually Bren carriers) in Hong Kong—Sakai remained determined to succeed. He served as Governor of Hong Kong from 26 December 1941 to 20 February 1942. Kuribayashi, best remembered as the Japanese commander at Iwo Jima, graduated from the Army Academy in 1914 specializing in cavalry. He served as deputy military attaché to Washington and Canada and studied at Harvard University. In December 1941, he held the position of Chief of Staff to the 23rd Army during the Hong Kong operation. Operation C followed a straightforward strategic framework. A blocking force would prevent Chinese interference from the rear, while the main invasion force would spearhead the assault. The 23rd Army, comprising four divisions plus a mixed brigade and two infantry regiments, received the assignment to attack Hong Kong. Of these four divisions, only the 38th played a substantive role in the invasion itself. The attack employed a combined-arms approach. Naval forces would establish a blockade and deliver bombardment while aircraft targeted key installations. Ground forces from the 38th Division—specifically the 228th, 229th, and 230th Regiments—would execute the land invasion using a three-pronged strategy. The right column would sweep westward in a wide arc, clearing Castle Peak Road and targeting the western flank of the Gin Drinkers Line near Laichikok Peninsula. The centre force would press directly through the line's middle, while the left column would cross Tidal Cove (Tolo Harbour) toward Kai Tak Airport and eastward toward Devil Peak, a crucial defensive position. The objective was to annihilate British forces on the mainland and compel Hong Kong's surrender through sustained bombardment. Should British forces resist, the island phase of the campaign would commence. Securing the rear against the Chinese National Army of the 7th Military District and Communist guerrillas fell to the 66th Regiment, normally part of the 51st Division but attached to the 38th for this operation. The 66th would simultaneously occupy and secure rear areas throughout the New Territories and Kowloon while the three assault regiments engaged the main defensive forces. This rearguard operation was organised into columns named after their commanding officers: Kitazawa, Kobayashi, Sato, and Araki. The Japanese selected the narrowest approach between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, targeting the eastern coast near Lyemun Passage where only 410 metres of water separated the mainland from the island. Upon landing, forces would rapidly advance inland to seize the critical junction of Wongneichong Gap, then pivot westward and southward to capture Victoria City and the remainder of Hong Kong. The naval contingent divided into two groups: the Bombardment Group and the Attack Group. Approximately 300 personnel from the Special Naval Landing Force (SNLF) were attached to the invasion force. Air support came from the First Air Brigade under Col. Habu Hideharu, which contributed 56 light bombers and fighters. Their mission was to neutralise the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, thereby securing aerial and maritime superiority for the ground campaign.   On the eve of war, the British garrison numbered 13,981 all ranks, including nursing staff and St John Ambulance personnel. Of these, 8,919 were British and Canadian, with 4,402 Indian and Chinese. The core infantry force comprised 5,422 regular soldiers, complemented by approximately 6,000 additional personnel across artillery, engineering, naval, and Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps (HKVDC) units. By 1941, the Royal Navy had become a shadow of its former self as the once-dominant China Squadron. Of the three World War I destroyers present on 8 December, two had been sent to Singapore—the third undergoing repairs—by 1930. This redeployment stemmed partly from the futility of defending the colony and partly from a commitment by senior US Navy officers: Britain would reinforce Singapore with Hong Kong's fleet in exchange for four American destroyers at Singapore. This American guarantee, however, never materialized. The defensive infrastructure focused primarily on countering a seaborne attack: twenty-nine coastal guns (9.2in., 6in., 4.7in., and 4in. calibres), ten 18- and 2-pounder beach defense guns, and twenty-eight field guns (60-pounder, 6in., 4.5in., and 3.7in. calibres). The Hong Kong Garrison's infantry comprised four regular army battalions—two British and two Indian—bolstered by five HKVDC infantry companies, each averaging 100 men. The 1st Middlesex Regiment, deployed in August 1937, served as a machine-gun battalion equipped with forty-eight Vickers medium machine guns. Having been abroad since 1931, the regiment had deteriorated through protracted garrison service, Hong Kong being among the softest postings available. From September 1939 onward, all regiments—including the 5/7 Rajputs (arrived June 1937) and the 2/14 Punjab—experienced systematic loss of experienced officers and NCOs to other theaters. The Royal Scots proved particularly hard hit, suffering disciplinary problems and an unusually high court-martial rate. Units like the Hong Kong and Singapore Royal Artillery suffered critical leadership gaps that went unaddressed. By December 1941, many formations fielded inexperienced replacement troops, significantly undermining combat readiness. The Punjabis exemplified these deficiencies. Stationed in Hong Kong since November 1940, they received their vehicles and mortars only in August 1941—three months before combat. Compounding this, forty percent of their strength consisted of raw recruits arrived just in October. When war erupted, artillery regiments found themselves relying on junior officers in senior roles, with British commanders unfamiliar with Urdu directing Indian troops, a handicap that severely compromised effectiveness. Deficient equipment compounded leadership shortages. Shells dating from 1918 detonated prematurely upon discharge, while ammunition shortages crippled operations. On 8 December, all field guns deployed with merely 100 rounds apiece, with 200 rounds held in reserve for the entire campaign, and coastal guns received only 25 rounds each. Insufficient cross-training meant many infantrymen failed to understand the artillery "clock face" targeting system, causing them to miss their objectives. Malaria devastated European troops, particularly the Royal Scots. Of approximately 770 personnel, at least 180 suffered recurring malarial episodes from the Shing Mun Redoubt area's notoriously endemic conditions. Staff shortages forced nearly every unit to promote junior officers to positions beyond their rank, exacerbating structural weaknesses. Although the Canadians' arrival bolstered the garrison, significant handicaps undermined their effectiveness. Both battalions carried a C-class designation—deemed unfit for foreign service—having spent years in soft garrison postings without rigorous training. The deficit was stark: each Canadian soldier received only thirty-five rifle practice rounds. The two battalions incorporated 115 men with fewer than sixteen weeks' training, while sixty-two of seventy-five recruits joining the Winnipeg Grenadiers in June came directly from a training depot lacking even basic rifles. Twelve percent of the Canadian force remained untrained. Equipment deficiencies proved even more damaging. A standard 1941 Canadian infantry battalion required 102 motor vehicles—including twenty-two Universal Carriers, thirty-seven ¾-ton trucks, thirteen 1-ton trucks, thirty-one bicycles, and twenty-two Boys anti-tank rifles. When the Canadians landed, logistical failures left them with only six Bren carriers, two water tankers, twelve ¾-ton trucks, and a single Boys anti-tank rifle. Although they carried 3in. mortars, neither ammunition nor radios accompanied them. Canada possessed only 300 3-inch mortar bombs in its entire inventory at that time, making any allocation to Hong Kong impossible. A second vessel, the SS Don Jose, was dispatched with replacement vehicles and equipment but never reached Hong Kong before 8 December. The Japanese seized it en route to Manila. Despite these shortcomings, the force departed on 27 October with 1,975 men and arrived on 16 November. Intelligence estimates regarding Japanese available forces varied widely, ranging from two to four divisions. On 6 December evening, Chinese reports confirmed the previous day's arrival of three Japanese divisions at Buji township, located eight miles from the border in what is now Shenzhen. Earlier, around 1 November, a Japanese deserter provided intelligence of significant troop concentrations north of the frontier, including large-calibre artillery indicative of at least divisional strength.   The Hong Kong invasion force comprised three service branches: the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) deployed the 38th Infantry Division, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) committed the Second China Fleet, and the Imperial Japanese Air Force (IJAF) contributed the 1st Air Group. Command of the ground assault rested with Lieutenant-General Sano Tadayoshi of the 38th Division, supported by Major-General Ito Takeo heading the infantry group, while supporting arms including artillery, engineers, armor, and transport fell under Sano's authority. The main assault force consisted of three infantry regiments from the 38th Division, each led by a colonel: the 228th under Doi Teihichi, the 229th under Tanaka Ryosaburo, and the 230th under Shoji Toshishige. The 38th Division itself was a standard 1940s B-class infantry division of approximately 20,000 troops (ranging from 18,000–21,000 depending on operational requirements), organized into three regiments with three battalions each. Reflecting the Japanese army's reliance on animal and human transport, each regiment fielded roughly 3,800 troops supported by some 700 horses. Battalion strength averaged around 1,071 personnel, with companies numbering approximately 180 men. Japanese infantry battalions of this period featured a distinctive organization: rifle platoons consisted of four sections (three equipped with rifles and light machine guns, one with light mortars and rifles), complemented by an additional heavy machine-gun company fielding twelve Type 92 weapons and a troop of light artillery—likely Type 92 70mm infantry guns. The divisional field artillery regiment operated 75mm Type 41 mountain guns organized into three 688-man battalions, each with two troops of two guns. Mountain artillery units, numbering 36 guns total, carried additional personnel (3,400) and animals (1,400) to navigate the terrain complexities of Hong Kong operations. Recognizing the need for overwhelming firepower to compel Hong Kong's surrender, the IJA augmented the invasion force with heavy artillery—15cm and 24cm howitzers commanded by Major-General Kitashima Kineo. News of the Canadian reinforcements arriving in Hong Kong forced a reassessment. Commander-in-Chief Sakai Takashi of the 23rd Army informed his superiors that the original ten-day timeline was unrealistic and requested additional troops. Although most formations were already committed to other operations, Imperial Headquarters eventually authorized two depot regiments from Japan to support the campaign. Intended for second-line duties rather than frontline combat, these units were to be returned promptly after freeing experienced personnel for Hong Kong operations. This arrangement allowed the 19th and 20th mixed brigades—approximately 6,000 men organized in five infantry battalions, a field artillery battalion, and an engineer battalion—to be released for Hong Kong. However, Sakai's request for reinforcements met with disapproval from Imperial Headquarters, and he received an unmistakable message: a swift, decisive campaign was essential. His situation worsened when Japanese agents mistakenly identified British Bren carriers as tanks, forcing Sakai to improvise armor by raiding the 1st Reserve Tank Battalion and tankette units from infantry depot divisions. In attempting to secure additional armor from the 11th Army's 9th Reconnaissance Regiment, Sakai encountered resistance. General Hata Shunroku lodged sustained complaints with senior officials, and Sakai received a sharp rebuke—further requests would not be entertained, and his replacement would follow if necessary. Stung by this loss of face, Sakai abandoned all additional requests and became even more determined to achieve success. Vice-Admiral Niimi Masaichi, commanding the 2nd China Expeditionary Fleet, oversaw the entire naval element, divided into bombardment and attack groups. His flagship, the light cruiser Isuzu, carried Captain Ura Koichi, who simultaneously commanded the bombardment group. This naval force assembled ships from various China Expeditionary Fleet units, particularly from the Canton Special Base Force, 15 Squadron, and 11 Torpedo Boat Division at Guangzhou. Reflecting Niimi's lack of confidence in the army's air support capabilities, the seaplane tender IJN Kamikawa Maru joined the operation on his insistence, providing organic naval aviation against the threat posed by British Wildebeests. Niimi also petitioned for destroyers IJN Wakaba and Yugure to counter the three British destroyers, though this request was denied. The Special Naval Landing Forces (SNLF) were assigned to conduct diversionary attacks south of Hong Kong Island, intended to distract British forces from the main land invasion thrust. The IJAF's 1st Air Brigade, commanded by Colonel Habu Hideharu, centered on the 45th Air Regiment with 34 Kawasaki Ki-32 Type 98 'Mary' light bombers. This composite force drew aircraft and units from airfields across China and Manchuria—Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan, and Qiqihar—all assembled at Baiyun Aerodrome in Guangzhou on 7 December 1941. Supporting the 1st Air Brigade were the 10th Independent Squadron under Captain Takatsuki Akira with 13 Nakajima Ki-27 Type 97 'Nate' fighters, 3 Mitsubishi Ki-15 Type 97 'Babs' command reconnaissance aircraft from the 18th Independent Reconnaissance Squadron, and the 44th Independent Squadron fielding 6 Tachikawa Ki-36 Type 98 'Ida' observation aircraft. Years before the invasion, the Japanese cultivated an extensive network of agents and sleeper operatives in Hong Kong, methodically gathering intelligence and mapping military installations. This sophisticated network proved remarkably effective: invasion maps carried by IJA officers were actually Hong Kong Government and British military maps, overprinted with Japanese annotations and interpretations. British officers later discovered in captivity that the Peninsula Hotel's regular barber was a Japanese Navy lieutenant-commander who had exploited the intimate setting to extract valuable information about British force dispositions. Intelligence operatives infiltrated every level of Hong Kong society—the garrison tailor and barber both served as spies. This groundwork enabled exceptional accuracy in artillery fire and bombing campaigns. The Japanese further leveraged criminal networks, recruiting gangsters throughout Hong Kong and Guangdong province with money and arms, turning them into irregular auxiliaries supporting the invasion.   On Sunday, 7 December, seven hundred members of the 2nd Royal Scots and Middlesex Regiment marched to St John's Cathedral for the morning service. As Major-General Maltby read a passage from Matthew, his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant I. MacGregor, delivered an urgent message that would change everything. Preparations for conflict had already begun. On 5 December, the HKVDC had mobilized fully, yet Hong Kong's broader population remained unmoved—the Happy Valley racetrack reported record attendance that very day. The contrast was stark: while one institution prepared for war, another celebrated as though nothing threatened. Japanese forces had been positioned advantageously since autumn 1941. The 23rd Army was already stationed west of Guangzhou, with contingents scattered across Foshan Town, Zhuhai, and other locations on the Pearl River delta. Upon orders for war on 1 December, they faced minimal distances to cover. The army regrouped at Humen, Shilong Town, and Guangzhou itself—staging areas for the invasion. The first visible signs arrived on 4–5 December when Japanese forces landed at Mirs Bay; the 228th Regiment moved into its staging area at Buji Town, now part of Shenzhen City. Maltby received these reports and immediately departed the cathedral service to issue urgent stand-to orders. Yet skepticism persisted within military circles. Some dismissed the threat, dismissing such intelligence as "astonishingly erroneous." Meanwhile, the Imperial Japanese Navy massed in the waters beyond Hong Kong's horizon. The Kowloon Infantry Brigade held a stretched defensive line: the 5/7 Rajputs anchored the centre, the 2/14 Punjab the east, and the 2nd Royal Scots the west. Forward positions extended far—C Company, 2/14 Punjab, under Major S. Burns ranged along Castle Peak Road toward Yuen Long. The brigade screen, C Company of the 2/14 Punjab, held Shueng Shui and Taipo Market with four Bren carriers and two armoured cars from the HKVDC, backed by engineers and the 22nd Fortress Company. The Hong Kong Infantry Brigade held Hong Kong Island itself. The Winnipeg Grenadiers occupied Victoria City on the north-west coast, while the Royal Rifles of Canada stretched along the north-east shores from Saukiwan to Lyemun. Brigadier Lawson commanded from his headquarters at Wongneichong Gap in the island's centre. At 0355 hours on 8 December, the code word "Blossom Blossom" was transmitted. Eleven minutes later, Lieutenant-General Sakai ordered the invasion to commence. Fifty minutes after that, at 0445 hours, Major Charles Boxer—a fluent Japanese speaker formerly of the Lincolnshire Regiment—was roused by Radio Tokyo announcing that war was imminent. Governor Young and Major-General Maltby were informed at once. By 0500 hours, the forward demolition points had been blown by Major Gray, OC of C Company 2/14 Punjab, and the HKVDC engineers under Major J. H. Bottomley. At 0645 hours, the garrison received formal notification: Britain and Japan were at war. Seventy-five minutes later, air-raid sirens wailed. Within moments, smoke billowed from Kai Tak Airport as Japanese aircraft destroyed virtually the entire air garrison. The Wildebeests, Walruses, HKVDC biplanes, and several civilian planes were engulfed in flames. Only two Ju-52s of the Eurasia Corporation and one CNAC T-32 Condor escaped destruction—dispersal bays had never been built due to lack of funds. The Japanese then turned to secondary targets, bombing Shamshuipo Camp and the neighbouring police station. The Canadians suffered few large-scale casualties in the initial strikes, though Sergeant Routledge and Signalman Fairley of the signal platoon were wounded—the first Canadian soldiers injured in World War II. Remarkably, Hong Kong Island's theatres, cinemas, and restaurants continued operating as though the island faced no peril. Japanese demolition efforts proved only minor obstacles. Bridges blown were quickly replaced. The invasion proceeded on three fronts: the 230th Regiment advanced westward along the northern route toward Yuen Long and Castle Peak, targeting the northern slope of Tai Mo Mountain. The 228th Regiment drove down the centre, following the Sheung Shui–Taipo–Kowloon road toward Grassy Hill north of the Shing Mun Redoubt. The 229th Regiment, crossing at Sha Tau Kok and by boat at Starling Inlet, proceeded via Taipo toward Tai Shui Hang and Ma On Mountain. Whenever confronted with strongly defended positions, the Japanese bypassed them entirely rather than engage. The first day brought scattered but spirited resistance. Around 1300 hours, the Punjabis inflicted the first serious check, drawing blood from advancing Japanese forces. At 1830 hours, they ambushed and decimated several Japanese platoons south of Taipo market town. The HKVDC's armoured cars and Bren carriers struck similar successes nearby. The 2 Royal Scots' reconnaissance platoon clashed with elements of the 229th Regiment around Yuen Long. Despite these minor victories, Japanese momentum continued. Armed with stolen British maps and guided by fifth columnists, they pushed forward relentlessly. By late afternoon on the 8th, the Punjabis withdrew toward Grassy Hill to avoid being outflanked. The artillerymen of the 12th Battery engaged an IJN destroyer and Japanese forces around Taipo, inflicting heavy casualties. Farther south near Shatin, on the Taipo–Kowloon highway, rapidly advancing Japanese troops surprised the defenders and severed the fuse at an HKVDC demolition point. Their triumph proved momentary; the engineers completed the backup circuit and detonated the bridge, destroying it along with the Japanese soldiers crossing it. By early morning on 9 December, orders came to withdraw all mainland units to the Gin Drinkers Line. The Punjabis, already at Shatin Wai overlooking Tide Cove, held their position under pressure and continuous shelling for the next two days. The HKVDC withdrew to Fotan, a village south of Shatin. Maltby ordered D Company, 5/7 Rajputs, under Captain H. R. Newtons to Smuggler's Ridge to close the gap between the 2 Royal Scots and 2/14 Punjab. HKVDC armoured cars and Bren carriers continued patrols along Castle Peak Road while HMS Cicala, having survived two air attacks, maintained station in Castle Peak Bay. Despite an IJN blockade, the destroyers HMS Thanet and Scout slipped anchor and escaped to Singapore around 2130 hours. The surviving CNAC and Eurasia aircraft took off with high-value evacuees: Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's widow and her two equally renowned sisters—the Soong sisters—along with Chinese Finance Minister H. H. Kung. Also departing was Lieutenant-Colonel H. Owen-Hughes of the HKVDC, who carried orders to coordinate with the Chinese Nationalist Army for a rear-guard attack on Japanese forces to relieve the pressure on Hong Kong. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. On 8 December 1941, Japan attacked Hong Kong with the 38th Division, supported by naval and air forces. Despite British defenses manned by undertrained, under-equipped troops, Japanese forces advanced rapidly across three fronts. Within hours, the RAF was destroyed, demolitions proved futile, and British units withdrew toward the Gin Drinkers Line facing overwhelming odds.

Send us Fan MailA UK man was arrested for carrying a baseball bat, which he had just purchased from the sporting goods store he was walking out of!A Massachusetts man with a Continental powder horn causes a panic outside of a church and prompted police to lockdown the church.. The Hughes Amendment to the FOPA, which effectively capped off the supply of fully-automatic weapons to the People, was passed in 1986 by a fraudulent voice vote.The unarmed man is not just defenseless - he is also contemptible.Niccolo MachiavelliThe Hughes Amendment Explained: How a 1986 Voice Vote Banned New Machine Guns for AmericansBill Mick Live!Tune in every weekday morning from 06:00-09:00 EST for some common sense, uncommon radio!Freedom GunsFirearms, Ammunition, Accessories, Training classes Sicarios Gun ShopFirearms, Accessories, Ammo, Safes, and more!The Gun Site9-Lane 25 yard indoor Shooting Range, Gun Store, Training classesWJS GunsGun and Outdoor Shop, ammo, accessories, fishing tackle, moreSHOOTINGCLASSES.COMOnline business operations platform for firearms instructors, trainees, and Shooting RangesCounter Strike TacticalBest Little Gun Store in Melbourne, Florida! Veteran Owned and Operated 321-499-4949Go2 WeaponsManufacturers of AR platform rifles for military and civilian. Veteran Owned and OperatedEar Care of MelbourneNeed hearing aids? Go to the audiologists that gave Royce his hearing back!Glover Orndorf and Flanagan Wealth Mgmt.Wealth management servicesControl Jiu-Jitsu/MMAJiu-Jitsu/MMA Training in Melbourne, FLDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Watch Floor - YouTubeAskari Media GroupBuy Paul Eberle's book "Look at the Dirt"Paul Eberle (lookatthedirt.com)

Send us Fan Mail. Royce addresses a question about the efficacy of a shotgun in times of unrest.. A Judge has ruled a portion of the NFA unconstitutional. A Massachusetts man was under house arrest with and ankle monitor for over 2.5 years before charges were dismissed, for the heinous "crime" of owning multiple 'assault weapons', other rifles and pistols and ammunition, all confiscated during an illegal, warrantless entry and search by the police....but an illegally invading "immigrant"   who assaulted and raped a wheelchair-bound elderly woman in Boston was just released without charges.Bill Mick Live!Tune in every weekday morning from 06:00-09:00 EST for some common sense, uncommon radio!Freedom GunsFirearms, Ammunition, Accessories, Training classes SHOOTINGCLASSES.COMOnline business operations platform for firearms instructors, trainees, and Shooting RangesGlover Orndorf and Flanagan Wealth Mgmt.Wealth management servicesSicarios Gun ShopFirearms, Accessories, Ammo, Safes, and more!The Gun Site9-Lane 25 yard indoor Shooting Range, Gun Store, Training classesWJS GunsGun and Outdoor Shop, ammo, accessories, fishing tackle, moreCounter Strike TacticalBest Little Gun Store in Melbourne, Florida! Veteran Owned and Operated 321-499-4949Go2 WeaponsManufacturers of AR platform rifles for military and civilian. Veteran Owned and OperatedEar Care of MelbourneNeed hearing aids? Go to the audiologists that gave Royce his hearing back!Control Jiu-Jitsu/MMAJiu-Jitsu/MMA Training in Melbourne, FLDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Watch Floor - YouTubeAskari Media GroupBuy Paul Eberle's book "Look at the Dirt"Paul Eberle (lookatthedirt.com)

────────────────────────────────────────[00:00:41]New Flock Counter-Tactic: Block and Protest Cameras Simultaneously and LegallyKnight covers a cop who caused a massive dangerous traffic stop because he was dead sure Flock had it right — plus more stories of police abusing the system for personal use.────────────────────────────────────────[00:02:19]Nagasaki Anniversary — Knight: WWII Was When We Lost Our Moral Compass, Not the Good WarNagasaki killed 70,000 and Hiroshima 140,000 — all civilians; Christian just war principles required avoiding non-combatants; we abandoned those when we began targeting civilians.────────────────────────────────────────[00:11:47]Trump Is a One-Man Fourth Turning — Accelerating Every Box on the Crisis ChecklistMonetary collapse, geopolitical realignment, institutional trust collapse, crony capitalism pushing people toward socialism — Strauss and Howe predicted this cycle for 2025-2030 in the early 1990s.────────────────────────────────────────[00:22:34]Trump Banned Chinese EVs for Americans — But Not for Waymo, Which Has Hundreds in Mesa, ArizonaWaymo buys them unassembled and finishes them in Arizona; you cannot buy a cheap Chinese EV but Google can; they charge you by the ride.────────────────────────────────────────[01:02:15]McConnell Has Now Missed 60 Consecutive Senate Roll Calls — Staff Paid $226,850 Won't Say AnythingCommunications director ran into the elevator to avoid questions; nobody will confirm he signed a recent letter; we don't know when he'll be resurrected.────────────────────────────────────────[01:09:40]Iran Is in the Driver's Seat — US Military Confused, Out of Ammunition, Out of OptionsConditions include lifting all sanctions and compensation for starting the war; Bessent promised the Strait would open Friday or Saturday — it didn't.────────────────────────────────────────[01:13:23]Iran and Oman's Strait Plan: US and Israeli Ships Banned Until Sanctions Lifted and Compensation PaidTrump: "It's sort of open." Hegseth defined open as nobody putting a rope across it; you might get shot at.────────────────────────────────────────[01:53:57]Section 535 Passes — Selective Service Registration Now Automatic for All Eligible AmericansUkraine drags men off streets and out of cars; the draft no longer requires signing up — you are already registered.────────────────────────────────────────[01:54:35]Amazon Texas Data Center Will Release 33 Million Tons of CO2 Per Year — More Than Any US Power PlantBurning natural gas onsite; the people who hectored us about washing machines have no problem with data centers pouring more emissions than half of all US passenger cars.────────────────────────────────────────[01:58:09]82 Data Centers Built or Under Construction — Emissions Will Rival Half of All US Passenger CarsTrump is blocking cheap Chinese EVs from consumers while Waymo gets them freely; every regulation making internal combustion unaffordable remains in place. ──────────────────────────────────────── Money should have intrinsic value AND transactional privacy: Go to https://davidknight.gold/ for great deals on physical gold/silver For 10% off Gerald Celente's prescient Trends Journal, go to https://trendsjournal.com/ and enter the code “KNIGHT” For high quality made in America products go to HomeSteadProducts.shop and use promo code “Knight” for 10% off your purchases Find out more about the show and where you can watch it at TheDavidKnightShow.com If you would like to support the show and our family please consider subscribing monthly here: SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/the-david-knight-show Or you can send a donation throughMail: David Knight POB 994 Kodak, TN 37764Zelle: @DavidKnightShow@protonmail.comCash App at: $davidknightshowBTC to: bc1qkuec29hkuye4xse9unh7nptvu3y9qmv24vanh7Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-david-knight-show--2653468/support.

────────────────────────────────────────[00:00:41]New Flock Counter-Tactic: Block and Protest Cameras Simultaneously and LegallyKnight covers a cop who caused a massive dangerous traffic stop because he was dead sure Flock had it right — plus more stories of police abusing the system for personal use.────────────────────────────────────────[00:02:19]Nagasaki Anniversary — Knight: WWII Was When We Lost Our Moral Compass, Not the Good WarNagasaki killed 70,000 and Hiroshima 140,000 — all civilians; Christian just war principles required avoiding non-combatants; we abandoned those when we began targeting civilians.────────────────────────────────────────[00:11:47]Trump Is a One-Man Fourth Turning — Accelerating Every Box on the Crisis ChecklistMonetary collapse, geopolitical realignment, institutional trust collapse, crony capitalism pushing people toward socialism — Strauss and Howe predicted this cycle for 2025-2030 in the early 1990s.────────────────────────────────────────[00:22:34]Trump Banned Chinese EVs for Americans — But Not for Waymo, Which Has Hundreds in Mesa, ArizonaWaymo buys them unassembled and finishes them in Arizona; you cannot buy a cheap Chinese EV but Google can; they charge you by the ride.────────────────────────────────────────[01:02:15]McConnell Has Now Missed 60 Consecutive Senate Roll Calls — Staff Paid $226,850 Won't Say AnythingCommunications director ran into the elevator to avoid questions; nobody will confirm he signed a recent letter; we don't know when he'll be resurrected.────────────────────────────────────────[01:09:40]Iran Is in the Driver's Seat — US Military Confused, Out of Ammunition, Out of OptionsConditions include lifting all sanctions and compensation for starting the war; Bessent promised the Strait would open Friday or Saturday — it didn't.────────────────────────────────────────[01:13:23]Iran and Oman's Strait Plan: US and Israeli Ships Banned Until Sanctions Lifted and Compensation PaidTrump: "It's sort of open." Hegseth defined open as nobody putting a rope across it; you might get shot at.────────────────────────────────────────[01:53:57]Section 535 Passes — Selective Service Registration Now Automatic for All Eligible AmericansUkraine drags men off streets and out of cars; the draft no longer requires signing up — you are already registered.────────────────────────────────────────[01:54:35]Amazon Texas Data Center Will Release 33 Million Tons of CO2 Per Year — More Than Any US Power PlantBurning natural gas onsite; the people who hectored us about washing machines have no problem with data centers pouring more emissions than half of all US passenger cars.────────────────────────────────────────[01:58:09]82 Data Centers Built or Under Construction — Emissions Will Rival Half of All US Passenger CarsTrump is blocking cheap Chinese EVs from consumers while Waymo gets them freely; every regulation making internal combustion unaffordable remains in place. ──────────────────────────────────────── Money should have intrinsic value AND transactional privacy: Go to https://davidknight.gold/ for great deals on physical gold/silver For 10% off Gerald Celente's prescient Trends Journal, go to https://trendsjournal.com/ and enter the code “KNIGHT” For high quality made in America products go to HomeSteadProducts.shop and use promo code “Knight” for 10% off your purchases Find out more about the show and where you can watch it at TheDavidKnightShow.com If you would like to support the show and our family please consider subscribing monthly here: SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/the-david-knight-show Or you can send a donation throughMail: David Knight POB 994 Kodak, TN 37764Zelle: @DavidKnightShow@protonmail.comCash App at: $davidknightshowBTC to: bc1qkuec29hkuye4xse9unh7nptvu3y9qmv24vanh7Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-david-knight-show--5282736/support.

The latest news from the Middle East from Lindsey Reiser from CBS News.

The latest news from the Middle East from Lindsey Reiser from CBS News.

The perfect blend of velocity, recoil, bullet profile, bullet weight, wind deflection, splash, and versatility. And at press time, there's not a commercial option. Long range competition to medium-size game, the 25 GT has a lot going for it. Does it make sense for you? Listen to find out! As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation™ podcast by asking us on Instagram @vortexnationpodcast

Send us Fan MailIt seems the leftists in NJ are in a state of panic and extreme deprivation over their loss of power since the 3rd Circuit Court slapped down their "assault weapons" ban, and now they're trying desperately to get the court to allow the ban to stay in place while they challenge it, but the court said "No", so they're resurrecting an old scheme to render the citizens of their state helpless once again with a "safe storage" law that will require the relinquishing of fourth Amendment protections to fully enforce it.Their contempt for the Constitution and the People of NJ is now glaring like a neon sign. Totalitarians just got'ta totalitate!Bill Mick Live!Tune in every weekday morning from 06:00-09:00 EST for some common sense, uncommon radio!Sicarios Gun ShopFirearms, Accessories, Ammo, Safes, and more!SHOOTINGCLASSES.COMOnline business operations platform for firearms instructors, trainees, and Shooting RangesFreedom GunsFirearms, Ammunition, Accessories, Training classes The Gun Site9-Lane 25 yard indoor Shooting Range, Gun Store, Training classesWJS GunsGun and Outdoor Shop, ammo, accessories, fishing tackle, moreCounter Strike TacticalBest Little Gun Store in Melbourne, Florida! Veteran Owned and Operated 321-499-4949Go2 WeaponsManufacturers of AR platform rifles for military and civilian. Veteran Owned and OperatedEar Care of MelbourneNeed hearing aids? Go to the audiologists that gave Royce his hearing back!Glover Orndorf and Flanagan Wealth Mgmt.Wealth management servicesQuantified PerformanceQuantified Performance, LLC is focused on building safe, high performing keepers and bearers.Control Jiu-Jitsu/MMAJiu-Jitsu/MMA Training in Melbourne, FLDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Watch Floor - YouTubeAskari Media GroupBuy Paul Eberle's book "Look at the Dirt"Paul Eberle (lookatthedirt.com)

In this episode of On The Line, host Matt Gurney is joined by two guests for conversations about two of the West's most pressing security challenges: military readiness and cyber defence.This episode is brought to you by BioCanRx, a Canadian not-for-profit working to help Canadian researchers and companies develop new drugs, especially immunotherapies for cancer.A key challenge for Canada will be familiar to anyone trying to grow a business here: we have some of the brightest people in the world, we just can't keep enough of them. Canada is home to researchers making breakthrough discoveries every day. But bringing a new therapy from the lab to patients takes more than great science. It also requires specialists who know how to manufacture complex products, navigate regulatory approval, and help new treatments be integrated into the health-care system. Too often, that expertise leaves Canada before the work is done.BioCanRx has supported hands-on training for more than 900 trainees over the past decade, but without a strong domestic industry, retention becomes a challenge. So how do we keep these highly-skilled people? Next time we'll talk about how changing what we incentivize can maximize the impact of research money Canada already spends to sustain more drug development here in Canada. For now, go to BioCanRx.com to learn more.First up is Mark Cancian of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel and one of the authors of a new report examining the alarming state of Western ammunition stockpiles. Drawing on the lessons of the wars in Ukraine and the Persian Gulf, Cancian explains how the United States and its allies are consuming critical munitions far faster than they can replace them. The West still possesses enormous military strength, but rebuilding industrial capacity has become an urgent strategic priority. Matt and Mark discuss what's driving the shortages, what governments are finally getting right, and why there are at least a few encouraging signs that production is beginning to catch up.This episode is also brought to you by the Forest Products Association of Canada. Canada's resilience will not be built through diversified trade and good intentions alone. It will be built with strong domestic supply chains, reliable Canadian materials, and industries that invest in workers and communities here at home. Two months ago, the federal government acknowledged the Forest Sector Transformation Task Force Report and the practical path it set out. Now the focus must be action. Canada's forest products sector can help deliver the homes, infrastructure, and economic potential the country needs. But that requires predictable access to manage our forests, transportation systems that work, and a regulatory environment that rewards investment rather than delays it. The direction is clear. Now Ottawa needs to turn recognition into results. Learn more at FPAC.ca.Then Matt is joined by David Shipley of Beauceron Security to discuss a coordinated cyberattack that recently struck a series of public utilities across the United States, causing real disruption to critical infrastructure. They examine who may have been behind the attacks, why utilities remain such attractive targets, and what governments and operators can do to improve their defences. The conversation also turns to whether growing political dysfunction in Washington is making it harder for the United States—and by extension its allies—to respond effectively to increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.It's a pair of conversations about resilience, preparedness, and the growing realization that winning future conflicts will depend as much on industrial capacity and digital security as on military hardware alone.This episode is brought to you by Cameco. In nuclear energy, timelines and costs matter. Incomplete designs carry real risk of delays and cost overruns. That's why the AP1000 reactor is the right choice for Canada: it is already operating today and ready now to deliver the power we need, with 100 percent Canadian ownership and strong participation from Canadian suppliers. If we are serious about building Canada and powering it on time and on budget, the choice is clear. The AP1000 reactor is the only option that delivers. To learn more, visit ap1000.cameco.com.As always, check out our main page at ReadTheLine.ca, and don't forget to like and subscribe.#OnTheLine #MarkCancian #DavidShipley #CyberSecurity #NationalSecurity #Defense #Military #CSIS #CriticalInfrastructure #MattGurney

Last time we spoke about autumn battle of Changsha. In late September and early October 1941, the Chinese commander Chen Cheng focused on Yichang, a crucial Yangtze stronghold whose loss would threaten China's position and the approach toward Chongqing. Chen Cheng's plan tightened a ring around the city while Chinese forces blocked Japanese reinforcement routes, including efforts to cut retreat lines at places like Jingmen and Dangyang. The battle's pressure was intensified by shifting momentum elsewhere. As the Japanese situation around Changsha became unstable—strained by supplies, exhaustion, and mounting casualties—the Japanese command began to withdraw north. Chiang Kai-shek used this to accelerate Chinese priorities, ordering rapid capture of Yichang within a tight deadline. Inside Yichang, the defense turned tragic as Japanese troops faced encirclement, heavy artillery barrages, and desperate street fighting.    #213 Blood, Rain, and Flags: The Last Struggle Around Yichang Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. While the struggle around Changsha occupied one half of the battlefield, another contest of equal consequence was taking shape farther west at Yichang. The two operations were not separate stories. They belonged to the same campaign, and each influenced the fate of the other. If Changsha was the city whose danger was plain to every observer, Yichang was the stronghold whose importance weighed most heavily on the calculations of commanders. In the autumn of 1941, the outcome in one place could not be understood without the other. For Chen Cheng, Yichang was more than a military objective. It was a wound that had never closed. The city stood on the Yangtze at a point of major strategic value, tied not only to communications and transport but also to the defense of the river approach toward the wartime capital. When Yichang had fallen in June 1940, it had done more than alter the front line. It had left behind humiliation. Three Japanese divisions—the 3rd, 13th, and 39th—had seized the city after twelve days and nights of intense fighting. At five in the afternoon on June 11, a unit of the Japanese 13th Division under Tanaka Seiichi had broken in from the southeast. Chinese troops of the 18th Army under Peng Shan and Luo Guangwen's 18th Division fought a savage close-quarters battle inside the city for a full day and night, while Japanese forces of the 3rd and 39th Divisions pressed from the north. At four in the afternoon on June 12, with Deng Ping's battalion covering the withdrawal, the Chinese finally pulled out and Yichang was lost. Men in high command do not always remember defeat in the same way as the men who fight through it. Soldiers tend to remember heat, hunger, the dead, or the exact corner where a friend fell. Commanders also remember those things, but they remember something else as well: failure recorded in the language of responsibility. Chen Cheng could not forget that twenty Chinese corps had been beaten by three Japanese divisions. At the time, Li Zongren had commanded the operation. Now the chance to erase that old disgrace seemed to be passing into Chen Cheng's own hands. On September 20, he received two telegrams, one from the Military Commission and one from Chiang Kai-shek himself. From that point onward, Yichang dominated his thoughts. By September 23, the Military Commission approved Chen's request to transfer the 33rd Army Group of the Fifth War Zone into the Sixth War Zone for the coming attack. On paper, his position seemed powerful. He now had fourteen divisions at his disposal. Yichang itself was held only by Uchiyama Eitaro's 13th Division and the Hayabuchi Detachment, together amounting to roughly sixteen thousand men. Even granting the usual Japanese superiority in training, firepower, communications, and local tactical cohesion, the Chinese possessed absolute numerical advantage. By September 28, the Chinese units had reached their attack positions, and Chen Cheng set his operational design in motion. The forces on the right bank were to attack first and pull the main body of the Japanese 39th Division southward. The 33rd Army would strike toward Jingmen and Dangyang in order to cut off the enemy's routes of retreat and reinforcement. Once these movements took hold, Yichang itself would be enclosed and crushed. Li Jilan's 94th Army, Li Yannian's 2nd Army, Song Kentang's 32nd Army, and other formations advanced according to plan. On paper the arrangement had clarity. On the ground it had resistance. The Japanese defended from strong fieldworks, and progress came slowly. Earthworks, wire, trenches, and mutually supporting positions transformed every apparent advance into hard labor. The Chinese pushed forward, but not with the speed Chen Cheng wanted. Even a favorable comparison of troop numbers could not cancel the fact that an entrenched Japanese force, once determined to hold, could impose a terrible price on assault. By October 1, Japanese troops outside Yichang began withdrawing into the city proper. Chen Cheng responded by ordering all troops to complete the encirclement. At last the operation seemed to be reaching the decisive stage. The city was tightening under pressure. The ring was nearly closed. Yet at that very moment time began pressing harder on both sides. On October 2, both Chen Cheng outside the city and Uchiyama inside it received telegrams that sharpened the crisis. The message sent from the Japanese 11th Army headquarters in Wuhan informed Uchiyama that the famous Tokyo Asakusa Art Troupe was coming to Yichang to comfort the front-line troops. The Expeditionary Army Headquarters in Nanjing had decided that, for political reasons, the troupe could not be turned back merely because combat conditions were dangerous. Their purpose was morale. That such a message could arrive at such a time reveals much about Japanese wartime culture. Appearances, spirit, ritual reassurance, and the emotional theater of endurance still had to be maintained even when military reality was worsening by the hour. The telegram that Chen Cheng received was very different. Chiang Kai-shek's order stated with brutal directness: the Japanese in northern Hunan had begun to withdraw, and Chen was ordered to spare no effort to capture Yichang within three days. Chen stared at the message for a long time. There was no need for explanation. He understood at once what Chiang meant. The battle for Yichang had already consumed days of hard fighting. Chinese units had suffered substantial losses. But the essential fact stood over every map and every order: if Japanese forces disengaging from northern Hunan reached Yichang in time to reinforce it, then all the effort already expended might amount to nothing. The battle had become not only a contest of strength, but a race. At nearly the same time, the command post of the Japanese 11th Army at Yueyang was confronting the other half of the same problem. On the night of September 30, the headquarters was brightly lit as Chief of Staff Isamu Kinoshita arranged reports, reconnaissance findings, and field messages before the army commander. The Japanese still possessed a valuable advantage: they had access to Chinese communication codes. But such intelligence could not solve every operational problem. It could not conjure food where there was none, restore exhausted bodies, or stop the battlefield from changing shape. By then the Japanese situation around Changsha had become increasingly unstable. The Hayabuchi Detachment, after entering the city, was entangled in fierce urban fighting with the Chinese 6th Provisional Division of the 79th Army. By the evening of September 30, neither side had eliminated the other inside the city. Outside Changsha, the Japanese 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 40th Divisions had assembled and kept major Chinese forces at bay. One element of the 3rd Division had even moved south by truck to Zhuzhou, fifty kilometers away, and occupied the abandoned city. Yet these outward signs of success concealed a serious weakness. The Japanese rear was fraying. Ammunition and food were running low. Divisions operating that deep in hostile territory could not sustain a prolonged campaign under such conditions. More than ten days of uninterrupted movement and fighting had also produced rising non-combat casualties. Men were collapsing from fatigue along the march. Sickness increased steadily. Units that had looked formidable on the offensive were beginning to wear thin from inside. At the same time, Chinese remnants from earlier defeats, new reinforcements, and formations that had regrouped after being thrown back were all watching for signs of weakness. Even if the Japanese divisions in Hunan still had the strength to fight several more actions, another question overrode everything else: Yichang. Yichang was not simply another point on the map. It was a strategic stronghold on the Yangtze and one of the key places from which Japan threatened Chongqing. The city also carried institutional memory. After its capture in June 1940, the occupying troops had initially been ordered to withdraw for rest and reorganization. But Imperial General Headquarters had reversed that decision almost at once and demanded that Yichang be held after all. Troops already on the road had to turn back and retake a city that had been burned, stripped, and rendered difficult to occupy. Among those who had insisted most strongly that Yichang must be retained was Anami Korechika, then vice minister of the army. Now Anami faced the consequence of that earlier insistence. However attractive the gains in Hunan might appear, Yichang could not simply be sacrificed. Uchiyama's 13th Division was not strong enough to hold indefinitely without relief. Anami looked at Hunan on the map—a rich province, beautiful and militarily tempting, much of it seeming almost within reach. But strategy does not reward attachment. With great reluctance, he gave the order to retreat. On the morning of October 1, all Japanese divisions received the reversal instructions, and at four in the afternoon they began moving north. For Xue Yue, this altered the entire meaning of the campaign. Since the beginning of the battle, he had known frustration, disappointment, and anger. Whatever private calculations he may have made about Chiang Kai-shek's strategic direction, Chen Cheng's political influence, his own mistakes in the earlier phase of operations, or the rivalries that had long poisoned Republican military life, none of those feelings prevented him from seeing the opportunity now before him. Once the Japanese turned north, pursuit was no longer merely a matter of salvaging dignity. It became an operational necessity tied directly to Yichang. His staff quickly drafted a pursuit order defining routes, timings, and methods. The document explicitly called for tracking and pursuing, interception, flanking movement, ambush, and surprise attack. This was not to be a ceremonial following of a retreating enemy at a respectful distance. It was meant to be pressure—enough pressure, if possible, to delay Japanese movement back toward Hubei. Two hours after Xue issued the order, another telegram arrived from Chongqing. Chiang Kai-shek instructed that since the enemy which had advanced into northern Hunan had begun retreating toward Yueyang on the night of October 1, the Ninth War Zone was to exploit their fatigue, pursue boldly, seize Yueyang if possible, sabotage the Wuyue Railway, and launch attacks, ambushes, and fierce strikes along the retreat route to prevent the Japanese from regaining their former defenses or shifting quickly toward Wuhan. The purpose was stated clearly: to facilitate the operations of the Third, Fifth, and Sixth War Zones. Xue Yue understood the message at once. The support provided by the Third and Fifth War Zones had been limited and often symbolic. The operation that truly mattered now was Chen Cheng's assault on Yichang. Pursuit in Hunan was not simply retaliation for the threat to Changsha. It was an attempt to buy time in blood, mud, and delay. He adjusted the pursuit deployment and ordered commanders at every level to go forward and supervise their units in person. Autumn rain began to fall over northern Hunan. Hills disappeared in mist and drizzle. Along the roads leading north moved Japanese soldiers under the Rising Sun flag; behind them and beside them, often through fields, villages, and broken country, moved Chinese troops under the Blue Sky, White Sun, and Red Earth flag. Their uniforms differed, their languages differed, their causes differed—but the exhaustion in their faces must often have looked terribly alike. Both armies moved through damp air, hunger, uncertainty, and the constant expectation of another clash. The pursuit, however, revealed the limits of Chinese strength as well as its persistence. On October 2, the battered remnants of the Chinese 74th and 26th Armies cleared battlefields along the Liuyang and Laodao Rivers and found no Japanese left there. The 74th withdrew to Liling to regroup. The 26th halted at Changle Street for replenishment. Yang Sen sent the whole 27th Army Group after the retreating enemy. Ou Zhen's 4th Army attempted to intercept the Japanese 40th Division, but the Japanese maneuvered skillfully and escaped. Ou Zhen pursued them north of the Miluo River for three days, reached the Changshui River, and found the south bank empty. The 20th Army tried to cut off the Japanese 6th Division at Fulipu. At first they could not even locate the enemy, but they did collect large amounts of matériel left behind. Deputy Commander Xia Jiong remarked, with rough optimism, that the Japanese were still "steaming hot" and would certainly be caught. His men ran hard, crossed the Miluo River, and finally did catch a rearguard. Yet the Japanese, intent only on getting away, adopted what Chinese accounts described as a low-key method of not retaliating and not becoming decisively engaged. After crossing Gaoqiao they withdrew into their previous defensive area, and Xia could do little more than stop, rest, and continue to watch them. The 58th Army intercepted more than two thousand Japanese troops near Guanwang Bridge. For a moment it seemed a major clash might erupt. Instead the Japanese fled, leaving behind large quantities of supplies. The Chinese followed them as far as Taolin and then halted when it became clear that the enemy had regained strong ground. These episodes were frustrating, but they were not meaningless. They showed that many Chinese formations had been too badly mauled in the earlier phase of the campaign to sustain relentless offensive pressure. They also showed that the Japanese, though in retreat, were still disciplined enough to avoid disastrous entanglements while shedding matériel to gain speed. The Chinese units that struck hardest during this phase were not those most damaged at the beginning of the battle, but fresher formations such as Xia Chuzhong's 79th Army and Fu Zhongfang's 99th Army. Xia's men ambushed the Hayabuchi Detachment and nearly destroyed it, killing two of its three battalion commanders. Fu's 99th Army fought a series of clashes with the Japanese 3rd and 6th Divisions and with the Hirano and Araki Detachments. The Japanese, eager to keep moving, absorbed losses rather than pause for extended battle. The 99th Army captured so much matériel that transporting it became a problem in itself. On October 4, a squad leader of the 197th Division even shot down an aircraft with machine-gun fire. Yet even here success had limits. By October 9, the entire Japanese force in northern Hunan had crossed the Xinqiang River and reoccupied its original positions. Chinese attacks achieved nothing decisive. The river once again became, in military imagination, almost a fixed frontier. As gunfire subsided in Xiangbei, all attention turned toward Yichang. The encirclement of the city was completed at noon on October 4. Chen Cheng ordered a general offensive to begin at four in the morning on October 6. Outside the city, Li Yannian's 2nd Army held fast against the Japanese 39th Division, which was trying to come in from Jingmen. Altogether, the Sixth War Zone had committed fourteen divisions—more than one hundred thousand men—to the operation. What followed was the familiar but always arresting spectacle of a great battle gathering itself. Small detachments moved forward to cut wire and destroy fortifications outside the city. Artillery officers adjusted their fire with care. Ammunition boxes changed hands continuously. Telephone operators hurried back and forth laying lines. Engineers worked with picks and shovels. Trucks forced their way down crowded roads with horns blaring. Boats were requisitioned along the riverbank, and dark-skinned boatmen weathered by the Yangtze wind moved among soldiers and officers. Behind the assault units stood medical stations under Red Cross flags, waiting for the wounded they knew were coming. All the machinery of battle was in motion. Inside Yichang, meanwhile, another scene unfolded that could only exist in wartime Japan's peculiar mixture of militarism and performance. At the field hospital of the Japanese 13th Division on the campus of Mingde Middle School, wounded soldiers wrapped in white bandages stood, sat, lay on stretchers, or leaned on medical orderlies in the yard watching entertainers from home perform while the dull rhythms of artillery sounded in the distance. The Asakusa Art Troupe had been founded in the mid-1920s and had made its name by combining modern popular elements with traditional stage culture. It had first won over ordinary audiences and then, as its reputation rose, gained acceptance among official and elite circles as well. After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, it was gradually folded into the machinery of wartime propaganda, performing works meant to praise sacrifice, glorify the empire, and strengthen morale. When the delegation of more than thirty members arrived at the 11th Army headquarters in Wuhan, the army added a military band of more than twenty men to accompany them to Yichang. But by the time they reached the city, the battle had already drawn close. They could not visit forward positions. Instead they performed for the wounded. The last performance featured heavily made-up young men and women dancing a popular folk number. As the dance continued, the women bowed and invited medics and wounded men who could still move to join them. Kimono and military uniform mixed. Smiles appeared beside bandages. Music from the home islands drifted out beneath the sound of an approaching siege. Then war interrupted the scene completely. Before dawn on October 6, Chinese artillery opened on Yichang with a deafening bombardment, and the cries of attack rolled over the city. As day came up, the troupe members watched stretchers being rushed into the field hospital where they had only recently performed. One of the sixteen-year-old twin geisha sisters, Mihoko, asked the troupe leader Akizuru through tears whether they would ever be able to return to Tokyo. Qiuhe, the famous dance artist in her fifties, answered gently that they would. General Anami, she said, was leading brave troops there and would arrive in the next few days. The child must pray. The reassurance was human, but it was also part of the wartime language of consolation. Outside the city, reality was harsher. For two days and nights the fighting remained severe. The Japanese fell back toward the edge of the city and resisted with desperation. The Japanese 3rd Air Regiment in Hankou committed itself heavily to the defense, flying sortie after sortie over Yichang. Aircraft came so often that some made four round trips in a single day. On the morning of October 8, a unit of the Chinese 94th Army crossed by boat from the west bank, bypassed the Gezhouba area, and landed at the northern end of Huangcaoba. Advancing south along the embankment, it established positions on the Yangtze side only about half a kilometer from the city. This foothold effectively dominated Japanese positions west of Yichang. Mortar rounds crossed the water. Heavy and light machine guns pinned the defenders outside the walls. At the same time, the 9th Division of the 32nd Army and part of the 99th Army pressed inward as well. The ring tightened. October 9 was grave for both sides. The Japanese withdrawal from northern Hunan had by now produced a relief force. Anami assembled elite troops from several divisions into a rapid deployment column for Yichang. For the Chinese Sixth War Zone, however, victory seemed very near. Inside the city the Japanese situation was increasingly desperate. Casualties were severe. The field hospital yard was filled with groaning wounded. Uchiyama summoned support personnel, medics, cooks, ordnance repairmen, and any wounded men still capable of firing. He armed them all and formed an improvised reserve. Then, while this force was assembling, he heard the sound of a trumpet. One of the band members, still practicing as if battle had not reached its climax, reminded him that the more than twenty members of the 11th Army band were also soldiers in uniform. He added them as well, creating a special unit of 388 men. Hundreds of sacks of rice were taken from storage and piled around division headquarters as fortifications. Uchiyama then turned to Chief of Staff Akinaga and said, "Let's not believe any miracles will happen." The line was bleak, but lucid. It meant that there would be no rescue through wishful thinking. If they lived, it would be because they held long enough. If they died, they would die without pretending that destiny had cheated them. Outside the city, Chen Cheng faced a different but equally harsh pressure. On October 2, Chiang Kai-shek had ordered Yichang taken within three days. On the 4th, Chen requested an extension until the 8th; Chiang agreed, but warned that because the Japanese were retreating from northern Hunan, the city must be captured by then or all previous effort would be wasted. Chen launched the general assault on the 6th, but fierce resistance on the ground and in the air slowed him. By the 8th, the city still had not fallen. He requested another extension, asking to take Yichang by October 10. This time Chiang sent no reply. Chen understood the silence. It meant that no political room remained behind him. At 2:30 in the morning on October 10, the Sixth War Zone opened another general offensive. One hundred and forty artillery pieces joined the bombardment. Shells fell across every part of the Japanese defenses until the repeated flashes made it hard for the gunners to tell what had not yet been hit. Then the infantry went in. Men shouted and surged forward like water breaking through a barrier. Hidden Japanese machine guns cut them down in wave after wave, but more men followed behind. The dead piled on the approaches so thickly that nationality itself seemed to vanish in blood and mud. Under that fire, dawn rose red. Uchiyama watched the sunrise from the highest building in the city, the three-story Yichang Bank. After the war, he told a reporter that the sky, the earth, and even the Yangtze had all seemed red to him, as if the river itself were carrying the blood of Chinese and Japanese alike. According to a later Japanese account, messages reached him from every side that morning reporting collapse. Roughly 5000 men were estimated killed or seriously wounded. At eight o'clock Uchiyama went down to the operations room. Waiting there were his chief of staff and senior officers. At that moment the final ritual of battlefield defeat began. A farewell telegram to Anami Korechika was read aloud. Nearby stood the regimental flag of the 104th Regiment, entrusted to Captain Izumi Shigeru before the regiment's complete destruction. Uchiyama then took the 13th Division's own flag—the imperial military color—and laid it over the regimental flag. Officers and men wept, removed their caps, and bowed their heads. Uchiyama's hands trembled so badly that it took him three matches to set the flag alight. In Japanese military culture, burning a flag was among the sternest rites of defeat. The flag could not be allowed to fall into enemy hands. To destroy it was to acknowledge annihilation while presenting that annihilation as a final offering to the imperial state. When the flags had burned and places for seppuku had been chosen, the farewell message remained. It declared that all officers and soldiers had done their utmost for the empire in the final struggle, that military flags, confidential documents, and imperial edicts had been burned, and that it was deeply regrettable that overseas Chinese and the delegation in Yichang had also suffered this fate. Uchiyama then added one final sentence in red pencil: the soldiers of the empire had fulfilled their duty and died for their country amidst the heroic cries of "Long live the Grand Marshal!" At 8:50 the clerk began encoding the telegram. Then Uchiyama said quietly to the officers waiting to die: "Please wait a little longer." The words postponed death by minutes. There was still the narrow possibility that communication mattered, or that the battle had not yet reached its absolute end. Chief of Staff Akinaga summoned his adjutant, Sakata Ryūshirō, and ordered that if the division commander and chief of staff died before the telegram was sent, Sakata was to form a suicide squad, break out by any means possible, and report the division's fate to 11th Army headquarters. At ten in the morning, the Japanese 39th Division attacking from Jingmen launched a new assault under Anami's strict orders against Li Yannian's 2nd Army. One regiment used poison gas to break through part of the Chinese line and reached the outskirts of Yichang. Chen Cheng personally directed the Chinese response, using elements of the attacking force and the 2nd Army to surround and beat back the thrust. By two in the afternoon, only the Dongshan Temple line remained intact among the different sectors of the Japanese city defense. Chinese troops had penetrated the city and were fighting bitterly in the streets, moving steadily toward division headquarters. At four in the afternoon, more than 2000 Japanese rapid deployment troops from northern Hunan reached the northeast approaches of Yichang and at once joined the relief effort. Chen Cheng threw reserves in to block them, and both sides locked in combat six kilometers outside the city. As dusk fell, the Chinese assault units in the city had also suffered terrible losses. Chen Cheng ordered them to regroup, replenish, and launch a final attack after dark. Then, at seven in the evening, almost as the order was issued, a violent gale rose and torrential rain began to fall. Such heavy rain was unusual in the Yichang area in October, and to men who had been living for days under the pressure of siege, death, and deadline, it must have seemed uncanny. The Chinese attacked through the downpour, but progress was painfully slow. At the same time, more than ten thousand Japanese troops arriving from northern Hunan reached the outskirts, fought for over two hours in the rain, and finally broke into the city, linking up with what remained of the 13th Division. At eleven that night, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the attack on Yichang halted and instructed the Chinese troops to return to their original defensive positions. The battle ended not in a clear verdict, but in exhaustion. One elderly resident of Yichang, Huang Jupu, later left a memory of the aftermath more vivid than any headquarters summary. He recalled that the heavy rain began at nightfall on the twentieth day of the eighth lunar month—October 10 in the Gregorian calendar—and continued into the next afternoon. Rainwater soaked the corpses lying in the streets until the water became a deep brownish-red pool more than two feet deep before it drained into the Yangtze and changed the river's color. The next day, he said, both sides sent corpse-collection teams into the streets under Red Cross flags. They pushed carts and worked separately, avoiding conflict, though sometimes they spoke to one another when trying to identify bodies. The Japanese recovery party included Chinese helpers and local residents. They turned corpses over, looked at clothing and weapons, and tried to determine nationality. Some bodies were naked, perhaps stripped wounded, which made identification harder. Since Chinese and Japanese could resemble one another, neither side wanted to take the wrong dead, fearing that a mistake would disturb the heroic souls to whom each army believed it owed proper burial. In the end, Huang remembered, it was the people of Yichang who pooled their money to bury many of the dead north of the city. Later an unmarked stone was raised there, with a bowl of rice and a stick of incense set before it. That image does something military history often fails to do. It restores weight to the end of battle. Armies issue attack orders, counterattack orders, pursuit orders, and retreat orders. Staff officers mark arrows on maps. Commanders calculate reinforcement and delay. But after all of that comes the business of soaked bodies in the street, identification, carts, shallow graves, and local people forced to do what armies can no longer fully do for their own dead. Seen as a whole, the operations in Hunan and Hubei during these weeks form one connected historical drama. The Japanese advance toward Changsha was real and dangerous, but it failed to produce decisive strategic gain. The battle strained the Chinese defense badly. Some units collapsed. Others improvised and recovered. The city was entered, contested, and then fought over again. Behind the forward line, Chinese forces such as Yang Sen's 27th Army Group harassed Japanese communications and supply, turning depth into vulnerability. At the same time, Chen Cheng's offensive against Yichang transformed what might otherwise have remained a local success for Japan in Hunan into a strategic dilemma. Once Yichang came seriously under threat, the Japanese command could not continue to treat the Hunan offensive as self-contained. It had to weigh possession against preservation, momentum against strategic necessity. That calculation compelled the retreat from northern Hunan. The retreat in turn changed the meaning of Xue Yue's operations. Pursuit became valuable not mainly because it might recover wounded pride or even because it might damage the retreating enemy, but because every hour of delay imposed on Japanese units moving north was another hour in which Yichang might fall. Yet Yichang did not fall. That fact is central, but it must be interpreted carefully. Chen Cheng had numerical superiority and fought with determination, but numbers alone could not cancel the difficulty of assaulting a fortified Japanese position under air attack and against fanatical resistance. Time worked against him. Every day lost increased the chance that Japanese relief would arrive from Hunan. Chiang Kai-shek's increasingly urgent telegrams reflected strategic logic, but they could not abolish battlefield reality. Men still had to cross open ground, cut wire, silence guns, and survive fire. Inside Yichang, Uchiyama's defense reveals the same pressure from the opposite side. He understood that his task was simple in principle and terrible in practice: hold until relief arrived. That necessity drove him to arm cooks, medics, repairmen, musicians, and wounded men. It drove him to build fortifications from sacks of rice. It brought him to the point of burning flags and preparing for ritual death while still delaying the final act long enough to see whether rescue might come. The presence of the Asakusa Art Troupe inside the besieged city sharpened the tragedy. They had been sent for morale and appearance, as if cultural performance might reassure an empire already growing anxious about the costs of war. Instead they became trapped witnesses to near-annihilation. The young girl asking if she would ever return to Tokyo cuts through all rhetoric. It is the ordinary human question that waits behind every doctrine of heroic sacrifice. In the end, neither side obtained everything it sought. Japan failed to turn its push into Hunan into a decisive result. China failed to retake Yichang despite concentration of force and a window of opportunity that for a time seemed very real. But that does not mean the campaign resolves into stalemate in any empty sense. It revealed important truths. For China, it showed both weakness and development. Weakness appeared in broken lines, uneven coordination, exhausted pursuit, and the inability to convert superiority in numbers into victory at Yichang. But development appeared too: a greater ability to coordinate war zones, to pressure Japanese rear areas, to force the enemy into strategic compromise, and to sustain resistance under conditions that would once have threatened outright collapse. For Japan, the campaign exposed the narrowing gap between aggressive offensive action and dangerous overextension. Japanese divisions could still strike hard, move with speed, and defend with ferocity. Their aircraft could still exact terrible cost. But logistics, fatigue, sickness, and the obligation to rescue threatened positions like Yichang increasingly limited what offensive success could mean. The deepest memory of the campaign may belong not to generals, however, but to the smaller figures history often notices only in passing: the soldier chewing dry ration without water; the wounded man who blew himself up rather than submit; the old beggar who revealed a depot; the band member still practicing trumpet in a city preparing for death; the frightened girl from the troupe; the townspeople who buried the dead after rain washed blood into the Yangtze. These are not decorative details. They are what make the history real. The autumn of 1941 in Hunan and Hubei was not one clean victory, nor one clean defeat. It was a season in which pressure in one sector altered decision in another, in which tactical success did not always yield strategic reward, and in which endurance itself increasingly became a form of power. That is why the campaign matters. It shows a war whose balance had begun to change, not dramatically or conclusively, but perceptibly. China still suffered, improvised, and fell short. Japan still advanced, struck hard, and held important ground. Yet the margin between them was no longer what it had been in the earlier years of the war. History moved that autumn not by omen or destiny, but by the hard materials of war: supply, timing, weather, command, fatigue, communications, morale, and blood. In Hunan and Hubei, all of those forces converged. They carried armies north and west, into cities and out again, across rivers, through rain, and finally into memory. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. As Chinese pressure tightened, Japan's wider situation around Changsha deteriorated—fatigue, supply strain, and losses accumulated. When the Japanese began retreating north, relief efforts turned Yichang into a desperate struggle marked by shifting fronts, poison gas, street fighting, and heavy bombardment. Chiang Kai-shek demanded a deadline, forcing Chen into final assaults that ultimately failed to secure a clean victory.  

Send us Fan MailRoyce focuses on our responsibility as keepers and bearers, including police officers and their fellow citizens, and draws lessons from defensive gun uses in multiple states, how three were justified and one was actually premeditated murder.We have a duty to be able to use our arms accurately under duress, and there is no justifiable excuse for not training.Freedom GunsFirearms, Ammunition, Accessories, Training classes Bill Mick Live!Tune in every weekday morning from 06:00-09:00 EST for some common sense, uncommon radio!The Gun Site9-Lane 25 yard indoor Shooting Range, Gun Store, Training classesSicarios Gun ShopFirearms, Accessories, Ammo, Safes, and more!WJS GunsGun and Outdoor Shop, ammo, accessories, fishing tackle, moreSHOOTINGCLASSES.COMOnline business operations platform for firearms instructors, trainees, and Shooting RangesCounter Strike TacticalBest Little Gun Store in Melbourne, Florida! Veteran Owned and Operated 321-499-4949Go2 WeaponsManufacturers of AR platform rifles for military and civilian. Veteran Owned and OperatedEar Care of MelbourneNeed hearing aids? Go to the audiologists that gave Royce his hearing back!Glover Orndorf and Flanagan Wealth Mgmt.Wealth management servicesQuantified PerformanceQuantified Performance, LLC is focused on building safe, high performing keepers and bearers.Control Jiu-Jitsu/MMAJiu-Jitsu/MMA Training in Melbourne, FLDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Watch Floor - YouTubeAskari Media GroupBuy Paul Eberle's book "Look at the Dirt"Paul Eberle (lookatthedirt.com)

“Is this dubstep?”There was a time in the 2010s when approximately 23% of all YouTube comments were a variation of this question. One of the UK's most influential yet misunderstood dance exports, dubstep is also one of those rare genres that can trace its origins to a handful of people working in a few rooms.That unusual origin story is definitively told in a new book, Aftershock: The Seismic Impact of Dubstep. Based on hundreds of hours of interviews by journalist Lauren Martin, it weaves together testimony from the main players (including Benny Ill, Skream, Hatcha, Loefah, Mala, Coki, Youngsta, Plastician, Sgt Pokes, Kode9, Shackleton, Pinch, Joker and Rusko) with thoughtful framing from the likes of Martin Clark and Ammunition's Neil Jolliffe, plus stacks of of flyers, ephemera and unseen photos.We had a blast going through the archives in preparation for this conversation with Lauren, where we talked about Croydon in the early 2000s, the school-age crew that formed around Big Apple Records, the closed loop of creativity that allowed the nascent genre to develop, the particular magic of FWD>> at Plastic People, the impact of Radio 1's Dubstep Warz broadcast, and the competing explanations for dubstep's demise in the 2010s, among many other things.Before the episode's big drop into dubstep, Tom and Chal compare notes on a very ‘Merican month in the stunned afterglow of the World Cup half-time show, UFC on the White House lawn, a pretty decent Madonna album and Tom's trip to the sunshine state.We do No Tags for the love of the game, but you can support the podcast in material ways by buying our latest book or subscribing to our paid tier for £5 per month. Get full access to No Tags at notagspodcast.substack.com/subscribe

Send us Fan MailIn a well-though-out decision by the 3rd Circuit Court, New Jersey's "Assault Weapons" ban gets knocked out with a one-two punch of Bruen and Heller!AI cameras are being used to target those carrying firearms, including peaceable citizens, and this does not bode well for individual liberty.Direct link to BillMick.com for some common sense, uncommon radio: Bill Mick LIVE - WMMB-AMBill Mick Live!Tune in every weekday morning from 06:00-09:00 EST for some common sense, uncommon radio!Freedom GunsFirearms, Ammunition, Accessories, Training classes Sicarios Gun ShopFirearms, Accessories, Ammo, Safes, and more!The Gun Site9-Lane 25 yard indoor Shooting Range, Gun Store, Training classesSHOOTINGCLASSES.COMOnline business operations platform for firearms instructors, trainees, and Shooting RangesWJS GunsGun and Outdoor Shop, ammo, accessories, fishing tackle, moreCounter Strike TacticalBest Little Gun Store in Melbourne, Florida! Veteran Owned and Operated 321-499-4949Go2 WeaponsManufacturers of AR platform rifles for military and civilian. Veteran Owned and OperatedEar Care of MelbourneNeed hearing aids? Go to the audiologists that gave Royce his hearing back!Glover Orndorf and Flanagan Wealth Mgmt.Wealth management servicesQuantified PerformanceQuantified Performance, LLC is focused on building safe, high performing keepers and bearers.Control Jiu-Jitsu/MMAJiu-Jitsu/MMA Training in Melbourne, FLDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Watch Floor - YouTubeAskari Media GroupBuy Paul Eberle's book "Look at the Dirt"Paul Eberle (lookatthedirt.com)

T.O.M. / SOUND AMMUNITION PODCAST #13 ON TOXIC SICKNESS / JULY / 2026 by TOXIC SICKNESS OFFICIAL

Send us Fan Mail1st.  A 28-year-old man in Pinellas Park in Florida was arrested for possession of an "SBR" (a, AR pistol) and is now facing 15 years in State Prison and possibly facing federal charges also.2nd.  Robert Cekada, the new head of ATF and a man devoid of Constitutional comprehension, is the smiling fox being welcomed into the henhouse, and too many 2nd Amendment advocates are being lulled into continued acceptance of the ATF's unacceptable tyranny simply because it is being packaged as a "kinder, gentler" tyranny.Royce is not kind to law enforcement officials who willfully violate the rights of the People while trashing their oath to uphold and defend the Supreme Law, and this fact is fully exhibited in this episode.Sicarios Gun ShopFirearms, Accessories, Ammo, Safes, and more!The Gun Site9-Lane 25 yard indoor Shooting Range, Gun Store, Training classesFreedom GunsFirearms, Ammunition, Accessories, Training classes WJS GunsGun and Outdoor Shop, ammo, accessories, fishing tackle, moreGlover Orndorf and Flanagan Wealth Mgmt.Wealth management servicesSHOOTINGCLASSES.COMOnline business operations platform for firearms instructors, trainees, and Shooting RangesCounter Strike TacticalBest Little Gun Store in Melbourne, Florida! Veteran Owned and Operated 321-499-4949Go2 WeaponsManufacturers of AR platform rifles for military and civilian. Veteran Owned and OperatedEar Care of MelbourneNeed hearing aids? Go to the audiologists that gave Royce his hearing back!Quantified PerformanceQuantified Performance, LLC is focused on building safe, high performing keepers and bearers.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Watch Floor - YouTubeAskari Media GroupBuy Paul Eberle's book "Look at the Dirt"Paul Eberle (lookatthedirt.com)

After velocity and gel testing Federal 6.5 Creedmoor +Peak loaded with 130 Grain Terminal Ascent bullets and comparing it to 6.5 PRC, Mark Boardman and Ryan Muckenhirn break down everything they learned. Does Federal's innovative Peak Alloy high-pressure case deliver the velocity gains hunters have been waiting for? Does Peak Alloy Launch the 6.5 Creedmoor into an entirely new realm of performance? Is the 6.5 Creedmoor the only cartridge most folks need to handle all their big-game hunting applications? Is high pressure the future of cartridge design? Find out here! As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation™ podcast by asking us on Instagram @vortexnationpodcast

This evening, we wrap the day's market movements with PrimeXBT, review the operational gains in the Port of Cape Town with TNPA, discuss local fuel stockpiling with Africa International Advisors, examine Denel expression of interest for ammunition investment with Kobus Marais, explore sustainable progress in healthcare with Medshield, and, in our Digital Drive segment, we take a closer look at the prospective BYD battery plant in SA with BusinessDay. SAfm Market Update - Podcasts and live stream

Jane Dutton speaks to EWN Reporter, Nkosikhona Malingi-Mnisi about the court case involving Julius Mkhwanazi, and other senior Ekurhuleni officials. The Midday Report with Mandy Wiener is 702 and CapeTalk’s flagship news show, your hour of essential news radio. The show is podcasted every weekday, allowing you to catch up with a 60-minute weekday wrap of the day's main news. It's packed with fast-paced interviews with the day’s newsmakers, as well as those who can make sense of the news and explain what's happening in your world. All the interviews are podcasted for you to catch up and listen to. Thank you for listening to this podcast of The Midday Report Listen live on weekdays between 12:00 and 13:00 (SA Time) to The Midday Report broadcast on 702 https://buff.ly/gk3y0Kj and on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from The Midday Report go to https://buff.ly/BTGmL9H and find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/LcbDdFI Subscribe to the 702 and CapeTalk daily and weekly newsletters https://buff.ly/v5mfetc Follow us on social media: 702 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkRadio702 702 on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talkradio702 702 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkradio702/ 702 on X: https://x.com/Radio702 702 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@radio702 CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Send us Fan Mail The DOJ is suing California and their communist AG, "Bolshevik" Bob Bonta, to overturn their ban on Glock pistols. A federal judge has granted a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the enforcement of said ban, but Bolshevik Bob has responded by claiming Glock pistols and their ilk are not protected by "the plain text of the 2nd Amendment". Yep, the Stupid is strong in this one. Tune in and share!Link to Sarah "Superbad" Adams podcast, former CIA target analyst who worked with the Benghazi boys in that capacity: The Watch Floor - YouTubeFreedom GunsFirearms, Ammunition, Accessories, Training classes The Gun Site9-Lane 25 yard indoor Shooting Range, Gun Store, Training classesWJS GunsGun and Outdoor Shop, ammo, accessories, fishing tackle, moreSicarios Gun ShopFirearms, Accessories, Ammo, Safes, and more!SHOOTINGCLASSES.COMOnline business operations platform for firearms instructors, trainees, and Shooting RangesGlover Orndorf and Flanagan Wealth Mgmt.Wealth management servicesCounter Strike TacticalBest Little Gun Store in Melbourne, Florida! Veteran Owned and Operated 321-499-4949Go2 WeaponsManufacturers of AR platform rifles for military and civilian. Veteran Owned and OperatedEar Care of MelbourneNeed hearing aids? Go to the audiologists that gave Royce his hearing back!Quantified PerformanceQuantified Performance, LLC is focused on building safe, high performing keepers and bearers.Control Jiu-Jitsu/MMAJiu-Jitsu/MMA Training in Melbourne, FLDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Watch Floor - YouTubeAskari Media GroupBuy Paul Eberle's book "Look at the Dirt"Paul Eberle (lookatthedirt.com)

Bruce Bechtol. Bechtol analyzes the deepening military partnership between North Korea and Russia, driven by ammunition sales for the Ukraine war. This influx of cash allows North Korea to modernize its navy and build destroyers. (15)1920

Send us Fan Mail. SCOTUS has granted cert to two "assault weapons" ban cases concerning Illinois and Connecticut, but can John Roberts be trusted to do the right thing?. In a major procedural defeat for the ATF, a federal judge has refused their request for dismissal of a federal wrongful death lawsuit brought against them by Marie Malinowski, the surviving widow of Bryan Malinowski, after ATF agents shot and killed him in his own home, even though they had no arrest warrant for him.. Rep. James Comer (R-KY) is demanding information regarding collusion between the ATF and "Everytown", a rabid anti-rights group that pushes for civilian disarmament.The Gun Site9-Lane 25 yard indoor Shooting Range, Gun Store, Training classesWJS GunsGun and Outdoor Shop, ammo, accessories, fishing tackle, moreSicarios Gun ShopFirearms, Accessories, Ammo, Safes, and more!SHOOTINGCLASSES.COMOnline business operations platform for firearms instructors, trainees, and Shooting RangesFreedom GunsFirearms, Ammunition, Accessories, Training classes Glover Orndorf and Flanagan Wealth Mgmt.Wealth management servicesCounter Strike TacticalBest Little Gun Store in Melbourne, Florida! Veteran Owned and Operated 321-499-4949Go2 WeaponsManufacturers of AR platform rifles for military and civilian. Veteran Owned and OperatedEar Care of MelbourneNeed hearing aids? Go to the audiologists that gave Royce his hearing back!Quantified PerformanceQuantified Performance, LLC is focused on building safe, high performing keepers and bearers.Control Jiu-Jitsu/MMAJiu-Jitsu/MMA Training in Melbourne, FLDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Watch Floor - YouTubeAskari Media GroupBuy Paul Eberle's book "Look at the Dirt"Paul Eberle (lookatthedirt.com)

Preview: Colonel Jeff McCausland recounts the 20th Maine's stand at Little Round Top. Out of ammunition, Colonel Chamberlain ordered a bayonet charge to successfully hold the southernmost line against exhausted Confederate forces, preventing a total Union collapse.

Send us Fan MailWith a recent injunction preventing the Constitutionally-dyslexic Virginia State Police and all attorneys general across the state from enforcing the illegal "assault weapons" ban that is set to steal power from the People of Virginia on July 1, the violent Democrat communist AG, Jay "Two Bullets" Jones, who has talked about shooting political opponents and their children (with "two in the head"), is urging all local police to enforce it regardless, since they are not specifically named in the injunction. But the Virginia State Constitution is also in play, and Bruen principles may slap the entire law down.The recent Wolford decision that shot down Hawaii's so-called "Vampire Rule" for concealed carriers has now become a potential catalyst for striking down New Jersey's own "assault weapons" law with Bruen principles, not to mention the other ten states with such illegal laws.WJS GunsGun and Outdoor Shop, ammo, accessories, fishing tackle, moreFreedom GunsFirearms, Ammunition, Accessories, Training classes Sicarios Gun ShopFirearms, Accessories, Ammo, Safes, and more!The Gun Site9-Lane 25 yard indoor Shooting Range, Gun Store, Training classesSHOOTINGCLASSES.COMOnline business operations platform for firearms instructors, trainees, and Shooting RangesGlover Orndorf and Flanagan Wealth Mgmt.Wealth management servicesControl Jiu-Jitsu/MMAJiu-Jitsu/MMA Training in Melbourne, FLCounter Strike TacticalBest Little Gun Store in Melbourne, Florida! Veteran Owned and Operated 321-499-4949Go2 WeaponsManufacturers of AR platform rifles for military and civilian. Veteran Owned and OperatedEar Care of MelbourneNeed hearing aids? Go to the audiologists that gave Royce his hearing back!Quantified PerformanceQuantified Performance, LLC is focused on building safe, high performing keepers and bearers.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Watch Floor - YouTubeAskari Media GroupBuy Paul Eberle's book "Look at the Dirt"Paul Eberle (lookatthedirt.com)

Send us Fan Mail. A shooting suspect is found "not guilty" after shooting two men in a bar parking lot, and why it was a justified shooting.. A woman is forced to shoot her estranged ex after he broke into her home early one morning. The restraining order didn't work, the pepper spray didn't work, but her pistol did.. Why the proposed "Concealed Carry Reciprocity" bill is a toothless wonder. . The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rules that suppressors are considered arms after all and thus protected by the 2nd Amendment.. An HOA in South Carolina decides they're a legislative and enforcement body and outlaws the concealed carry of guns in "shared spaces",....in a Constitutional Carry state.Sicarios Gun ShopFirearms, Accessories, Ammo, Safes, and more!WJS GunsGun and Outdoor Shop, ammo, accessories, fishing tackle, moreThe Gun Site9-Lane 25 yard indoor Shooting Range, Gun Store, Training classesFreedom GunsFirearms, Ammunition, Accessories, Training classes SHOOTINGCLASSES.COMOnline business operations platform for firearms instructors, trainees, and Shooting RangesGlover Orndorf and Flanagan Wealth Mgmt.Wealth management servicesControl Jiu-Jitsu/MMAJiu-Jitsu/MMA Training in Melbourne, FLCounter Strike TacticalBest Little Gun Store in Melbourne, Florida! Veteran Owned and Operated 321-499-4949Go2 WeaponsManufacturers of AR platform rifles for military and civilian. Veteran Owned and OperatedEar Care of MelbourneNeed hearing aids? Go to the audiologists that gave Royce his hearing back!Quantified PerformanceQuantified Performance, LLC is focused on building safe, high performing keepers and bearers.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Watch Floor - YouTubeAskari Media GroupBuy Paul Eberle's book "Look at the Dirt"Paul Eberle (lookatthedirt.com)

In June 1967, Israeli paratroopers fought one of the Six Day War's bloodiest battles to reunify Jerusalem. Ammunition Hill, a fortified Jordanian stronghold carved into the limestone hills of East Jerusalem, became the key to the Old City. What followed was four hours of chaos, courage, and carnage in a maze of narrow trenches. This episode unpacks the battle, its heroes, and the complicated legacy of a city reunified. Here are the sources used in this epsidoe. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WIB04rolWgTnfCW-puSaNhXkQzBzS1LxABMU1pEFUKo/edit?usp=sharing Here are links to the Unpacking Israeli History's 3-Part series on the '67 War. 6 days that Changed Israel Forever: Lead-up to the 1967 War (Part 1) 6 days that Changed Israel Forever: The Middle East at War (Part 2) 6 days that Changed Israel Forever: The Aftermath (Part 3) This episode is generously sponsored in honor of Dr. Andrew and Marci Spitzer. It is also sponsored by, and made in partnership with, Jewish National Fund-USA. Since 1901, Jewish National Fund-USA has strengthened the land and people of Israel through bold initiatives that secure the country's North and South. By preserving heritage sites like Ammunition Hill, Jewish National Fund-USA invests in Israel's future, driving tourism, generating jobs, and helping communities thrive.Find more information about visiting Ammunition Hill and other parts of Israel below. You belong in Israel. Find your Jewish National Fund-USA tour or mission: https://www.jnf.org/travel/  Educators can explore Israel on Jewish National Fund-USA's special mission: https://www.jnf.org/travel/tour/index/educators-mission-to-israel-2026  Jewish National Fund-USA's Alexander Muss High School in Israel offers semester, summer, and mini-mester academic experiences for North American teens. Find out more: https://www.amhsi.org/   Learn more about the Jewish National Fund-USA's work preserving heritage sites in Israel: https://www.jnf.org/our-work/heritage-site-preservation  Check out our episodes on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand. ------------------- For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jewish History Nerds⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Soulful Jewish Living⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Stars of David with Elon Gold ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wondering Jews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Send us Fan MailRoyce takes a critical look at the Democrat Socialists of America (the DSA, who've essentially taken over the Democrat party) and their Red Rabbits, one of the many militant factions of the Democrat communist party, and how they're organizing and training with the expressed intent of overthrowing the United States from within. We the People had better be arming and training also!Control Jiu-Jitsu/MMAJiu-Jitsu/MMA Training in Melbourne, FLFreedom GunsFirearms, Ammunition, Accessories, Training classes The Gun Site9-Lane 25 yard indoor Shooting Range, Gun Store, Training classesSicarios Gun ShopFirearms, Accessories, Ammo, Safes, and more!WJS GunsGun and Outdoor Shop, ammo, accessories, fishing tackle, moreSHOOTINGCLASSES.COMOnline business operations platform for firearms instructors, trainees, and Shooting RangesGlover Orndorf and Flanagan Wealth Mgmt.Wealth management servicesEar Care of MelbourneNeed hearing aids? Go to the audiologists that gave Royce his hearing back!Counter Strike TacticalBest Little Gun Store in Melbourne, Florida! Veteran Owned and Operated 321-499-4949Go2 WeaponsManufacturers of AR platform rifles for military and civilian. Veteran Owned and OperatedQuantified PerformanceQuantified Performance, LLC is focused on building safe, high performing keepers and bearers.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showGiveSendGo | Unconstitutional 2A Prosecution of Tate Adamiak Askari Media GroupBuy Paul Eberle's book "Look at the Dirt"Paul Eberle (lookatthedirt.com)The Deadly Path: How Operation Fast & Furious and Bad Lawyers Armed Mexican Cartels: Forcelli, Peter J., MacGregor, Keelin, Murphy, Stephen: 9798888456491: Amazon.com: Books

Ted from Van Buren joins the podcast to talk about Switchfoot's influence, the new record, and the rocker "Ammunition." Follow "This is Van Buren" on TikTok and Instagram!

When a young woman falls in love with a wealthy heir, she thinks she is marrying into a life of privilege and adventure. Instead, she finds herself trapped in a relationship filled with infidelity, abuse, fear, a crap ton of weaponry, and so many mysterious murders that there is a possible link to the Zodiac Killer.Sources:1. Thoresen, Louise, and E. M. Nathanson. It Gave Everybody Something to Do. M Evans & Company, 1974.2. “Chicago Tonight | The Murder of Valerie Percy: ‘Cloud Over Kenilworth' Remains | Season 2016 | PBS.” PBS: Public Broadcasting Service, 15 Sept. 2016, https://www.pbs.org/video/chicago-tonight-murder-valerie-percy-cloud-over-kenilworth-remains/.3. “Valerie Percy Murder: Suspect William Thoresen Revealed in 1966 Kenilworth Mystery | ABC7 Chicago | Abc7chicago.Com - ABC7 Chicago.” ABC7 Chicago, https://abc7chicago.com/archive/9405395/. Accessed 22 May 2026.4. Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/193178696/william_erness-thoresen. Accessed 22 May 2026.5. Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/117445135/louise-thoresen. Accessed 22 May 2026.6. Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/193178695/richard_ehrman-thoresen. Accessed 22 May 2026.7. New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/1974/03/24/archives/it-gave-everybody-something-to-do-by-louise-thoresen-with-e-m.html. Accessed 22 May 2026.8. Time Magazine. Accessed 22 May 2026.9. Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/129173076/judith_mae-andersen. Accessed 22 May 2026.10. New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/1974/03/06/archives/the-way-she-tells-the-story-its-a-manhaters-dream-alleged-motives.html. Accessed 23 May 2026.11. Arizona Daily Star, 14 Nov. 1970.This Week's Episode Brought To You By:Progressive Insurance - Discover better rates at https://www.progressive.com/ ****Shopify - $1 per month trial - http://shopify.com/lovemurderWarby Parker - Our listeners can buy one prescription pair and get 20% off additional pairs at WarbyParker.com/lovemurderHers - Personalized, affordable plans for weight loss, hair, and anxiety - forhers.com/LOVEMURDERHoneylove - Treat yourself to the best shapewear on the market and save 20% off at honeylove.com/lovemurderHoneylove - Treat yourself to the best shapewear on the market and save 20% off at honeylove.com/lovemurderZazzle - Save 25% on your first order at Zazzle.comFind LOVE MURDER online:Website: lovemurder.loveInstagram: @lovemurderpodTwitter: @lovemurderpodFacebook: LoveMrdrPodTikTok: @LoveMurderPodPatreon: /LoveMurderPodCredits: Love Murder is hosted by Jessie Pray and Andie Cassette, researched by Sarah Lynn Robinson and researched and written by Jessie Pray, produced by Nathaniel Whittemore and edited by Kyle Barbour-HoffmanSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The 7.62x39 is one of the most recognizable and widely used rifle cartridges ever created. Paired with AK-pattern rifles, it has earned a reputation for reliability, effectiveness, and global popularity. But what turned this intermediate cartridge into a worldwide phenomenon? In this episode, AK enthusiast Scott Hollfelder emerges from his bunker to break down the history, performance, military legacy, and enduring appeal of the 7.62x39. From its battlefield origins to its continued popularity among shooters today, discover why this cartridge remains one of the most influential rifle rounds ever designed. As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation™ podcast by asking us on Instagram @vortexnationpodcast

Send us Fan MailA wanna-be Senate candidate from Nebraska that wants all gun owners to undergo mental health evaluations every five years, kind of like a double preemptive "red flag law".Royce reads a quote from USMC Maj. L. Caudill that frames the keeping and bearing of arms as one of the foundations of a civilized society.A firearms manufacturer leaves Virginia due to proposed and contested bans on so-called "assault weapons".Royce addresses the two idiot cops from Pasadena who pointed their loaded guns at each other while "horseplaying", which culminated in one officer being shot (thankfully not fatally).Freedom GunsFirearms, Ammunition, Accessories, Training classes Sicarios Gun ShopFirearms, Accessories, Ammo, Safes, and more!The Gun Site9-Lane 25 yard indoor Shooting Range, Gun Store, Training classesWJS GunsGun and Outdoor Shop, ammo, accessories, fishing tackle, moreSHOOTINGCLASSES.COMOnline business operations platform for firearms instructors, trainees, and Shooting RangesGlover Orndorf and Flanagan Wealth Mgmt.Wealth management servicesControl Jiu-Jitsu/MMAJiu-Jitsu/MMA Training in Melbourne, FLCounter Strike TacticalBest Little Gun Store in Melbourne, Florida! Veteran Owned and Operated 321-499-4949Go2 WeaponsManufacturers of AR platform rifles for military and civilian. Veteran Owned and OperatedEar Care of MelbourneNeed hearing aids? Go to the audiologists that gave Royce his hearing back!Quantified PerformanceQuantified Performance, LLC is focused on building safe, high performing keepers and bearers.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showGiveSendGo | Unconstitutional 2A Prosecution of Tate Adamiak Askari Media GroupBuy Paul Eberle's book "Look at the Dirt"Paul Eberle (lookatthedirt.com)The Deadly Path: How Operation Fast & Furious and Bad Lawyers Armed Mexican Cartels: Forcelli, Peter J., MacGregor, Keelin, Murphy, Stephen: 9798888456491: Amazon.com: Books

T.O.M / SOUND AMMUNITION PODCAST #12 / TECHNOTRANCE / JUNE / 2026 by TOXIC SICKNESS OFFICIAL

"You never get a second shot at quality—do it right the first time." Episode Summary In this episode, we sit down with Gage Moulding, the Vice President of HSM Ammunition, to talk about all things ammo. We dig deep into the science and consistency required to build truly reliable ammunition, the importance of family culture in a manufacturing business, and how real-world feedback from shooters shapes the products HSM produces. We also explore how the industry reacts to supply chain challenges, changing regulations, and technological advances. Whether you're a competitive shooter, a hunter, or a casual range enthusiast, this episode delivers the kind of insider perspective you've always wanted on what it takes to put the highest quality rounds in your magazine. Call to Action  1. Subscribe and leave us a comment on Apple or Spotify 2. Follow us on all of our social media: Instagram Youtube 3. Grab some cool TGE merch 4. Ask us anything at AskMikeandKeith@gmail.com 5. Be sure to support the sponsors of the show. They're a big part of making the show possible. Show Sponsors HSM Ammunition: Proudly made in the USA with tight quality control. Check them out at hsmammunition.com or your local sporting goods store. OnSight Firearms Training (OFT): Real-world defensive shooting instruction by pros who walk the walk. Find a course that meets your needs at OFTLLC.us Key Takeaways Modern factory ammo can rival handloads in consistency and performance due to advanced quality control systems. HSM's company culture is built around family values and customer service, ensuring your concerns are addressed by real experts. Longevity among employees (loaders with 17+ years at HSM) brings unmatched institutional knowledge and consistent manufacturing processes. Supply chain disruptions (especially for powder and primers) remain the industry's biggest challenge. Preparedness (safety stock) is essential. Real-world feedback from hunters, competitors, and law enforcement directly influences new product development at HSM. Ammunition price increases reflect rising costs across the board, not higher profits for manufacturers. Not all calibers are created equal—find out why .44 Magnum is underrated and the myth behind "just fill it to the top" when reloading. Guest Information Name: Gage Moulding Position: Vice President, HSM Ammunition Background: Former Army Officer, extensive experience in manufacturing and distribution, passionate about hunting, fishing, and shooting sports. Keywords ammunition manufacturing, HSM Ammunition, ammo quality control, factory ammo vs handloads, competitive shooting, hunting ammo, family business, American-made ammo, ammo supply chain, powder shortage, shooting sports, reloading myths, gun industry trends, best rifle ammo, premium projectiles, .44 Magnum, subsonic ammunition

One of the best tasting meats in the world. That's what people say about axis deer. We hunt them in Hawaii, Texas and Florida (and a few other places). We're going holo-holo with my friend Kahai to talk axis deer hunting. If you want to support free speech and good hunting content on the Information Superhighway, look for our coffee and books and wildlife forage blends at https://www.garylewisoutdoors.com/Shop/This episode is sponsored by West Coast Floats, of Philomath, Oregon, made in the USA since 1982 for steelhead and salmon fishermen. Visit https://westcoastfloats.com/Our TV sponsors include: Nosler, Warne Scope Mounts, Carson, Pro-Cure Bait Scents, Spring Pilot, The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce, TS&S Madras Ford, Bailey Seed and Smartz.Watch select episodes of Frontier Unlimited on our network of affiliates around the U.S. or click https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=gary+lewis+outdoors+frontier+unlimited

A weekly live show covering all things Freedom Tech with Max, Q and Seth.GO TO https://nano-gpt.com for more information [[BILLLKEONNE]]TO DONATE TO ROMAN'S DEFENSE FUND: https://freeromanstorm.com/donateVALUE FOR VALUEThanks for listening you Ungovernable Misfits, we appreciate your continued support and hope you enjoy the shows.You can support this episode using your time, talent or treasure.TIME:- create fountain clips for the show- create a meetup- help boost the signal on social mediaTALENT:- create ungovernable misfit inspired art, animation or music- design or implement some software that can make the podcast better- use whatever talents you have to make a contribution to the show!TREASURE:- BOOST IT OR STREAM SATS on the Podcasting 2.0 apps @ https://podcastapps.com- DONATE via Monero @ https://xmrchat.com/ugmf- BUY SOME STICKERS @ https://www.ungovernablemisfits.com/shop/FOUNDATIONhttps://foundation.xyz/ungovernableFoundation builds Bitcoin-centric tools that empower you to reclaim your digital sovereignty.As a sovereign computing company, Foundation is the antithesis of today's tech conglomerates. Returning to cypherpunk principles, they build open source technology that “can't be evil”.Thank you Foundation Devices for sponsoring the show!Use code: Ungovernable for $10 off of your purchaseCAKE WALLEThttps://cakewallet.comCake Wallet is an open-source, non-custodial wallet available on Android, iOS, macOS, and Linux.Features:- Built-in Exchange: Swap easily between Bitcoin and Monero.- User-Friendly: Simple interface for all users.Monero Users:- Batch Transactions: Send multiple payments at once.- Faster Syncing: Optimized syncing via specified restore heights- Proxy Support: Enhance privacy with proxy node options.Bitcoin Users:- Coin Control: Manage your transactions effectively.- Silent Payments: Static bitcoin addresses- Batch Transactions: Streamline your payment process.Thank you Cake Wallet for sponsoring the show!MYNYMBOXhttps://mynymbox.ioYour go-to for anonymous server hosting solutions, featuring: virtual private & dedicated servers, domain registration and DNS parking. We don't require any of your personal information, and you can purchase using Bitcoin, Lightning, Monero and many other cryptos.Explore benefits such as No KYC, complete privacy & security, and human support.

A visit to Ammunition Hill on the anniversary of the pivotal 6-day War battle. Site manager Alon Wald talks about his soldier father who fell in battle there & his work w/ youth. Hezbollah refuses ceasefire, demands Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

A visit to Ammunition Hill on the anniversary of the pivotal 6-day War battle. Site manager Alon Wald talks about his soldier father who fell in battle there & his work w/ youth. Hezbollah refuses ceasefire, demands Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

A visit to Ammunition Hill on the anniversary of the pivotal 6-day War battle. Site manager Alon Wald talks about his soldier father who fell in battle there & his work w/ youth. Hezbollah refuses ceasefire, demands Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

A visit to Ammunition Hill on the anniversary of the pivotal 6-day War battle. Site manager Alon Wald talks about his soldier father who fell in battle there & his work w/ youth. Hezbollah refuses ceasefire, demands Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

A visit to Ammunition Hill on the anniversary of the pivotal 6-day War battle. Site manager Alon Wald talks about his soldier father who fell in battle there & his work w/ youth. Hezbollah refuses ceasefire, demands Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

Send us Fan MailFIRST HALF:  Royce reacts to a social media post that exemplifies the abject willful ignorance of the leftists regarding the 2nd Amendment and the Constitution in general, then expounds on how gun control has victimized untold millions and still does.SECOND HALF: Royce tells the story of one of the contemporaries of our Founders, Tenche Coxe, who began as a Loyalist sympathizer but later, after witnessing the abuses that followed on the heels of the disarming of the colonists in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, became a staunch advocate for the right of the People to keep and bear arms, as well as an arms merchant.Freedom GunsFirearms, Ammunition, Accessories, Training classes Sicarios Gun ShopFirearms, Accessories, Ammo, Safes, and more!Glover Orndorf and Flanagan Wealth Mgmt.Wealth management servicesThe Gun Site9-Lane 25 yard indoor Shooting Range, Gun Store, Training classesWJS GunsGun and Outdoor Shop, ammo, accessories, fishing tackle, moreSHOOTINGCLASSES.COMOnline business operations platform for firearms instructors, trainees, and Shooting RangesCounter Strike TacticalBest Little Gun Store in Melbourne, Florida! Veteran Owned and Operated 321-499-4949Go2 WeaponsManufacturers of AR platform rifles for military and civilian. Veteran Owned and OperatedEar Care of MelbourneNeed hearing aids? Go to the audiologists that gave Royce his hearing back!Quantified PerformanceQuantified Performance, LLC is focused on building safe, high performing keepers and bearers.Control Jiu-Jitsu/MMAJiu-Jitsu/MMA Training in Melbourne, FLDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showGiveSendGo | Unconstitutional 2A Prosecution of Tate Adamiak Askari Media GroupBuy Paul Eberle's book "Look at the Dirt"Paul Eberle (lookatthedirt.com)The Deadly Path: How Operation Fast & Furious and Bad Lawyers Armed Mexican Cartels: Forcelli, Peter J., MacGregor, Keelin, Murphy, Stephen: 9798888456491: Amazon.com: Books

In this episode, Ryan Nordstrom from Big River Ammo shares his journey into ammunition manufacturing, the challenges of small business in the industry, and insights into optimal shotgun shell performance for waterfowl hunting. Discover practical tips on patterning, shell selection, and the benefits of lower velocity shells for ethical hunting. Surround yourself with good people, and good things will happen. Sit back and relax. Looking for new products? Visit Canadian Waterfowl Supplies: https://www.canadianwaterfowlsupplies...  @CanadianWaterfowlSupplies Looking for some Punisher Swag? Visit www.punisherwaterfowl.com A huge thank you to our show sponsors: Real Geese Decoys : https://webfootdecoys.com/                                      @realgeesedecoys Rig em Right:  https://rigemright.com/                            @RigEmRightWaterfowl   Pitboss Waterfowl: https://pitbosswaterfowl.com/                                     @JeffCoats   Have ideas for a topic? Know someone who would be a good guest? Have questions about the show? Reach out on social media: Instagram : www.instagram.com/punisherwaterfowl (   / punisherwate..  )               @punisherwaterfowl Facebook : www.facebook.com/punisherwaterfowl (   / punisherwater..  ) #PunisherWaterfowl #podcast #waterfowl   #Waterfowl #VeteranOwned #Podcast #DuckLanderCalls #duckhunters #duckcalls

Kouri Richins told her three sons at sentencing that she'd appeal her conviction and fight "no matter how long it takes." Her defense attorneys got the deadline to file a motion for a new trial extended from fourteen days to twenty-eight and told the judge they need to retain a new expert. The question nobody in the courtroom answered is whether any of it matters.Eric Faddis breaks down every potential appellate lane — the alleged prosecutorial access to attorney-client jail calls, the Crozier recantation the defense says wasn't disclosed in time, the denied motion to pull jurors from Salt Lake County, and a circumstantial case with no direct evidence of how fentanyl entered Eric Richins' body. He explains which issues survive appellate scrutiny and which die on the page.The defense called zero witnesses. Kouri never took the stand. The jury deliberated less than three hours before convicting on every count. Faddis walks through what waiving the right to testify and presenting no defense actually does to an appeal — and whether sufficiency of the evidence is ever a real argument in a case built entirely on circumstantial proof.Judge Mrazik said she's "simply too dangerous to ever be free." Her oldest son told the court he's afraid she'll come for him if she ever gets out. So what are the actual odds that Kouri Richins ever sees the outside of a prison?Footer Links:Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodDisclaimer:This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.Hashtags:#KouriRichins #EricRichins #FentanylMurder #TrueCrime #LifeWithoutParole #UtahMurderTrial #ParkCity #AppealDenied #HiddenKillers #TrueCrimeToday

-Dylan Carey was named All B1G First Team and B1G Defensive Player of the Year; Carson Jasa was All B1G first team; Drew Grego wasnamed All B1G 2 nd team AND B1G Freshman of the Year; and Mac Moyer was named to All B1G 2 nd team, and All-Defensive Team-Case Sanderson was also named to the All B1G 2 nd team, and Jeter Worthley made the All B1G Freshman Team; J'Shawn Unger is All-B1G 2 nd team…lots and lots of honorsOur Sponsors:* Check out Hims: https://hims.com/EARLYBREAKAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Firing cup and core, bonded, and monolithic bullets into ordnance gel is cool. Documenting it with a high-speed camera to analyze terminal performance is cooler. Mark Boardman and Ryan Muckenhirn unpack their findings after getting a unique look in slow motion. As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation™ podcast by asking us on Instagram @vortexnationpodcast

On March 9, 1945, LeMay orders his wing commanders to strip the B-29s of guns and ammunition to maximize their bomb loads, a decision many airmen view as "suicide." Despite warnings from artillery officers that he could lose 70% of his force, LeMay sends over 300 bombers singly at night into the heart of Tokyo. He targets Asakusa, the city's densest residential ward, where over 135,000 people live per square mile. LeMay's goal is to ignite a firestorm, a self-sustaining weather system with hurricane-force winds that devours all oxygen and everything in its path. Acting independently while Hap Arnold recovers from a heart attack, LeMay gambles his entire career on this one night. He acknowledges the moral gravity of the mission, telling his staff that if the United States loses the war, they will all likely be tried as war criminals for the mass civilian casualties they are about to inflict. 5/81951

Subsonic cartridges are fun, pleasant to shoot, practical and tactical. Specialized military applications, personal defense, hunting, discrete pest control, and more, subsonic cartridges serve multiple roles. Damon Zito from Vortex's product development team joins Mark Boardman and Ryan Muckenhirn for a fun discussion on subsonic cartridges, their versatility, and how they are using them. As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation™ podcast by asking us on Instagram @vortexnationpodcast

Detroit stakes its first-round flag on Blake Miller The Detroit Lions made their intent plain on Night 1 of the NFL Draft. They selected Blake Miller, offensive tackle from Thompson. The fit looks clean. Miller brings durability and dependability. He started four years and got better where he needed to in his final season. That improvement points to real upside even with all that experience. His athleticism did not raise questions on recent film. The Detroit Lions Podcast mock held firm with Miller, and the board cooperated. It is a strong marriage of need, profile, and projection. A floated move up for Reuben Bates did not materialize. The scenario had Detroit sending picks 17 and 50 plus a fourth to Washington for No. 7 and a fifth. It proved false. Bates slid further than expected. There was uncertainty about an off-field incident, and whether it influenced his fall remains unclear. Trade lessons from Night 1's market The league-wide trade tape told a story. Using the Fitzgerald-Spielberger chart, the Cowboys paid 2,486 units to receive 1,785. That is roughly the cost of an extra third-rounder to move from 12 to 11. The purpose was straightforward. Prevent Miami from moving that slot to another suitor, Detroit or otherwise. Dallas got Downs and made it count. The Texans sent 28 and 69 to Buffalo for 26 and 91. The math came to 2,571 out for 2,063 in. That gap mirrors an early fifth. The tax to climb was steeper than normal. Over 20 percent for Dallas. A little more for Houston. What looked like a buyer's market did not play that way. That context matters for Detroit tonight. If the Lions try to rise, the price likely tops the chart values. Expect a surcharge. Plan accordingly. Day 2 for Detroit: targets, fit, and flexibility The Lions hold multiple mid and late selections. Two fourths. Two fifths. Two sixths. And a seventh. The roster has room for only a few more players. Consolidation makes sense. Ammunition is there if a target gets close. The Detroit Lions Podcast board sets a clear lane. Decker Moore. Gabe Vaki. Dani Dennis-Sutton. Anthony Hill. D'Angelo Jones. Reed Stukes. Dennis-Sutton was the final projection at 50. The fit opposite Aidan Hutchinson pops. He is a crush-the-can pass rusher with some speed. He tested off the charts. The tape does not always flash that level, but the traits are present. He might not grade as a pure value at 50. The role match for Detroit is strong. Bottom line for Friday night. The Lions secured a dependable right tackle of the future in Blake Miller. The market to move will cost extra. The board has edge help and versatile pieces waiting. Detroit has the picks to go get one. #detroitlions #lions #detroitlionspodcast #blakemiller #offensivetackle #thompson #rou #tradevaluechart #nfldraft #danidennis-sutton #lionsmockdraft Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Big medicine in a standard-length action pushing a heavy .366 diameter bullet, the 9.3x62 Mauser is legally accepted as a dangerous game option in parts of Africa with a .375 bullet diameter minimum. This cartridge has a storied history and reputation for getting the job done…Big jobs. Commonly referred to as the poor man's .375 H&H, the 9.3x62 Mauser may just be the coolest cartridge you didn't know about. As always, we want to hear your feedback! Let us know if there are any topics you'd like covered on the Vortex Nation™ podcast by asking us on Instagram @vortexnationpodcast