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Last time we spoke about the Japanese offensive at Changsha. In late September 1941, fighting in China had become a brutal struggle of endurance. Japanese forces kept pushing forward, but China—though battered by heavy losses—refused to yield. Help from abroad was slowly beginning to matter. American aid reached China through groups like the Red Cross, and volunteers later associated with the Flying Tigers offered crucial support to Chinese operations. Against this backdrop, Changsha in Hunan became the center of a dangerous autumn campaign. Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist leadership treated the city as strategically vital, knowing that its fate could influence the wider course of the war. In the end, the resistance at Changsha showed China's key advantage: resilience. The city's defense helped slow the Japanese advance, break up momentum, and create uncertainty as the campaign continued. #212 The Autumn Battle of Changsha, 1941 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. In late September 1941, the war in China had already entered its fifth year. By then the conflict had lost whatever remained of novelty and had settled into something harsher and more exhausting: a long war of attrition fought across enormous distances, under conditions of chronic shortage, strategic uncertainty, and repeated local catastrophe. Japan still possessed formidable military strength. Its armies could strike hard, move fast, and exploit superior firepower, air support, and communications in individual campaigns. Yet the larger shape of the war had begun to change. China had not collapsed. The Nationalist government still stood. Chinese armies, however battered, still held the field. The line between survival and defeat remained dangerously thin, but it had not broken. This was the situation in which the autumn campaign in Hunan and Hubei unfolded. The struggle around Changsha did not occur in isolation. It belonged to a wider military and political moment. In Europe, the war had already expanded into a continent-wide convulsion. Germany and the Soviet Union were locked in a massive struggle after the German invasion in June. Leningrad was under threat, Kiev had become the scene of disaster, and the approach of the battle for Moscow suggested that still greater bloodshed lay ahead. Stalin had pressed Churchill to open a second front in Europe and had been refused. The global balance of war was shifting, but not yet in any way that guaranteed relief to China. In Asia, Japan continued to press forward. The pressure on China remained immense. Yet by mid-1941 China's position, though still precarious, no longer looked quite as desperate as it had in earlier years. International sympathy had grown. Material aid, however limited, was beginning to take more concrete form. In July, the American Red Cross sent China medical supplies worth millions of dollars. In August, more than a hundred retired American pilots and mechanics came together to aid China against Japan. The air unit they formed, later celebrated as the Flying Tigers, meant more than aircraft and personnel alone. It signaled that China's war was no longer quite so isolated. That change in atmosphere did not produce calm in Chongqing. It sharpened urgency. For Chiang Kai-shek, the possibility that the international situation might slowly improve for China carried with it a hard implication: China had to endure long enough to benefit from it. That meant surviving not in abstract terms, but in particular places, against particular offensives, at moments when a local defeat might have consequences far beyond the immediate battlefield. In the autumn of 1941, one of those places was Changsha. Changsha had long occupied an outsized place in the military geography of the war. It stood as the capital of Hunan, a hinge between regions, and a vital position in the defense of central China. Its security affected the Xiang River basin, communications across the province, and the broader defensive posture shielding approaches toward the wartime capital. To lose it, even temporarily, would be more than a symbolic blow. It would threaten the larger balance of the front in south-central China and test whether Japanese offensives could still force dramatic strategic results. At the same time, the battle for Changsha was not a simple contest between one Chinese army and one Japanese army facing each other across a fixed line. It was part of a larger operational struggle linking the Ninth War Zone with supporting actions from the Third, Fifth, and Sixth War Zones. It involved frontal resistance, hurried reinforcement, mobile defense, rear harassment, and the constant effort to turn Japanese momentum into Japanese overextension. Chinese commanders were trying not merely to survive a blow, but to absorb it, stretch it, and eventually strike back against an enemy whose speed could become a liability once supply lines lengthened and formations dispersed. This was the burden resting on the Military Commission in Chongqing. There, while reports arrived in fragments and maps were revised hour by hour, Chiang Kai-shek spent long stretches in the operations room watching the situation in Hunan and Hubei develop. He had already ordered the various war zones to support the Ninth War Zone's operations, and now he followed the campaign with intense concentration. His attention moved repeatedly toward reports from the Sixth War Zone and Chen Cheng's counteroffensive toward Yichang, for Yichang was tied not only to local fighting in Hubei but also to the defense of the Yangtze approach and therefore to the security of Chongqing itself. In his mind, Hunan and Hubei had become the focal point of China's war effort in that season. Meanwhile at the front, the situation was deteriorating fast. Japanese forces pressing into northern Hunan had already imposed severe strain on the Chinese defense. Blocking units had been battered back. Communications were uncertain. Some formations fought stubbornly but could not hold; others dissolved more quickly than hoped. The Japanese advance toward Changsha created exactly the kind of crisis Chinese commanders feared most: one in which the enemy moved with enough force and speed to threaten a major city before a coherent defensive response could be reassembled. Chinese units had to be thrown into action as they arrived, often after exhausting marches, often with incomplete knowledge of the situation, and often under immediate pressure from artillery, aircraft, and aggressive infantry assaults. Yet even at this dangerous stage, the campaign contained an opportunity as well as a threat. The deeper Japanese units pushed into Hunan, the more exposed their rear became. Supply depots, transport lines, and communications stretched farther behind the spearhead. Chinese formations that had been driven aside were not always destroyed; some remained capable of reappearing to strike roads, depots, and isolated detachments. If Changsha represented the visible center of the struggle, the enemy rear represented its hidden vulnerability. The Chinese aim, therefore, was not simply to defend passively around the city. It was to combine stubborn resistance in front with harassment and disruption behind, so that Japanese advance would become increasingly difficult to sustain. The battle that followed unfolded under these pressures: a threatened city, a strained but unbroken defense, commanders forced to improvise under severe danger, and a wider international war that made every local decision feel heavier than the ground on which it was taken. This subtle improvement in China's larger situation did not mean safety. China was still battered, under-resourced, and vulnerable. Japanese forces still possessed enormous advantages in mobility, firepower, and air power in many sectors. Large parts of the country remained occupied or threatened. Yet by mid-1941 something in the atmosphere had changed. In July, the American Red Cross sent China medical supplies worth millions of dollars. In August, more than a hundred retired American pilots and mechanics came together to aid China in its struggle against Japan. The air unit they formed would become famous under the name by which China knew them: the Flying Tigers. Their significance exceeded their immediate tactical value. They represented a visible sign that China was not entirely abandoned to isolation. For Claire Chennault, romantic, aggressive, and optimistic by temperament, the new situation encouraged increasingly bold thoughts. For the first time he included in his planning the idea that Japanese home territory might one day be bombed from bases in China. Such schemes were ambitious and perhaps premature, but their very existence reveals an altered horizon of possibility. A country that imagines striking back is already psychologically in a different position from one concerned only with preventing collapse. Yichang mattered directly to the fighting in Xiangbei, but it also mattered independently. It was tied to the security of the Yangtze approach and therefore to the defense of Chongqing. It belonged not only to the immediate problem of battlefield maneuver but to the larger question of whether China could do more than absorb Japanese offensives. Could Chinese forces exploit enemy overstretch? Could Japanese advances be turned into liabilities? Could local counterattacks and rear harassment generate effects greater than the raw size of the forces involved? By September 1941, these questions were no longer hypothetical. They were urgent. In Chiang's mind, Hunan and Hubei had become the focal point of China's war effort in that season. The struggle around Changsha was central to that effort. From Chongqing, Chiang telegraphed Commander Xue Yue of the Ninth War Zone with instructions that made both the danger and the opportunity plain. The message emphasized that the enemy in northern Hunan, though still pressing hard, had already been bravely intercepted by Chinese units and was now exhausted, with lines of advance increasingly difficult to sustain. This, Chiang argued, created an excellent opportunity for Chinese forces to strike at the enemy's rear and seek annihilation rather than mere delay. He urged officers and soldiers alike to remain determined to destroy the enemy. Even if Japanese troops advanced to the vicinity of Changsha itself, Chinese forces were to renew their efforts, maintain their confidence in victory, and prevent the enemy from establishing a foothold. The telegram also pointed to the broader operational picture. Japanese troops drawn from the sectors of the Fifth and Sixth War Zones had been committed to the invasion of northern Hunan, leaving their rear areas dangerously exposed. The Third, Fifth, and Sixth War Zones had launched supporting offensives on the twenty-third. Therefore, the Ninth War Zone had to strike resolutely and fiercely, preventing the Japanese from coordinating their forces and frustrating any attempt to occupy Changsha. The message was at once exhortation and operational logic. It reflected the core Chinese problem in the campaign: the Japanese thrust was dangerous and had to be blocked, but the very speed and depth of that thrust could also expose the attacker. Yet by the time Chiang sent his instructions, the danger around Changsha was already severe. After the 74th Army had been beaten back, there was no major Chinese force north of the city that could confidently block the Japanese advance in a straightforward, stable line. The Japanese 4th Division, together with the Hayabuchi Detachment, had defeated the 95th Division of the Chinese 37th Army and pushed toward Changsha. The prospect that the city might fall, at least temporarily, was no longer remote. In response, Xia Chuzhong's 79th Army from the Sixth War Zone was ordered to move toward the city. Its vanguard was Wang Jiaben's 98th Division. That movement was a forced march in the literal sense. It was not a flourish of language but an admission of emergency. Troops were pushed beyond ordinary endurance because there was no time to gather strength under favorable conditions. Changsha could not wait for convenience, rest, or ideal concentration. Either reinforcements arrived in time to fight immediately, or they arrived too late to matter. Wang Jiaben was no stranger to battle. A veteran officer from the Yunnan Army, he had fought the Japanese repeatedly—more than twenty times since the outbreak of the War of Resistance. He belonged to that generation of commanders who had been shaped by the fragmented military politics of Republican China but whose careers were now being rewritten by the national emergency of the anti-Japanese war. During the First Battle of Changsha, he had already distinguished himself. He led troops in a counterattack along the Tongcheng line in southern Hubei and intercepted retreating Japanese forces at Longmenchang and Changshoujie, killing more than a thousand enemy soldiers. He had experience, reputation, and a sense of what it meant to fight in the Changsha theater. This time he marched from Changde, driving his division forward with all possible speed. By noon on September 26 the 98th Division reached a position about two kilometers northeast of Changsha. There was scarcely time to settle the men. No careful preparation was possible. They had arrived because the city was in danger, and battle began almost at once. At dusk the division engaged the Hayabuchi Detachment. The fighting continued until late in the night without decisive result. That in itself was costly enough. Troops who have just completed a punishing march are already close to the limits of their endurance. To be thrown immediately into combat magnifies every weakness: thirst, fatigue, confusion, and the difficulty of building fieldworks under pressure. What the soldiers of the 98th Division could do that night, they did with their hands and whatever tools they had. They scraped positions out of the earth. They assembled makeshift cover. Officers moved along the line trying to impose order on terrain that had become a battlefield almost as soon as it was occupied. At dawn on September 27 the Japanese intensified the pressure from the air. More than twenty aircraft bombed the 98th Division's positions, tearing apart the earthworks that officers and soldiers had spent the night constructing. Bombing had a double effect. Physically, it damaged positions, wounded men, and disrupted preparations. Psychologically, it reminded defenders that they were being observed from above and struck by an enemy against whom they could often do little in the sky. Immediately after the bombing came a fierce infantry assault. Wang Jiaben and several other commanders went down to their respective regiments to supervise the fighting personally. This was dangerous, but under such circumstances commanders often believed that presence itself mattered. When fieldworks are collapsing, shell bursts are continuous, and communications are unreliable, authority must sometimes be carried by a body rather than a wire. The defenders held. Again and again the Japanese attacked. Again and again they were repulsed only to reorganize and come on once more. Every minute the Chinese line remained in place was bought with blood. Fallen and wounded men were carried rearward in what seemed an endless stream. The cost of resistance accumulated visibly before the eyes of those still fighting. By noon even water could no longer be delivered to the front. That detail reveals the intensity of the battle more clearly than many grander statements could. A line that cannot be supplied even with water has reached a condition of severe strain. During brief pauses in the fighting, officers and soldiers pulled out dry rations and chewed them slowly, swallowing with difficulty while they waited for the next attack. Such moments are among the most characteristic in battle: not the long, smooth continuity imagined in peacetime rhetoric, but brief interludes of miserable necessity between explosions. At two in the afternoon the crisis deepened sharply. A unit of the Japanese 4th Division worked its way behind the 98th Division's position and attacked from the rear. This was the kind of tactical development every defending commander dreads. A force can endure heavy frontal pressure if its line remains coherent and its rear reasonably secure. But when enemy troops appear behind a position, the entire structure of defense begins to dissolve. There, behind the line, were more than a hundred Chinese wounded awaiting evacuation. Japanese soldiers attacked them with bayonets. One of the wounded Chinese soldiers, already beyond ordinary capacity for resistance, rushed forward and detonated a grenade against a Japanese attacker. It was an act of desperation, but also of defiance. The episode captures something essential about the tone of the battle around Changsha. This was not a neat engagement between organized lines alone. It was a desperate collision in which even the badly wounded were drawn into last resistance. For Wang Jiaben, however, the tactical reality was impossible to deny. If he stayed where he was, the division might be annihilated. Personal courage could not alter encirclement. Resentfully, bitterly, and under the kind of pressure that leaves permanent scars on a commander's memory, he ordered retreat. When he led the survivors off the battlefield, fewer than half his men remained. Reinforcements from another direction now entered the struggle. The Provisional 2nd Army of the Seventh War Zone dispatched the Provisional 8th Division under Zhang Junsong. At seven in the evening on September 27, Zhang's force arrived at Zuojiatang on the eastern outskirts of Changsha. Personnel of the Ninth War Zone waiting there reported grim news: a Japanese detachment had already entered the city that afternoon, and another detachment was only three kilometers away. The situation invited rashness. A commander arriving near a threatened city at dusk, with reports that the enemy is already inside, may feel compelled to hurl troops forward immediately in a gesture of resolution. Yet night fighting in an urban approach without adequate reconnaissance can turn courage into waste. Zhang Junsong considered the matter carefully. He concluded that to rush blindly into the city at night would likely produce confusion and heavy losses. Instead he first sought to strike the enemy outside the city. His troops deployed quietly and crept forward through the darkness, launching a probing attack. But they soon discovered that the Japanese were fully prepared and not vulnerable to easy surprise. The line could not be broken. With no prospect of success, the force withdrew. The moment is revealing because it shows how narrow the margin had become. Chinese commanders were trying to recover initiative while still groping through uncertainty. Reports were incomplete, Japanese dispositions difficult to fix, and every hour dangerous. On the evening of September 28, the 79th Army's 6th Provisional Division occupied Yuelu Mountain west of Changsha. From that height officers and soldiers looked across the Xiang River toward the city. Changsha, for the first time, was in Japanese hands. The emotional force of that sight can only be imagined. Changsha had lived for years under threat. It had been defended, contested, prepared, and feared. The possibility of its loss had hovered over military planning and public consciousness alike. Now the danger had become fact. A city that had stood as an object of effort and anxiety was visibly occupied by the enemy. No single feeling could have governed the men who saw it. There must have been anger, shame, weariness, and dread—but also stubbornness. For in war a city seen in enemy hands is not always simply lost. Sometimes it is a summons. Late that night Zhao Jiping, commander of the 6th Provisional Division, received a telegram from Xue Yue. He read it and then stood before the map for a long time. Days of anxiety began to lift. He was not alone in that reaction. Many Chinese generals involved in the campaign had felt that they were fighting a confused and chaotic battle. Japanese movements had been broad, rapid, and difficult to pin down. The Ninth War Zone had thrown numerous units into blocking actions, yet both well-regarded formations and weaker, improvised units had repeatedly failed to hold. After ten days of combat, Chinese losses were heavy. But Japanese forces too had been worn, stretched, and damaged. Only now, as the Japanese reached the apparent culmination of their advance, did the Ninth War Zone begin to recover rhythm. Chaos did not disappear, but it became more legible. The possibility of a more ordered counteroffensive emerged. In the early hours of September 29, Zhao Jiping issued the order to force a crossing of the Xiang River and attack the enemy in Changsha. The preparations consumed the entire day. River crossings under combat conditions are among the most delicate operations in war. Boats must be assembled or found. Units must be organized into waves. Timing matters. Surprise matters. The location of landing points matters. The men themselves matter most of all, because they must sit exposed in fragile craft knowing that the real test will begin not in the middle of the river but at the far bank. Late that night the division crossed secretly by boat in six groups. The crossing itself went well enough. The river did not betray them. The groups made progress in darkness. Yet everyone involved understood that smooth movement on the water did not guarantee success. The crucial question was what waited at the landing points. It was expected that the troops going ashore at Daximen would be first to meet the Japanese. Once battle began there, the rest of the crossing accelerated. Chinese soldiers landed, attacked fiercely, and drove the enemy back from the riverbank. The momentum of the assault mattered. In such moments hesitation on shore can doom an entire crossing, but aggression can seize a foothold before the defender fully stabilizes. By the time Chinese forces entered the city, dawn was breaking. Then came street fighting. Changsha had ceased to be an objective on a map. It became again what cities become in war: a place of corners, walls, alleys, debris, smoke, and sudden death. Fighting in a city strips away much of the abstraction through which campaigns are often remembered. Streets channel movement. Buildings become cover, obstacles, or traps. Distances shrink but danger multiplies. A few men behind masonry can delay many more. Noise magnifies confusion. The city itself seems to fragment into a hundred separate battlefields. For Changsha, the long season of anxious anticipation ended in direct flame. Yet to understand the campaign only through the struggle at Changsha would be incomplete. While the city drew attention as the central prize, another set of operations was unfolding across Hunan and Hubei—less dramatic in appearance perhaps, but strategically significant. These were the actions of the 27th Army Group under Yang Sen. If the fighting around Changsha demonstrated the pressure of frontal battle, Yang Sen's operations illustrated another principle entirely: the stubborn, opportunistic use of weaker forces to harass, sting, and trouble a stronger enemy from behind. The 27th Army Group was composed largely of Sichuan troops. Their presence speaks to one of the larger political transformations of the war. Republican China had long been fractured by regional militarism. Armies had often owed stronger loyalty to commanders, provinces, or local power structures than to any unified national command. Yet the anti-Japanese war compelled a partial reordering of those loyalties. Many warlord forces, however imperfectly integrated, now turned their weapons outward under Nationalist command. There were exceptions. Some men, like Han Fuqu, had preserved their own strength at the cost of military responsibility and lost both opportunity and honor in doing so. But in the main, especially among middle and lower-ranking officers and ordinary soldiers, the imperative of national survival overrode provincial identity. Men from distant regions marched and fought in terrains not their own because the war no longer permitted a narrow conception of interest. Yang Sen himself was an old warlord soldier, one of those figures formed in the fractured military world of earlier decades. By 1941 he was deputy commander of the Ninth War Zone and commander-in-chief of the 27th Army Group. Along the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi border he had long been cautious in his operations. At the beginning of the northern Hunan battle, his troops proved unable to withstand the force of the Japanese offensive and retreated in disorder into mountains and forests. That fact should not be softened. They were pushed back. But retreat did not mean disappearance. This is where Yang Sen's role became important. Once the main Japanese force had advanced far ahead, the troops that had scattered began to reemerge. They knew the terrain. They knew the roads, villages, passes, and wooded approaches. If they could not defeat the Japanese in a grand collision, they could search for openings behind the advancing columns. On September 20, as the Japanese main force drove into the heart of northern Hunan, Yang Sen led elements of the 4th, 58th, and 20th Armies in pursuit for an entire day. The main body of the 4th Army had already been badly beaten at the Xinqiang River line, and only the 60th Division, recently transferred from the 37th Army, remained relatively intact. That single fact sharply defined the weakness of his means. He was not pursuing with fresh and powerful forces prepared for a decisive encounter. He was pursuing with fragments, survivors, and such units as still retained some offensive potential. But the Japanese, intent on rapid advance southward, paid too little attention to what followed behind them. That was the opening Yang Sen needed. On the morning of September 21, the 60th Division acted on information supplied by an old beggar. Such details often sound almost literary, but they remind us that war in China was never fought by armies alone. Villagers, refugees, peddlers, guides, boatmen, and the destitute all participated in the circulation of military knowledge. A beggar could see what a reconnaissance officer had missed. On the basis of that tip, the 60th Division launched a surprise attack on the supply depot of the Japanese 40th Division at Zhangjiayuan. Division Commander Dong Yu led the action. The Chinese quickly overwhelmed the more than three hundred Japanese troops guarding the depot. Once they broke in, they discovered an astonishing quantity of matériel: shell boxes, ammunition, food, medicine, gasoline, explosives, protective clothing, telephone wire, body bags, stretchers, and more, all stacked beneath heavy canvas. For men accustomed to scarcity, it must have seemed almost unreal. Dong Yu, delighted, is remembered as exclaiming to his deputy commander, "It's practically a department store!" The line has a momentary comic brightness in the middle of war, and that is part of why it survives. But its deeper significance lies in what it reveals. A modern army advancing deep into hostile territory is sustained by accumulation—ammunition, fuel, wire, medicines, rations, transport materials. To seize such a depot is not merely to take objects. It is to grasp the hidden skeleton of movement. Dong Yu then issued a one-word order: "Move." At once the whole division became a swarm of carriers. Officers and soldiers grabbed whatever they could and began hauling the captured supplies away. The scene must have been one of extraordinary improvised energy—riflemen transformed into laborers, war reduced for a moment to the brute physical act of lifting, dragging, and carrying. They moved like ants dismantling a storehouse. But there was too much to remove and too little time. Before even two regiments had completed the work, the Japanese returned in force. Enraged, they sent more than a dozen aircraft to bomb the troops carrying off the captured crates, while over a thousand infantrymen rushed in on the ground. Dong Yu immediately ordered the men to abandon what remained and destroy it. Amid deafening explosions, the 60th Division withdrew from Zhangjiayuan. The Japanese pursued hard, driving them back into the mountains before finally stopping. Measured purely in terms of territorial occupation, the action changed little. The Chinese did not hold the depot. They were forced back again. But judged in operational terms, the raid mattered. Supplies had been captured, destroyed, or disrupted. Japanese rear security had been embarrassed. Time and energy had been consumed in response. In a campaign where the Japanese were racing south and depending increasingly on stretched lines, such harassment was not trivial. After September 23, Yang Sen expanded these efforts. He sent whole divisions to harass the Japanese rear while also dispatching battalions and companies to ambush supply columns and disrupt transport lines. This was not the kind of warfare that produces neat dramatic maps in conventional military histories. The actions were scattered, local, opportunistic, and often inconclusive. Yet precisely for that reason they can be misunderstood. Not every useful military action ends in the destruction of an enemy division. Sometimes its value lies in forcing a stronger opponent to spend attention where he had hoped to spend only momentum. These operations were costly and uncertain. Small Chinese units striking roads and depots risked encirclement or aerial punishment. Yet they possessed one advantage: they did not need to win a grand battle to matter. They needed only to make movement harder, supply more precarious, and the rear less secure. On September 25, even after the 26th and 37th Armies had suffered defeat elsewhere, Yang Sen gathered the troops that still retained some offensive capacity and launched another attack. In these actions, the 90th Division captured Wukou; the 59th Division reached the north bank of the Miluo River; the 60th Division advanced to Donggang; and elements of the 58th Army controlled the Yuanba–Zheyangqiao highway line by the twenty-sixth. These gains were not the dramatic centerpiece of the campaign. But they formed part of the cumulative pressure on Japanese operations. Every road contested from the rear, every convoy threatened, every depot exposed, and every forced diversion of troops weakened the enemy's ability to convert tactical advance into stable success. The battlefield was fluid enough that Yang Sen's headquarters itself had to keep moving—from the Miluo River northward to Pingjiang. Mobile headquarters in such conditions lived under constant uncertainty. Reports arrived late or contradictory. Rumors outran facts. The front could bend in unpredictable ways. A command post that seemed safely behind the line in the morning might by afternoon lie only a few kilometers from enemy forces. Years later Mao Jiuyin, who had then served as an operations staff officer under Yang Sen, recalled the old commander's outward behavior in those dangerous days. Yang Sen, Mao remembered, was always joking with the people around him and could still laugh and talk during battle. On one occasion he even joked with his bodyguard about putting chili oil in his tea. To younger staff officers, such behavior appeared almost absurd. Yet they knew how dangerous their situation often was. Sometimes they were only a few kilometers from the main Japanese forces. There is more than anecdote in this memory. Old commanders often cultivated a style of ease under danger not because they felt no fear, but because they believed visible calm itself was part of command. Men take emotional bearings from those above them. A commander who panics spreads panic faster than any enemy breakthrough. Yang Sen was sixty years old during the Second Battle of Changsha, and he liked to remark that he was five years older than Chiang Kai-shek. Age had not removed him from the front. His function in the campaign was not to shatter the enemy in one decisive frontal blow. It was to persist, reappear, sting, and remain troublesome. The 27th Army Group followed the Japanese nearly all the way to the outskirts of Changsha. They did not fight many large set-piece engagements. That was never their main value. But the Japanese could not ignore them. If Japanese units turned and tried to hit them directly, they tended to dissolve into the landscape. If the Japanese pushed on and ignored them, they reappeared to sabotage roads, hit supply lines, and create alarms in the rear. Even Japanese official histories later described them memorably. They called them "like a swarm of annoying flies." The phrase was meant as contempt. But as so often happens in war, an insult became an accurate description of effect. If these Chinese troops could not be tigers in formal battle, they could still become intolerable as flies. And under certain conditions—fatigue, heat, uncertainty, stretched supply, shaken morale—flies can become more oppressive than an enemy would like to admit. When later generations look back on campaigns, they often search for a single explanatory image. But the fighting of September 1941 resists reduction to one symbol alone. What gives the campaign its force in memory is not one isolated episode, but the convergence of several pressures at once: a city under threat, a command trying to coordinate multiple fronts, exhausted reinforcements thrown directly into battle, Japanese forces advancing quickly but becoming increasingly vulnerable the farther they pushed, and Chinese troops in the rear refusing to disappear after defeat. Seen from Chongqing, the campaign was a matter of telegrams, maps, and the management of strategic risk. Seen from the front, it was a matter of thirst, mud, broken fieldworks, sudden bombing, exhausted marching, and the uncertainty of whether the next order meant reinforcement, retreat, or death. Seen from the Japanese side, it was initially an aggressive advance toward an important objective, but one increasingly troubled by stretched supply, difficult terrain, and the persistent reappearance of Chinese forces behind the line of movement. At the same time, the campaign reveals a Chinese war effort that had become more resilient than in the earliest years of the conflict. The Japanese advance toward Changsha was dangerous and at moments appeared close to success. Chinese blocking forces suffered severe defeats. Units arrived exhausted and were hurled into action at once. Commanders lost men at devastating rates. Changsha itself briefly fell into enemy hands. And yet the city was not simply surrendered as an accomplished fact. Chinese forces regrouped. Orders were coordinated across war zones. Reinforcements marched at desperate speed. Counterattacks were mounted. Forces west of the Xiang prepared and crossed back into the city. Elsewhere, troops under Yang Sen gnawed at the Japanese rear and made advance more costly than a map of front lines alone might suggest. This combination of desperate frontal resistance and incessant rear harassment was one of the characteristic strengths of China's resistance in this stage of the war. China could not always match Japanese power in one concentrated blow. But it could absorb, delay, fragment, and trouble that power across space and time. That is why the struggle around Changsha in late September 1941 deserves to be remembered not merely as a sequence of engagements, but as a layered event in which tactical battle, morale, logistics, political endurance, and international context all converged. 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. In late September 1941, Japan pushed deeper into China, but Chinese forces—supported gradually by international help—kept resisting. Changsha in Hunan became the central point of the conflict, seen as vital to strategic control in south-central China. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Hunan and Hubei, Yang Sen's 27th Army Group—often using smaller, opportunistic actions—reappeared behind Japanese lines to disrupt depots and convoys. Even when Chinese gains were temporary, the cumulative pressure delayed Japanese momentum.
Cloé Blanchette-Carrière est docteure en psychologie et spécialiste du sommeil. Elle a mené des recherches sur les rêves et le somnambulisme et elle organise des cliniques d'insomnie. Dans cet épisode de Ravito, on s'attaque à une question qui n'a pas de réponses universelles : comment gérer son sommeil avant, pendant et après une épreuve d'ultra-endurance? Voici un avant-goût de ce que cet épisode contient :• Pourquoi on dort, et pourquoi ce n'est pas une perte de temps;• Les grands mythes du sommeil (le nombre d'heures « obligatoire », le sommeil de rattrapage);• Comment préparer son sommeil dans les semaines précédant une épreuve;• Faut-il « accumuler » du sommeil avant l'épreuve? • Micro-siestes de 15-30 min vs blocs de 90-120 min : quand utiliser quoi;• La différence entre la fatigue et la somnolence (et pourquoi ça change ta stratégie);• L'effet de la privation de sommeil sur la perception de l'effort;• La caféine : quand la prendre pour ne pas nuire au sommeil;• Les montres et scores de sommeil : utiles ou contre-productifs?• Quoi faire lorsqu'on n'arrive pas à dormir la nuit avant l'évènement.
Distances entre chaque région, budget, équipement à prévoir, activités qui ont retenu les enfants à chaque étape. Et l'erreur principale à éviter au moment de choisir le véhicule. Le guide pratique de ce road trip de quinze jours en Occitanie avec trois enfants.Pour écouter l'épisode en entier15 jours en camping-car entre l'Aubrac et les Cévennes – Le voyage en famille de Camille en Occitanie-----------Si l'épisode vous a plu, laissez-moi une note 5 ⭐️ou un commentaire sur Apple Podcasts ou Spotify
Former Police Minister and current ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula has denied any involvement in Truth and Reconciliation Commission-related investigations during his tenure as police minister. Testifying before the TRC Inquiry, Mbalula said he had no authority over TRC investigations or prosecutions and never influenced decisions involving those cases. He told the commission he never attended meetings, received briefings, or consulted with victims' families on TRC matters. Mbalula was earlier testifying before the inquiry about the handling of apartheid-era TRC-referred cases as Minister of Police, a position he held from March 2017 to February 2018.
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Gia Giudice has made one thing clear in the midst of her Next Gen press whirl wind. She would like to distance herself from the one and only Miss Teresa Giudice. Say whaaat? Kelly Dodd engages in disgusting threats but all is not as it seems. Gizelle and Robyn come for Mia Thornton after Mia's epic AI fail in an attempt to, once again, be something she is not. Jenni Farley slams back at Ronnie and Angelina. Last, but not least, as RHORI prepares to begin filming season two immediately, Jo-Ellen walks away the clear MVP of the season one reunion. Job well done! @behindvelvetrope @davidyontef BONUS & AD FREE EPISODES Available at - www.patreon.com/behindthevelvetrope BROUGHT TO YOU BY: MYFITNESSPAL - podcasts.myfitnesspal.com (Use Code VELVET, All Upper Case Letters, For 15% Off The Premium App That Will Change Everything For You Regarding Fitness & Nutrition) ADVERTISING INQUIRIES - Please contact David@advertising-execs.com MERCH Available at - https://www.teepublic.com/stores/behind-the-velvet-rope?ref_id=13198 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Irene is a sports scientist, endurance coach, and ultra-runner originally from Spain, now based in the UK. She moved to the UK in 2013 to pursue a Master's degree, intending to stay only briefly, but quickly fell in love with the country and never left. Her journey into ultra-running was entirely unplanned. She only started running consistently in 2017 during her PhD in Neuroscience, initially as a way to cope with academic stress. Distances gradually increased, and without even realising ultramarathons existed, she found herself constantly curious about how far she could go. Once she ran beyond 21 km, something clicked—and she never looked back. Running became both a coping mechanism and, at times, a source of imbalance. A combination of PhD stress, under-fuelling, disordered eating, and overtraining led to injury after her first ultramarathon in 2021. While challenging, that injury marked a turning point. Although her academic career appeared highly successful from the outside, Irene was experiencing severe burnout and quietly drifting away from neuroscience. In January 2023, she left academia altogether after a period of profound burnout. Ultra-running remained a constant during this time and ultimately helped her rebuild. By then, she had already completed coaching and sports rehabilitation qualifications, and the transition into applied sport felt natural. She founded Train4BodyMind, combining science, performance, and a more holistic approach to endurance sport. Later that year, Irene began a second MSc in Sport and Exercise Science and Medicine, while simultaneously building her coaching business and working in a physiotherapy clinic. Throughout this journey, she became increasingly aware of a major gap in sports science: the lack of research and evidence-based guidance for women. While searching for answers about her own body, she realised how little research existed on female endurance athletes—particularly in ultra-running. This led her to investigate how the menstrual cycle affects performance in female ultrarunners, an area that had been largely overlooked despite the extreme demands of the sport. Today, Irene is passionate about supporting women in endurance sports through evidence-based coaching and education. She is particularly focused on countering the widespread misinformation surrounding women's physiology and rigid cycle-based rules, which often create fear rather than empowerment. Her work aims to help women understand their bodies better, train with confidence, and use their physiology as a strength rather than a limitation. *** New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast drop every Tuesday at 7 AM (UK time)! Make sure to subscribe so you never miss the inspiring journeys and incredible stories of tough women pushing boundaries. Do you want to support the Tough Girl Mission to increase the amount of female role models in the media in the world of adventure and physical challenges? Support via Patreon! Join me in making a difference by signing up here: www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast. Your support makes a difference. Thank you x *** Show notes Originally from Spain, now living in Edinburgh, Scotland in the UK Working as a running coach for women, specialising in ultra marathons Being a sports scientistic and science nerd Her early years growing up in Spain Developing an eating disorder and spending time in hospital Not being able to get involved in sports Getting into running when she moved to the UK Starting her Neuroscience PhD in 2017 Wanting to do an ultra marathon Becoming addicted to the ultra distances Experiencing burnout Deciding to do a shift in her career and move into coaching Getting into running to be able to disconnect Being an ultra runner before she knew about ultra marathons Using running to help manage stress Not fuelling enough during running and dealing with niggles and injuries Being very alone and not having support around her Getting injured and having to stop running The turning point in her life Working with a physiotherapist Starting to study coaching ultra marathons Losing the attachment with her career and starting a different path Leaving academia, her job and becoming unemployed at 33 years old Learning how to coach herself Going deep into the science of ultra running Studying for her masters in Sports Science Researching into the menstrual cycle and ultra runners Why the menstrual cycle is a health marker Dr Stacy Simms - Tough Girl Podcast episode Coaching women on an individual basis The importance of educating women about periods and menstruation Racing in Snowdonia Ultra Trail Snowdonia (UTS) Getting the balance right with training and work Being organised and the importance of knowing what you are doing Doing strength training and why it's non negotiable for a runner Breaking down the training into different phases and periods The final phase and tapering Making training work for her Visualising what can go wrong and right during the race Helping to prepare your mind Magical moments from UTS after DNF'ing the race previously Why it was one of the best races of her life Training your body and your mind The mental preparation- advice and tips for other runners to train their brain for success Her coaching philosophy Focusing on longevity How to connect with Irene Being most active on Instagram and Strava Social Media Website: www.train4bodymind.com Instagram: @train4bodymind
CE PODCAST EST PRÉSENTÉ PAR… MYRAVITO, une nouvelle application mobile qui vous aide à choisir votre nutrition pour les sports d'endurance (plus d'infos ci-dessous
Avec les membres de La Bande à D+ Sylvaine Cussot, Stéphane Brogniart et Ugo Ferrari, ainsi que le photographe Alexis Berg et le journaliste Frédéric Berg, co-fondateurs des éditions Mons et de la nouvelle revue GRAND TRAIL.Au sommaire de ce 15e épisode de la saison 5 (#95) du talk-show du trail et de l'ultra-trail, animé par Nicolas Fréret du média d'information Distances+ : une grande introspection collective pour se regarder dans le miroir et tenter de répondre à une question simple en apparence : à quoi ressemble le traileur de 2026 ?Le trail est-il vraiment ce sport ouvert à tous, où il suffit d'enfiler une paire de chaussures pour rejoindre la communauté ? Ou existe-t-il des barrières invisibles, sociales, culturelles ou financières ? Cette fameuse communauté du trail est-elle une réalité ou un mythe que nous entretenons collectivement ? Quelle place notre passion prend-elle dans nos vies… et dans celles de nos proches ?Avec le regard croisé de trois ultra-traileurs expérimentés et de deux journalistes qui racontent le monde du trail depuis plus de 10 ans, La Bande à D+ joue le jeu de l'autoportrait sans filtre : nos valeurs, nos contradictions, nos habitudes, notre rapport à la performance, à l'aventure et aux autres.
CE PODCAST EST PRÉSENTÉ PAR… MY RAVITO, une nouvelle application mobile qui vous aide à choisir votre nutrition pour les sports d'endurance (plus d'infos ci-dessous
Le 14e épisode de la saison 5 (#94) de La Bande à D+, présenté par Nicolas Fréret, est une émission spéciale enregistrée en grande partie en Slovénie dans le cadre des championnats d'Europe de trail et de course en montagne, à Kamnik avec 22 membres de l'équipe de France.Distances+ a couvert l'intégralité de la compétition, soit 9 courses en 3 jours, en s'intéressant tout particulièrement aux performances exceptionnelles des Bleus.Sur le terrain, Chloé Rebaudo et Nicolas Fréret ont travaillé avec la collaboration de la chaîne de télévision 8 Mont-Blanc, qui assurait la retransmission en direct de ces championnats d'Europe dans les Alpes slovènes.Chaque jour, Distances+ a co-animé avec Fred Bousseau le grand débrief de ces championnats d'Europe, à savoir la montée sèche, le trail de 52 km et la montée-descente. Dans cette émission, vous allez revivre ces trois debriefs enregistrés à chaud en compagnie, au total, de 22 athlètes de l'équipe de France ou membre du staff des Bleus.L'équipe de France est repartie de Slovénie avec 17 médailles, dont 8 en or, 5 en argent et 4 en bronze et a terminé première nation devant la Suisse et l'Allemagne.Retrouvez les grands moments des championnats d'Europe en vidéo sur le compte Instagram de Distances+.Également au sommaire :
La Coupe du monde 2026 commence aux États-Unis, au Canada et au Mexique... pour une édition XXL. Entre 48 équipes, 104 matchs, des milliers de kilomètres parcourus, des billets souvent hors de prix et un bilan carbone colossal, le Mondial est-il devenu la compétition de la démesure plutôt que du football ? Dans ce nouvel épisode d'On refait le match, la quotidienne, Éric Silvestro, Jano Resseguié et Philippe Sanfourche racontent les coulisses de cette Coupe du monde géante.Hébergé par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.
CE PODCAST EST PRÉSENTÉ PAR CIMALP, une marque française qui développe des équipements de montagne, de trail, de randonnée ou encore d'alpinisme (plus d'infos ci-dessous
On construit le traileur hybride ultime avec Robin Schmitt des Genoux dans le GIF, le coach de l'équipe de France de trail Adrien Séguret et l'observateur du trail Fred Bousseau.Dans ce 13e épisode de la saison 5 (#93) de La Bande à D+, Nicolas Fréret réunit trois fins connaisseurs de notre sport pour relever un défi aussi ludique que passionnant : créer le portrait-robot du traileur ultime en assemblant les qualités des plus grands champions et championnes de l'histoire.Vitesse, endurance, technique, puissance en montée, science de la course, mental… quelles sont les qualités indispensables pour dominer chaque discipline du trail, du kilomètre vertical aux ultras XXL ?Également au sommaire :
Pour ce 92e épisode de La Bande à D+, présenté par Nicolas Fréret, nous vous proposons un épisode spécial, réalisé sur le terrain, dans le cadre de la 24e édition du Lozère Trail, l'un des événements de trail français parmi les plus authentiques du calendrier, au coeur des Gorges du Tarn et de la vallée du Lot.On vous parle notamment de la Skyrace des Gorges du Tarn et de l'Ultra Lozère, une aventure de 110 km disputée sur deux jours avec nuit en bivouac, au cœur de paysages parmi les plus spectaculaires du sud du Massif central, à travers un terrain de jeu exceptionnel, façonné par les gorges, les falaises calcaires, les causses et les grands espaces sauvages.Au sommaire également de cette émission :
Fluent Fiction - Hebrew: Crossing Distances: A Gift's Journey of Love and Connection Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/he/episode/2026-06-01-07-38-19-he Story Transcript:He: יונתן עמד במרכז תל אביב, בין הקולות החרדים והאורות הצבעוניים, כשהוא מחפש את המתנה המושלמת לרחל.En: Yonatan stood in the center of Tel Aviv, amidst the worried voices and colorful lights, as he searched for the perfect gift for Rachel.He: רחל, האהובה שלו, גרה עכשיו בעיר אחרת לרגל עבודתה, והקשר הארוך-טווח התחיל להכביד.En: Rachel, his beloved, now lived in another city because of her work, and the long-distance relationship was starting to weigh on them.He: הוא רצה להזכיר לה שהוא עדיין כאן, מרגיש ואכפתי, גם מרחוק.En: He wanted to remind her that he was still here, feeling and caring, even from afar.He: דוד, החבר הכי טוב של יונתן, ישב לידו בבית קפה קטן ומזמין ואמר, "יונה, אל תוותר.En: David, Yonatan's best friend, sat next to him at a small and inviting café and said, "Yonatan, don't give up.He: מתנה עם משמעות תראה לה כמה אתה אוהב אותה.En: A meaningful gift will show her how much you love her."He: " יונה חשב על כל האפשרויות שהוא כבר שקל.En: Yonatan thought about all the options he had already considered.He: הוא עבר בין חנויות מקוונות, אך אף אחת מהן לא נראתה מספיקה.En: He browsed through online stores, but none seemed sufficient.He: לאחר מכן, הוא נכנס לחנות קטנה של אמנים מקומיים.En: Then, he walked into a small store of local artisans.He: הוא ידע שזה המקום הנכון.En: He knew this was the right place.He: שם, עינו נתקלה בצמיד כסף עם אבנים כחולות.En: There, his eye caught a silver bracelet with blue stones.He: הייתה עליו תבנית של גלים, והצמיד הזכיר לו את החוף בטיילת ששם בילו לילות ארוכים.En: It had a pattern of waves, and the bracelet reminded him of the beach on the promenade where they spent long nights.He: יונה החליט גם לכתוב מכתב בידיו, להוסיף מילים חמות שיגיעו ישירות אל ליבה של רחל.En: Yonatan decided to also write a handwritten letter, adding warm words that would go straight to Rachel's heart.He: אבל הייתה בעיה.En: But there was a problem.He: המשלוח לעיר של רחל היה מסובך.En: The delivery to Rachel's city was complicated.He: היו הגבלות שלא היה פשוט לעבור עליהן, וזמני השילוח היו לא מדויקים.En: There were restrictions that weren't easy to navigate, and the shipping times were unreliable.He: יונה בילה שעות בטלפון, מנסה לסדר שכל הדברים יגיעו בזמן.En: Yonatan spent hours on the phone, trying to ensure everything would arrive on time.He: אולם כשהגיע יום ההולדה של רחל, אף בוקר לא הגיע שום הודעה שמראה שהמתנה נמסרה.En: However, when Rachel's birthday arrived, there was no notification in the morning indicating that the gift had been delivered.He: יונה התהלך בדאגה, מחכה לכל רמז שיגיד שהכל בסדר.En: Yonatan walked around worriedly, waiting for any hint that everything was fine.He: לפתע, הטלפון צלצל.En: Suddenly, the phone rang.He: הייתה זאת רחל.En: It was Rachel.He: היא דיברה בקול נרגש, "יונה, קיבלתי את הצמיד שלך ואת המכתב.En: She spoke in an excited voice, "Yonatan, I received your bracelet and the letter.He: זה היה כל כך מקסים.En: It was so wonderful.He: תודה על זה שאתה תמיד חושב עלי.En: Thank you for always thinking of me."He: " ברגע זה חש יונה בגל חום שעבר בו.En: At that moment, Yonatan felt a wave of warmth wash over him.He: הוא הבין שהכוח של המתנה נמצא לא בערכה החומרי, אלא בכוונה שמאחוריה.En: He realized that the power of the gift lay not in its material value, but in the intention behind it.He: למרות המרחק, הוא התחזק בידיעה שהקשר הזה חי ואמיתי.En: Despite the distance, he was strengthened by the knowledge that this connection was alive and real.He: החיים הפכו פשוטים וברורים יותר.En: Life became simpler and clearer.He: למרות הכל, הם ישארו מחוברים.En: Despite everything, they would remain connected. Vocabulary Words:amidst: ביןbeloved: האהובהrelationship: הקשרsufficient: מספיקהartisans: אמניםpattern: תבניתpromenade: הטיילתhandwritten: בידיוrestrictions: הגבלותunreliable: לא מדויקיםnotification: הודעהworriedly: בדאגהhint: רמזwonderful: מקסיםintention: כוונהdistance: מרחקstrengthened: התחזקalive: חיsimpler: פשוטיםdelivery: משלוחcomplicated: מסובךvoice: קולmeaningful: משמעותshipping: השילוחnavigate: לעבורindicative: המארהinviting: מזמיןconsidered: שקלbracelet: צמידcare: אכפתיBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fluent-fiction-hebrew--5818690/support.
CE PODCAST EST PRÉSENTÉ PAR MY RAVITO, une nouvelle application mobile qui vous aide à choisir votre nutrition pour les sports d'endurance (plus d'infos ci-dessous
CE PODCAST EST PRÉSENTÉ PAR MY RAVITO, une nouvelle application mobile qui vous aide à choisir votre nutrition pour les sports d'endurance (plus d'infos ci-dessous
PEUT-ON ENCORE RACONTER LE TRAIL LOIN DES ÉCRANS ? Avec les membres de La Bande à D+ Sylvaine Cussot, Ugo Ferrari et Stéphane Brogniart, ainsi que Frédéric et Alexis Berg, journalistes, éditeurs et fondateurs de la nouvelle revue GRAND TRAIL.Au sommaire de ce 11e épisode de la saison 5 (#91) du talk-show du trail et de l'ultra-trail, animé par Nicolas Fréret du média d'information Distances+ : une grande discussion autour d'une question centrale : comment raconter le trail aujourd'hui ?
CE PODCAST EST PRÉSENTÉ PAR MY RAVITO, une nouvelle application mobile qui vous aide à choisir votre nutrition pour les sports d'endurance (plus d'infos ci-dessous
After months of marathon training, what comes next? Whether you've just crossed the finish line, you're currently training for a marathon or you've got one booked - this episode is all about making the most of the fitness you've built.Andy, Sarah and Rick explore how to transition from marathon training to shorter-distance racing, covering the best ways to recover, reset your body and adapt your training for faster efforts. From 5Ks to half marathons, they share how to turn your marathon endurance into new personal bests over shorter distances.The Running Channel Podcast tackles one big topic each episode, amongst helpful tips and light-hearted chat on the latest news in the running world. Hosted by Sarah Hartley (amateur runner) and Andy Baddeley (former pro runner) alongside Rick Kelsey (recovering runner), the TRC Podcast is friendly, jargon-free, and the perfect accompaniment to your runs.Join The Running Channel Club for exclusive additional podcast episodes, bite-sized courses, live Q&As and so much more! Head to The Running Channel ClubFor all enquiries contact podcast@therunningchannel.com .If you liked this, please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And leave us a 5* review and rating, it really helps us get discovered.We're on YouTube too, so check us out there: www.youtube.com/runningchannel .Mentioned in this episode:On Squad RaceUse code POD for 20% off The Running Channel Club
Cosmologist Patricio Gallardo presents evidence from galaxy clusters proving that gravity follows Newton's inverse square law across vast distances, effectively debunking alternative theories like Modified Newtonian Dynamics over hundreds of millions of light-years. (7/16)1920 CHARLESTON
GRAND DEBRIEF avec la championne BLANDINE L'HIRONDEL et trois des meilleurs Français de cette édition 2026 DAMIEN HUMBERT, ROBIN JUILLAGUET et ANTHONY COSTA.Le 90e épisode de La Bande à D+, présenté par Nicolas Fréret de Distances+,est consacré à cette édition exceptionnelle de la Transvulcania aux Canaries… Exceptionnelle parce que l'épreuve phare, l'ultra-marathon de 75 km et 4200 m de dénivelé, remportée par la Française Blandine L'hirondel et l'Américain David Sinclair, a été marquée par des performances historiques en ce début de saison et une ribambelle de chronos canons.Pourquoi les chronos se sont-ils affolés? Écoutez cet épisode pour le découvrir, avec des nombreuses anecdotes de course puisque l'ensemble des chroniqueurs et invités ont participé à la Transvulcania cette année. Damien Humbert a terminé 4e, Robin Juillaguet 8e, et Anthony Costa, médecin cardiologue et traileur élite amateur, 29e.Également au sommaire de ce 10e épisode de la saison 5 du talk-show du trail :
CE PODCAST EST PRÉSENTÉ PAR… MY RAVITO, une nouvelle application mobile qui vous aide à choisir votre nutrition pour les sports d'endurance (plus d'infos ci-dessous
PREVIEW for Later Today: Dr. Ken Croswell discusses the discovery of Trojan stars within the Milky Way. These stars parallel Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, maintained in equilibrium by gravity and centrifugal forces over immense distances across the barred galaxy.
Avec le membre de La Bande à D+ Ugo Ferrari et deux des boss de l'UTMB, Fabrice Perrin - le directeur sports, communauté et durabilité - et Julien Chorier - le directeur sportif -, ancien athlète élite et une figure pionnière du trail running structuré.Au sommaire de ce 9e épisode de la saison 5 (#89) du talk-show du trail, animé par Nicolas Fréret du média d'information Distances+, et consacré à l'événement numéro 1 dans le monde du trail :
CE PODCAST EST PRÉSENTÉ PAR… MY RAVITO, une nouvelle application mobile qui vous aide à choisir votre nutrition pour les sports d'endurance (plus d'infos ci-dessous
Rachel Smith returns to the podcast fresh off a standout performance at the B.A.A. 5K, where she finished second overall and was the first American woman across the line. A 2020 Olympian in the 5,000m, Rachel is now navigating a new season of life as both a professional runner and a mom of two young daughters. In this conversation, Rachel shares how her relationship with running has evolved, what it looks like to balance elite training with motherhood, and why she's been drawn toward road racing in this chapter of her career. She reflects on shifting priorities, redefining success, and what's next as she considers stepping up to the marathon distance. Rachel also opens up about the realities of training in a different season of life, the importance of community in Flagstaff, and how she's approaching racing with a fresh perspective. It's a thoughtful, honest look at growth, identity, and staying connected to the sport in a way that feels meaningful. What we talked about: Returning to racing and B.A.A. 5K performance Growing up around the Boston Marathon and its significance Learning how to race on the roads vs. track racing Transitioning from track to road racing Becoming a mother and shifting life priorities Training and competing while raising two young kids Redefining success and not comparing to past versions of herself Considering a marathon debut and learning fueling strategies Life in Flagstaff and the professional running community Family, relationships, and what matters most beyond running Interest in trail running and ultramarathons Perspective on long-term career fulfillment and curiosity in sport Media Mentioned: For the Love of the Grind by Sara Hall Support our sponsors: Huug makes high-quality bras and underwear designed to actually fit and support your body through every phase of life. Their pieces are comfortable, functional, and built for movement, making them a go-to for everyday wear and training alike. Use the code “Lindsey” for 15% off at huug.com. Geist Half Race Series Go to geisthalf.com and use the code “Another26” for $10 off any race distances. Noogs: Noogs Nutrition is my go-to for fun, flavorful fuel with carbs and electrolytes, with flavors like Lemon Zinger, Electric Watermelon, and Blue Raspberry, plus caffeinated options too. Use code “another15” for 15% off your first order.
CONCOURS EXCEPTIONNEL : GAGNEZ UN LOT D'UNE VALEUR DE 600 EUROSET revivez la 40e édition du Marathon des Sables de l'intérieur grâce au docu-reportage de Distances+, à regarder également en vidéo sur la chaîne YouTube de @distancesplusAvec la complicité des quatre partenaires majeurs de la saison 5 du podcast La Bande à D+ [Wise, RunMotion Coach, Näak et Miles Republic], Distances+ vous fait gagner :
durée : 00:02:48 - L'Humeur du matin par Guillaume Erner - par : Guillaume Erner - Dans le cadre du procès en appel de l'affaire libyenne, les relations entre Nicolas Sarkozy et son ancien proche Claude Guéant font l'objet de nouvelles tensions. Une séquence qui interroge la nature des liens au sein de son entourage. - réalisation : Félicie Faugère
Ce mardi 28 avril, François Sorel a reçu Christophe Aulnette, senior advisor chez Seven2 et ancien président de Microsoft France et Asie du Sud, Salime Nassur, fondateur de Maars, et Jérôme Colombain, journaliste et créateur du podcast "Monde Numérique". Ils se sont penchés sur OpenAI prenant ses distances avec Microsoft, et les employés de Google disant non au déploiement de Gemini au Pentagone, dans l'émission Tech & Co, la quotidienne, sur BFM Business. Retrouvez l'émission du lundi au jeudi et réécoutez-la en podcast.
Catch Up on the latest leading news stories around the country with Jane Dutton standing in for Mandy Wiener on Midday Report. 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 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
CE PODCAST EST PRÉSENTÉ PAR… MY RAVITO, une nouvelle application mobile qui vous aide à choisir votre nutrition pour les sports d'endurance (plus d'infos ci-dessous
CE PODCAST EST PRÉSENTÉ PAR… MY RAVITO, une nouvelle application mobile qui vous aide à choisir votre nutrition pour les sports d'endurance (plus d'infos ci-dessous)Voici le RÉCAP D+ du 20 avril 2026, le flash info du trail signé Distances+ présenté par Franck Berteau et Chloé Rebaudo.Vous entendrez dans ce podcast :
Voici le 7e épisode de la saison 5 (#87) du talk-show du trail, consacré au 40e Marathon des Sables, une épreuve de 270 km en 6 étapes qui vient de s'achever dans le désert du Sahara, au Maroc.
Ce podcast est présenté par BeTrail.Voici le RÉCAP D+ du 6 avril 2026, le flash info du trail signé Distances+ présenté par Franck Berteau et Chloé Rebaudo.Vous entendrez dans ce podcast :
This week, we present a recording of a paper entitled "The Appeal of Running Long Distances" that George presented at an event at his college. In the paper, he discussed some of the things that may have inspired him to keep running after a wreck nearly ended his career (and his life).
Voici le 6e épisode de la saison 5 (#86) du talk-show du trail, animé par Nicolas Fréret du média d'information Distances+, enregistré durant le Trail du Ventoux.
Ce podcast est présenté par BeTrail.Voici le RÉCAP D+ du 6 avril 2026, le flash info du trail signé Distances+ présenté par Franck Berteau et Chloé Rebaudo.Vous entendrez dans ce podcast :
Watch the full episode with Rupert Sheldrake here: https://youtu.be/FMDmI0qiWRISupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/inspiredevolution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Love Across Distances: A Springtime Tale of Connection Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2026-03-16-07-38-19-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 北京的春天,微风轻拂,阳光洒在繁忙的街市上。En: In Beijing, spring brings a gentle breeze and sunlight spilling over the bustling streets.Zh: 假期来临,清明节的氛围弥漫在空气中。En: The holiday season arrives, with the atmosphere of the Qingming Festival lingering in the air.Zh: 嘉豪正漫步在北京热闹的集市上,四周是一片喧嚣,摊贩们叫卖声此起彼伏,熙熙攘攘的人群中彩色的商品琳琅满目。En: Jiahao is strolling through Beijing's lively market, surrounded by a cacophony of sounds.Zh: 嘉豪心里牵挂着远在上海的美玲。En: Vendors shout their wares, and the colorful array of products catches the eyes of the bustling crowd.Zh: 他们的远距离恋情让他时常想念。En: Jiahao is preoccupied with thoughts of Meiling, who is far away in Shanghai.Zh: 春天的集市如同他们的记忆,充满活力和希望。En: Their long-distance relationship makes him miss her often.Zh: 这一次,他想为美玲挑一件特别的礼物,表达自己真挚的情感。En: The spring market is like their memories, full of vitality and hope.Zh: 市场上各种商品吸引着他的目光。En: This time, he wants to choose a special gift for Meiling, to express his sincere emotions.Zh: 有雕刻精美的檀香木饰品,有色彩鲜艳的风筝,还有印着传统图案的丝巾。En: Various items in the market catch his attention.Zh: 嘉豪徘徊在摊位前,思索着什么样的礼物最能代表他的心意。En: There are intricately carved sandalwood ornaments, brightly colored kites, and silk scarves printed with traditional patterns.Zh: “也许,我应该选择与清明节有关的东西,”嘉豪想到。En: Jiahao lingers in front of the stalls, pondering what kind of gift would best represent his feelings.Zh: 他知道,这个节日代表示春天的到来,也象征着对过去的怀念和对未来的希望。En: "Perhaps, I should choose something related to the Qingming Festival," Jiahao thought.Zh: 走到一个卖手工木雕的小摊,嘉豪被一件雕刻作品吸引了。En: He knows that this festival signifies the arrival of spring and symbolizes remembrance of the past and hope for the future.Zh: 那是一只振翅欲飞的燕子雕像,燕子象征着春天和团聚。En: Walking to a small stall selling handcrafted wood carvings, Jiahao is captivated by one piece.Zh: 他想起小时候和美玲一起放过的风筝,那是他们共同的美好回忆。En: It's a statue of a swallow about to take flight, symbolizing spring and reunion.Zh: “这是送给远方友人的好礼物。En: He recalls the kites he and Meiling used to fly as children, a beautiful memory they shared.Zh: ”摊主微笑着说。En: "This is a good gift for a distant friend," the vendor says with a smile.Zh: 嘉豪点头,心中渐渐有了决断。En: Jiahao nods, his decision gradually forming.Zh: 他买下了这件雕像,并附上一封真挚的信,寄给远在上海的美玲。En: He buys the statue and attaches a heartfelt letter, sending it to Meiling in Shanghai.Zh: 几天后,嘉豪收到了美玲的回信。En: A few days later, Jiahao receives a reply from Meiling.Zh: 她寄来一幅亲手绘制的画作,画中是他们一起度过的美好时光。En: She sends a painting she drew herself, depicting the wonderful times they spent together.Zh: 信中说道:“无论距离多远,心一直在一起。En: In her letter, she writes: "No matter how far the distance, our hearts are always together."Zh: ”嘉豪明白,他们的爱经得起时间与距离的考验。En: Jiahao understands that their love can withstand the tests of time and distance.Zh: 心灵相通,便是最好的交流。En: A deep connection is the best form of communication.Zh: 他微笑着凝视窗外的春景,内心充满了平静与喜悦。En: He smiles as he gazes at the spring scenery outside the window, his heart filled with peace and joy. Vocabulary Words:breeze: 微风bustling: 繁忙strolling: 漫步cacophony: 喧嚣wares: 商品preoccupied: 牵挂sincere: 真挚ornaments: 饰品intricately: 精美pondering: 思索signifies: 代表示lingering: 弥漫reunion: 团聚depicting: 描绘withstand: 经得起vitality: 活力lingers: 徘徊handcrafted: 手工captivated: 吸引swallow: 燕子heartfelt: 真挚emotions: 情感attachment: 附上remembrance: 怀念symbolizing: 象征array: 琳琅满目showcase: 展示gaze: 凝视vibrant: 色彩鲜艳festival: 节日
THE SHOW NOTES The refreshing eloquence of Pete B. Intro Elemental Rehearsal Ask George - Funerals? from David Damian Handzy's Facts That'll Fuck Y'up - Distances, Deadly Animals, Passwords, Presley, more… Elements Demos - Zirconium, Tellurium, Barium, Seaborgium Religious Moron of the Week - José Dolores Aguayo González: “Father Lolo” Tell Me Something Good - Instant Car Show OSftPT this Saturday! Show Close ......................... MENTIONED IN THE SHOW Elements tickets Something Good ......................... UPCOMING SCHEDULE George Hrab's Occasional Songs for the Periodic Table 118 Elements • 118 Songs • 90 Minutes Saturday, March 7th, 2026 The Icehouse Bethlehem, PA TICKETS 118Elements.eventbrite.com Geo & SGU: Extravaganza & Private Show Madison, Wisconsin Saturday, May 16, 2026 TICKETS CSICON Center for Inquiry 50th Anniversary Conference Geo & SGU: Extravaganza & Live PodcastAwards Dinner & Variety Show Buffalo, New York June 11-14th 2026 csiconference.org Geo & SGU: Not-A-Con Sydney / NZ Skeptics Conference July 2026 Australian & New Zealand Episode 1000 of The Geologic Podcast Saturday, January 9, 2027 The Icehouse Bethlehem, PA ......................... SUBSCRIPTION INTERFACE You can now find our subscription page at GeorgeHrab.com at this link. Many thanks to the sage Evo Terra for his assistance. ......................... Get George's Music Here https://georgehrab.hearnow.com https://georgehrab.bandcamp.com ................................... SUBSCRIBE! You can sign up at GeorgeHrab.com and become a Geologist or a Geographer. As always, thank you so much for your support! You make the ship go. ................................... Sign up for the mailing list: Write to Geo! Check out Geo's wiki page, thanks to Tim Farley. Have a comment on the show, a Religious Moron tip, or a question for Ask George? Drop George a line and write to Geo's Mom, too!
A 5K and a marathon are objectively different distances - but they are also more similar than you think. If you've ever wondered why the 5K is technically a long-distance race, or what the difference between training for a mile and a marathon is, this episode is for you! We'll discuss the metabolic and mechanical differences of the short, middle, and long distances, plus how those theoretical differences translate into training. Thank you to our sponsors:✨Wahoo KICKR RUN: A treadmill that feels like running outdoors. Shop here: http://bit.ly/4nai73H and read the full review: https://runtothefinish.com/wahoo-kickr-run-treadmill/✨Probio: NSF-certified, clinically dosed, all-in-one supplement. Use this link for 40% off your order or 50% off and free shipping on a subscription.✨Join us on Patreon.com/treadlightlyrunning or subscribe on Apple Podcasts for special subscriber-only content! In this episode, you'll learn:✅ Which race distances are aerobic, and which are anaerobic?✅ The mechanical differences between short, middle, and long distances✅ The spectrum of muscle fiber typology✅ The different metabolic demands of short, middle, and long distances✅ The training differences across the various distancesIf you enjoyed this episode, you may like:
Episode #1103 One of the most common traps married men fall into is treating their wife like the person they married ten years ago, rather than the person she has become today . It is human nature to stop being curious and start making assumptions, but these assumptions are often what build the "emotional walls" that leave a marriage feeling mundane or distant . In this revisit episode, Doug Holt is joined by Chris, a lead advisor at TPM, to answer listener questions about breaking through emotional distance and navigating complex attachment styles . They dive deep into the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" scenario: how to give a partner space when they simultaneously struggle with a fear of abandonment . Doug explains why men must move from a cautious energy to a leading energy, using proactive reassurance to "call out" the situation before it becomes a crisis . You will learn why over-communicating your commitment—stating your "mission" multiple times until it is truly heard—is the only way to fight a partner's misperceptions and rebuild safety . The conversation also provides practical tools for the man trying to restart conversations with an emotionally closed-off spouse . From using project management software to stay curious about your wife's interests to leveraging external "icebreaker" cards to create a safe environment for dialogue, Doug shares the exact strategies he uses in his own marriage . This episode is a masterclass in shifting from a state of "checking in" to a state of genuine connectivity . Whether you are looking for non-mundane conversation starters or need to understand how to lead through your partner's fears, this discussion offers a roadmap to move beyond an "average" relationship . By coming at life and your spouse from a place of curiosity, you allow the connection to unfold beautifully once again . CTA paragraph: If you are ready to stop guessing and start leading your family with clarity, take the next step by accessing our free training. This is designed for the man who is tired of the distance and ready to see exactly where his relationship stands. Visit https://fixmarriage.thepowerfulman.com/scales to get started.
Coach Rob answers listener questions this week, covering:* How to structure a season with multiple race distances without compromising your goal event...* Why injury prevention becomes a critical training variable for athletes as they age...* How to build a fuelling and hydration strategy that works on race day. Plus practical advice on training plan structure for first-time 70.3 athletes.* * * * * * *SPONSORS* * * * * * * *Thinking about your first Ironman or 70.3 in 2026? At Team Oxygenaddict, we specialise in helping busy professionals fit high-quality training around demanding jobs and family life. We've just reopened for new athletes with only a handful of slots available. Book an application call today to find out if you'd be a good fit for Team Oxygenaddict for the coming season here: https://team.oxygenaddict.com/consultation-call/ * * * * * * * * * * * *precisionfuelandhydration.comPrecision Fuel & Hydration help athletes personalise their hydration and fuelling strategies for training and racing. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised race nutrition plan for your next event. And then book a free 20-minute video consultation with a member of the PF&H Athlete Support Team to refine your strategy.Listeners get 15% off their first order of fuel and electrolytes with Precision Fuel & Hydration. Simply use code OXYGEN26 at checkout to claim your 15% discount* * * * * * * * * * * *Watch on youtubeListen on SpotifyListen on Apple Podcasts
What happens when you walk where Jesus walked? Standing on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, praying in Jerusalem, and exploring archaeological sites throughout Israel changes the way you read Scripture. The geography of the land brings context to the miracles, parables, and movements of Christ. Distances make sense. Terrain explains decisions. Culture becomes tangible. The Bible shifts from abstract pages to physical reality.Seeing the land firsthand strengthens confidence in the historical reliability of Scripture. Ancient ruins, preserved sites, and ongoing archaeological discoveries reinforce that the events recorded in the Gospels happened in real places with real historical grounding. Faith moves from theory to lived experience.Israel is not only historically significant — it remains prophetically central. The land, the people, and the unfolding modern realities give deeper perspective to biblical prophecy and the times we are living in. Visiting these places anchors belief, sharpens understanding, and reminds us that the story of the Bible is rooted in history and still unfolding today.If you've ever considered going, seeing it with your own eyes is unlike anything else. That's the truth about Israel.--------------------------------------------------------------------
We put our hands down our pants (for warmth) before this amazing episode! The main topic revolved around the Black Canyon 100k, where Jenn Lichter and Hans Troyer set course records, and the ultrarunning took another major leap forward. We discuss what we learned before laying out an overview of our ultra training philosophy.The sport is changing so fast that we're almost certainly wrong (and biased) in some places. But it's so fun to learn at the edges, and to see how that might apply to any athlete trying to see what's possible! We finish it off by looking for lessons that we can learn for shorter distance training theory. Hint: it's mostly carbs.And this one was full of great topics! Other topics: eating “real food” in workouts, Megan unleashing the speed on the treadmill, David's foot progress, Nomio back in stock, the debate on pacers in ultras, a wildly cool study on neurons and endurance adaptation, a weird cycling study that tricked participants with financial incentives, Tadej Pogacar accidentally (?) publishing his power numbers, and a question on metabolic processes and body image.We love you all! HUZZAH!-David and MeganClick "Claim Your Sponsorship" for 40% off at The Feed here: thefeed.com/swapBuy Janji's amazing gear: https://janji.com (code "SWAP")The Wahoo KICKR Run is the best treadmill on the market: https://www.wahoofitness.com/devices/running/treadmills/kickr-run-buy (code “SWAP”)For training plans, weekly bonus podcasts, articles, and videos: patreon.com/swap
Hear the rest of today's show by subscribing at DumbZone.com or Patreon.com/TheDumbZoneHere's a portion of today's January MBR! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Episode: 3349 The Inhuman Distances of the Speed of Light. Today, inhuman distances.