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Last time we spoke about the Battle of Taierzhuang. Following the fall of Nanjing in December 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War entered a brutal phase of attrition as Japan sought to consolidate control and press toward central China. Chinese defense prioritized key rail corridors and urban strongholds, with Xuzhou, the JinPu and Longhai lines, and the Huai River system forming crucial lifelines. By early 1938, Japanese offensives aimed to link with forces around Beijing and Nanjing and encircle Chinese positions in the Central Yangtze region, threatening Wuhan. In response, Chiang Kai-shek fortified Xuzhou and expanded defenses to deter a pincer move, eventually amassing roughly 300,000 troops along strategic lines. Taierzhuang became a focal point when Japanese divisions attempted to press south and link with northern elements. Chinese commanders Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, Tang Enbo, and Sun Lianzhong coordinated to complicate Japanese plans through offensive-defensive actions, counterattacks, and encirclement efforts. The victory, though numerically costly, thwarted immediate Japanese objectives and foreshadowed further attritional struggles ahead.   #171 The Flooding of the Yellow River 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. We last left off with a significant event during the Xuzhou campaign. Three Japanese divisions under General Itagaki Seishiro moved south to attack Taierzhuang and were met by forces commanded by Li Zongren, Sun Lianzhong, and Tang Enbo, whose units possessed a decent amount of artillery. In a two-week engagement from March 22 to April 7, the battle devolved into a costly urban warfare. Fighting was vicious, often conducted in close quarters and at night. The urban environment negated Japanese advantages in armor and artillery, allowing Chinese forces to contend on equal terms. The Chinese also disrupted Japanese logistics by resupplying their own troops and severing rear supply lines, draining Japanese ammunition, supplies, and reinforcements. By April 7, the Japanese were compelled to retreat, marking the first Chinese victory of the war. However both sides suffered heavy losses, with around 20,000 casualties on each side. In the aftermath of this rare victory, Chiang Kai-Shek pushed Tang Enbo and Li Zongren to capitalize on their success and increased deployments in the Taierzhuang theater to about 450,000 troops. Yet the Chinese Army remained hampered by fundamental problems. The parochialism that had crippled Chiang's forces over the preceding months resurfaced. Although the generals had agreed to coordinate in a war of resistance, each still prioritized the safety of his own troops, wary of Chiang's bid to consolidate power. Li Zongren, for example, did not deploy his top Guangxi provincial troops at Taierzhuang and sought to shift most of the fighting onto Tang Enbo's forces. Chiang's colleagues were mindful of the fates of Han Fuju of Shandong and Zhang Xueliang of Manchuria: Han was executed for refusing to fight, while Zhang, after allowing Chiang to reduce the size of his northeastern army, ended up under house arrest. They were right to distrust Chiang. He believed, after all, that provincial armies should come under a unified national command, which he would lead. From a national-unity perspective, his aspiration was not unreasonable. But it fed suspicion among other military leaders that participation in the anti-Japanese war would dilute their power. The divided nature of the command also hindered logistics, making ammunition and food supplies to the front unreliable and easy to cut off. By late April the Chinese had reinforced the Xuzhou area to between 450,000-600,000 to capitalize on their victory. However these armies were plagued with command and control issues. Likewise the Japanese licked their wounds and reinforced the area to roughly 400,000, with fresh troops and supplies flowing in from Tianjin and Nanjing. The Japanese continued with their objective of encircling Chinese forces. The North China Area Army comprised four divisions and two infantry brigades drawn from the Kwantung Army, while the Central China Expeditionary Army consisted of three divisions and the 1st and 2nd Tank Battalions along with motorized support units. The 5th Tank Battalion supported the 3rd Infantry Division as it advanced north along the railway toward Xuzhou. Fighting to the west, east, and north of Xuzhou was intense, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides. On 18 April, the Japanese advanced southward toward Pizhou. Tang Enbo's 20th Army Corps, together with the 2nd, 22nd, 46th, and 59th corps, resisted fiercely, culminating in a stalemate by the end of April. The 60th Corps of the Yunnan Army engaged the Japanese 10th Division at Yuwang Mountain for nearly a month, repelling multiple assaults. By the time it ceded its position to the Guizhou 140th Division and withdrew on 15 May, the corps had sustained losses exceeding half of its forces. Simultaneously, the Japanese conducted offensives along both banks of the Huai River, where Chinese defenders held out for several weeks. Nevertheless, Japanese artillery and aerial bombardment gradually tilted the balance, allowing the attackers to seize Mengcheng on 9 May and Hefei on 14 May. From there, the southern flank split into two parts: one force moved west and then north to cut off the Longhai Railway escape route from Xuzhou, while another division moved directly north along the railway toward Suxian, just outside Xuzhou. Simultaneously, to the north, Japanese units from north China massed at Jining and began moving south beyond Tengxian. Along the coast, an amphibious landing was made at Lianyungang to reinforce troops attacking from the east. The remaining portions of Taierzhuang were captured in May, a development symbolically significant to Tokyo. On 17 May, Japanese artillery further tightened the noose around Xuzhou, striking targets inside the city.  To preserve its strength, the Nationalist government ordered the abandonment of Xuzhou and directed its main forces to break out toward northern Jiangsu, northern Anhui, and eastern Henan. To deter the Japanese army's rapid westward advance and penetration into northern Henan and western Shandong, many leading military and political figures within the Nationalist government proposed breaching dams over the Yellow River to delay the offensive, a strategy that would have been highly advantageous to the Nationalist forces at the time. Chiang Kai-shek vetoed the proposal outright, insisting that the Nationalist army could still resist. He understood that with tens of millions of Chinese lives at stake and a sliver of hope remaining, the levee plan must not be undertaken. Then a significant battle broke out at Lanfeng. Chiang also recognized that defeat could allow the elite Japanese mechanized divisions, the 14th, 16th, and 10th, to advance directly toward Zhengzhou. If Zhengzhou fell, the Japanese mechanized forces on the plains could advance unimpeded toward Tongguan. Their southward push would threaten Xi'an, Xiangfan, and Nanyang, directly jeopardizing the southwest's rear defenses. Concurrently, the Japanese would advance along the Huai River north of the Dabie Mountains toward Wuhan, creating a pincer with operations along the Yangtze River.  Now what followed was arguably the most important and skillful Chinese maneuver of the Xuzhou campaign: a brilliantly executed strategic retreat to the south and west across the Jinpu railway line. On May 15, Li Zongren, in consultation with Chiang Kai-shek, decided to withdraw from Xuzhou and focus on an escape plan. The evacuation of civilians and military personnel began that day. Li ordered troops to melt into the countryside and move south and west at night, crossing the Jinpu Railway and splitting into four groups that would head west. The plan was to regroup in the rugged Dabie Mountains region to the south and prepare for the defense of Wuhan. Li's generals departed reluctantly, having held out for so long; Tang Enbo was said to have wept. Under cover of night, about forty divisions, over 200,000 men, marched out of Japanese reach in less than a week. A critical moment occurred on May 18, when fog and a sandstorm obscured the retreating troops as they crossed the Jinpu Railway. By May 21, Li wired Chiang Kai-shek to report that the withdrawal was complete. He mobilized nearly all of the Kuomintang Central Army's elite units, such as the 74th Army, withdrawn from Xuzhou and transferred directly to Lanfeng, with a resolute intent to “burn their boats.” The force engaged the Japanese in a decisive battle at Lanfeng, aiming to secure the last line of defense for the Yellow River, a position carrying the lives of millions of Chinese civilians. Yet Chiang Kai-shek's strategy was not universally understood by all participating generals, who regarded it as akin to striking a rock with an egg. For the battle of Lanfeng the Chinese mobilized nearly all of the Kuomintang Central Army's elite forces, comprising 14 divisions totaling over 150,000 men. Among these, the 46th Division of the 27th Army, formerly the Central Training Brigade and the 36th, 88th, and 87th Divisions of the 71st Army were German-equipped. Additionally, the 8th Army, the Tax Police Corps having been reorganized into the Ministry of Finance's Anti-Smuggling Corps, the 74th Army, and Hu Zongnan's 17th Corps, the new 1st Army, equipped with the 8th Division were elite Nationalist troops that had demonstrated strong performance in the battle of Shanghai and the battle of Nanjing, and were outfitted with advanced matériel. However, these so-called “elite” forces were heavily degraded during the campaigns in Shanghai and Nanjing. The 46th Division and Hu Zongnan's 17th Corps sustained casualties above 85% in Nanjing, while the 88th and 87th Divisions suffered losses of up to 90%. The 74th Army and the 36th Division also endured losses exceeding 75%. Their German-made equipment incurred substantial losses; although replenishment occurred, inventories resembled roughly a half-German and half-Chinese mix. With very limited heavy weapons and a severe shortage of anti-tank artillery, they could not effectively match the elite Japanese regiments. Hu Zongnan's 17th Corps maintained its national equipment via a close relationship with Chiang Kai-shek. In contrast, the 74th Army, after fighting in Shanghai, Nanjing, and Xuzhou, suffered heavy casualties, and the few German weapons it had were largely destroyed at Nanjing, leaving it to rely on a mix of domestically produced and Hanyang-made armaments. The new recruits added to each unit largely lacked combat experience, with nearly half of the intake having received basic training. The hardest hit was Li Hanhun's 64th Army, established less than a year prior and already unpopular within the Guangdong Army. Although classified as one of the three Type A divisions, the 155th, 156th, and 187th Divisions, it was equipped entirely with Hanyang-made firearms. Its direct artillery battalion possessed only about 20 older mortars and three Type 92 infantry guns, limiting its heavy firepower to roughly that of a Japanese battalion. The 195th Division and several miscellaneous units were even less prominent, reorganized from local militias and lacking Hanyang rifles. Additionally, three batches of artillery purchased from the Soviet Union arrived in Lanzhou via Xinjiang between March and June 1938. Except for the 52nd Artillery Regiment assigned to the 200th Division, the other artillery regiments had recently received their weapons and were still undergoing training. The 200th Division, had been fighting awhile for in the Xuzhou area and incurred heavy casualties, was still in training and could only deploy its remaining tank battalion and armored vehicle company. The tank battalion was equipped with T-26 light tanks and a small number of remaining British Vickers tanks, while the armored vehicle company consisted entirely of Italian Fiat CV33 armored cars. The disparity in numbers was substantial, and this tank unit did not participate in the battle.  As for the Japanese, the 14th Division was an elite Type A formation. Originally organized with four regiments totaling over 30,000 men, the division's strength was later augmented. Doihara's 14th Division received supplements, a full infantry regiment and three artillery regiments, to prevent it from being surrounded and annihilated, effectively transforming the unit into a mobile reinforced division. Consequently, the division's mounted strength expanded to more than 40,000 personnel, comprising five infantry regiments and four artillery regiments. The four artillery regiments, the 24th Artillery Regiment, the 3rd Independence Mountain Artillery Regiment, the 5th Field Heavy Artillery Regiment, and the 6th Field Heavy Artillery Regiment, possessed substantial heavy firepower, including 150mm heavy howitzers and 105mm long-range field cannons, placing them far in excess of the Nationalist forces at Lanfeng. In addition, both the 14th and later the 16th Divisions commanded tank regiments with nearly 200 light and medium tanks each, while Nationalist forces were markedly short of anti-tank artillery. At the same time, the Nationalist Air Force, though it had procured more than 200 aircraft of various types from the Soviet Union, remained heavily reliant on Soviet aid-to-China aircraft, amounting to over 100 machines, and could defend only a few cities such as Wuhan, Nanchang, and Chongqing. In this context, Japanese forces effectively dominated the Battle of Lanfeng. Moreover, reports indicate that the Japanese employed poison gas on the battlefield, while elite Nationalist troops possessed only a limited number of gas masks, creating a stark disparity in chemical warfare preparedness. Despite these disparities, Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalist government were initially unaware of the updated strength and composition of the Doihara Division. Faced with constrained options, Chiang chose to press ahead with combat operations. On May 12, 1939, after crossing the Yellow River, the IJA 14th Division continued its southward advance toward Lanfeng. The division's objective was to sever the Longhai Railway, disrupt the main Nationalist retreat toward Zhengzhou, and seize Zhengzhou itself. By May 15, the division split into two columns at Caoxian and moved toward key nodes on the Longhai Line. Major General Toyotomi Fusatarou led two infantry regiments, one cavalry regiment, and one artillery regiment in the main assault toward Kaocheng with the aim of directly capturing Lanfeng. Doihara led three infantry regiments and three artillery regiments toward Neihuang and Minquan, threatening Guide. In response, the Nationalist forces concentrated along the railway from Lanfeng to Guide, uniting Song Xilian's 71st Army, Gui Yongqing's 27th Army, Yu Jishi's 74th Army, Li Hanhun's 64th Army, and Huang Jie's 8th Army. From May 15 to 17, the Fengjiu Brigade, advancing toward Lanfeng, met stubborn resistance near Kaocheng from roughly five divisions under Song Xilian and was forced to shift its effort toward Yejigang and Neihuang. The defense near Neihuang, including Shen Ke's 106th Division and Liang Kai's 195th Division, ultimately faltered, allowing Doihara's division to seize Neihuang, Yejigang, Mazhuangzhai, and Renheji. Nevertheless, the Nationalist forces managed to contain the Japanese advance east and west of the area, preventing a complete encirclement. Chiang Kai-shek ordered Cheng Qian, commander-in-chief of the 1st War Zone, to encircle and annihilate the Japanese 14th Division. The deployment plan mapped three routes: the Eastern Route Army, under Li Hanhun, would include the 74th Army, the 155th Division of the 64th Army, a brigade of the 88th Division, and a regiment of the 87th Division, advancing westward from Guide); the Western Route Army, commanded by Gui Yongqing, would comprise the 27th Army, the 71st Army, the 61st Division, and the 78th Division, advancing eastward from Lanfeng; and the Northern Route Army, formed by Sun Tongxuan's 3rd Army and Shang Zhen's 20th Army, was to cut off the enemy's retreat to the north bank of the Yellow River near Dingtao, Heze, Dongming, and Kaocheng, while attacking the Doihara Division from the east, west, and north to annihilate it in a single decisive operation.  On May 21, the Nationalist Army mounted a full-scale offensive. Yu Jishi's 74th Army, commanded by Wang Yaowu's 51st Division, joined a brigade of Song Xilian's 71st Army, led by the 88th Division, and drove the Japanese forces at Mazhuangzhai into retreat, capturing Neihuang and Renheji. The main Japanese force, more than 6,000 strong, withdrew southwest to Yangjiji and Shuangtaji. Song Xilian, commanding Shen Fazao's 87th Division, launched a sharp assault on Yejigang (Yifeng). The Japanese abandoned the stronghold, but their main body continued advancing toward Yangjiji, with some units retreating to Donggangtou and Maoguzhai. On May 23, Song Xilian's 71st Army and Yu Jishi's 74th Army enveloped and annihilated enemy forces at Donggangtou and Maoguzhai. That evening they seized Ximaoguzhai, Yangzhuang, and Helou, eliminating more than a thousand Japanese troops. The Japanese troops at Donggangtou fled toward Lanfeng. Meanwhile, Gui Yongqing's forces were retreating through Lanfeng. His superior strength, Jiang Fusheng's 36th Division, Li Liangrong's 46th Division, Zhong Song's 61st Division, Li Wen's 78th Division, Long Muhan's 88th Division, and Shen Ke's 106th Division—had held defensive positions along the Lanfeng–Yangji line. Equipped with a tank battalion and armored vehicle company commanded by Qiu Qingquan, they blocked the enemy's westward advance and awaited Japanese exhaustion. However, under the Japanese offensive, Gui Yongqing's poor command led to the loss of Maji and Mengjiaoji, forcing the 27th Army to retreat across its entire front. Its main force fled toward Qixian and Kaifeng. The Japanese seized the opportunity to capture Quxingji, Luowangzhai, and Luowang Railway Station west of Lanfeng. Before retreating, Gui Yongqing ordered Long Muhan to dispatch a brigade to replace the 106th Division in defending Lanfeng, while he directed the 106th Division to fall back to Shiyuan. Frightened by the enemy, Long Muhan unilaterally withdrew his troops on the night of the 23rd, leaving Lanfeng undefended. On the 24th, Japanese troops advancing westward from Donggangtou entered Lanfeng unopposed and, relying on well-fortified fortifications, held their ground until reinforcements arrived. In the initial four days, the Nationalist offensive failed to overwhelm the Japanese, who escaped encirclement and annihilation. The four infantry and artillery regiments and one cavalry regiment on the Japanese side managed to hold the line along Lanfeng, Luowangzhai, Sanyizhai, Lanfengkou, Quxingji, Yang'erzhai, and Chenliukou on the south bank of the Yellow River, offering stubborn resistance. The Longhai Railway was completely cut off. Chiang Kai-shek, furious upon hearing the news while stationed in Zhengzhou, ordered the execution of Long Muhan, commander of the 88th Division, to restore military morale. He also decided to consolidate Hu Zongnan's, Li Hanhun's, Yu Jishi's, Song Xilian's, and Gui Yongqing's troops into the 1st Corps, with Xue Yue as commander-in-chief. On the morning of May 25, they launched a determined counterattack on Doihara's 14th Division. Song Xilian personally led the front lines on May 24 to rally the defeated 88th Division.  Starting on May 25, after three days of intense combat, Li Hanhun's 64th Army advanced to seize Luowang Station and Luowangzhai, while Song Xilian's 71st Army retook Lanfeng City, temporarily reopening the Longhai Line to traffic. At Sanyi Village, Gui Yongqing's 27th Army and Yu Jishi's 74th Army captured a series of outlying positions, including Yang'eyao, Chailou, Cailou, Hezhai, Xuelou, and Baowangsi. Despite these gains, more than 6,000 Japanese troops offered stubborn resistance. During the fighting, Ji Hongru, commander of the 302nd Regiment, was seriously wounded but continued to fight, shouting, “Don't worry about my death! Brothers, fight on!” He ultimately died a heroic death from his wounds. By May 27, Chiang Kai-shek, concerned that the forces had not yet delivered a decisive victory at Lanfeng, personally reprimanded the participating generals and ordered them to completely encircle and annihilate the enemy west of Lanfeng by the following day. He warned that if the opportunity was missed and Japanese reinforcements arrived, the position could be endangered. The next day, Chiang Kai-shek issued another telegram, urging Cheng Qian's First War Zone and all participating units to press the offensive. The telegram allegedly had this in it “It will forever be a laughingstock in the history of warfare.” Meanwhile on the other side, to prevent the annihilation of Doihara's 14th Division, the elite Japanese 16th Division and the 3rd Mixed Brigade, totaling over 40,000 men, launched a westward assault from Dangshan, capturing Yucheng on May 26. They then began probing the outskirts of Guide. Huang Jie's Eighth Army, responsible for the defense, withdrew to the outskirts of Guide that evening. On May 28, Huang Jie again led his troops on his own initiative, retreating to Liuhe and Kaifeng, leaving only the 187th Division to defend Zhuji Station and Guide City. At dawn on May 29, Peng Linsheng, commander of the 187th Division, also withdrew his troops, leaving Guide a deserted city. The Japanese occupied Guide without a fight. The loss of Guide dramatically shifted the tide of the war. Threatened on the flanks by the Japanese 16th Division, the Nationalist forces were forced onto the defensive. On May 28, the Japanese 14th Division concentrated its forces to counterattack Gui Yongqing's troops, but they were defeated again, allowing the Japanese to stabilize their position. At the same time, the fall of Shangqiu compelled Xue Yue's corps to withdraw five divisions to block the enemy in Shangqiu, and the Nationalist Army shifted to a defensive posture with the 14th Division holding Sanyizhai and Quxingji. To the north of the battlefield, the Japanese 4th Mixed Brigade, numbering over 10,000 men, was preparing to force a crossing of the Yellow River in order to join with the nearby 14th Division. More seriously, the 10th Division, together with its 13th Mixed Brigade and totaling more than 40,000 men, had captured Woyang and Bozhou on the Henan-Anhui border and was rapidly encircling eastern Henan. By the time of the Battle of Lanfeng, Japanese forces had deployed more than 100,000 troops, effectively surrounding the Nationalist army. On May 31, the First War Zone decided to withdraw completely, and the Battle of Lanfeng ended in defeat for the Nationalists, forcing Chiang Kai-shek to authorize diverting the Yellow River embankment to relieve pressure. The consequence was a deteriorating strategic situation, as encirclement tightened and reinforcement options dwindled, driving a retreat from the Lanfeng front. The National Army suffered more than 67,000 casualties, killed and wounded more than 10,000 Japanese soldiers, Lanfeng was lost, and Zhengzhou was in danger.  As in Nanjing, this Chinese army might have lived to fight another day, but the effect on Xuzhou itself was horrific. The city had endured Japanese bombardment since August 1937, and the population's mood swung between cautious hope and utter despair. In March, Du Zhongyuan visited Xuzhou. Before he left Wuhan, friends told him that “the city was desolate and the people were terrified, all the inhabitants of Xuzhou were quietly getting on with their business … sometimes it was even calmer than Wuhan.” The Australian journalist Rhodes Farmer recalled a similar image in a book published at war's end, noting the “ordinary townsfolk who became wardens, fire-fighters and first-aid workers during the raid and then went back to their civil jobs.” Yet the mid-May departure of Nationalist troops left the city and its outskirts at the mercy of an angry Imperial Army. Bombing continued through the final days of battle, and a single raid on May 14, 1938 killed 700 people. Around Xuzhou, buildings and bridges were destroyed—some by retreating Chinese forces, some by advancing Japanese troops. Taierzhuang, the scene of the earlier iconic defense, was utterly destroyed. Canadian Jesuits who remained in Xuzhou after its fall recorded that more than a third of the houses were razed, and most of the local population had fled in terror. In rural areas around the city, massacres were repeatedly reported, many witnessed by missionaries. Beyond the atrocities of the Japanese, locals faced banditry in the absence of law enforcement, and vital agricultural work such as planting seed ground to a halt. The loss of Xuzhou was both strategic and symbolic. It dealt a severe blow to Chiang's attempt to hold central China and to control regional troop movements. Morale, which Taierzhuang had briefly boosted, was battered again though not extinguished. The fall signaled that the war would be long, and that swift victory against Japan was no longer likely. Mao Zedong's Yan'an base, far to the northwest, grasped the meaning of defeat there. In May 1938 he delivered one of his most celebrated lectures, “On Protracted War,” chiding those who had over-optimistically claimed the Xuzhou campaign could be a quasi-decisive victory and arguing that, after Taierzhuang, some had become “giddy.” Mao insisted that China would ultimately prevail, yet he warned that it could not be won quickly, and that the War of Resistance would be protracted. In the meantime, the development of guerrilla warfare remained an essential piece of the long-term strategy that the Communist armies would pursue in north China. Yet the loss of Xuzhou did not necessarily portend a long war; it could, instead, presage a war that would be terrifyingly short. By spring 1938 the Chinese defenders were desperate. There was a real danger that the entire war effort could collapse, and the Nationalist governments' notable success as protectors of a shrinking “Free China” lay in avoiding total disaster. Government propaganda had successfully portrayed a plan beyond retreat to foreign observers, yet had Tokyo captured Wuhan in the spring, the Chinese Army would have had to withdraw at speed, reinforcing perceptions of disintegration. Western governments were unlikely to intervene unless convinced it was in their interests. Within the Nationalist leadership, competing instincts persisted. The government pursued welfare measures for the people in the midst of a massive refugee relief effort, the state and local organizations, aided by the International Red Cross, housed large numbers of refugees in 1937–1938. Yet there was a harsher strain within policy circles, with some officials willing to sacrifice individual lives for strategic or political ends as the Japanese threat intensified. Throughout central China, the Yellow River, China's “Sorrow”, loomed as the dominant geographic force shaping history. The loess-laden river, notorious for floods and shifting channels, was banked by massive dikes near Zhengzhou, exactly along the line the Japanese would traverse toward Wuhan. Using the river as a military instrument was discussed as a drastic option: Chiang and Cheng Qian's First War Zone contemplated diverting or breaching the dikes to halt or slow the Japanese advance, a measure that could buy time but would unleash enormous civilian suffering. The idea dated back to 1887 floods that cost hundreds of thousands of lives, and even in 1935 Alexander von Falkenhausen had warned that the Yellow River could become the final line of defense. In 1938 Chiang, recognizing the futility of defeating the Japanese by conventional means at Zhengzhou, considered unleashing the river's force if necessary to impede the invaders. The political and strategic calculus was stark: protect central China and Wuhan, even if it required drastic and morally fraught measures. A more humane leader might have hesitated to break the dikes and spare the dams, allowing the Japanese to take Wuhan. But Chiang Kai-shek believed that if the dikes were not breached and Wuhan fell within days, the Nationalist government might be unable to relocate to Chongqing in time and would likely surrender, leaving Japan in control of almost all of China. Some have compared the choice to France's surrender in June 1940, underscoring that Chiang's decision came during the country's most terrifying assault, with Chinese forces much weaker and less trained than their European counterparts. The dilemma over whether to break the Yellow River dikes grew out of desperation. Chiang ultimately ordered General Wei Rulin to blow the dike that held the Yellow River in central Henan. There was no doubt about the consequences: floods would inundate vast areas of central China, creating a waterlogged barrier that would halt the Japanese advance. Yet for the plan to succeed, it had to be carried out quickly, and the government could offer no public warning in case the Japanese detected it and accelerated their movement. Xiong Xianyu, chief of staff in the 8th Division at the time, recorded the urgency of those hours in his diary. The Japanese were already on the north bank of the Yellow River, briefly delayed when the Chinese army blew up the railway bridge across the river. The destruction of the dikes was the next step: if the area became a sea of mud, there would be no way the Japanese could even attempt to reconstruct the bridge. Blasting the dikes proved easier in theory than in practice. Holding back such a massive body of water required substantial engineering, dams thick and well fortified. The army made its first attempts to blow the dike at the small town of Zhaokou between June 4 and 6, 1938, but the structure proved too durable; another nearby attempt failed as well. Hour by hour, the Japanese moved closer. Division commander Jiang Zaizhen asked Xiong Xianyu for his opinion on where they might breach the dams. Xiong wrote “I discussed the topography, and said that two places, Madukou and Huayuankou, were both possible.” But Madukou was too close to Zhaokou, where the breach had already failed, presenting a danger that the Japanese might reach it very soon. The village of Huayuankou, however, lay farther away and on a bend in the river: “To give ourselves enough time, Huayuankou would be best.” At first, the soldiers treated the task as a military engineering assignment, an “exciting” one in Xiong's words. Xiong and Wei Rulin conducted their first site inspection after dark, late on June 6. The surroundings offered a deceptive calm: Xiong recounted “The wind blew softly, and the river water trickled pleasantly.” Yet gauging the water level proved difficult, hampered by murky moonlight and burned-out flashlights. They spent the night in their car to determine precisely where to break the dike as soon as day broke. But daylight seemed to bring home the consequences of what they planned to do, and the soldiers grew increasingly anxious. Wang Songmei, commander of the 2nd Regiment, addressed the workers about to breach the dike: “My brothers, this plan will be of benefit to our country and our nation, and will lessen the harm that is being done to the people.In the future, you'll find good wives and have plenty of children.” Wang's words were meant to reassure the men of the political necessity of their actions and that fate would not, in the traditional Chinese sense, deny them a family because of the enormity of their deeds. General Wei confirmed that Huayuankou was the right spot, and on June 8 the work began, with about 2,000 men taking part. The Nationalist government was eager to ensure rapid progress. Xiong recorded that the “highest authorities”,, kept making telephone calls from Wuhan to check on progress. In addition, the party sent performers to sing and play music to bolster the workers' spirits. Senior General Shang Zhen announced to the laborers that if they breached the dam by midnight on June 8, each would receive 2,000 yuan; if they achieved it by six the next morning, they would still be paid 1,000 yuan. They needed encouragement, for the diggers had no artificial assistance. After the initial failures at Zhaokou, Wei's troops relied entirely on manual labor, with no explosives used. Yet the workers earned their payments, and the dike was breached in just a few hours. On the morning of June 9, Xiong recorded a rapid shift in mood: the atmosphere became tense and solemn. Initially, the river flow was modest, but by about 1:00 p.m. the water surged “fiercely,” flowing “like 10,000 horses.” Looking toward the distance, Xiong felt as though a sea had appeared before him. “My heart ached,” he wrote. The force of the water widened the breach, and a deadly stream hundreds of feet wide comprising about three-quarters of the river's volume—rushed southeast across the central Chinese plains. “We did this to stop the enemy,” Xiong reflected, “so we didn't regret the huge sacrifice, as it was for a greater victory.” Yet he and the other soldiers also saw a grim reality: the troops who had taken on the task of destroying the railway bridge and the dikes could not bear the flood's consequences alone. It would be up to the government and the people of the nation to provide relief for the countless households uprooted by the flood. In fact, the previous evening Commander Jiang had telephoned to request assistance for those flooded out of their homes.   Wei, Xiong, and their troops managed to escape by wooden boats. Hundreds of thousands of farmers trapped in the floods were far less fortunate. Time magazine's correspondent Theodore White reported on the devastation a few days later “Last week “The Ungovernable” [i.e. the Yellow River] lashed out with a flood which promised to change not only its own course but also the course of the whole Sino-Japanese War. Severe breaks in the dikes near Kaifeng sent a five-foot wall of water fanning out over a 500-squaremile area, spreading death. Toll from Yellow River floods is not so much from quick drowning as from gradual disease and starvation. The river's filth settles ankle-deep on the fields, mothering germs, smothering crops. Last week, about 500,000 peasants were driven from 2,000 communities to await rescue or death on whatever dry ground they could find”. Chiang's government had committed one of the grossest acts of violence against its own people, and he knew that the publicity could be a damaging blow to its reputation. He decided to divert blame by announcing that the dike had been broken, but blaming the breach on Japanese aerial bombing. The Japanese, in turn, fiercely denied having bombed the dikes. White's reporting reflected the immediate response of most foreigners; having heard about the atrocities at Nanjing and Xuzhou, he was disinclined to give the Japanese the benefit of the doubt. Furthermore, at the very time that the Yellow River was flooding central China, the Japanese were heavily bombing Guangzhou, causing thousands of casualties. To White, the Japanese counterargument—that the Chinese themselves were responsible, seemed unthinkable: “These accusations, foreign observers thought, were absurd. For the Chinese to check the Japanese advance at possible sacrifice of half a million lives would be a monstrous pyrrhic victory. Besides, dike-cutting is the blackest of Chinese crimes, and the Chinese Army would hardly risk universal censure for slight tactical gains.” But, of course, that is exactly what they had done. During the war the Nationalists never admitted that they, not the Japanese, had breached the dikes. But the truth quickly became widely known. Just a month later, on July 19, US Ambassador Johnson noted, in private communication, that the “Chinese blocked the advance on Chengchow [Zhengzhou] by breaching the Yellow River dikes.” Eventually some 54,000 square kilometers of central China were inundated by the floods. If the Japanese had committed such an act, it would have been remembered as the prime atrocity of the war, dwarfing even the Nanjing Massacre or the Chongqing air raids in terms of the number of people who suffered. Accurate statistics were impossible to obtain in the midst of wartime chaos and disaster, but in 1948 figures issued by the Nationalists themselves suggested enormous casualties: for the three affected provinces of Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu, the number of dead was put at 844,489, with some 4.8 million becoming refugees. More recent studies place the numbers lower, but still estimate the dead at around 500,000, and 3–5 million refugees. In contrast, the devastating May 1939 air raids on Chongqing killed some thousands. Xiong reflected in his diary that the breaching of the Yellow River dikes was a sacrifice for a greater victory. Even to some Japanese it seemed that the tactic had been successful in the short term: the first secretary at the US Embassy in Wuhan reported that the flood had “completely checked the Japanese advance on Chengchow” and had prevented them taking Wuhan by rail. Instead, he predicted, the attack was likely to come by water and along the north shore of the Yangtze. Supporters of the dike breaches could argue that these acts saved central China and Chiang's headquarters in Wuhan for another five months. The Japanese were indeed prevented from advancing along the Long–Hai railway toward Wuhan. In the short term the floods did what the Nationalists wanted. But the flooding was a tactic, a breathing space, and did not solve the fundamental problem: China's armies needed strong leadership and rapid reform. Some historians suggest that Chiang's decision was pointless anyway, since it merely delayed the inevitable. Theodore White was right: no strategic advantage could make the deaths of 500,000 of China's own people a worthwhile price to pay. However, Chiang Kai-shek's decision can be partly explained, though not excused, by the context. We can now look back at the actions of the Nationalists and argue that they should not have held on to Wuhan, or that their actions in breaching the dam were unjustifiable in the extreme. But for Chiang, in the hot summer of 1938, it seemed his only hope was to deny Japan as much of China for as long as possible and create the best possible circumstances for a long war from China's interior, while keeping the world's attention on what Japan was doing. The short delay won by the flooding was itself part of the strategy. In the struggle raging within the soul of the Nationalist Party, the callous, calculating streak had won, for the time being. The breaking of the dikes marked a turning point as the Nationalists committed an act whose terrible consequences they would eventually have to expiate. 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 1937, China's frontline trembled as Japanese forces closed in on Wuhan. Chiang Kai-shek faced a brutal choice: endure costly defenses or unleash a desperate gamble. Chiangs' radical plan emerged: breach the Yellow River dikes at Huayuankou to flood central China, buying time. The flood roared, washing villages and futures away, yet slowing the enemy. The battlefield paused, while a nation weighed courage against civilian suffering, victory against devastating costs.

Send us a textA domestic violence survivor recounts her harrowing 13-year marriage culminating in a near-fatal strangulation incident that left her temporarily unable to move or speak.• Married at three months pregnant due to church pressure to "correct" the situation• Experienced three major violent incidents over 13 years, with the first strangulation occurring just six months into marriage• Cycled through leaving and returning multiple times, staying with her mother temporarily• Faced complex barriers to leaving permanently including financial dependence, religious beliefs about divorce, and concern for her children• Husband became increasingly agitated when she stopped being intimate with him• Final attack occurred when he strangled her in their kitchen, dragged her unconscious body to the garage, and fled• Children found her and called 911; she regained consciousness but couldn't speak or move• Last word before losing consciousness was "Jesus"Support the showSocial Media/Follow Us: Website:https://www.calledbygodpodcast.com/IG: https://www.instagram.com/cbg.podcast/Twitter: https://twitter.com/CalledbyGodPodTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@calledbygodpodcast

Three things have come together to raise a combination of issues related to caste and minorities that India has failed to resolve even 75 years after its Constitution was born. The caste issue, of course, has persisted through centuries. The shoe thrown at the Chief Justice and, sadder still, the ‘suicide' of Haryana Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Y. Puran Kumar & the third, the somewhat counter-intuitive success among the well-heeled of Homebound, by Neeraj Ghaywan, the most prominent and powerful Dalit filmmaker in Bollywood. Education, reservations and government jobs are meant to bring equality and dignity — Watch this week's #NationalInterest with ThePrint's Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta.

ENTERTAINING SHORT FILMS is a new category on the RPA Network, which features indie short films for your enjoyment! We applaud these creators! After stealing a magical book from a wealthy suburban home, Mike opens the artifact to discover it is prophesying his murder. Faced with his imminent death, he must return the artifact to his killer in order to rewrite his future.

The difficult things we are seeing in the Church and in the world can lead one to lose hope unless we are grounded in the most important aspects of our Catholic Faith. Exorcist Monsignor Charles Pope joins us to discuss why this may be the greatest crisis we have ever seen in the Church. Remember, as the Church goes, so goes the world. ------------------------------- Find out more about the Rosary Coalition HERE: https://rosarycoalition.com/usgf ------------------------------- Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKZ9OefEJLEx1qYcBxgAFww/join -------------------------------- PATREON - Help support this podcast by becoming a US Grace Force PATRON here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=25398590 -------------------------------- Check out ROMAN CATHOLIC GEAR and get amazing Catholic gear for the battle of your life! Click HERE: https://romancatholicgear.com/USGF -------------------------------- Subscribe to our NEW US Grace Force YouTube channel! US GRACE FORCE 2.0. Don't miss any new, great content!! https://youtube.com/@USGraceForce2.0?si=zq47qEqPITXnIDkg -------------------------------- Join the US Grace Force Team HERE: https://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001ESuSGaJpYPCG2iUdd4j4bkKwd4gkh2ZUVbam_Ty9rCn6blH6_U3cI2D8UvSLEcSzHnC4eq2UWmK1I0SbEw0SPKqnkZ2j0Z4J4D-_m4dD6CKJU9day-bBa8Qnx4dv7RLDIVlYAjL1JWsjfUTNPH2jQIVY9gbdbz4O4oMIzv5V1dT_upQsD8cX86iq_5Y-x4eLrTVtdOmA24s%3D&fbclid=IwY2xjawFRvvdleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHdo526R1rgNAIW76yyQnVbo957e1TgOoQ4RH3Tr84D8376Y7jng09gtlOw_aem_H7Y7Ej6cF6-nPyfOZ4qMTQ -------------------------------- PRAY THE ROSARY: The Rosary of the Seven Sorrows of Mary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUr5UzrV63I -------------------------------- The Joyful Mysteries: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMAR9MEN1pE&t=656s --------------------------------- The Sorrowful Mysteries: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHUkx66oAxE&t=311s --------------------------------- The Glorious Mysteries: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg_JWsxS6EA&t=207s --------------------------------- The Luminous Mysteries: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVL5CqBr3CA&t=198s --------------------------------- The Full Rosary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44zL1kFIvP8&t=1765s -------------------------------- Be Ready Emergency Preparedness Course: Be prepared to Care for and Protect your Family in times of Natural Disasters, Emergencies, Civil Unrest, Economic Collapse, and more. Sign up for the course HERE: https://brcoalition.com/ --------------------------------- Go HERE to check out the BR Coalition and get great training Body, Mind & Soul! https://brcoalition.com/ Become part of one of the fastest growing online Catholic Membership sites. --------------------------------- Get your hands on some great US Grace Force T-shirts! https://us-grace-force.creator-spring.com/ --------------------------------- The seven promises given to St Bridget of Sweden for those who devote themselves to her Seven Sorrows. 1. I will grant peace to their families. 2. They will be enlightened about the Divine Mysteries. 3. I will console them in their pains, and I will accompany them in their work. 4. I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my Divine Son or the sanctification of their souls. 5. I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives. 6. I will visibly help them at the moment of their death—they will see the face of their mother. 7. I have obtained this grace from my divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and dolors will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness, since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son and I will be their eternal consolation and joy.

Boog Sciambi talks 'crazy velocity' Cubs hitters have faced this postseason (Hour 3) full 2431 Thu, 09 Oct 2025 23:30:00 +0000 La4ffkrZsU8bYxtoK3OGDO3kL5SgmkNt sports Spiegel & Holmes Show sports Boog Sciambi talks 'crazy velocity' Cubs hitters have faced this postseason (Hour 3) Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes bring you Chicago sports talk with great opinions, guests and fun. Join Spiegel and Holmes as they discuss the Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs and White Sox and delve into the biggest sports storylines of the day. Recurring guests include Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson, former Bears coach Dave Wannstedt, former Bears center Olin Kreutz, Cubs manager Craig Counsell, Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner and MLB Network personality Jon Morosi. Catch the show live Monday through Friday (2 p.m. - 6 p.m. CT) on 670 The Score, the exclusive audio home of the Cubs and the Bulls, or on the Audacy app. © 2025 Audacy, Inc. Sports False https://

Boog Sciambi talks 'crazy velocity' Cubs hitters have faced this postseason full 1384 Thu, 09 Oct 2025 21:13:23 +0000 5TJ2c63ktJmYYtGz5sm88723mSMKeV5J mlb,chicago cubs,sports Spiegel & Holmes Show mlb,chicago cubs,sports Boog Sciambi talks 'crazy velocity' Cubs hitters have faced this postseason Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes bring you Chicago sports talk with great opinions, guests and fun. Join Spiegel and Holmes as they discuss the Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs and White Sox and delve into the biggest sports storylines of the day. Recurring guests include Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson, former Bears coach Dave Wannstedt, former Bears center Olin Kreutz, Cubs manager Craig Counsell, Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner and MLB Network personality Jon Morosi. Catch the show live Monday through Friday (2 p.m. - 6 p.m. CT) on 670 The Score, the exclusive audio home of the Cubs and the Bulls, or on the Audacy app. © 2025 Audacy, Inc. Sports False https://player.am

Ben Criddle talks BYU sports every weekday from 2 to 6 pm.Today's Co-Hosts: Ben Criddle (@criddlebenjamin)Subscribe to the Cougar Sports with Ben Criddle podcast:Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cougar-sports-with-ben-criddle/id99676

Alabama stormed back with a vengeance since their season opening loss and placed themselves firmly in the race for the playoffs and the SEC Championship. After two ranked opponents in a row, how much does Alabama have in the tank when they face a surging Mizzou team on the road this weekend? Clint Lamb joins us to preview this SEC showdown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ben Criddle talks BYU sports every weekday from 2 to 6 pm.Today's Co-Hosts: Ben Criddle (@criddlebenjamin)Subscribe to the Cougar Sports with Ben Criddle podcast:Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cougar-sports-with-ben-criddle/id99676

The sisters owned a Dairy Queen and paid their employees every two weeks, but the law in NY required weekly paychecks - a law many people did not know about. Lawsuits by employees exposed the owners to $6 million in liability but they eventually settled for less. The law has also been changed. https://www.lehtoslaw.com

Carl and Mike get into some of the latest sports headlines including the Falcons approach to containing Josh Allen as Raheem Morris credits the Bills quarterback for being a very dangerous player as he makes defenses have to be prepared to defend two plays due to his abilities.

Lyndsay founded Neo Walk following a life-changing experience in 2010 when she lost her leg to a catastrophic MRSA infection. Faced with the need to use a walking stick, she was frustrated by the dull, clinical options available. Determined to reclaim her sense of style and confidence, Lyndsay began creating her own beautiful, acrylic walking sticks—vibrant, stylish, and unlike anything on the market. What started as a personal solution quickly became a passion to empower others facing similar challenges. Today, Neo Walk is dedicated to transforming perceptions of mobility aids, offering tools of self-expression and pride to people worldwide. To know more about Lyndsay visit her website: www.neo-walk.com

New Evidence Charlie Kirk Faced Pressure from Jewish Donors Before his Assassination, PLUS Biden Blocked CIA From Distributing Report on Hunter's Ukraine Business Dealings

In this episode we meet Lori, a 68-year-old woman who spent her formative years as a member of Jehovah's Witnesses. Her family was converted when she was five, immediately thrusting her into a high-control environment that abruptly ended a normal childhood. From the outset, Lori harbored an innate skepticism towards the group's doctrines, which manifested as a lifelong, escalating resistance to its demands. Her narrative details significant psychological and emotional abuse, including a cold and detached home life, constant threats of divine annihilation (Armageddon), and severe punishments for non-compliance. Faced with an ultimatum at age 18, Lori strategically executed a pre-planned departure, an event she describes as a profound liberation. The subsequent decades involved a difficult but ultimately successful journey of recovery, overcoming relationship challenges, severe health crises, and periods of deep despair to build a life defined by freedom, authentic connection, and the breaking of a multi-generational cycle of family trauma. Support the show and get bonuses as well by donating to the cause on our Patreon page, Patreon.com/shunned Are you struggling in some area of life? Feeling stuck? Need an accountability partner or some encouragement? Need to talk to someone that understands cult life? Reach out and let's talk. I have affordable programs to help as a certified life coach with a focus on cult recovery. Click HERE for more information. Want more resources? Go to my other website exjwHelp.com Leave us a review on iTunes Find shunned podcast on Youtube, including new VIDcasts here. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram. You can listen to the Shunned Podcast Spotify playlist here for all of the songs chosen by guests of the show. This podcast was made possible by my original podcast This JW Life. You can find it on any podcast app. It is a 9 part series about life as Jehovah's Witnesses designed to help you understand how it worked in one comprehensive story and to help you process your own if you came from that environment. Read my FREE online book, based on This JW Life, called Becoming Jehovah, in both English and Spanish by clicking here An ExJW podcast and ExJW YouTube Channel

Let's dive into the world of cruises - (full disclaimer: neither Vic or Hamish have ever actually been on one!)Today Vic and Hame explore the allure of cruise ships as “giant floating bars” or “Westfields on Water,” complete with endless buffets, towel animals, and drinks packages that basically dare you to drink your body weight in piña coladas before lunch. They chat about why they've always avoided this type of holiday, despite their extended families treating cruises like the holy grail of leisure.But are things changing? With unlimited alcohol packages still the main selling point, they look at the dangers of all-you-can-drink culture at sea — from sunstroke + sangria chaos to the grim statistics on alcohol-related accidents. At the same time, they ask whether the tide (pun intended) might finally be turning. Could cruises actually become activity-laden, dream holidays for sober folk — with gyms, spas, shore excursions, and, dare we say, mocktail menus worth ordering from?As ever, Vic and Hame bring honesty, humour, and a healthy dose of scepticism to the question: are cruises doomed to stay floating pubs, or can the sober awkward among us finally come aboard without dreading the drinks package sales pitch?Enjoy!

I once heard a story that I would like to share with you and then I would like to follow it up with a question. A man is on death row for murder, the day of his execution has come, and you have been invited to spend 30 minutes with the man. You ask the man if he is guilty; his answer seems sincere and heartfelt: It was years ago when I committed that crime, but it is true that I am guilty of murder. He continues to explain how year after year he and his lawyers have tried to appeal his death sentence, but all his appeals have failed. Now his only hope is the small chance his lawyers may be able to get the court, or even the governor, to agree to a stay of execution. Just before your 30 minutes are up the man learns that there will be no stay of execution and within the next hour, he will die by lethal injection. You decide to stay to see if by some chance a reprieve might be granted. The time of execution arrives, and the man is ushered to the room where he will be executed. He passes by as you watch, and through his loud sobs, you hear the man repeat, I am so sorry, I am so sorry! I am so sorry! My question for you is this: Is the man sorry that he took the life of another human, or is he sorry that he will never be able to murder again? The account of the first family provides valuable insight into what genuine love for God and true worship look like. Following their disobedience in the garden, God gave Adam and Eve a promise: a Descendanta seed who would come to defeat and destroy the deceiver who had led them astray. Their reaction to Gods promise in the midst of their failure becomes a powerful example of repentance and worship. To truly grasp what led Cain to kill his brother, we must first consider how Adam and Eve responded to Gods assurance and what it reveals about the heart of repentance and worship. Before Adam and Eves sin, they were commanded to fill the earth with children and not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The two trees in the center of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Every day that Adam and his wife passed by those trees, they were given the option to choose life and blessing by eating from the tree of life, or to choose death and cursing by disobeying God by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As you know, they chose death and cursing. After God found them, His promise of good news to the couple was that One would come through their decedents who would crush the serpent. Their response to their sin and Gods promise is found in Genesis 3:20 - 4:1, and it was beautiful! Adam named his wife Eve which means mother of all the living. Gods response after Adam named his wife was to cover them with animal skins, which means that God shed the blood of an animal to cover their shame. God then sent them out of the Garden which was the consequence of their sin and the new reality of the curse they would now live under. Then, even after they were no longer permitted to live in the garden, Adam and Eve responded in faith to the promise of God by finally choosing to have children with the birth of Cain and then Abel; when she gave birth to Cain, Eve said, I have obtained a male child with the help of the Lord. The expectation Adam and Eve had for their son Cain was one of hope, filled with dreams that they also shared for Abel. When it came to the worship of Yahweh, Cain brought a portion from his labors from the ground while Abel brought the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions in worship to the Lord. What this tells us is that Adam and Eve shared the stories of their God with their two sons; they also instructed them in the way they were to worship God out of thanksgiving and reverence that all that they had was from the Lord. Both Adam and Eve understood that the Deliverer promised to them would either be one of their sons or one who would come by way of the sons of their children. Although Cain and Abel grew up in the same household, raised by the same parents, and taught the same values, their lives and choices could not have been more different. Cain chose to work the soil as a farmer, while Abel became a shepherd, tending flocks (4:2). There was nothing wrong with Cains occupation, nor was his offering itself unacceptable. The real issue lay in the condition of Cains heartspiritually, his attitude and motivation before God was deeply flawed. Worship is More than What You Do The offering that Cain and Abel brought to the Lord was their way of thanking God; it was their way of worshiping Him for all the good that He brought into their lives through their respective occupations. Cain was a farmer, so he brought the produce of His work to God not because God needed it, but as a way of worshiping Him. Abel was a shepherd, so he brought a portion of his labor before the Lord as an offering. In verse three we are told that Cain brought his offering, In the course of time.. which is probably a reference to the end of the agricultural season. So, this was not the first time Cain or Abel worshiped God through their respective offerings. Abels offering was that of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. The reason for the detail here is that Abels offering was thought out, carefully prepared, and the best of what he had to offer God, while Cains offering was not. The point is that Cain came to God on his own terms, while Abel came to God on Gods terms. Cains offering was motivated out of obligation and duty, while Abels was motivated by reverence and love. We know Abels offering was motivated by his love and reverence of God for two reasons: First, according to verse 5, but for Cain and his offering He had no regard. So Cain was very angry and his face was gloomy. The second reason is found in Hebrews 11:4, By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he was attested to be righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. What I find amazing about this story is that God did not ridicule Cain for his half-hearted worship, but instead instructed him as to how his offering could be accepted just like his brothers was: If you do well, will your face not be cheerful? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it (v. 7). Worship is a Matter of the Heart Abel worshiped God as one who understood who he himself was in light of who God is (Abel was poor in spirit), he understood that his only righteousness was to be found in God (he mourned over his sins), and his offering came out of a spirit of humility before God (Abel was meek). For Abel, worship was not a duty, but a delight. Cains response to Gods favor for Abel over himself reveals everything we need to know about the man. He first responded in anger (Cain believed what he had was enough), Cain did not listen to God (he did not see his sin for what it was), he was jealous of his brothers relationship with God (Cains pride was wounded). Instead of repenting, Cain chose to murder his brother instead! Cain had the opportunity to respond to God's displeasure with genuine repentance and humility, seeking forgiveness. Rather than mastering his sin, Cain allowed it to dominate him, channeling his rage into a tragic act: Cain talked to his brother Abel; and it happened that when they were in the field Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him (v. 8). The beast that God warned Cain about was not sitting at the door of his heart, it was lurking within his heart! Faced with a choice between life and death, Cain chose death by taking his brother's life. The profound tragedy of Cain's actions lies in his motivationhe killed Abel not only out of anger, but because Abel's devotion reminded him of the holiness of God. While Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in their desire to be like God, Cain murdered out of spite, resenting his brother's sincere worship of God. After Cain murdered his brother, God did not wait for Cain to confess; rather, He confronted Cain directly, asking, Where is Abel your brother? Cains reply, I do not know. Am I my brothers keeper? (v. 9), which reveals not just his guilt, but also his attempt to deceive God. Cain committed not only the act of murder but compounded his sin by lying to God. Despite having witnessed his parents experienceknowing that nothing can be hidden from GodCains response illustrates the irrationality of sin. He wrongly assumed his actions could be concealed from God and tried to cover them up with dishonesty. Where Adam shifted blame for his own wrongdoing, Cain chose to respond with outright deceit. Cains calloused answer to God regarding his brother is deafening. Yet the Lord approached Cain anyway: What have you done? The voice of your brothers blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brothers blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth (vv. 10-12). What Cain failed to consider was that although dirt covered the corpse of his murdered brother, the blood of Abel screamed for justice, and that is what God gave Cain. As is often the case with sin, Cains actions had lasting consequences on his relationships. Once able to nurture life from the soil, Cain now found the earth to be hostile toward him. Overwhelmed by the severity of his punishment, Cain lamented, My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you have driven me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me may kill me (vv. 13-14). What amazes me most about this story is that, even after Cain murdered his brother and responded to God with callousness and deceit, God still heard Cains desperate plea for mercy. Instead of abandoning him, God responded with unexpected grace: Then the LORD said to him, Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden (vv. 15-16). Ever since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, humanity's condition has not improved but has only deteriorated. The serpent tricked Adam and Eve into thinking they could be like God, but Cain escalated the rebellion by taking a lifesomething only God has the authority overwhen he murdered his brother. Just a few generations later, human wickedness intensified. By the time we come to Genesis 6, we see that the sin of Adam and Eve had infected every generation, spreading like a disease until Scripture declares, The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Gen. 6:5). Application I can hardly fathom the grief and devastation Adam and Eve felt upon discovering that their firstborn son had taken the life of his brother Abel. With Cain under judgment and Abel gone, Adam and Eve were left childless, and the promise God made to them in the Garden must have seemed shattered and out of reach. Although Adam and Eves sin resulted in a curse, they ultimately experienced redemption, forgiveness, and the hope of salvation. In contrast, Cain was condemned to wander the earth under a curse, and his life was irrevocably changed. From Cains story, much like Adam and Eves, we discover that sin always comes at a high priceit never fulfills its promises, it destroys peace, brings shame, and robs the sinner of true joy. When darkness seemed to overwhelm and hope appeared lost under the weight of the curse, Adam and Eve conceived again and bore a third son and gave him the name Seth which means appointed. This time, Eves words reflected a shift in perspective: rather than saying she had a child with the help of the Lord, she instead said: God has appointed me another child in place of Abel, because Cain killed him (v. 25). With Seths birth, Scripture notes that people began to call upon the name of the Lord (v. 26). As S.A. Sacks observed, Hope rises like a phoenix from the ashes of shattered dreams. From the brokenness of the first family, God brought forth hope once morespecifically, through Seth and the enduring promise of a Deliverer. The slaughter of Abel as an innocent representation of the God he served was a foreshadowing of the One who would come through the bloodline of Abels younger brother, Seth. Listen to Hebrews 12:24, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. Abels shed blood screams for vengeance, while the innocent shed blood of Jesus screams forgiveness and complete atonement. Abels blood screams: Judgment! Jesus blood screams: Salvation! When Abels blood was shed, it stained the ground, because of Jesus blood being shed, our sin can be washed away so that we can be made righteous. When it comes to sin and temptation, the Bible says: But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death (Jas. 1:14-15). How does one master sin? The story of Cain provides us with three principles that will help us fight against our own sin in a way that Cain failed to do: Recognize that victory over sin begins in your mind. The battle against sin is first foughtand wonwithin your mind. Fill your thoughts with Gods Word to build a strong line of defense (2 Cor. 10:4-6). Remember, you are never trapped by your sin where there is no escape from it; God always provides a way out. Just as He offered Cain an escape, God offers you one toodont cling to the temptation by lingering before it. (1 Cor. 10:13). Run to Jesus, your Deliverer. When temptation strikes, turn immediately to Jesus. Fill your mind with His words, seek His redemption instead of dwelling in the shame of your failure (Heb. 12:1-2) Rely on the Holy Spirits strengthnot your ownto overcome sin. Because Jesus defeated sin and death, you can experience genuine freedom. He has given you the Holy Spirit to equip and empower you to live a victorious life in Him (Eph. 6:10-11). Before you this day are two trees. One is a tree that provides life, and it is the Cross of Christ. The other tree is one of death and cursing; it is the tree Cain chose. People who see you may not know what is going on in your heart and mind, but God sees it all! My appeal to you is to choose life by running to Jesus.

In this episode of 'Talking Insomnia,' Andrew shares his transformative journey from chronic insomnia to peaceful sleep. Faced with overwhelming stress, anxiety, and sleepless nights, Andrew discovered a new perspective through Sleep Coach School, fundamentally changing his relationship with sleep and mental health. Learn how Andrew navigated the challenges and found balance in his life. If you're new here…. you'll want to take our FREE course ‘The Festival of Understanding' 

Paul McNulty has had at least three careers. After graduating from law school, he spent 20 years in public service, rising to the top levels of the U.S. Department of Justice. Then he moved to one of the nation's – some might say the world's – top law firms. But service was in his blood, and in 2014 he became president of his alma mater, Grove City College. He has just retired from that position, after an 11 year stint. At a time when lots of colleges are shutting down, Grove City – under McNulty's leadership – has thrived. I asked Paul to be on the program today to do a retrospective of his career, and our conversation ranges widely, from his time in government, to the death of his son due to cancer in 2012, and his involvement with Keith and Kristyn Getty and their efforts to bring theologically rich and musically excellent hymns to the modern church. But the center of our conversation today is a discussion about the challenges facing higher education, and how Christian colleges can meet those challenges. Paul McNulty spoke to me from his home in Charleston, South Carolina.

President Donald Trump was only supposed to address the United Nations for 15 minutes, but he extended that to 55 minutes after it appeared U.N. employees tried sabotaging him four times.  Victor Davis Hanson breaks down the U.N.'s response to Trump's speech and also calls out the hypocrisy as many U.N. members walked out on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech but stayed for China's Xi Jinping's speech—a leader who has “over a million people in a Uyghur labor camp.” “All four of those circumstances were almost impossible to occur in one session ... This is very serious. It means that the United Nations has employees, or perhaps administrators, who deliberately tried to sabotage an American president while on American soil.” 

President Donald Trump was only supposed to address the United Nations for 15 minutes, but he extended that to 55 minutes after it appeared U.N. employees tried sabotaging him four times.   Victor Davis Hanson breaks down the U.N.'s response to Trump's speech and also calls out the hypocrisy as many U.N. members walked out […]

In this next chapter of Emily's journey, we pick up where Part One left off — delving into her second marriage and the dark, hidden betrayals she uncovered. What she thought would be a fresh start spirals into a nightmare when she learns her husband is a secret sex addict — and worse, he's been using her photos to catfish other men online.Faced with this ultimate violation of trust, Emily must confront devastating betrayal, reclaim her boundaries, and find her own path back to safety. Fortunately, her family opens their arms. She moves back home, finds refuge in their love, and slowly begins to rebuild her identity and autonomy.Join us as Emily reflects on survival, tough truths, and the hard work of healing from deception so deep it almost broke her.Takeaways & Listening NotesBetrayal from a partner is not just a relational wound — it can wound your sense of identity, worth, and safety.When deception is compounded by exploitation (i.e., using someone's images without consent), the violation is especially traumatic.A support system (family, trusted friends, therapy) can provide the anchors you need to exit and heal.Recovery is nonlinear. Moving forward often means revisiting pain, resetting boundaries, and building a new narrative for yourself.Content Warning: This episode discusses forms of PTSD, trauma, emotional abuse, sexual addiction, image exploitation, betrayal trauma, and manipulation, self-harm ideation, mental health, murder ideation, and any topics that may disturb some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.We are not doctors or therapists; you should not take our opinions as medical advice.Have a story you would like to share? Please fill out our form.Hosts: Behk & LAHFollow us on Instagram + Facebook @ngcompodProduction & Design: LAHardenMusic: No Reason Why by Anchor Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We don't want to rattle your cage, cuties,  but this episode puts us behind bars. Without the Bobby billions to bail him out, the thin blue line is making a big fat example out of our beloved Frank. Just wait until Bobbi hears about this...Faced with his incarceration, Joanne and Ruby make a tenuous alliance to clear his name. Mia, fresh off her disastrous crash, is taking the case as personally as ever and steaming up the evidence locker. We have good cops, bad cops, worse lawyers, and no mineral water. Something has got to give.   Our cuties this week included Geoff Grimwood, Jessie Cannizzaro, Amanda Sykes, Neill Flemming, Mark Gagliardi, Abigail Turner, and Ross Bryant as Dr. Mark Hall. JOSIE'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB was created by Maximilian Clark and Rachel Music. Our story editor is Lauren Grace Thompson. Produced by Simone Kisiel and Alexandra Grunberg.  JLHC is Executive Produced by the Good Story Guild. Keep track of us on Instagram @goodstoryguild and join our Discord.  If you enjoyed the show, consider leaving a rating and/or review on your preferred podcast listening platform.   Support us by joining the Great Story Guild on Patreon!

For more, follow us on Instagram @deadlinewh.  To listen to this show and other MSNBC podcasts without ads, sign up for MSNBC Premium on Apple Podcasts.Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listeners respond to Relebogile Mabotja's open line question about adulthood. 702 Afternoons with Relebogile Mabotja is broadcast live on Johannesburg based talk radio station 702 every weekday afternoon. Relebogile brings a lighter touch to some of the issues of the day as well as a mix of lifestyle topics and a peak into the worlds of entertainment and leisure. Thank you for listening to a 702 Afternoons with Relebogile Mabotja podcast. Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays from 13:00 to 15:00 (SA Time) to Afternoons with Relebogile Mabotja broadcast on 702 https://buff.ly/gk3y0Kj For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/2qKsEfu or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/DTykncj Subscribe to the 702 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.

In today's episode of The Atheist Experience, Dr. Ben and Scott Dickie of Talk Heathen stage a friendly takeover, fielding calls on the nature of reality, mathematics, and divine revelation! From philosophical deep dives into *a priori* knowledge to the challenges of grappling with infinity, this episode puts logic and the burden of proof center stage.Zeno from the International Space Station begins by mentioning intelligent design but quickly pivots to telling the hosts they have faith. Identifying as agnostic, he insists atheists claim God's non-existence. Dr. Ben and Scott challenge him to state his own beliefs rather than misrepresenting theirs, but when he fails to engage productively, what will become of the conversation?Donald in LA presents a complex philosophical argument for God, blending concepts from Aristotle, Plato, and others, suggesting that the effectiveness of mathematics points to a prescriptive cosmic consciousness. Scott counters that math is merely a descriptive language humans created to model observed universal patterns. With the conversation delving into *a priori* knowledge, can Donald defend his premise without relying on observation?Ken in MI struggles to comprehend an infinite past and future, and the concept of a universe without time. Scott simplifies infinity as the consistent existence of a "yesterday" and a "tomorrow." Ken then asks if it is wrong for an atheist to find comfort in reading religious texts, leading to a discussion about appreciating literature without accepting its claims. Where does one draw the line?Jim in MO proposes that the atheist's burden of proof is analogous to a defense attorney's: simply demonstrating reasonable doubt in the theist's claim. The hosts largely agree but refine the analogy, emphasizing that the burden lies solely with the claimant, and the non-believer has no obligation at all. If the prosecution fails to meet its burden, what is the correct verdict to reach?Miller in MI expresses that religion can lead down a dark path and shares a personal conflict: he holds a belief against having children before marriage, a value from his religious past that now causes friction in his dating life. The hosts differentiate between personal boundaries for a partner and imposing universal moral rules on others. How can one navigate personal values rooted in past dogma?Sheldon in NY shares his personal testimony that Jesus is God, based on a voice he claims has spoken to him for over 50 years, providing guidance and predictions. The hosts challenge the reliability of this subjective experience, highlighting auditory hallucinations and conflicting claims from other religions. Faced with a contradiction between his claim to value truth and his unfalsifiable belief, what will he choose?Thank you for joining us this week! We will see you next time!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-atheist-experience--3254896/support.

About three years ago, Vanessa "broke-up" with one of her close friends. She tried to do it kindly, but in retrospect she feels guilty for how it all went down. So recently she decided to reach back out and apologize. Faced with his response, she's now asking herself: What's the best way to handle this set of communications when there's still a lot of pain on both sides? This week on the show Mauricio and Vanessa explore how to end relationships well.You can find more information about the Harry Potter and the Sacred Text upcoming Cambridge Weekend on our website. The Real Question is a Not Sorry ProductionFind us at our website | Follow us on Instagram--This show is completely funded by Patreon, and we are so grateful to our supporters who make it possible. If you can, please considering chipping in! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Breaking The Silence with Dr Gregory Williams Guest, Amy Pollack - Retired Teacher and Author of "The Still Further Adventures of Jelly Bean" This week's Special Guest will be Amy Pollack. Amy is the author of a series of children's books and will be returning back to "Breaking the Silence" to announce her latest book, "The Still Further Adventures of Jelly Bean." Now retired from a 40-year career in teaching. Her Passion is writing books that help today's children on how to deal with life's ups and downs. Don't forget to check out guest Amy Pollack's book "The Still Further Adventures of Jelly Bean" https://www.amazon.com/Further-Adventures-Jelly-Bean-ebook/dp/B0BDBX5C9D?ref_=ast_author_dp A Short description of Amy Pollack's book "The Still Further Adventures of Jelly Bean" from Amazon: In The Still Further Adventures of Jelly Bean - the third book in The Adventures of Jelly Bean series - Jelly Bean has to deal with more changes. Faced with the departure of her best friend, Jelly Bean struggles to adapt to new dynamics in the classroom. Life also becomes more difficult when her grandmother, who had always had the time to listen to her, gets re-married and moves away. Together with her trusty and beloved dog Roger-Over, and her wonderful new aunt who takes a keen interest in her, Jelly Bean continues navigating and adapting to life's challenges. Join her on this exciting journey with its unexpected twists and turns, as our feisty heroine blossoms and grows.

In this powerful and deeply moving episode, I'm joined by Renee Thibeau, a devoted mother, passionate advocate, and fierce ally to the transgender community. Renee is the proud mom of three incredible children: her oldest, a 25-year-old cisgender daughter; her 17-year-old son, who is autistic and full of love and light; and her courageous transgender daughter — the reason she has stepped so fully into public advocacy.Renee's journey began when her ten-year-old child shared that she was a girl living in a boy's body and, heartbreakingly, had contemplated ending her own life. Faced with this reality, Renee chose love, acceptance, and action. By affirming her daughter's truth, advocating for her well-being, and surrounding her with support, Renee helped transform despair into hope and fear into thriving.Now, Renee speaks out publicly to share their story — not for recognition, but because she knows the stakes. Every child deserves to be seen and accepted for who they truly are, and every parent has the power to save a life with love. Through her writing, speaking, and tireless advocacy, Renee proves that empathy and understanding are life-saving acts, and that true success is measured not by accolades but by the lives we protect.Together, we dive deep into:The myths and false narratives fueling anti-trans rhetoric in politics and religionRenee's personal journey as a parent and the unconditional love that guided her through her daughter's transitionStories of support, including her late Aunt Sylvia—a nun whose unwavering affirmation reminds us of the true meaning of faithThe dangerous hypocrisy of lawmakers who legislate against the LGBTQ+ community while hiding their own truthsHow complacency and societal blind spots have contributed to the rise of harmful cultural narrativesWhy hormone therapy is reversible, but suicide is not — a stark reality we cannot ignoreWhat it means to raise trans kids with joy, love, and dignity, while preparing them for futures full of hopeRenee shares her heart, her advocacy, and her unapologetic truth, reminding us that being an ally isn't passive — it's about showing up, speaking out, and protecting the most vulnerable among us.This is a deeply moving, fiery, and inspiring conversation you won't want to miss.

Carney Is Not What He Was Sold As, Pierre Poilievre SaysBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/radio-baloney-the-richie-baloney-show--4036781/support.

Matthew Coller from Purple Insider stops by to talk Lynx in the playoffs and the Vikings in Dublin. Chad asks about the challenge the Lynx have faced early in their series against the Phoenix Mercury and what Matthew's concerns are from the end of their game 2 loss. The Vikings are playing the Steelers this week in Dublin, Ireland. Chad asks about how close Matthew thinks the Vikings were to signing Aaron Rodgers this offseason. In their second segment, Chad and Matthew parse through the Vikings quarterback situation with JJ McCarthy on the mend and Carson Wentz keeping things at bay. What happens if Wentz is playing well when McCarthy returns? What's the long view for the development of this offense?

During Sun Day 2025, Sustainable PR founder Tony Defazio spoke about some of the challenges developers face in building the renewable energy capacities of communities across the country. Lennox Apudo reports.

GHOSTING: WHY THE AI JOB APPLICATION TSUNAMI IS NO EXCUSE   Diffusion of technology innovation across society is something to be celebrated. We need to be aware of the challenges to existing structures that this will inevitably bring and refactor our processes to account for the changes. One of the first ways in which employers are experiencing this challenge is in how to handle the increased volume of job applicants, who have improved both the quality and quantity of their outputs.   We're going to talk today about the AI job applicant tsunami and how this does not mitigate employer responsibility for candidate experience. It's no excuse for ghosting!   - What is the state of candidate experience in 2025? - What are the factors which explain the trend lines? - What is the impact of AI in the job candidate experience? - How can employers balance between efficiency vs experience? - Can we kill the idea that 'more human' is always better candidate experience? - What are the common themes to great candidate experience? - Faced with lean TA teams + increase workload, what are top TA teams doing about this? - Ghosting: what does it take to eliminate this? - What role can technology play in supporting candidate experience? - Hybrid human + AI = when human vs when AI?   All this and more, with Daniel Chait, CEO (Greenhouse), Kevin Grossman, VP of CandE Benchmark Research (Survale), Cheryl Petersen, Global Head of Candidate Experience (Arup) & Bradley Cooper, Associate VP Technology (SASR Workforce Solutions)   We are on Thursday 25th Sep, 5pm BST / 9am PT / 12pm ET - follow the channel here (recommended) and save your spot for this demo by clicking on the green button.   Ep332 is sponsored by our friends Greenhouse   Hiring is hard, and getting it right is even harder. It's a core business-building function with high stakes that takes a lot of moving parts to see real success. You need workflows that accommodate how you function given your company size and goals. You need a user experience that hiring managers actually buy into. And you need an application process that locks talent in.   Only Greenhouse gives you all that in one platform.   Learn more

Faced with rising household costs, people are turning to pedal power to save money on petrol and parking. Bike charities and loan schemes in Wellington are in demand, and the clientele is increasingly shifting towards higher wage earners looking for a cheaper, more planet-friendly mode of transport. Kate Green reports.

Faced with declining enrollment, public school districts across the country are rethinking how many schools they can run. Fewer students often means less government funding, forcing schools to cut services. Yet school closures can disrupt communities and have negative effects on learning. On today's show, the tough calculus parents and schools confront. Related episodes:  Why ‘free' public education doesn't always include school supplies A food fight over free school lunch The evidence of school vouchers that'll please nobody For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.  Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Preview: Bob Zimmerman details Astra, a former publicly traded rocket company that faced failures and near bankruptcy. Now private, they abandoned Rocket 3 and plan to launch the much bigger Rocket 4 next summer.

In the Netflix series Love Con Revenge, Cecilie Fjellhøy from The Tinder Swindler teams with a private investigator to track down other swindlers and tell the stories of those left both broke and heartbroken. Faced with limited legal options, the team goes to bat for a group of victims who were ripped off in different ways, but were all victims in elaborate romantic long cons. In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, host Rebecca Lavoie interviews Cecilie Fjellhøy. SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched Love Con Revenge yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.  Dig deeper into all of your favorite Netflix documentaries and films at tudum.com. Read more about a romance scammer's playbook and learn what's happened to the victims since their stories were filmed. Check our true crime hub at tudum.com/truecrime. Listen to more from Netflix Podcasts.

HEADLINE: Kennedy Chooses Quarantine Despite Military Demands for Invasion GUEST NAME: Professor Serhii Plokhy BOOK TITLE: Nuclear Folly TOPIC: Accidental War Warning SUMMARY: President Kennedy faced fierce opposition from the Joint Chiefs, led by General LeMay, who accused him of appeasement by referencing Munich and demanded immediate invasion (OPLAN 312). Kennedy refused to "cave under pressure," fearing that invading Cubawould lead the Soviets to seize Berlin. He ultimately chose the quarantine (blockade), announcing it on Monday, October 22, while the Presidium in Moscow awaited in panic.1920 CUBA

Discover the legend of Jón Ásmundsson of Njarðvík.  Who was a drifter who battled monsters from sea and shadow, and lived to outwit the Devil himself! Like what you hear?  Give us 5 Stars!  And follow for more... Checkout our website: Eerie Iceland  Follow us on: Instagram  Find our page on: Facebook  Email us: hello@eerieiceland.com Sources & Extras: Source 1 Source 2 Episode & Editing By: Ann Irene Peters (Iceland Wedding Planner)

God's Absurd Generosity! | Luke 16:1–13 | The Parable of the Dishonest Manager Here's the heart of it all: God Himself is the absurd master. Faced with the tragedy of our sin, He didn't clutch His wealth. He didn't demand repayment. He gave His only begotten Son into the flesh to save us from sin, death, and damnation. Jesus is the true steward who didn't just cut our debts, He paid them in full with His blood. He didn't just ease our burden; He bore it all. He didn't just lower our balance; He stamped across the ledger: “It is finished.” The cross is the most absurd act in history. God's own Son dies for sinners. The guilty go free. The dishonest, the greedy, the selfish, the prayerless, the vain—all forgiven. Absurd. Crazy. Wonderful. Worship Times Sunday – 8:00 & 10:45 a.m. Monday – 6:30 p.m. ----- Trinity Lutheran Church, School and Child Care have been "Making Known the Love of Christ" in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and throughout the world since 1853 as a congregation gathering around God's Word and Sacraments to receive forgiveness and life everlasting. Trinity is located in downtown Sheboygan, only one block from the Mead Public Library and the Weill Center for the Performing Arts. We invite you to visit us in person! Trinity Lutheran Sheboygan is a proud member of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit their website: https://www.lcms.org/​​​​ Music for this production was obtained through a licensing agreement with One License, LLC. The copyright permission to reprint, podcast, and record hymns and songs is acquired through ID Number: 730195-A #LCMS #Lutheran #DivineService

#OZWATCH: JEREMY ZAKIS, NEW SOUTH WALES. #FRIENDSOFHISTORYDEBATINGSOCIETY.  SUMMARY: Meteorologists rely on experience as models fail, citing oceans being one degree warmer. The eastern seaboard faced high winds (60 mph), heavy rain, and "mega hail" up to 2 inches in Brisbane. Perth is sodden from unseasonable rain and high winds. Spring brings hay fever, plus increased sightings of kangaroos, snakes, and lizards.1896 1867 MELBOURNE

Send us a text“Your business (and every area of life) only grows as much as you do.” ~ Craig & Meredith BennettIn this week's episode of The Remarkable People Podcast, host David Pasqualone is joined by Craig and Meredith Bennett from Canada. They share their journey from the corporate workforce to starting their own business, and the ongoing quest for fulfillment. Faced with stress and unfulfillment despite their success, they eventually found their true calling through personal growth and helping others. The Bennetts offer valuable insights, actionable steps, and personal anecdotes geared towards entrepreneurs—particularly those working with their spouses. They delve into how strong relationships can propel business success, the importance of personal growth, and the power of taking the first step towards your dreams. Tune in for a compelling discussion filled with practical advice and inspiring stories. Also included is a commercial break featuring MyPillow bath towels and details on how to connect with Craig and Meredith through social media and their website.00:00 Introduction to The Remarkable People Podcast01:59 Meet Craig and Meredith Bennett02:12 The Corporate Life and Unfulfillment03:32 Taking the Leap: Leaving Corporate Jobs04:06 The MyPillow Commercial Break05:47 Starting Over: The Real Estate Venture07:58 Finding Fulfillment: Personal Growth Journey12:36 The Catalyst: Speaking Engagement19:43 Building a Coaching Business22:53 Iterative Process: Continuous Improvement26:10 Realizing Misalignment in Business Ventures27:26 The Importance of Personal Growth28:23 Finding Your True Calling29:26 Balancing Risk and Stability33:32 The Role of Community in Entrepreneurship36:47 Navigating Marriage and Business40:57 Finding Fulfillment and Happiness45:41 Special Offers and Final ThoughtsREMARKABLE SPECIAL OFFER(S):REMARKABLE OFFER 1: Save 30% to 80% on EVERYTHING you order at MyPillow.com with Free Promo Code, “REMARKABLE“. Yes, that's right! Use the best My Pillow promo code out there to save a TON of money on all 200+ quality, comfortable, cozy home goods at MyPillow.com/Remarkable, or by calling 1-800-644-6612. From sheets, to blankets, to pillows, to mattress toppers, be ready to sleep better and live more comfortably than you ever have before!REMARKABLE OFFER 2: Gifts from the Bennett's to all Remarkable listeners & friends: The 200% Marriage Quiz: www.200percentmarriage.com/quiz, and the 33-day Infinite Love email challenge: https://200percentmarriage.com/33-Day-Challenge. Enjoy!For more Remarkable Episodes, Inspiration, and Motivation, please visit https://davidpasqualone.com/Support the showTHE NOT-SO-FINE-PRINT DISCLAIMER: While we are very thankful for all of our guests, please understand that we do not necessarily share or endorse the same beliefs, worldviews, or positions that they may hold. We respectfully agree to disagree in some areas, and thank God for the blessing and privilege of free will. For more Remarkable Episodes, Inspiration, and Motivation, please visit https://davidpasqualone.com/remarkable-people-podcast/ now!

Andy and Randy start getting ready for Falcons vs Panthers, and while they do not look good through two games, the Panthers currently have the last laugh against the Falcons.

9-15 Matt Maiocco breaks down the 49ers road win over New Orleans and his thoughts on Mac Jones and the adversity San Francisco has faced early in the seasonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last time we spoke about the beginning of the battle of Nanjing. As the relentless tide of war approached Nanjing in December 1937, fear gripped its residents. As atrocities unfolded in the countryside, civilians flocked toward safety zones, desperate for refuge. Under the command of General Tang Shengzhi, the Chinese forces prepared for a fierce defense, determined to hold their ground against the technologically superior invaders. Despite heavy losses and internal strife, hopes flickered among the defenders, fueled by the valor of their troops. Key positions like Old Tiger's Cave became battlegrounds, exemplifying the fierce resistance against the Japanese advance. On December 9, as artillery fire enveloped the city, a battle for the Gate of Enlightenment commenced. Both sides suffered grievously, with the Chinese soldiers fighting to the last, unwilling to yield an inch of their soil. Each assault from Japan met with relentless counterattacks, turning Nanjing into a symbol of perseverance amidst impending doom, as the siege marked a critical chapter in the conflict, foreshadowing the brutal events that would follow.   #167 The Battle of Nanjing 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. By mid-December, the landscape surrounding Nanjing was eerily quiet. The Japanese Army marched through what seemed to be desolate fields and mountains, but they were not truly empty. Civilians were scarce, with most having fled, but a few remained in their homes, hiding in cellars and barns, clinging to the hope that the war would bypass them. Meanwhile, thousands of Chinese soldiers, left behind and unable to keep pace with their units, still posed a significant danger to the Japanese forces. The Japanese Army had not truly conquered the territory east and south of Nanjing; they had merely passed through. Mopping-up operations became a top priority. Soldiers from the 16th Infantry Division, stationed near Purple Mountain, spent early December conducting these missions far from the city's walls. “Chinese stragglers may be hiding in this area, and they must be flushed out. Any small structure of no strategic value to the Japanese Army must be burned!” This command rang out to the division's soldiers as they spread across the countryside around Unicorn Gate. Soon, isolated fires began to illuminate the horizon, one for each home. Soldiers from the 9th Infantry Division, who were not directly engaged in combat south of the Gate of Enlightenment, were also conducting similar mopping-up operations. On December 11 at noon, one squad received orders to investigate a suspicious farm building. Although it had been searched previously, movement inside prompted renewed caution. The Japanese entered carefully, moving from room to room. In the basement, they discovered eight Chinese soldiers who offered no resistance, immediately raising their hands in surrender. Bound together, they were brought outside. Using a few Chinese words supplemented by sign language, the Japanese gathered that the Chinese had been in the vicinity where one of their comrades had been killed days earlier. Unanimously, they decided the prisoners should be executed in front of their comrade's grave. Some of the older soldiers hesitated, reluctant to partake in the killings, leaving it to the younger ones to carry out the order. Soon, eight headless bodies lay sprawled before a solitary Japanese grave.  On the morning of December 11, the first soldiers of the 6th Japanese Infantry Division finally spotted the distant city wall of Nanjing. They had been engaged in fierce combat for nearly two days, attempting to dislodge the tenacious defenders of the Yuhuatai plateau, the elite soldiers of the 88th Division. In a desperate bid to maintain their foothold on Yuhuatai, the 88th Division deployed its reserved 528th Regiment along with a battalion of engineers. Despite their efforts, the regiment's ranks had been depleted, filled with inexperienced recruits, and their leadership nearly obliterated, limiting their effectiveness. Under the relentless assaults from the Japanese forces, their defenses began to falter almost immediately. Faced with the stiff resistance at the Gate of Enlightenment, the Japanese shifted their focus to the Chinese Gate on December 11. Japanese aircraft were summoned for tactical air support, forcing the 88th Division's defenders to retreat behind the wall. This withdrawal occurred swiftly and somewhat chaotically, allowing the Japanese to pursue closely. Before the Chinese could regroup, 300 Japanese soldiers had breached the wall. Only the mobilization of all available forces enabled the Chinese to push the attackers back outside. Meanwhile, the left flank of the 88th Division, stationed east of Chinese Gate, remained outside the wall. Here, they clashed with elements of the 9th Japanese Division but faced intense pressure and were compelled to fall back. By the end of the day, the Chinese division had shortened its defensive line, regrouping in front of the city wall. Plans for a nighttime counterattack were ultimately abandoned, as it became clear that the division's soldiers were too fatigued to mount an effective offensive. Overall, it proved to be a successful day for the Japanese 10th Army. Further south, the Kunisaki Detachment successfully crossed the Yangtze River at Cihu village, beginning their advance toward Pukou. Its special amphibious training made the detachment ideally suited for the operation, but its limited numbers, essentially a reinforced infantry regiment, raised concerns at field headquarters about whether it could accomplish the task alone. Prince Asaka proposed transporting part of the 13th Division across the Yangtze further north to sever the railway connecting Tianjin to Pukou, cutting off a potential retreat route for Chinese forces that had escaped Nanjing.  On December 11, Japanese artillery shells rained down relentlessly, targeting both the interior and exterior of Nanjing's city walls. Administrators of the Safety Zone were alarmed to witness several shells landing perilously close to its southern edge. In a bid to provide some semblance of security, American and foreign flags were raised around the zone's perimeter, though their protective influence against artillery fire from miles away was negligible. The leaders of the Safety Zone faced an unexpected dilemma: how to handle lawbreakers with the city courts now out of operation. That day, they encountered a thief caught in the act. As Rabe noted in his diary “We sentence the thief to death, then pardon him and reduce his punishment to 24 hours in jail, and ultimately, due to the absence of a jail, we simply let him go”. Refugees continued to pour in, with a total of 850 having found shelter at Ginling College. Vautrin and her colleagues began to feel that their initial estimate of 2,700 women and children seeking refuge on the campus was overly optimistic. They were soon proven wrong. On the banks of the Yangtze River, hundreds of injured soldiers and civilians were lining up to be ferried across to Pukou, where trains awaited to transport them further inland and away from danger. Many had been waiting for days without food. While ferries made continuous trips across the river to rescue as many as possible, the process was painfully slow. As of late December 10, approximately 1,500 wounded civilians remained stranded on the south bank of the Yangtze. The Japanese forces were confronted by a fiercely determined enemy composed largely of young soldiers from the Training Division. These soldiers had the advantage of having been stationed near Purple Mountain for several years, making them familiar with the terrain. Additionally, they were part of an elite unit, groomed not just in equipment and training but also instilled with a sense of nationalism rooted in Chiang Kai-shek's ideology. Li Xikai, the commander of the division's 3rd Regiment, had set up his command post directly in the path of the primary Japanese advance, yet his regiment continued to resist. Despite the fierce resistance, the Japanese gradually gained control over the Purple Mountain area. General Nakajima Kesago, commander of the 16th Division, visited an artillery observation post early in the day and was pleased to receive reports that his troops had captured two peaks of Purple Mountain and were poised to take the main peak.  Yet there loomed a problem on Nakajima's right flank. A widening gap was emerging between the 16th Division and the 13th Division, which had advanced along the southern bank of the Yangtze. There was a risk that Chinese forces could escape through this lightly guarded area. The 13th Division was stationed in the strategically important river port city of Zhenjiang, preparing to cross the Yangtze. The Central China Area Army ordered the 13th Division to mobilize three infantry battalions and one artillery battalion. This new formation, known as the Yamada Detachment after its commander, Yamada Senji, was tasked with remaining on the Yangtze's south bank and advancing westward to capture two Chinese fortresses on the river: Mt. Wulong and Mt. Mufu. This redeployment alleviated concerns about the gap, allowing the 16th Division to focus on the city wall. As the sun dipped towards the horizon, one Captain Akao Junzo prepared for what he believed would be his final assault. He had been ordered to seize a hill northeast of Sun Yat-sen Gate that overlooked the city entrance. His commander told him “The attack on Nanjing will likely be the last battle of this war, and I hope your company can be at the front when the enemy's lines are breached”. The hill was fortified with numerous machine gun positions, reinforced with mud, bricks, and tiles, and connected by an intricate network of trenches. Dense rows of barbed wire lay before the positions, designed to halt attackers and expose them to machine-gun fire. Additionally, the area was likely heavily mined, and Chinese soldiers maintained a high level of alertness. Akao knew this all too well; when he crawled forward and slightly lifted his head to survey the landscape, he triggered a hail of bullets, one of which grazed his helmet. Around late afternoon, four mountain guns from the regimental artillery began firing on the Chinese positions, sustaining the bombardment for over an hour. By 5:00 pm, as the winter sky darkened, Akao decided it was time to launch the attack. Expecting close-quarters combat, he instructed his men to carry only their rifles and small entrenchment tools. With the entire company poised to move, he dispatched a small group of soldiers ahead to cut openings in the barbed wire while receiving covering fire from the mountain guns and the rifles and machine guns of their comrades. The remainder of the company advanced with swords raised and bayonets fixed. As they approached within about 700 feet of the enemy positions, the artillery bombardment ceased as planned. The enemy, still reeling from the ferocity of the earlier assault, scrambled in a panic from their trenches, retreating in disarray. Akao and his fellow soldiers pressed forward, cutting down any opposition in their path. Seizing the momentum, Akao charged to occupy the hill that had been his target. He found it deserted upon his arrival and sent a triumphant message back to command, reporting that the objective had been achieved. However, the reply he received left him baffled: he was ordered to withdraw with his company and return to their lines. Apparently, the regimental command deemed the position too precarious. Sensing that a precious advantage was being squandered, Akao disregarded the order. Before his company could establish a defensive position on the hill, the Chinese launched a counterattack. Lying down, the Japanese soldiers returned fire while frantically digging into the earth to fortify their position. Gradually, they began to form a rudimentary perimeter at the summit. The fighting continued into the night. Exhausted from days without sleep, many soldiers rotated between guard duty and rest, dozing off intermittently in their shallow trenches, reassuring one another that everything would be alright before drifting back to sleep. They successfully repelled all attempts by the Chinese to reclaim the hill and were eventually relieved. On December 11, after leaving his capital, Chiang Kai-shek took time to reflect on everything that had happened in his diary. He reassured himself that his nationalist revolution would persist, regardless of whether he held Nanjing, “Temporary defeat can be turned into eventual victory.” Yet he did not fear so much the Japanese invasion itself, but rather how the weakening of his nationalist government might allow the Communists to rise. He wrote about how his nation was on the brink of becoming a second Spain. While foreign invasions were undoubtedly disastrous, they could eventually be overcome, if not immediately, then over years or decades. Sometimes, this could be achieved merely by absorbing the outmatched invader and assimilating them into Chinese society. In contrast, internal unrest posed a far more fundamental threat to the survival of any regime. As we have seen in this series, going back to the mid 19th century, was it the foreign empires of Britain, France and Russia that threatened to destroy the Qing dynasty, or was it the internal civil war brought on by the Taiping? As Chiang famously put it “the Japanese were a treatable disease of the skin. Communism however was a disease of the heart”. Chiang could accept a humiliating but rapid retreat from Nanjing. In his view, it would be far more difficult to recover from a bloody yet futile struggle for the city that might cost him what remained of his best troops. A prolonged defensive battle, he reasoned, would be a tragic waste and could shift the balance of power decisively in favor of the Communists. This new mindset was reflected in a telegram he sent late on December 11 to Tang Shengzhi: “If the situation becomes untenable, it is permissible to find the opportune moment to retreat to regroup in the rear in anticipation of future counterattacks.” On December 12, tankettes cautiously plunged into the Yuhuatai plateau. Unexpectedly the Chinese defenders abandoned their positions and rushed down the hillside toward Nanjing's walls. Upon discovering this, the Japanese tankettes opened fire on the retreating Chinese, cutting swathes through the masses and sending bodies tumbling down the slope. Some Japanese infantry caught up, joining in the slaughter and laughing boisterously as they reveled in the chaos. A tankette column escorted a group of engineers to the Nanjing wall and then drove east along the moat until they reached a large gate, flanked by two smaller openings, all securely shut. A chilling message, painted in blue, adorned the gate's surface. Written in Chinese characters, it conveyed a stark warning: “We Swear Revenge on the Enemy.” The wall itself loomed three stories high, but Japanese artillery was already targeting it, this was known as the Chinese Gate. Now that Yuhuatai was virtually in Japanese hands, capturing the gate had become the primary objective. At this location, the wall stood 70 feet tall, protected by a 100-foot moat to the outside. All bridges spanning the moat had been destroyed. The area around the gate was heavily defended, with approximately one machine gun positioned every 50 yards atop the wall. Inside, the gate was reinforced with a formidable barrier of sandbags. Chinese infantry armed with mortars and small arms could fire down on the Japanese attackers while others had established isolated positions in nearby buildings that had survived the “scorched earth” policy. Taking the gate and the heavily fortified southwestern corner of the wall was the responsibility of the 6th Division. The division was deploying its regiments: the 13th, the 47th, and the 23rd from east to west. The 45th Regiment, the final unit of the division, was tasked with skirting the western side of the wall and advancing northward, aiming for the Yangtze docks at Xiaguan. The soldiers of the division had already formed a rough understanding of the formidable defenses they were facing. During the night between December 11 and 12, they had advanced nearly to the wall, gathering intelligence to prepare for an assault at dawn. As planned, the assault commenced. Field artillery fired round after round at the gate, but the wall sustained minimal damage. A Japanese tank rolled up, firing point-blank at the gate but producing no visible effect. Next, it was the engineers' turn. A “dare-to-die” squad, equipped with long ladders, crept as close to the wall as possible without exposing themselves and then sprinted the final distance. The moment they broke into the open, a Chinese machine gun opened fire, cutting them down to the last man. At noon, three Japanese planes soared overhead, dropping bombs near a Chinese-held building outside the gate. The smoke from the resulting fire briefly obscured the area. Seizing the opportunity presented by the reduced visibility, a large group of Chinese soldiers holed up inside attempted to dash back to the wall. The Japanese spotted their movement instantly, and every soldier in the line opened fire. The fleeing Chinese were mowed down like ripe grass, collapsing in heaps.  Meanwhile the battle for the Gate of Enlightenment was drawing to a close. On the Chinese side of the wall, confusion reigned regarding the overall situation on December 12. Chen Yiding, brigade commander of the 87th Division, had been warned that heads would roll if the Gate of Enlightenment fell to the Japanese. Hearing the sounds of fierce fighting on the edges of Yuhuatai and seeing the smoke rise from numerous fires on Purple Mountain, he was left in the dark about their implications, surrounded by the fog of war. Chen's troops had finally managed to establish a telephone link to the rear, but by mid-afternoon, it was cut off, likely due to a stray artillery shell. After dark, Chen sent an officer to his left flank to make contact with the Chinese forces there. The report that followed was far from reassuring. A unit from Guangdong Province was abandoning its positions and retreating north, attempting to exit the capital through one of the gates in the city wall. The officer had attempted to inquire about their destination, but the retreating soldiers ignored him. With neighboring units evacuating autonomously, a significant gap was opening in the Chinese line atop the wall between the Gate of Enlightenment and Sun Yat-sen Gate. A frightening possibility emerged: the Japanese could walk right in across the undefended southeastern corner of the city wall and surround Chen Yiding's troops before they had a chance to withdraw. The situation was becoming untenable, a fact underscored by the artillery fire raining down on Chen's position. Despite this, retreat was not a simple decision for Chen and the other commanders of the 87th Division. They had been garrisoned in Nanjing before the war, and the city had become home to many of the soldiers. Shortly after midnight, Chen called a meeting with his senior officers. After considerable discussion, they concluded that they had no choice but to withdraw. Nonetheless, Chen insisted that everyone sign a document confirming their support for this decision, recognizing the potential danger of taking such a significant step without consensus. After all, his own life had been threatened if the situation deteriorated further. Soon after, the Chinese began to move out of their positions. The Japanese were initially unaware of the retreat; all they noticed during the night between December 12 and 13 was that the Chinese artillery fire began to grow increasingly distant. By 4:00 am it had stopped completely. The few remaining Chinese were quickly overwhelmed and killed. In the end, the gate, which had cost so many lives during the seemingly endless battle, was taken almost effortlessly by the Japanese. Soldiers of the 9th Division, stationed outside the wall, scrambled up the slope created by the previous days' shelling. Once at the top, they thrust their hands into the air, shouting “Banzai!” so loudly that they believed their families back home in Japan might hear them. Tears streamed down their faces as soldiers embraced and shook hands, reflecting on the friends they had lost throughout the months of fighting, from Shanghai to their current position. They reassured each other that their sacrifices had been worth it for this very moment. On December 12,  the slopes of Purple Mountain  were ablaze. Zhou Zhenqiang, commander of the Training Division's 1st Brigade, led his men in a desperate struggle to maintain control of the mountain's forested peaks. However, they were being overwhelmed by the better-equipped Japanese troops, and Zhou knew it was only a matter of time before he would have to relinquish his position. Zhou found himself unable to obtain any information from his superiors about the overall situation, despite repeated attempts to contact the Training Division's headquarters. He dispatched a runner, who returned a few hours later with disheartening news: the divisional commander had left late in the afternoon. Other reports indicated a general breakdown in command. The elite 88th Division was in disarray, and an entire division of Guangdong troops, that being the same force that had abandoned the wall near the Gate of Enlightenment, had been spotted marching out of the Gate of Great Peace, seemingly intent on returning home. With indications of collapse all around him, Zhou decided to execute an orderly withdrawal from Purple Mountain, leaving a small contingent behind to cover the retreat. His troops entered through the city wall at Sun Yat-sen Gate and marched in disciplined columns through the streets of Nanjing, where signs of imminent anarchy were evident. Chinese soldiers were scattered everywhere, speaking a cacophony of dialects, yet they appeared to lack any coherent command. Tang Shengzhi's grip on the situation was weakening. Meanwhile Japan's 13th Air Group had been busy with the final stages of the battle for Nanjing.  In the morning of December 12, after raiding Chinese positions at Sun Yat-sen Gate, they  received new orders. Intelligence indicated that Chinese ships, laden with troops, were moving up the Yangtze from Nanjing. Japanese infantry on the ground could only watch as this prize slipped through their fingers, and the army requested air support. All available planes at Changzhou, a mix of A4N fighters and Yokosuka B4Y bombers, totaling 24 aircraft, were assembled for the crucial mission. The day was clear, providing excellent visibility as the pilots headed toward the section of the Yangtze where they believed the vessels would be, based on reasonable assumptions about their speed. At 1:30 p.m., 28 nautical miles upriver from Nanjing, the pilots sighted four ships. Trusting their military intelligence, they saw no need for further identification. Initially, the B4Ys bombed the vessels from a considerable height. One bomb struck the lead ship, a military vessel, disabling its forward gun and snapping the foremast. Then, a first wave of six A4Ns dove down over the line of ships, attacking individually. In total, they dropped about 20 bombs. Several exploded close enough to the lead vessel to damage its hull and injure crew members on deck. A 30-caliber machine gun on board was manned, with gunners stripped to the waist firing at the Japanese planes but failing to score a hit. Several of the A4Ns strafed the ship with machine-gun fire. After 20 minutes of sustained bombing and strafing, the result was utter devastation. The lead vessel was stuck in mid-river, riddled with bullets, aflame, and listing to starboard. Two other ships were beached on the right bank, while another sat stranded on the left. Satisfied with their mission, the Japanese aviators broke off and returned to their temporary base. Upon their landing in Changzhou, instead of receiving accolades, the pilots were met with reprimands. Why hadn't they sunk all the vessels? They were ordered to return immediately to finish the job. Though they didn't find the original targets, they stumbled upon four other vessels closer to Nanjing. One aircraft dove toward the ships, releasing a 60-kilogram bomb that struck one vessel. As the pilot pulled up, he caught sight of the Union Jack on the hull and realized his mistake; he had inadvertently targeted neutral ships. The other pilots recognized the significance of the markings as well and withheld their bombs. The vessel was identified as the SS Wantung. Soon after, the Japanese pilots understood that the ships they had attacked earlier upriver from Nanjing were also Western; three of them were Standard Oil tankers. The last vessel, which had sustained the most damage, was the USS Panay, a lightly armed flat-bottomed gunboat,  tasked with protecting American lives and property along China's longest river. The Panay had been instrumental in evacuating American citizens from the war zone in November and December. On the day it was attacked, the Panay was carrying four American embassy personnel and ten American and foreign journalists to safety. The ship's doctor converted the engine room into a makeshift sick bay, treating a steady stream of injured personnel. By the end, he was tending to 45 patients. The soldiers and passengers were evacuated in two small boats to a nearby marshy island covered in reeds, where they hid, fearful of further strafing. From their hiding place, they watched as a Japanese powerboat filled with soldiers approached the Panay. After firing more volleys at the vessel, the soldiers boarded it, remaining for only five minutes before departing. The American flag still flew from the bow at that time. At 3:54 pm, the Panay rolled over to starboard and sank in seven to ten fathoms of water. Cold and frightened, the survivors waded through knee-deep mud to a nearby village, assisting those too severely wounded to walk.  Meanwhile back at Chinese Gate, the mutual slaughter continued into the afternoon of December 12. The Japanese made no significant progress, although their failure was not for lack of trying. The commanders of the 6th Division had strategically placed the boundary between the 13th and 47th Regiments exactly at the gate, encouraging both units to compete to be the first to seize the position. Yet, despite their efforts, it became clear that willpower alone was not enough to breach the Chinese defenses at Chinese Gate. In peacetime, Nanjing's city gates served as entry points into a bustling capital, but in wartime, they transformed into heavily fortified and nearly impregnable strongholds. Any Japanese officer hoping for a swift victory would soon be disappointed; by early afternoon, the situation at the gate had devolved into a stalemate. The section of the wall manned by the 47th Infantry Regiment, located east of the gate, also saw little meaningful movement as the day wore on. Japanese soldiers, pinned down by Chinese fire from atop the wall, could do little more than take pride in a symbolic triumph. A small group of soldiers had managed to reach the wall and place a ladder against it, but it fell nearly ten feet short of the top. One soldier skillfully scaled the last portion, gripping protruding bricks and crevices of the nearly vertical surface. The entire Japanese front watched him with bated breath. He reached the top and unfurled a Japanese flag, but it immediately drew intense Chinese fire, forcing him to duck for cover. Soon, he vanished from sight, raising concerns among his compatriots about his fate. Later, it was revealed that he had taken refuge in a depression in the wall, waiting out the battle. The real breakthrough of the day would occur west of the gate. The 23rd Regiment was deployed there with orders to capture sections of the wall near the southwestern corner. It became evident that the wall could not be scaled without first bringing up artillery to create gaps in its solid masonry. A significant portion of the divisional fire support, 36 small-caliber mountain guns, four 100mm howitzers, and four 150mm howitzers, was assigned to this section. Artillery observers were also sent to the 23rd Regiment's forward command post to coordinate with the infantry and assess the effects of the shelling. By mid-afternoon, the artillery bombardment had created a ravine-like hole in the wall large enough for an assault. The 23rd Regiment positioned its 2nd and 3rd Battalions at the front, with the 1st Battalion held in reserve. First, the engineers undertook the challenging task. As the assault commenced, the rest of the regiment provided covering fire to force the Chinese defenders to seek shelter while the engineers charged into the 70-foot-wide moat. Once a human chain formed, they held up ladders as a makeshift bridge, allowing a company from the 3rd Battalion to rush across and into the gap in the wall. As the batteries switched to close infantry support, they laid down a barrage around the breach to prevent Chinese interference as the attack entered its decisive phase. The Japanese soldiers scrambled up the rubble, created by the artillery fire, which rose several dozen feet high. Shortly before 5:00 p.m., the Japanese seized control of the southwestern segment of the wall. The Chinese launched several counterattacks to reclaim the position, but none were successful. This action ultimately sealed Nanjing's fate; beyond the wall, there was nothing left to save the ancient city and its inhabitants. As defeat appeared imminent, more and more civilians sought safety in foreign-controlled areas, though danger still loomed large. Bits of shrapnel narrowly missed Dr. Robert Wilson while he operated in the Safety Zone. Every square foot of John Rabe's property became filled with families, many camping in the open with their own blankets. Some sought refuge under his large swastika flag, believing that this would make the area especially “bomb-proof” given the growing friendship between Tokyo and Berlin; they assumed Japanese aviators would think twice before targeting a region seemingly under German protection. With just hours left before the Japanese Army was expected to gain control, the residents of Nanjing made their last preparations, prioritizing personal survival. The brutal behavior of Japanese troops in conquered territories fueled intense concern over the possible fate of injured soldiers who might fall into enemy hands. As Nanjing's last hours as a free city unfolded, it became imperative for local hospitals to evacuate as many wounded soldiers as possible across the Yangtze. On December 12, doctors found a motorboat stranded on the riverbank, having apparently broken down. They managed to repair it and ferried several hundred patients to safety throughout the day. Throughout December 12, the citizens of Nanjing were subjected to the unsettling cacophony of heavy shelling, mixed with the roar of bombers overhead. By evening, the entire horizon south of the city glowed with flames. The sound of fighting emanated from all directions, continuing long after sunset. However, in the middle of the night, activity began to wan. Every few minutes, the muffled thuds of shells could still be heard, though their origin was unclear. For the most part, an eerie silence prevailed, as if the city was holding its breath in anticipation of the final onslaught. Chiang Kai-shek had indicated he would understand if Tang chose to abandon the capital. However, on December 12, he reversed his stance, sending a telegram to Tang expressing optimism that the Nanjing garrison could hold out significantly longer. In his words “If you do not shy away from sacrifices, you will be able to hold high the banner of our nation and our army, and this could transform defeat into victory. If you can hold out one more day, you will add to the pride of the Chinese nation. If you can hold out for half a month or more, the domestic and international situation could see a substantial change.” Tang adopted a hardline approach toward any signs of defeatism among his troops. When he learned that General Sun Yuanliang, commander of the formerly elite 88th Division, was leading approximately 2,000 men from the Gate of Enlightenment to the dock area, Tang acted swiftly. He dispatched Song Xilian, the commanding general of the 36th Division, to halt the retreat. When the two units met, a fratricidal clash nearly occurred. Fortunately, the 88th Division agreed to return to the gate and continue fighting. Whatever Tang's plans, they were rendered irrelevant at 3:00 pm,  when he received another telegram from Chiang, this time ordering a full retreat. Rumors that the Chinese Army had started evacuating Nanjing triggerec panic among many units. Thousands abandoned their positions and joined the throngs of soldiers and civilians moving slowly down the city's main avenues. The crowd seemed to have collectively decided that getting a boat out of Nanjing was the best option, and by late afternoon, a solid mass of humanity stretched for miles through the city toward the dock areas at Xiaguan. To reach Xiaguan, everyone had to pass through Yijiang Gate. This relatively modern structure had served as the main entry point for visitors arriving in Nanjing by boat in recent decades and now only half of the main entrance was open. A crowd of that size trying to get through such a narrow bottleneck was a recipe for disaster. Those unfortunate enough to be right at the front felt the crushing pressure of tens of thousands of individuals pushing from behind. In that densely packed throng, stumbling and falling to the ground was akin to a death sentence; anyone who went down was inevitably crushed by the oncoming waves of terrified civilians and soldiers. As chaos erupted, discipline evaporated entirely. Officers lost control over their men, leading to infighting among the soldiers. Pushing and shoving escalated into fistfights, and trucks drove directly into the mass of people to force their way through. Tanks, emitting sounds akin to prehistoric beasts, rolled through the mob, crushing many under their weight. Amid the madness, some soldiers, driven by frustration over the lack of movement, began shooting into the crowd at random. To relieve the pressure at Yijiang Gate, some units were ordered to exit Nanjing via the Gate of Great Peace at the northeastern corner of the city wall. Upon arrival, they found the entrance nearly sealed shut. Thick walls of sandbags had been erected around it, leaving only a narrow opening through which one person could pass at a time. Massive crowds fought among themselves to get through; even under perfect order and discipline, it would have taken the entire night and most of the following day for everyone to pass. In the midst of the frantic chaos, it could take a week or more. During the night of the 12th, a select group of Japanese soldiers, chosen for the offensive, stripped their equipment down to the bare essentials: rifles, bayonets, and helmets. They avoided any gear that could produce a metallic noise, alerting the Chinese defenders to their approach. Stealthily, they moved up to the wall, carrying bamboo ladders tied together in threes for added height. Ascending the rungs, they ensured not to make a sound that could betray their position to an alert Chinese sentry. Everything hinged on remaining undetected; even a couple of hand grenades tossed down the wall could halt the attack in its tracks. Reaching the top without being noticed, the soldiers quickly fanned out. Chinese soldiers stationed on the wall saw the swift dark figures and opened fire, but it was too late to thwart the assault. A brief fight ensued; most Japanese soldiers were too close to use their rifles and immediately resorted to their bayonets. The stunned defenders were pushed back, and the successful assault team established a perimeter, awaiting reinforcements from outside the wall. They didn't have to wait long. A massive assault along the length of the 6th Division's front line commenced at dawn on December 13. Japanese artillery concentrated its fire on a narrow section of the city wall, progressively working its way from the bottom up. Gradually, the shells formed a slope of debris that soldiers could use to scale the wall. A short air raid was executed, and after the planes had weakened the remaining resistance, a group of soldiers rushed up the slope. While their comrades provided covering fire, they climbed the last stretch, rolling down a rope ladder. Within minutes, 40 other Japanese soldiers had joined them. By 10:30 am, the Rising Sun flag was flying over the wall. The Japanese invaders were met with a horrific sight at the top of the wall. Beyond lay the grim aftermath of days of shelling. Some houses were leveled, while others burned. The ground was littered with bodies, some decapitated or disemboweled, and pools of blood surrounded them. As Chiang Kai-shek's order to abandon the city gradually filtered down to the troops manning the wall around Nanjing, things began to move rapidly.  By late morning on December 13, all the major entry points into the city had fallen to the Japanese. These included Chinese Gate in the southwest, the Gate of Enlightenment in the south, and Sun Yat-sen Gate in the east. The first thing that struck the Japanese soldiers upon ascending the wall was how starkly different it was from their expectations. They had anticipated a bustling city teeming with people, but instead, the area adjacent to the wall was characterized by farm plots, resembling countryside more than an urban center. The second notable observation was the complete absence of inhabitants. Cautiously, the Japanese soldiers entered the city they had just conquered, their bayonets fixed and rifles at the ready. Yet, surprisingly, very few shots were fired. After weeks of fearing death and injury, once the immediate danger receded, a certain stupor settled in. For most civilians in Nanjing, their initial encounter with the city's new rulers was uneventful. It took several hours for the Japanese to move from the wall into the urban parts of the capital. It was not until around noon that residents noticed the first groups of Japanese soldiers marching down the streets in clusters of six to twelve men. Initially, many met the conquerors with relief, hoping they would be treated fairly. Their optimism was bolstered by Japanese planes dropping leaflets over the city, reassuring residents of humane treatment. 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 December 9, fierce battles erupted, especially at the Gate of Enlightenment. Despite heavy fighting, the Chinese showed remarkable resilience, turning Nanjing into a symbol of determination. However, the tide shifted as overwhelming Japanese artillery and tactics began to breach defenses. By December 13, as chaos engulfed the city, the invaders claimed victory, but not without significant loss. Civilians, caught amid the destruction, clung to hope amid despair.

Today we jump back ten years (9-11-2015) to Bruce Mitchell & Travis Bryant covering the big stories of the week.Then, the following Monday's Raw post-show (9-14-2015) with PWTorch columnist James Caldwell talking with live calls about Raw and dissecting the show in-depth.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/pwtorch-dailycast--3276210/support.

PREVIEW 4 Unanswered Questions on Iran's Nuclear Program John Batchelor converses with Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, regarding challenges faced by the IAEA concerning Iran's nuclear program. European nations and the US have sanctioned Iran, which seeks to avoid further economic penalties. A key difficulty is accounting for uranium, as the initial amount is unknown and covert production may have occurred. If Iran fails to comply, Germany, the UK, France, and the US might impose more sanctions, potentially prompting Iran to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

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Book Title: The Blazing World: A New History of Revolutionary England, 1603-1689 Author: Jonathan HealeyHeadline: Monarchs' Fiscal Struggles & Parliamentary Power 17th-century monarchs like James I and Charles I faced immense financial challenges due to long-term inflation and the rising cost of war, particularly with the "military revolution." English common law required Parliament's consent for taxation, forcing kings to seek funds from a "fractious" Parliament. Controversial extra-parliamentary taxes, like forced loans or ship money, sparked debates over royal power and people's liberties, notably championed by Edward Coke. 1658 OLIVER CROMWELL