Podcasts about frontline

Day 1,644.Today, after Kyiv endured the longest period of air raid alerts since the start of the war – and yes, we do mean 2014 – Ukrainians get back to their new normal: recovering family memories from the ashes of destroyed homes and grabbing a morning coffee amid shattered glass. Ukraine reorganises its Donbas defence, whilst also wiping out another long range Russian bomber, deploying brand-new US military kit and answering the question we've all been wondering: can you have too many Kalashnikovs mounted on a single robot? And later, we're in London's iconic St Paul's cathedral, talking, and listening, to the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra.NOTE: Monday is a Bank Holiday in the UK, so there will be no episode. Normal service will resume on Tuesday.Contributors: Dominic Nicholls (Host on Ukraine: The Latest). @DomNicholls on X.Sophie O'Sullivan (Telegraph Journalist)Lilian Fawcett (Telegraph Journalist)With thanks to the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra.Producer: Rachel PorterSenior Producer: Lilian FawcettVideo Producer: Sophie O'SullivanSocial Producer: Tom SteedStudio Director: Meghan SearleExecutive Editor: Francis DearnleyCreated by David KnowlesNOW IN FULL VIDEO WITH MAPS & BATTLEFIELD FOOTAGE:Every episode is now available on our YouTube channel shortly after the release of the audio version. You will find it here: https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineTheLatest CONTENT REFERENCED:Learn about the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra:https://www.ukrainianfreedomorchestra.org/ Trump Says Russia Will Not Attack NATO (Kyiv Post)https://www.kyivpost.com/post/83238EU states revive plan to use frozen Russian assets for Ukraine (Financial Times) https://www.ft.com/content/6d272811-8d26-46f0-ae24-abed61aa1bf3?syn-25a6b1a6=1If you're interested in sponsoring Dom's upcoming defence event, email our colleagues at events@telegraph.co.ukEMAIL US:Contact the team on ukrainepod@telegraph.co.uk. We continue to read every message, and seek to respond to as many as possible.HIGHLIGHTS:Kyiv hit by longest air-raid alert since war beganFrontline troops test rifle-wielding robots Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Michael Azevedo is joined on this episode by Jenny Carchman, director of the riveting true-crime documentary “Whatever It Takes: Inside the eBay Scandal,” which is now streaming on Amazon Prime.    Jenny's film unspools the chilling true crime saga of suburban bloggers from Natick, MA who were targeted in a terrifying cyberstalking campaign orchestrated by senior security executives at global tech giant eBay.   “Whatever It Takes” is a story of corporate espionage and escalating threats that terrorized an ordinary couple.   Jenny Carchman has made documentaries for both theatrical release and broadcast television, including PBS's “Frontline,” “American Masters” and “American Experience,” as well as programming for HBO.   Her wide ranging films have brought viewers closer to subjects such as former NYC mayor Ed Koch to The New York Times and to the Grateful Dead.   Making Media Now—which is available on all podcast platforms including YouTube--is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.   About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/   Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead    

“Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals. But the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels. Investing in new fossil fuel infrastructure is moral and economic madness.”  Antonio Guterres, UN General SecretaryWe know that the current system is not fit for purpose. We know that we're hurtling to the edge of the 6th mass extinction, blowing apart all of the predictions about the speed and scale of ecosystem breakdown.  And still we listen to politicians argue about whether GDP has gone up by 0.1% and if so, who is to claim the credit?  They plan for war without understanding that there are no armies, no nations, no people - or any complex life - on a dead planet. What good are science and rational persuasion if no one is paying attention? The climate crisis deepens with terrifying predictability. Meanwhile, the courageous young campaigners who seek to wake us up to the truth of this, through peaceful direct action, are silenced and stuck in prison.Daniel Knorr is one of those young people.  He was 22 years old at the time the book was published, and had previously studied biochemistry at Oxford with a view to engineering plants to be more resilient to extreme weather conditions.  As you'll hear, he realised this was no longer where he needed to be, and joined Just Stop Oil, whose ethos and grounding question is: what does it make to be a good person in this time of collapse - or perhaps transition?  I'll let him tell you his story, but—like the stories of the other 25 young people in the book—it's humbling and inspiring in equal measure. Jonathon Porritt is well known to anyone in the Green or eco-campaigning community in the UK.  He was formerly Co-Chair of the Green Party (1980-83) and Director of Friends of the Earth (1984-90). He was a Board Member of The Southwest Regional Development Agency between 1999 and 2008. He stood down as Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission in 2009, after nine years providing high-level advice to Government Ministers, and served a ten-year term as Chancellor of Keele University (2012-2022). He was awarded a CBE in January 2000 for services to environmental protection.Together, we discuss Love, Anger and Betrayal, which brings Jonathan's experience as a long time campaigner into juxtaposition with the experiences of young people one third his age who are doing their best to make the world a better place. Theirs is a generation systematically betrayed by politicians. And by all of us who allow this to continue, on our watch, year after year.  What comes across in this book, though, is that while Jonathan feels the kind of white hot rage that consumes many of us, Daniel and those around him are focusing on embodying love for each other and the planet. ‘We have a choice. Collective action or collective suicide. It is in our hands.'-António GuterresLet's explore what we can do, shall we? LinksLove, Anger and Betrayal websiteJonathan's website Jonathan's short film about the bookBetter Coalition—About Accidental Gods—We offer three strands all rooted in the same soil, drawing from the same river: Accidental Gods, Dreaming Awake and the Thrutopia Writing Masterclass Our next Open Gathering offered as part of our Accidental Gods Programme is 'BECOMING A GOOD ANCESTOR' which will run on Sunday 13th September 2026 from 16:00 - 20:00 GMT - details are here. You don't have to be a member of Accidental Gods to come along, but if you are, all Gatherings are half price.If you'd like to join us at Accidental Gods, this is the membership where we endeavour to help you to connect fully with the living web of life. If you'd like to train more deeply in the contemporary shamanic work at Dreaming Awake, you'll find us here. If you'd like to explore the recordings from our last Thrutopia Writing Masterclass, the details are hereManda and Louise both offer one-to-one Mentoring Calls.  Manda is writing a book just now, but if you'd like to contact Louise, details are here.

(4:00) Nation warming up to Ashton Daniels? (9:00) Season could be extremely volatile (23:00) Norvell in his element? (25:00) Grading success for 2026 (37:00) Is the defense good enough? (41:30) Are we harping too much on depth? (51:30) Portal was crazier than we understood (59:00) Tommy to Texas Tech? Music: Ludacris - Blow It Out Follow CumminsLifestyle on IG   batesautodetailing.com (904)-855-7510 Polymarket app. $20 bonus for a $10 deposit upon sign up with code On3. 18+ Only. Restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Not available in all jurisdictions. Trading is risky. 100% loss can occur. See polymarket.com/tos for more information. The Polymarket US App serves as an independent software provider and affiliate of Polymarket US and Polymarket Clearing, the CFTC-regulated exchange and clearing organization   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

(4:00) Nation warming up to Ashton Daniels? (9:00) Season could be extremely volatile (23:00) Norvell in his element? (25:00) Grading success for 2026 (37:00) Is the defense good enough? (41:30) Are we harping too much on depth? (51:30) Portal was crazier than we understood (59:00) Tommy to Texas Tech? Music: Ludacris - Blow It Out Follow CumminsLifestyle on IG   batesautodetailing.com (904)-855-7510 Polymarket app. $20 bonus for a $10 deposit upon sign up with code On3. 18+ Only. Restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Not available in all jurisdictions. Trading is risky. 100% loss can occur. See polymarket.com/tos for more information. The Polymarket US App serves as an independent software provider and affiliate of Polymarket US and Polymarket Clearing, the CFTC-regulated exchange and clearing organization   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

An American woman found in a Syrian refugee camp says her family was tricked by her husband into joining the Islamic State. A British journalist tries to fact‑check whether she was a militant or just a mother. In this CWO Classic Rewind, we're returning to our January 11, 2021 review of season 1 of the podcast “I'm Not a Monster” from BBC Panorama and PBS's Frontline with host Josh Baker. For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon.Sign up for our newsletter at crimewriterson.com.This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When doctors can't identify a fungal infection, they often turn to UT Health San Antonio's Fungus Testing Laboratory, which has discovered more than 60 new species since 2013. The lab is now racing to fight drug-resistant fungi while helping bring new antifungal treatments to market.

Today I discuss Workday and the potential Silver Lake buyout, Meta's personal AI strategy and it's potential for business, update on Galileo, and our new research on frontline work. Most of today's podcast is “analyst perspectives” but lots of direction is now clear. The GHRE Global HR Excellence masterclass starts in September: if you want a 12 week in-depth “Masters Degree” level dive into HR, talent, leadership, and AI (with hands-on and new tools), as well as business school level case studies, join us! (Sign up here.) Additional Information Mark Zuckerberg blog on personal AI The Business of Frontline: Five Types Of Frontline Work Galileo Suite: HR Intelligence For You, Your Employees, and Your Company       Chapters (00:00:00) - Sliver Lake vs. Workday: Going Private(00:03:10) - Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook's AI(00:09:38) - The Future of HR Data: Galileo and the AI Assistant(00:12:22) - McKinsey & Company: Trusting Our Research(00:14:45) - The Business of Frontline Work

Frontline healthcare workers and the patients they serve are facing a major crisis at the University of Vermont Health network—the state's leading healthcare provider. "In June, UVM Health eliminated over 140 positions across its network, a third of which were union positions," Matt More reports at The Rake Vermont. "The cuts, which the hospital estimated will save $9.5 million, comes as the network faces a $300 million budget shortfall… Later that month, UVM Health handed down a speed-up order to its Medical Group, which includes outpatient clinics and more than 1,000 physicians, which practitioners say will result in briefer appointments with patients." How did Vermont's flagship health network end up in this crisis? How is it affecting healthcare workers and their patients? And what can be done to fix it? In this episode of Working People, we speak with Melissa Lavallee, secretary of UVMMC Support Staff United and VP of healthcare for AFT-Vermont; and Teagan Cook, lead outpatient chemotherapy scheduler at her hospital and a chief steward in UVMMC Support Staff United. Additional links/info: UVMMC Support Staff United website, Facebook page, and Instagram AFT-Vermont website, Facebook page, and Instagram Matt Moore, The Rake Vermont, "UVM Health's unions fight hospital cuts to protect their patients' healthcare and their working conditions" Town Meeting TV, "Put workers and patients first! - Solidarity town hall meeting with UVM Medical Center unions" Olivia Gieger, VT Digger, "UVM Health cuts 142 jobs — an estimated $9.5 million in staff positions" Featured Music: Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song Credits: Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor

Frontline healthcare workers and the patients they serve are facing a major crisis at the University of Vermont Health network—the state's leading healthcare provider. “In June, UVM Health eliminated over 140 positions across its network, a third of which were union positions,” Matt More reports at The Rake Vermont. “The cuts, which the hospital estimated will save $9.5 million, comes as the network faces a $300 million budget shortfall… Later that month, UVM Health handed down a speed-up order to its Medical Group, which includes outpatient clinics and more than 1,000 physicians, which practitioners say will result in briefer appointments with patients.”How did Vermont's flagship health network end up in this crisis? How is it affecting healthcare workers and their patients? And what can be done to fix it? In this episode of Working People, we speak with Melissa Lavallee, secretary of UVMMC Support Staff United and VP of healthcare for AFT-Vermont; and Teagan Cook, lead outpatient chemotherapy scheduler at her hospital and a chief steward in UVMMC Support Staff United.Additional links/info: UVMMC Support Staff United website, Facebook page, and InstagramAFT-Vermont website, Facebook page, and InstagramMatt Moore, The Rake Vermont, “UVM Health's unions fight hospital cuts to protect their patients' healthcare and their working conditions”Town Meeting TV, “Put workers and patients first! - Solidarity town hall meeting with UVM Medical Center unions”Olivia Gieger, VT Digger, “UVM Health cuts 142 jobs — an estimated $9.5 million in staff positions”Featured Music: Jules Taylor, Working People Theme SongCredits: Audio Post-Production: Jules TaylorBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!

【PR】スピークはこちらのリンクから最大6,000円OFFで始められます（8/16まで・7日間の無料体験つき）

EP 711 FROM KDF SOLDIER TO RUSSIA'S FRONTLINE: A Kenyan's INSANE Escape from the War in Ukraine

Judaline Cassidy, union plumber, nonprofit founder, and CNN Champion for Change,joins Sarah Nicastro for a conversation about resilience, authentic allyship, and what it means to pay it forward. From growing up in Trinidad and Tobago to becoming one of the first women in Plumbers Local 371, to founding Tools and Tiaras to bring more young women into the trades, Judaline's story is as energizing as it is important.

In this episode of Leaders in ERP, Shawn Windle sits down with Kevin Miller, CTO of IFS, to discuss how AI is reshaping enterprise software for industries like aerospace & defense, manufacturing, and utilities. Miller shares real-world AI examples while arguing that AI will evolve ERP, not replace it. The conversation explores data governance, industry expertise, AI data risks, headless ERP, agentic platforms, and evolving licensing models.Connect with us!https://www.erpadvisorsgroup.com866-499-8550LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/erp-advisors-groupTwitter:https://twitter.com/erpadvisorsgrpFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/erpadvisorsInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/erpadvisorsgroupPinterest:https://www.pinterest.com/erpadvisorsgroupMedium:https://medium.com/@erpadvisorsgroup

Energy is no longer the preserve of the business pages and is central to questions of European Security. Disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has left European gas prices far above where they sat at the start of 2026 and reserves are lower than where they need to be for winter. Jet and diesel markets are tighter than at any point since 2022. And, across the North Sea, unexplained drones and loitering vessels have become a routine feature of offshore operations. In this episode, Andrew Gee, Director, International Security at RUSI, is joined by Amund Vik, senior advisor at Eurasia Group and former head of strategy and policy for the Norwegian Labour Party, and Petras Katinas, a research fellow in climate, energy and defence at RUSI Europe. They discuss the following core questions: How exposed will the United Kingdom and Europe energy markets be this winter and is more North Sea energy production any kind of solution? Who does Europe now depend on for its energy? Is that reliance a partnership or a vulnerability? If energy infrastructure is now a target, what does defending it require? Would a turn to civil nuclear power change the picture?

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出演：平塚柾緒さん（太平洋戦争研究会・代表） 【PR】スピークはこちらのリンクから最大6,000円OFFで始められます（8/16まで・7日間の無料体験つき）

In this episode, Josh Orzel, Chief Nursing Officer, Saline Health System, discusses strengthening nursing culture, developing talent pipelines and supporting frontline caregivers through industry challenges. He shares his leadership philosophy and how investing in nurses drives better outcomes for patients, teams and communities.

In this episode, Josh Orzel, Chief Nursing Officer, Saline Health System, discusses strengthening nursing culture, developing talent pipelines and supporting frontline caregivers through industry challenges. He shares his leadership philosophy and how investing in nurses drives better outcomes for patients, teams and communities.

出演：安田菜津紀さん（認定NPO法人「Dialogue for People」副代表、フォトジャーナリスト） 2026年8月10日（月）「FrontLine Session」より 【PR】スピークはこちらのリンクから最大6,000円OFFで始められます（8/16まで・7日間の無料体験つき）

In this episode of Mandiant's Defender's Advantage Podcast, host Luke McNamara sits down with Ben Read, Head of Strategic Threat Intelligence at Wiz, to explore the rapidly shifting landscape of software supply chain compromises. While historic, nation-state operations like SolarWinds focused on compromising closed-source software, modern adversaries have expanded their playbook to target widely used open-source ecosystems, repositories, and automated CI/CD pipelines. Ben discusses how differing tactics in these campaigns play out in the current threat landscape. For more on Wiz's research: https://www.wiz.io/blog/tag/research 

How do you find the hidden story of the First World War landscape? In this special bonus episode of The Old Front Line, we explore the fascinating world of WW1 trench maps and discover how they can transform your understanding of the Western Front and beyond.We begin by looking at the Blue Series IGN maps that first inspired a deeper exploration of the battlefields, before uncovering the remarkable trench maps created during the Great War. What were trench maps? How were they produced? Who used them, and why are they still such an invaluable resource for battlefield historians today?The episode also tells the story of Lieutenant Colonel Evan Maclean Jack CMG DSO, one of the key figures behind the development of British trench mapping, and examines his lasting influence on military cartography.Finally, we put theory into practice by studying three original trench maps from very different theatres of war: Richebourg on the Lys battlefield, Neuville Vitasse south of Arras, and the Salonika Front around Lake Doiran. Together they reveal how maps recorded trenches, strongpoints, roads, artillery positions and the ever-changing front line.Main Image: Trench Maps of Arras, Richebourg and Salonika. The portrait is Lt Col Evan Maclean Jack CMG DSO, 'Maps' at GHQ (IWM archive)Sign up for the free podcast newsletter here: Old Front Line Bulletin.You can order Old Front Line Merch via The Old Front Line Shop.Got a question about this episode or any others? Drop your question into the Old Front Line Discord Server or email the podcast.Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Ryan Englin, Founder of Core Matters, explains how frontline managers can use AI to eliminate busywork — drafting reminders, scripts, and performance reviews — so they focus on the human side of leading. He breaks down why generic AI produces "slop," why documented SOPs make it reliable, and why the professionals who learn the tool become more valuable, not replaceable. Learn more at https://corematters.com/

Day 1,624.Today, as Kyiv is in mourning following Wednesday's attack, President Donald Trump continues to backtrack on the promised Patriot blueprints. Ukraine hits another Wildberry warehouse overnight, which brings the number of hits to at least 20 since the beginning of the operation, and we reflect on the 40-day strike campaign – has it brought the war closer to an end? Meanwhile, President Zelensky performs a balancing act, meeting with two countries historically close to Russia. Finally, we discuss Ukraine's effort to prosecute the war in real time, with a groundbreaking trial on Russia's human safari.Contributors: Adelie Pojzman-Pontay (Host on Ukraine: The Latest). @Adeliepjz on X.Alex Nichol (Telegraph Journalist).With thanks to Tom Watling, freelance reporter based in Kyiv. @TomAWatling on X.Senior Producer: Lilian FawcettVideo Producer: Sophie O'SullivanSocial Producer: Tom SteedStudio Director: Meghan SearleExecutive Editor: Francis DearnleyCreated by David KnowlesNOW IN FULL VIDEO WITH MAPS & BATTLEFIELD FOOTAGE:Every episode is now available on our YouTube channel shortly after the release of the audio version. You will find it here: https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineTheLatest CONTENT REFERENCED:Russian attacks kill 9, injure 89 across Ukraine over past day as Dnipropetrovsk Oblast comes under nearly 80 attacks (Kyiv Independent)https://kyivindependent.com/russian-attacks-kill-9-injure-89-across-ukraine-over-past-day-as-dnipropetrovsk-oblast-comes-under-nearly-80-strikes/What did Ukraine's '40-day campaign' against Russia deliver? (Kyiv Independent)https://kyivindependent.com/did-ukraines-40-day-campaign-against-russia-change-anything/U.S. Intel Finds Putin Could Test NATO's Resolve With Limited Incursion (Wall Street Journal)https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/u-s-intel-finds-putin-could-test-natos-resolve-with-limited-incursion-e3b02e2cAlex's interview with Andrei Sizov, head of SovEcon grain consultancyhttps://youtu.be/gzG-OjuHlgA?si=9zZZQ-aa41DeYvpj&t=1307Leipzig drone incident fuels fears of Russian election meddling (Politico)https://www.politico.eu/article/leipzig-drone-incident-fuels-fears-russia-election-meddling/Russians face a war trial. Ukrainians face having to defend them (Tom Watling for The Times)https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/ukraine-russia-crimes-against-humanity-icc-hssdzdswrIf you're interested in sponsoring Dom's upcoming defence event, email our colleagues at events@telegraph.co.ukEMAIL US:Contact the team on ukrainepod@telegraph.co.uk. We continue to read every message, and seek to respond to as many as possible.HIGHLIGHTSRussia ‘could attack Nato within weeks', US intelligence warnsUkraine burns Wildberries site 2000km from frontline Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Caitlin has been filling in for Bree, but when she's not doing that she's actually a nurse. That means she has some great stories from the frontline. Bree Tomasel & Clint Roberts on ZM - find us @breeandclint on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is the Russian military actually losing ground, or adapting faster than Western allies realize? Fresh off a tour of the Ukrainian front lines, Senior Fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Michael Kofman delivers a realistic assessment of the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine war. Kofman explains why Ukraine is in its strongest position since mid-2023, how Russian military commanders reporting false progress to Putin may lead to a mismatch between goals and means in the war, the strategic implications behind Ukraine's recent command changes and political shifts in defense procurement, and why it's critical that NATO learns what it can from Ukrainian force exercises to be prepared to face Russia's next post-war threat. Sir Richard Dearlove and co-host Kate McCann unpack the latest and most significant news stories in geopolitics: the launch of Sweden's own civilian intelligence service, whether President Trump's rhetoric on Iran reflects uncertainty or strategic deception, and the data supporting the skeptical American attitude about AI.  In this episode: (02:13) Sweden to Launch Its Own MI6 (06:01) Trump Hyperbole and Iran (09:18) America's AI Skepticism (12:26) Interview with Michael Kofman (13:10) State of the Ukrainian-Russian Frontlines (15:30) Russian Military Goals vs. Means (19:43) Russia's False Picture of Success (23:17) Evolution of Warfare on the Frontlines (28:58) Assessment of International Response (33:18) Patriot Missile Licensed Production Timeline (37:02) Changes in Ukrainian Defense Leadership (43:28) Corruption, Procurement, and Funding in Ukraine( 48:58) Russia's Threat Post-War(54:50) Ukrainian Morale on the Frontlines(57:18) Defining the Front Line of Fighting (01:00:21) One Decision to Watch (01:02:47) Takeaways, Audience Comments, and Wrap Up Show Notes:  The Next Russia Threat: Moscow's Military Power After Ukraine | Foreign Affairs: www.foreignaffairs.com/russia/next-russia-threat-michael-kofman   Hosted by Sir Richard Dearlove (former MI6 Chief) and co-host Kate McCann (Political Editor at Times Radio). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Transformation Ground Control podcast covers a number of topics important to digital and business transformation. This episode covers the following topics and interviews:   The $1M Project Killed Because a Leader Wouldn't Have Hard Conversations Resistance Isn't a Frontline Problem, It Starts at the Top (Ema Roloff - Roloff Consulting, Natalia Rachelson - Oracle) Your Executives Are Just as Afraid as Your Frontline   We also cover a number of other relevant topics related to digital and business transformation throughout the show.  

The word of the decade is “Agency” – giving each of us the power, tools, and opportunity to do what we want with our life, jobs, and careers. This new buzzword, now one of the top memes in politics, has been coming for many years. In this podcast I discuss the 50+ year of history in the “decoupling” of workers from companies, and how our newfound AI-powered Agency brings benefits and risks. As you'll hear, young people see Agency and freedom as a foundational part of their long life ahead, while companies struggle with “how much freedom” to offer. And for frontline employers, the ability to attract and retain our highly “agent” workers is now a source of competitive advantage. This podcast begins the discussion, and we'll be talking much more about this as we launch our new Business of Frontline research and upcoming book Superpowered this Fall. I welcome your feedback and stories on how your newfound AI-fueled Agency has changed your life, career, and talent strategy. Background Information The Great Decoupling: How Workers Became Disconnected From Companies And AI Will Accelerate This Trend (Main article) The Worker-Company Bond Is Breaking In The ‘Great Decoupling' (Forbes) Our New Book: Superpowered, Launching in Fall All the Worst People Seem to Want to Be ‘High Agency' (NYT opinion) Are you High-Agency or Low Agency?  (ChatGPT) Chapters (00:00:00) - The Need for More Agency in Work Employment(00:06:43) - Employers and the Need for High-Agility Work(00:12:30) - The End of Agency at News Corp(00:14:01) - In the Age of AI, Diversity Programs

The battle for America's future isn't just political—it's cultural. In this episode of 1819 News: The Podcast, Bryan Dawson explains why restoring the family is the key to restoring Christian civilization. Drawing from the latest edition of the 1819 News Magazine, Dawson outlines the vision behind the Fred and Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal, the biblical symbolism of the "sword and shovel," and why politics alone cannot save a nation. The conversation explores the relationship between faith, family, culture, and government, arguing that lasting cultural renewal begins in the home. Dawson also discusses the mission of 1819 News, the importance of generational faithfulness, and why rebuilding strong families is essential to preserving Alabama and the American way of life. If you care about faith, family, culture, and the future of America, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.

The battle for America's future isn't just political—it's cultural. In this episode of 1819 News: The Podcast, Bryan Dawson explains why restoring the family is the key to restoring Christian civilization. Drawing from the latest edition of the 1819 News Magazine, Dawson outlines the vision behind the Fred and Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal, the biblical symbolism of the "sword and shovel," and why politics alone cannot save a nation. The conversation explores the relationship between faith, family, culture, and government, arguing that lasting cultural renewal begins in the home. Dawson also discusses the mission of 1819 News, the importance of generational faithfulness, and why rebuilding strong families is essential to preserving Alabama and the American way of life. If you care about faith, family, culture, and the future of America, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.

In episode 116 of Philosophy from the Frontline, Jack Ojo, the first non-veteran entrepreneur who transitioned from umpiring in baseball to accounting and wealth management. Jack shares his journey from umpiring high school state championship games to being released from minor league baseball at age 30, leading him to pursue a career in public accounting. He emphasizes the importance of education, planning, and resilience, highlighting his success in passing the CPA exam and starting his own business. Jack advises veterans to leverage their military skills, seek mentorship, and plan for worst-case scenarios to achieve long-term success.As mentioned on the podcast-   Too Smart to be an Umpire - https://toosmarttobeanumpire.com/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/philosophy-from-the-front-line--4319845/support.Disclaimer: The content of the "Philosophy From the Front Line" podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of any affiliated organizations or sponsors. This podcast does not offer legal, financial, or professional advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult appropriate professionals before making decisions based on the content presented. "Philosophy From the Front Line" assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions in the content or for actions taken based on the information provided during the podcast episodes. Fair Use Statement: This podcast may contain copyrighted material not specifically authorized by the copyright owner. "Philosophy From the Front Line" is making such material available to educate, inform, and provide commentary under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. copyright law (Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act). We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as it is:Used for non-commercial, educational, or research purposes.Critically analyzed, reviewed, or discussed.Used in a transformative way that adds new meaning or message to the original work.If you own any content used and believe it infringes on your copyright, please contact us directly, and we will address the matter promptly. 

With the worst Ebola outbreak in the history of DR Congo still raging, UN peacekeepers must continue to protect civilians from both the virus and violence at the hands of multiple armed groups operating in the region, the Force Commander there has told UN News.MONUSCO's General Ulisses de Mesquita Gomes said 'blue helmets' had increased their presence to ensure civilians are fully protected, while troops were working with local authorities and the World Health Organization to ensure there is enough security amid the outbreak.He told Eleuterio Guevane troops were playing other key roles including conducting vital community awareness campaigns and establishing rapid mobile operating bases to protect treatment centres.

出演：青木理さん（ジャーナリスト） 2026年8月3日（月）「FrontLine Session」より 【PR】スピークはこちらのリンクから最大6,000円OFFで始められます（8/16まで・7日間の無料体験つき）

Explore Matthew 10:16–22 as God calls us as sheep among wolves. Like, subscribe, and share! #Faith #BibleStudy #SundayWord

This week, the team discusses the KOSPI's sharp reversal despite record earnings from SK Hynix and major investment announcements during President Lee Jae Myung's visit to San Francisco, examining why concerns about future spending and returns continue to weigh on technology stocks. The conversation also looks at the heavy losses suffered by investors in leveraged single-stock exchange-traded funds and the government's decision to restrict new listings and advertising just weeks after allowing the products to enter the market. The team then breaks down South Korea's latest census, including the growing role of foreign residents in keeping the population stable, the rise of Vietnamese communities and the growing mismatch between smaller households and a housing market still centered on large apartments. Later, they discuss the arrival of new U.S. Ambassador Michelle Steel and the diplomatic challenges she faces. The episode also covers concerns over frontline military readiness after a South Korean Army corps reportedly removed ammunition belts from machine guns without informing the Joint Chiefs of Staff. About the podcast: The Korea Pro Podcast is a weekly conversation hosted by Korea Risk Group Executive Director Jeongmin Kim, Managing Editor John Lee and correspondent Joon Ha Park, delivering deep, clear analysis of South Korean politics, diplomacy, security, society and technology for professionals who need more than headlines. Uploaded every Friday. This episode was recorded on Thursday, July 30, 2026. Audio edited by Alannah Hill

The Friction Tax: Are You Trapping Customers? Signing up takes less than a minute. Canceling takes 45. The cancellation button is buried. Customer support is difficult to reach. Returning a product requires multiple steps. A "retention specialist" keeps a customer on the phone until surrender feels easier than leaving. That is more than poor customer service. It is the customer friction tax: the extra time, effort, confusion, and frustration customers must absorb because a company benefits from making it difficult to cancel, return, receive help, or leave. In this episode of the Customer Service Revolution Podcast, Denise Thompson and John DiJulius examine when ordinary operational friction becomes deliberate customer exploitation—and what that friction reveals about an organization's priorities. When Customer Friction Becomes Part of the Business Model New York City recently adopted a click-to-cancel rule for automatically renewing and continuous-service subscriptions. Beginning October 1, 2026, covered businesses must clearly disclose subscription terms and provide consumers with a straightforward way to cancel. The fact that cancellation procedures need government regulation raises a larger customer experience question: Can an organization call itself customer-centric when it intentionally makes leaving difficult? John explains that ease of doing business should apply throughout the entire relationship—not just when the customer is ready to buy. That includes reaching support, resolving a problem, returning a purchase, changing an agreement, and canceling a service. Bad Profits Create Long-Term Damage Some companies generate revenue through what John calls "bad profits": hidden charges, excessive fees, restrictive policies, complicated contracts, or deliberately difficult cancellation processes. These practices may protect short-term revenue, but they can also: Destroy customer trust Generate complaints and negative word of mouth Increase service and staffing costs Create opportunities for competitors Force employees to defend policies they believe are unfair Increase frontline frustration and turnover Produce retention numbers that disguise customer dissatisfaction Blockbuster once generated approximately 16% of its revenue from late fees. That revenue made abandoning late fees appear financially dangerous—but it also prevented the company from adapting to a subscription model that customers increasingly preferred. Retention Is Not the Same as Loyalty A customer who remains because canceling is difficult has not been retained through loyalty. That customer has been trapped through friction. Healthy customer relationships produce repeat business, referrals, trust, and advocacy. Customer captivity may temporarily improve retention metrics, but it does not create customers who create more customers. Leaders must look beyond cancellation rates and ask why customers stay. Are they staying because they value the relationship—or because switching, canceling, or finding an alternative feels like too much work? Customer Friction Also Damages the Employee Experience Frontline employees frequently bear the consequences of unreasonable policies they did not create and cannot change. When employees repeatedly have to say, "I don't make the rules," it signals a larger system problem. Employees become the messengers for decisions designed to protect revenue, absorbing customers' anger while lacking the authority to make things right. Removing unnecessary customer friction is therefore both a customer experience and employee experience strategy. How Leaders Can Find Their Biggest Friction Points John recommends that leaders experience their organization as customers do. Purchase something. Attempt to return it. Try to cancel. Contact support. Track how many screens, calls, transfers, explanations, and approvals the process requires. Do not merely ask whether the process works. Ask how hard the customer must work to make it work. Leaders should also: Listen to customer calls and analyze customer sentiment Identify recurring complaints and escalations Examine policies that produce fees or prevent cancellations Compare earned sales from repeat customers and referrals with sales purchased through advertising Track retention after contractual obligations end Give employees appropriate authority to resolve problems Remove incentives that reward short-term revenue at the customer's expense Making it easier for unhappy customers to leave may feel risky. But making every customer feel trapped is far more dangerous. Trust is more valuable than captivity. Key Takeaways Ease of doing business must apply to the entire customer relationship, including cancellation, returns, support, and service recovery. Retention does not prove loyalty when customers face barriers to leaving. "Bad profits" may increase short-term revenue while damaging trust, referrals, employee morale, and long-term growth. Frontline employees suffer when they must defend policies they know are frustrating or unfair. Customer complaints and service-recovery situations are opportunities to demonstrate empathy and rebuild loyalty. Leaders should personally test their organization's customer journey. Repeat business and referrals are stronger indicators of loyalty than cancellation rates alone. The critical question is not whether a process works, but how hard customers must work to make it work. Memorable Quotes "Not all profit is good profit." "A customer hasn't been retained through loyalty. They've been trapped through friction." "Every company's job is to create customers who create customers." "You wouldn't have to chase new customers if you were keeping the existing ones." "Leaders need to spend time on the front line so they can feel the pain." "Don't ask whether the process works. Ask how hard the customer must work to make it work." "Trust is far more valuable than captivity." Episode Chapters 00:46 — The hidden friction tax customers are paying 02:12 — What ease of doing business really means 04:15 — Poor experience or calculated business decision? 06:29 — How leaders can recognize deliberate friction 08:58 — Can a high-friction company be customer-centric? 10:52 — Service recovery and rebuilding customer trust 14:55 — When retention dashboards hide dissatisfaction 18:32 — How bad policies affect frontline employees 20:28 — Charles Schwab's campaign against bad profits 23:48 — The difference between loyalty and captivity 25:47 — Why retention and referrals matter 28:45 — How to uncover your biggest friction points 30:16 — The customer journey every leader should test ROX Dashboard:  https://thedijuliusgroup.com/rox-dashboard/ The DiJulius Group Methdology: https://thedijuliusgroup.com/x-commandment-methodology/ Company Service Aptitude Test:  https://thedijuliusgroup.com/c-sat-forms/individual-c-sat/ Schedule a Complimentary Call with one of our advisors:  tdg.click/claudia Ask John!  Submit your questions for John, to be aired on future episode:  tdg.click/ask Customer Experience Executive Academy: https://thedijuliusgroup.com/project/cx-executive-academy/ Experience Revolution Membership:  https://thedijuliusgroup.com/membership/ Books:  https://thedijuliusgroup.com/shop/ Contacts:  Lindsey@thedijuliusgroup.com , Claudia@thedijuliusgroup.com If you want to learn how world-class organizations build cultures customers cannot live without, explore The Experience Revolution Membership. Inside the membership you'll gain access to livestream workshops, practical frameworks, and proven strategies used by organizations around the world. Learn more at https://thedijuliusgroup.com/membership/

Hosts Patrick Bishop and Roger Moorhouse take a look at the latest shifting political dynamics surrounding US-Ukraine relations. They unpack the recent White House meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the potential transactional nature of future US support, and the growing role of Ukraine's defence industry.Then, Belgian journalist Arnaud De Decker joins the show for an extended interview to share his eyewitness perspective on the war. Returning from an embed with an FPV drone unit in the Donbas, Arnaud offers a vivid account of the reality inside the "kill zone", the rapid integration of ground drones and fibre-optic tech, and a harrowing close encounter with a Russian drone. He also breaks down the domestic fallout from high-level Ukrainian military shake-ups, the stark realities facing soldiers on the front lines, and briefly discusses his recent reporting on the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Sudan.Key Topics Covered:US-Ukraine Political Thaw: Analysing Trump and Zelenskyy's recent meeting, potential visits by US envoys, and the transactional framework of prospective peace and reconstruction deals.Kyiv Military Shake-Up: The public backlash and protests following the dismissal of Defence Minister Fedorov, the replacement of Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi with General Drapaty, and how leadership rivalries impact frontline operations.Inside the Kill Zone: Arnaud De Decker's firsthand experience embedded with the "Signum" drone unit in the Donbas, dodging fibre-optic Russian FPV drones, and relying on ground drones for logistical supplies.The "Uber" for Drone Pilots: A look inside the operations of the "Birds of Magyar" unit and how long-range, low-cost B2 strike drones are targeting multi-million-dollar Russian air defence systems.Frontline Reality vs Strategy: The widening gap between high-level strategic/mid-range strike successes and the deteriorating, high-pressure situation for ground troops and civilians near Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.Spotlight on Sudan: Arnaud shares insights from his reporting in Khartoum and Darfur, detailing the immense destruction, geopolitical influence, and the ongoing humanitarian crisis.Join the Conversation: If you have a question about the war in Ukraine or any of the conflicts we cover, email us at podbattleground@gmail.comFollow us on:X - @PodBattlegroundInstagram - podbattlegroundProducer: James HodgsonA Goalhanger Podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Frontline pressures have reached a boiling point. In this swapcast episode, nurses Erica and Amie tackle the wave of nursing strikes across Massachusetts (MNA) and British Columbia (BCNU), exploring what these recent labor actions reveal about the true state of healthcare. Together, they dive into the harsh realities nurses are standing up against—from unsafe staffing ratios and lack of workplace respect to burnout and corporate greed. Erica and Amie also address the elephant in the room: "scab nurses." They break down the ethical, emotional, and financial strain traveling replacement nurses place on striking staff, how hospital systems use high-paid temporary labor to undercut union power, and the complex reality of nursing ethics vs. corporate greed. More importantly, they share actionable insights on how nurses can build genuine solidarity, mobilize for patient safety, and use their collective voice to drive real structural change. Whether you're on the floor or on the picket line, this is a conversation about standing tall for the profession.

In Hour 2, Andy and Randy talk about Kirk Cousins latest shot to start in the NFL, the injuries to both the Falcons top quarterbacks, Big Ten Media Days, and Grant McAuley stops by.

Today I am in conversation with Olga Berg — a linguist, former U.S. government interpreter, and humanitarian coordinator — about her shift from high-stakes diplomatic interpretation to frontline crisis response during the Ukraine war, and her current AI venture. In the first days of the Ukrainian war, Olga was part of a group that co-founded the Ukrainian Medical Consortium. The crisis work began with youth evacuation: she coordinated the evacuation of 50+ Ukrainian youth to the UK and Austria in the first days of the war; one evacuee now works for Olga. For medical aid coordination the group partnered with the Polish Institute of Emergency Medicine to register the newly founded Ukrainian Medical Consortium rapidly, leveraging the institute's established credibility. Parallel they initiated an orthopedic surgery collaboration: they paired U.S. surgeons (via Northwell Health) with Ukrainian surgeons via telemedicine and procured specialized equipment including secondhand CRM X-rays. A key focus was tactical medicine training: Olga ran the only internationally certified tactical medicine program for civilians in Ukraine for 2+ years, training thousands. Olga shares how this all came at personal costs, the work for her resulted in severe burnout, PTSD, and her divorce. She described this phase as 20 months of sleeping four hours a day. But what she said was so fascinating and positive despite all the despair, how people in crisis know what to do, they show knowledge, taking over responsibilities - no questions asked, and communication was clear, precise and no words waisted. This intense experience and her earlier professional career lead her to co-found the DarcyCode, a behavioral linguistic intelligence engine designed to improve human communication precision. It works as a deterministic logic layer ("behavioral linguistic intelligence engine") that sits on top of LLMs (GPT, Claude, etc.) to interpret human behavioral speech patterns. Her start up is inspired by the Gottman 1983 study: where micro-conflict resolution in conversation predicted divorce rate with 93% accuracy — the same principle is actually applied to team survival. ### To learn more about Olga Berg and the DarcyCode, please go to her website and follow her on social media: @olgabergny linkedin.com/in/olga-berg-9aa44416 ### To learn more about SHIFT HAPPENS, click here  To learn more about Claudia's business SHIFT HAPPENS.Curated Conversations and her Salons in New York, Zurich and Berlin, click here You can also connect with Claudia on Instagram @shifthappens.podcast and LinkedIn at ClaudiaMahlerNYC This podcast is created, produced and hosted by Claudia Mahler.

"The problem you see is often three steps away from the real problem." Episode Chapters [00:01:52] Why Every Leader Should Walk the Front Line [00:03:19] What You Learn by Being Present Every Day [00:08:25] Removing Obstacles for Your Team [00:08:58] Looking Beyond the Symptoms to Find the Real Problem [00:14:49] Leading Through Visibility and Consistency The best leaders don't manage from behind a desk. They spend time where the work is happening. In this episode, Lee Cockerell explains why walking the front line became one of the most valuable leadership habits of his career. He shares how being visible helped him solve problems faster, build stronger relationships with employees, and uncover the real issues affecting operations before they became bigger challenges. The most effective leaders are spending more time where their customers are served and where their employees need their support. Read my blog for more from this episode.  Resources CockerellStore.com The Cockerell Academy About Lee Cockerell Mainstreet Leader Jody Maberry Travel Guidance Magical Vacation Planners are my preferred travel advisors. Reach out to have them help plan your next vacation. You can reach them at 407-442-2694.

This episode, Becca Schweitzer and Trevor Salmon, Client Strategists at O.C. Tanner, share their recommendations and ideas for how you can connect your offline and frontline workers to your recognition efforts.   Becca and Trevor partner with our clients to implement strategies and programs to reach 100% of their workforces. In their previous lives, they worked directly with offline and frontline employees in manufacturing and healthcare, encouraging recognition and keeping employees engaged at work.  Takeaways  Utilize existing touchpoints to encourage recognition. From short team huddles to weekly newsletters and break room signage, find those existing practices where you have time to prompt recognition. Even during one-to-one meetings, managers can give employees time to use their computer to share recognition.  Build awareness and education with Recognition Champions. Identify top program adopters or volunteers to create a Recognition Champions network that helps model, educate, and encourage recognition by team or shift. This helps leaders share the work, too. Bring customers into your recognition programs with Say Thanks. Your offline workforce is the face of your organization, interacting with your customers, patients, and clients daily. With Say Thanks, your customers can share recognition with your frontline employees for a job well done, managers can see the great work they may miss during the day, and it is easily tracked in your program. Often, this type of appreciation is even more meaningful to your employees.  The Culture by Design podcast is created by O.C. Tanner, the global leader in software and services that improve workplace culture through meaningful employee recognition.   If you want your organization to become a place where people can't wait to come to work in the morning, go to octanner.com. 

As the teams from The Texas Newsroom and FRONTLINE's Local Journalism Initiative were putting the finishing touches on the fifth and final episode of After the Flood, another devastating flood hit the Texas Hill Country. So, we decided to pivot.How were these two floods different? Were elected officials better prepared? Did residents get timely information? That's going to take some time to figure out, so the release of the final episode will be postponed a week.In the meantime, we caught up with Bob Canales and Lorena Guillen, owners of the Blue Oak RV Park in Kerrville. You heard from them in episode one. We wanted to know how yet another historic flood hitting this part of Texas was affecting them and their community.After the Flood is a collaboration between FRONTLINE and The Texas Newsroom.

What separates great CEOs from everyone else?According to Shane O'Kelly, President and CEO of Advance Auto Parts, it starts by getting out of the boardroom and onto the front line.After taking over an $11 billion company with nearly 5,000 locations and more than 60,000 team members, Shane's first move wasn't another strategy meeting—it was visiting stores, listening to employees, and uncovering the leadership blind spots holding the business back.In this episode of Lead the Team, Shane shares the leadership philosophy that has guided him from West Point and Army Ranger School to leading some of America's largest organizations.You'll learn:Why leaders should never become "tourists"The power of leading from the front lineHow one store visit exposed major operational challengesWhy Advance invested $100 million in its people before it could comfortably afford toThe importance of the "Say-Do Ratio" in building trustHow to identify high-potential leaders earlyBreaking down organizational silosWhy servant leadership creates lasting business resultsThe habits Shane uses to sustain high performance under pressureWhether you lead a global enterprise or a growing team, this conversation offers practical lessons on building trust, staying connected to your people, and leading meaningful transformation.Chapters00:00 Introduction01:43 The Ranger School failure that shaped Shane's leadership08:21 His first days leading an $11 billion company09:07 Why every CEO should start on the front line12:00 "Don't be a tourist" leadership14:25 The $100 million investment in frontline employees15:24 The store visit that changed everything19:05 Why frontline employees tell you the truth21:09 The "Say-Do Ratio" and building credibility25:24 Fixing the employee experience first30:23 How Shane identifies future leaders35:31 Breaking down silos inside large organizations39:21 Staying healthy while leading under pressure42:16 What's next for Advance Auto PartsConnect with Ben FanningFollow Lead the Team for weekly conversations with CEOs and executive leaders on leadership, organizational transformation, AI, high-performance teams, and the future of work.-----Connect with the Host, #1 bestselling author Ben FanningSpeaking and Training inquiresSubscribe to my Youtube channelLinkedInInstagramTwitter

Throwing it back to a rerelease of the the very first episode of Frontline UNSCRIPTED - a series from Future of Field Service where host Sarah Nicastro steps away from the C-suite and hands the mic to the people doing the work.Phil Manchester, Service Team Lead at AirTight FaciliTech, joins Sarah Nicastro for the inaugural episode of Frontline UNSCRIPTED — a series that gives the mic to the people doing the work. Phil shares what drew him to the trades, how he made the leap from technician to team leader, and what frontline workers really need from leaders. Originally released in 2024, returning as part of our summer rerelease series.

Last time we spoke about the Miluo River Catastrophe. On September 17, General Xue Yue, watching alarming reconnaissance telegrams, learns the Japanese 11th Army has massed across the north bank of the Xinqiang River—3rd, 4th, 6th, and 40th Divisions—alongside additional detachments. Chinese operatives even intercept a Japanese order directing divisions to prepare for an attack on September 18. Despite this, Xue Yue's decisions and readiness remain inadequate. By September 21–23, the fighting at and around the Miluo River and Dongting Lake destroys the 37th Army's ability to function as a coherent combat force. The disaster as both tactical collapse and a failure of planning: Japanese interception and decoding of radio orders allow them to shift toward encirclement, turning Chinese movements into a "trap" laid in advance.   #211 The Japanese Blunt China's Iron Army at Changsha 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. The four divisions that had stormed into northern Hunan had made good progress, achieving the victory of defeating three main Chinese armies in quick succession. General Anami Korechika, commanding the Japanese forces, was secretly pleased, but he dared not slacken his efforts in the slightest. He was a methodical man, and he understood that the contest was not yet decided. Every day, his intelligence officers placed before him a stream of intercepted Chinese military telegrams and aerial reconnaissance reports. What they showed gave him reason for both confidence and caution. Two significant forces were moving toward the battlefield — forces unlike those he had so far encountered. One of them was Chiang Kai-shek's elite 74th Army, a formation whose reputation had reached Anami long before, from his time at headquarters in Tokyo. The other was the 10th Army, considered second only to the 74th in quality and fighting spirit.   The 74th Army was no ordinary unit. It had been rigorously trained under German and Soviet instructors specially hired by Chiang Kai-shek, its officers schooled in both European combined-arms doctrine and Soviet tactical flexibility. It was characterized by its disciplined offensive and defensive tactics and was lavishly equipped by the standards of the Chinese military. Most remarkably, it had maintained an undefeated record on the battlefield since the beginning of the war — a distinction that had earned it the title of "Iron Army of the Anti-Japanese War" among the Chinese people. In the high command of the Imperial Japanese Army, it was referred to, with a mixture of respect and wariness, as the Tora no Ko — the "Tiger Child" — meaning, in essence, the ace in the enemy's hand.   The 10th Army was held in nearly equal esteem. The deployment of either of these two formations required the personal approval of Chiang Kai-shek himself. The Generalissimo's principle for employing them was clear and deliberate: they were to be committed only to the most critical battles, those that would decide outcomes, or to the most prominent ones, where their prowess could demonstrate the might of the Chinese army to a watching nation. Since the outbreak of the war, the 74th Army had been kept in reserve at Fenyi in Jiangxi Province, and the 10th Army at Hengyang in southern Hunan. Both forces had been conserving their strength, training, and waiting.   Now Anami's relentless offensive had forced Chiang Kai-shek's hand. The battle situation had tilted dangerously under the weight of Japanese pressure, and the fall of several elite units had left the Chinese commander of the Ninth War Zone, General Xue Yue, with little room to maneuver. Xue Yue had no choice but to appeal to Chongqing for help, and Chiang Kai-shek, reluctantly and with full awareness of the risks, agreed to release his two trump cards. Anami, having mastered his opponent's intentions through his intelligence apparatus, now found himself in the rare and advantageous position of a card player who could see his opponent's hole cards. He carefully planned his battle strategy, studying maps late into the night, conferring with his officers, and calculating how best to neutralize the Chinese elite before they could bring their full weight to bear. He knew that his life's honor, his career, and his legacy rested on this one gamble.   Li Yutang, the commander of the 10th Army, was from Guangrao in Shandong Province — a place that had given China more than its share of fighting men. He was a graduate of the first class of the illustrious Whampoa Military Academy, where he had trained alongside men who would go on to shape the fate of China. At the academy, he had been part of a celebrated group known informally as the "Four Lis of Shandong": himself, Li Xianzhou, Li Yannian, and Li Hanfan. The first three would all rise to significant commands in the Nationalist army. The fourth, Li Hanfan, a native of Changqing in Shandong, had taken an entirely different path, joining the Communist Party of China and fighting the same war under a different flag. In later years, the group became known as the "Three Lis of Shandong," the fourth having parted ways with his classmates long before the guns fell silent.   Li Yutang had not risen quickly or through privilege. He embodied the hardworking, resilient, and tenacious qualities long associated with the men of Shandong — qualities forged by a hard land and harder circumstances. He had climbed the ranks of the army step by step: platoon leader, company commander, battalion commander, regimental commander. Each step had been earned through performance under fire. When Japan launched its full-scale invasion in 1937, Li Yutang was serving as commander of the 3rd Division of the 2nd Army under Li Yannian, participating in the brutal Battle of Shanghai in August of that year. He fought in the grinding urban warfare along the Suzhou Creek, learning lessons in modern combat that would serve him for the rest of the war. The following spring, in March and April of 1938, he led his troops in the Battle of Xuzhou, holding the Linyi line northeast of Taierzhuang, blocking the Japanese 5th Division under Itagaki Seishiro from breaking through to reinforce the embattled Japanese forces at that critical engagement. His handling of the defense contributed to one of the few early Chinese battlefield successes of the war.   For his performance at Xuzhou, he was promoted to commander of the 8th Army. During the Battle of Wuhan in 1938, he led his troops in major engagements against the Japanese 101st and 106th Divisions along the Nanxun Railway, inflicting significant casualties on the attackers. After that campaign, General Xue Yue, recognizing both Li's talent and his Shandong origins — Shandong being home to Mount Tai, the foremost of China's Five Sacred Mountains — personally inscribed a banner reading "Mount Tai Army" and formally presented it to Li Yutang's 8th Army. Chiang Kai-shek added his own recognition, awarding Li Huazhou a medal. In the Battle of Nanchang, Li Yutang again distinguished himself, leading his troops in the defense of Wuning for ten days and ten nights of uninterrupted fighting. When the battle was over, Japanese soldiers lay piled in front of his defensive lines, and the name "Taishan Army" was on every officer's lips from Chongqing to the front. After the First Battle of Changsha in 1939, Chiang Kai-shek personally nominated Li Yutang to take command of the 10th Army — the posting that would now define his legacy. The orders came on September 20, 1941 — three days after the Japanese forces had broken through the Xiangbei defense line in the north. General Xue Yue's summons reached Li Yutang's headquarters in Hengyang, and the 10th Army began immediate preparations for movement to the battlefield.   The mobilization was extraordinary even by the standards of an army that prided itself on discipline and fighting spirit. Li Yutang addressed his men, and the response was unlike anything a commander might ordinarily expect. He received wave after wave of letters — requests to be placed at the front, declarations of determination, pledges to die before surrendering. Some of the letters were written in ordinary ink. Others had been written in blood, the soldier biting his own finger to draw enough for a few lines. These were not men who needed to be driven to battle. They were men who had spent months training for precisely this moment.   Their preparation had been rigorous to the point of fanaticism. For six months before the order came, the 10th Army had conducted intensive training in the three core skills of infantry combat: marksmanship, grenade throwing, and bayonet fighting. The Ministry of National Defense had set a standard that considered a unit successful if one quarter of its men scored "top-tier" in each category. Chiang Kai-shek had personally raised the bar for the 10th Army: eighty percent of every unit must score "top-tier," with the remainder no lower than "excellent." Any unit falling short would face elimination. When the assessments were completed, the result was unambiguous — one hundred percent of the army had met the standard.   Over 30,000 men boarded seven special trains at Hengyang, their military songs and mobilization slogans ringing through the station as families and bystanders watched them depart. The troops traveled by train to Zhuzhou, then transferred to motor vehicles for the road north to Changsha, arriving in the Jinjing area — some seventy kilometers northeast of the city — on September 22nd. They had moved with professional speed. What awaited them would test something no training exercise could fully replicate. From the moment of arrival, the situation was clear to any officer with eyes: the 10th Army had stepped into chaos. However, given the already established passive situation, the 10th Army was like a leaf caught in a whirlpool as soon as it arrived on the battlefield. General Xue Yue, at the Ninth War Zone Command, immediately ordered the entire army to support the besieged 37th Army and simultaneously launch an offensive against the Japanese 3rd Division. It was an ambitious order for troops who had just completed a multi-day journey and had not yet oriented themselves to the ground. Nevertheless, Li Yutang passed the order down and his divisions began to move.   The first division to feel the dislocating effect of high command's demands was Zhu Yue's 190th Division. On September 23rd, the vanguard regiment of the 190th made contact with Japanese forces and was preparing to engage. Before a single shot was fired in earnest, Division Commander Zhu Yue received a telegram from army headquarters ordering him to abandon his current position and rush immediately to Shending Mountain to relieve the siege of the 140th Division of the 37th Army. The order brooked no delay. The troops dropped their baggage where it lay and ran — truly ran, in light order — to the vicinity of Shending Mountain.   They had barely formed ranks at their new position when a second telegram arrived from General Xue Yue. The 190th Division was to immediately reverse course and return to the Fulipu area to establish a defensive line and block the Japanese advance southward. Another forced march, exhausting men who had already marched and traveled for days. They arrived at the designated position on time — a testimony to their conditioning — and Zhu Yue established his division headquarters at Liangjiaduan, near Fulipu. After all the aimless marching and countermanding orders, after all the wasted energy and fruitless attempts, the troops were running on the last of their reserves. They worked through the night constructing fortifications with shovels and bare hands. Just as the first light of dawn revealed the outline of their new positions, the Japanese army advanced.   General Toyoshima Fusataro's Japanese 3rd Division had not rested. It had decisively defeated the 37th Army on the night of the 23rd and turned immediately, without pause, to attack the 190th Division. The blow came from the sky before it came from the ground. At dawn, more than ten Japanese planes swept down over Zhu Yue's division headquarters — seemingly guided, as the Chinese soldiers would later say, as if they had eyes in their heads, so accurate was the targeting. The small village that housed the headquarters was bombed almost to the ground. Dust and smoke billowed over the ruins as the aircraft banked away, and before it had settled, over a thousand Japanese infantrymen, seemingly springing from the earth itself, rushed forward directly toward the headquarters position. The regiment commanders, still at their positions elsewhere, could not be recalled in time.   Division Commander Zhu Yue did not hesitate. He drew his pistol and began commanding his subordinate units to fight back, rallying the headquarters staff and support troops into a perimeter defense. Under the fierce and accurate Japanese fire, Zhu Yue was hit by a bullet in his right arm. Then another round struck him in the left leg, and he went down. Almost simultaneously, Deputy Division Commander Lai Shixiang took command of the nearest available men and attempted to lead a breakout with a machine gun. An enemy mortar round found its mark, and Lai Shixiang was killed instantly. The division headquarters personnel, already shocked by the swiftness of the attack and the wounding of their commander, broke into disorder. Chaos erupted on the battlefield. Many soldiers ran blindly in the smoke and confusion, dying in the crossfire from multiple directions.   Division Chief of Staff Tao Xiu, now acting as deputy division commander with Zhu Yue incapacitated, took hold of the situation as best he could. He led the remnants of the headquarters staff in retreat toward a hollow in a grove of trees near the edge of the village. When the headcount was taken, approximately twenty men remained capable of fighting. It was already ten o'clock in the morning. Tao Xiu gathered these few men and led them along a small path through the dense forest on the outskirts of the village, bypassing Liangjiaduan, searching for the dispersed units of the division.   Out on the main positions, the 568th, 569th, and 570th Regiments were simultaneously surrounded and attacked. The officers and soldiers, exhausted from days and nights of continuous fighting, summoned what remained of their endurance and put up a tenacious resistance. From dawn until the afternoon, several positions were cut off and divided by Japanese encircling movements. In the ever-shrinking pockets, each cluster of defenders became an isolated target for enemy aircraft and artillery. Completely losing the initiative, groups of officers and soldiers perished in the shelling. Many of them died not in defiance but in something closer to despair — regretting this humiliating reversal, the waste of their patriotic aspirations, their unfulfilled desire to fight and kill the enemy on their own terms.   By evening, the regimental commanders had lost control of their respective battalions and companies. The remaining soldiers on each position scattered and concealed themselves in whatever ground offered cover, hiding in all directions across the darkening hills. It was not until midnight that the lightly wounded and unwounded officers and soldiers managed to assemble, as the contingency plan had directed, in a dense forest on the southwest side of the position. Division Commander Zhu Yue, wounded in both his arm and his leg, had been sent to the rear to receive treatment. Acting Deputy Division Commander Tao Xiu stood before the assembled survivors — more than two hundred men gathered from the regiments — and offered them quiet words of comfort. There was little else he could give them. The people present carried the seriously wounded on improvised stretchers and supported the lightly wounded with their arms and shoulders, groping their way through the darkness toward Zhuzhou. The 10th Reserve Division, under Commander Fang Xianjue, had been assigned to hold the Jinjing line — a position that, on paper, formed an anchor of the defensive scheme. In practice, the situation was deeply flawed from the outset. The Ninth War Zone Command had placed the 10th Reserve Division alone at Jinjing with no depth behind it and no friendly forces on either flank — an isolated salient that offered the Japanese every opportunity for encirclement.   On the 23rd, the division captured the Kanai line at noon, an initial success that promised more than it delivered. Around six o'clock in the evening, as darkness gathered, General Kanda Masatsuka arrived at the front with the vanguard of the Japanese 6th Division. He was not a man to move without information. Before committing to a full assault, Kanda ordered a probing attack and watched its progress carefully through binoculars from a small hill behind the advancing force. What he saw gave him pause. However he searched for a weak point in the Chinese line, the defenders showed none. No gap in the wire, no position carelessly manned, no sector that sagged under pressure. Kanda lowered his binoculars and considered his next step. He felt this was indeed an elite unit with excellent tactical skills, and should not be underestimated. He ordered a halt to the attack and waited for the full arrival of his division's strength.   On the morning of the 24th, the Japanese launched their proper assault — a fierce attack from the east, north, and west simultaneously. The three-directional pressure was designed to pin the defenders and deny any lateral reinforcement. Kanda went further, requesting permission from General Anami to concentrate all thirty-plus bombers available for the entire battlefield and direct them at the 10th Reserve Division's positions in a single concentrated raid. Anami granted the request. The bombing was devastating. The defending positions were almost completely destroyed from the air. Yet in the ruins of their fortifications and bunkers, the soldiers of the 10th Reserve Division continued fighting, repelling Japanese ground attacks wave after wave through the rubble and the smoke.   At two o'clock in the afternoon, a report reached Fang Xianjue that halted him in his tracks. A Japanese regiment had executed a large-scale outflanking maneuver around the south side of Jinjing and was approaching the rear of the position. The encirclement was closing. Fang Xianjue was shocked. He now grasped in full the tactical impossibility of his assignment. The Ninth War Zone Command had placed the 10th Reserve Division here alone, exposed on all sides, without depth and without support. The order to "block the enemy's southward advance" had been an empty promise from the start. Fang Xianjue could not understand the strategic intention behind the deployment at all — there was none that made any tactical sense. The only purpose of holding out here, he concluded bitterly, was to theoretically be seen to be "fighting the Japanese." Before Fang Xianjue could translate his analysis into a decision, the Japanese troops launched another fierce attack from the front and both flanks, and one side of the defensive line was breached. The situation became critical. Fang Xianjue decided to withdraw before the encircling force to the south could complete its movement and seal off all escape. He did not have time to seek authorization from the war zone — there was no time. He ordered each regiment to organize its own breakout and reassemble at designated locations.   At four o'clock in the afternoon, Fang Xianjue led the division headquarters in the first withdrawal from the battlefield. Looking back as he departed, he watched as the regiments were cut apart by Japanese fire, large numbers of officers and soldiers falling among the mountain ridges and into the ditches and gullies. There was nothing more he could do for them.   By the 25th, approximately half of the division's troops had reached the designated reception point. After a hasty reorganization, they were ordered to occupy positions along the Xueshi Bridge line and prepare to resume the defense. That same evening, a portion of the Japanese 3rd Division — fresh from its defeat of the 190th Division — launched a fierce attack on Xueshi Bridge. The positions could not be held. The scene of the previous day's rout was repeated almost exactly, and this second defeat completed the destruction of the 10th Reserve Division as a coherent fighting force. General Xue Yue's rebuke reached Fang Xianjue shortly afterward, and the division commander had no way to express the depth of his frustration — the tactical position he had been placed in had made his assignment impossible before the first shot was fired. On the 26th, he led the surviving troops to be received and reorganized by war zone units near Changsha. Compared to the bitter fates of the 190th Division and the 10th Reserve Division, Zhou Qingxiang's 3rd Division wrote a different kind of story in these same days — one of extraordinary tactical competence maintained against mounting odds. In the equally fierce battles, the 3rd Division demonstrated the qualities of an elite force more effectively than any other unit on either side.   On the 22nd, the 3rd Division had been ordered to establish positions two kilometers east of Fulipu. At noon on the 24th, after the Japanese 3rd Division defeated Zhu Yue's 190th Division, a portion of the Japanese force turned and attacked the right flank of Zhou Qingxiang's position. It was repelled. That evening, the Japanese 4th Division, riding the momentum of its success against the 37th Army, launched a night attack on the 3rd Division's left flank. It too was repelled. On the 25th, Zhou Qingxiang's division was attacked from both sides simultaneously by the main forces of two Japanese divisions — forces that outnumbered the defenders several times over. The officers and soldiers of the entire division showed no fear. They fought bravely and with skill honed by months of intensive preparation, holding their lines despite heavy casualties and preventing the Japanese from breaking through at any point.   When word of this resistance was relayed to General Anami Korechika at his headquarters, he fell into a long, uncharacteristic silence. He studied the reports before him, the maps, the casualty tallies on both sides. Then he turned to his chief of staff, General Isamu Kinoshita. "This is the elite force," Anami said quietly. He paused a moment, and added: "I really want to go there and see for myself." The compliment, delivered in the private setting of a Japanese headquarters, was perhaps the most honest assessment of the fighting quality of Zhou Qingxiang's men that history has preserved.   Anami's response, however, was not admiration — it was determination to overwhelm. On the morning of the 26th, he concentrated nearly the entire combat power available to him against the single 3rd Division: units drawn from the Japanese 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 40th Divisions — close to 100,000 men — were directed to surround and destroy the Chinese formation. The 3rd Division stubbornly held its ground despite catastrophic casualties, the soldiers refusing to give way even as the perimeter contracted and the dead accumulated.   To ease the relentless pressure from enemy aircraft, the division commanders made a calculated decision: all positions were ordered to allow the Japanese troops to close to hand-to-hand fighting range. If the enemy was within arm's reach, the bombers above could not strike without killing their own men. Several instances of fierce hand-to-hand fighting erupted across the defensive line as a result — bayonets, shovels, pistols and bare hands in the broken earth and shell craters. By noon, the 8th Regiment had been divided and surrounded. Shortly afterward, the 7th and 9th Regiments met the same fate. Zhou Qingxiang moved the division headquarters to the position of the 7th Regiment to maintain command over his most accessible unit, while the deputy division commander and chief of staff were dispatched to coordinate the independent defense of the 8th and 9th Regiments respectively. For another half day, each of the three regimental pockets fought alone. At dusk, Zhou Qingxiang ordered a breakout.   As darkness fell, exploiting the brief respite that came when the Japanese halted their attacks for the night, each regiment burst simultaneously from its position. Carefully prepared covering detachments remained behind and created convincing feints toward false breakout directions, drawing the enemy's main pursuit forces away from the actual withdrawal routes. The deceptions worked. By the time the Japanese commanders understood what had happened, the breakout had succeeded. Officers and soldiers filtered into the designated reception point in small groups — three men here, five there — arriving through the night and into the following morning. When the count was complete, the 3rd Division was a remnant of less than one-fifth of its pre-battle strength. The finest infantry division in the 10th Army had bled itself almost dry, but it had done so on its own terms, and it had extracted as much as it was possible to extract from an impossible situation.   On September 27th, a chilly autumn wind blew across the city of Changsha. At the playground of Lizhong Middle School in the eastern part of the city, Li Yutang stood and watched the survivors of his divisions come in. A week before, on September 20th, more than 30,000 men had departed Hengyang aboard seven special trains. Their military songs had filled the railway station. Their letters of determination, some written in blood, had been stacked on Li Yutang's desk. Their training scores were the highest ever recorded for a Chinese army unit — a perfect one hundred percent of "top-tier" achievement across all three infantry skills. They had been, by every measurable standard, the finest army China could produce.   Standing now at the playground of a secondary school repurposed as a muster point, Li Yutang looked at what remained: a little over 2,000 men, including lightly wounded soldiers from Changsha who had been caught up in the fighting and bandaged civilians who had taken up arms. Two thousand, from thirty thousand. What had happened to the others? They were dead. They were injured. They were maimed. Some had broken under the pressure and run. The accounting was simple and devastating. Li Yutang's expression remained dignified as he inspected his survivors — the face of a commander who understood that bearing is required of officers precisely in the moments when bearing costs the most. But his heart was filled with tears. Perhaps soon, he reflected, there would be another 10th Army — still heroic and spirited, still singing loudly as it went to war. But it would not be the same one.   History has no gaps or blank pages. The story of the 10th Army's ordeal was barely complete before the next chapter began. Reluctantly, one must turn the page. Following the 10th Army, Wang Yaowu's 74th Army also suffered a crushing defeat. Wang Yaowu had received his orders from Commander Xue on September 21st and had immediately begun moving his three divisions from their cantonments at Fenyi and Xinyu in Jiangxi Province. The 74th Army was composed of three divisions: the 51st Division under Li Tianxia, the 57th Division under Yu Chengwan, and the 58th Division under Liao Lingqi. These were the formations that had kept the "Iron Army" undefeated through four years of brutal warfare. Their code names told their own story — the 51st Division was called "Frontline," the 57th was called "Tiger Warrior," and the 58th was called "Exhilarating." Wang Yaowu had personally chosen the code name for the army headquarters: "Brilliant." Chiang Kai-shek himself had once remarked, "Of all the code names, yours is the best." It was a small distinction, but one that Wang Yaowu quietly cherished.   What Wang Yaowu did not know — could not know, for Anami's intelligence network had kept the preparation perfectly concealed — was that Anami Korechika had been monitoring his movements since the order to deploy was first issued. The Japanese commander had already selected the terrain, positioned his units, and laid the trap. He was waiting for the 74th Army's arrival.   On the 25th, Wang Yaowu led the 57th Division into the battlefield first, marching rapidly as Xue Yue had directed to Chunhua Mountain on the north bank of the Laodao River, east of Changsha, to occupy positions and cover the main force's deployment. On the evening of the 25th, the 169th and 170th Regiments of the 57th Division arrived at the south side of Chunhua Mountain and encountered a Japanese search party of over a hundred men. The 169th Regiment swiftly cut off the small force's escape route, coordinating effectively with the 170th. The Japanese detachment suffered heavy casualties, and the survivors fled toward Chunhua Mountain. When part of the 170th Regiment reached the foot of the mountain, they ran into a much larger Japanese force coming down to meet them — and learned in that moment that Chunhua Mountain had already been occupied by the enemy.   Wang Yaowu responded instantly. To seize the initiative before the Japanese could consolidate, he ordered two regiments to assault Chunhua Mountain that same night. Around midnight, the troops advanced in silence through the dark. After a fierce night battle, two Japanese battalions were unable to hold against the assault and withdrew in the early hours of the morning. The 57th Division had its foothold. At dawn on the 26th, a regiment from the 57th Division followed up the night's success, and Yu Chengwan positioned the division along the Chunhua Mountain line. As the morning advanced, the 51st and 58th Divisions arrived to complete the deployment. Following Xue Yue's orders, Wang Yaowu spread his force across the line: the 57th Division at Chishi River, the 58th Division at Chunhua Mountain itself, and the 51st Division at Fengjiang Bridge. They were ready. Or so it appeared.   At dawn on the 27th, Wang Yaowu went on the offensive. The 57th Division launched a surprise attack on the camp of the main force regiment of the Japanese 3rd Division. The Japanese were caught entirely unprepared — the attack came in total darkness, and the camp was thrown into chaos before anyone could organize a coherent response. The Japanese managed to form some kind of defense only as the first light of dawn broke, and through the morning the two armies clashed furiously. By mid-morning, the Japanese had been forced back three kilometers — a genuine and significant victory achieved through aggression and timing.   Then, at eight o'clock, the Japanese 3rd Division launched its counterattack with the support of dozens of aircraft — fighter-bombers diving low over the Chunhua Mountain positions, strafing and bombing. Both armies knew themselves to be elite formations; each had its country's reputation riding on the outcome. They clashed with corresponding ferocity.   Around noon, Wang Yaowu climbed to the rooftop of a farmhouse and studied the Japanese battle line through his field glasses. What he saw was encouraging: a breach had appeared in the enemy's formation to the north of Chunhua Mountain — a gap that, if exploited quickly, could roll up the Japanese flank. He ordered Li Hanqing, the infantry commander of the 51st Division, to take two regiments and execute an outflanking maneuver through that gap, striking the Japanese from the side. An hour later, Li Hanqing's movement succeeded. The Japanese forces were thrown into disarray, breaking rearward in a rout. For one brief hour, it seemed as though the 74th Army might achieve a decisive success. Then the Japanese 4th Division arrived. It swept in from behind Li Hanqing's flanking force, surrounding his two regiments before they could extract themselves. In the desperate fighting of the breakout attempt, Li Hanqing was shot and killed.   In the afternoon, with two of its regiments lost to encirclement and its flanking stroke reversed, the 57th Division found itself holding off two full Japanese divisions alone. The fighting continued — artillery, rifle fire, close assaults — until nightfall dimmed the battlefield. The division had suffered over 3,000 casualties, and more than half of all commanders below battalion level had been killed or wounded. Division Commander Yu Chengwan conferred with Wang Yaowu over the field telephone, and together they decided to withdraw the troops to prepared positions to hold through the night.   Meanwhile, on the same 27th of September, Liao Lingqi's 58th Division at Chunhua Mountain was subjected to a separate and equally devastating assault by the Japanese 6th Division, reinforced by elements of the 3rd Division. The positions at Chunhua Mountain were compact and clustered — ideal targets for concentrated aerial bombardment. The Japanese bombers came in two waves, and after both had passed, the hastily constructed earthen fortifications were almost entirely destroyed. Across what had been the defensive line, limbs and broken bodies could be seen among the wreckage. The entire division had suffered devastating casualties.   Beginning at nine o'clock in the morning, tens of thousands of Japanese troops launched successive offensive waves, methodically dividing the defensive line into sections and breaking through each one in turn. The defenders engaged the Japanese in hand-to-hand combat at position after position, gunfire and the shouts of bayonet fighters filling the smoke-thickened air. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the Chunhua Mountain defense line collapsed. The surviving soldiers attempted to break out in small groups, but many were intercepted and cut down by Japanese forces waiting along the escape routes.   Wang Yaowu was seething. He directed the battle from wherever he could find a usable vantage point, issuing orders in rapid succession — one moment ordering the 51st Division to send reinforcements to Chunhua Mountain, the next directing the army's directly subordinate regiments to absorb the shattered remnants of the 58th Division, then ordering the 57th Division to block Japanese forces from reinforcing the encirclement. He was everywhere at once, doing the work of a staff of twenty, improvising responses to crises that unfolded faster than any plan could accommodate. And as he directed, the same thought played and replayed: wasn't the Ninth War Zone just feeding them to the wolves? They had jumped into the enemy's encirclement without any initiative, while the enemy could attack from whatever direction they chose. He had nowhere to vent his frustration on the battlefield, only able to fend for himself. While directing the battle, he cursed under his breath: "What kind of hell is this?!"   As dusk fell over the chaos, the gunfire gradually subsided. The Japanese as a rule did not launch night attacks — a pattern the Chinese had come to rely upon for the brief respite it offered. Li Tianxia, commander of the 51st Division, concentrated his troops from the flanks toward the center to consolidate a defensible perimeter. The 57th Division, adjacent to the 51st and badly diminished by the day's fighting, did the same. Both divisions settled into their positions, and the exhausted soldiers lay down fully clothed, weapons in hand, and tried to rest. At midnight, the battlefield exploded.   Fierce gunfire roused the soldiers from whatever shallow sleep they had found. Two elite regiments of the Japanese 6th Division had broken through the gap that had opened between the positions of the 51st and 57th Divisions — a gap created by both units pulling inward — and were driving directly toward the headquarters of the 74th Army. In Wang Yaowu's many years of battlefield experience, this was the only instance he ever encountered of a large Japanese force launching a major attack at night.   The knowledge of terrain displayed by the attacking Japanese regiments was so precise, the route to army headquarters so accurately selected, that it raised immediate suspicions of an intelligence compromise — an inside source who had provided the attackers with maps and positions. Whatever the explanation, the effect was devastating. The headquarters' directly subordinate regiment and guard battalion were outnumbered and quickly overwhelmed. They fought where they could, but the Japanese pushed through them.   The guard platoon leader, a man who had served at Wang Yaowu's side through numerous campaigns, gathered several of his best soldiers and formed a close escort. He led Wang Yaowu into the darkness as the Japanese closed around the headquarters compound. More than a hundred Japanese soldiers gave chase — moving through the dark with a sureness of foot that seemed almost preternatural, as if they had developed night vision. The platoon leader recognized that Wang Yaowu could not outrun a hundred men. He shouted to the general and the remaining escort: "Go quickly!" Then he and a single machine gunner turned and stayed behind. Wang Yaowu ran. A few minutes later, the machine gunner was killed. Shortly after that, the platoon leader was shot through the leg and fell to the ground. He was captured.   Wang Yaowu threw himself into the grass beside a drainage ditch and lay still as Japanese soldiers searched the ground around him, their voices close enough to touch. From his hiding place, he heard his platoon leader — the man who had been at his side day and night, who had chosen to stay behind so that his general might live — cursing the Japanese soldiers from the ground where he lay captured and wounded. Then a Japanese officer drew his sword. The cursing stopped. The Japanese soldiers moved on. The gunfire subsided. Wang Yaowu lay in the grass in the dark and did not move until he was certain they were gone. When he crawled out of the bushes, he looked up at the stars, found the direction of Liuyang, and began walking in the darkness with the few guards who had stayed close. He walked until dawn.   Since joining the army, Wang Yaowu had never allowed himself to think about fear of death. He had spent too many years on battlefields, seen too much death and bloodshed, to entertain it as a personal concern. This time, however, he was in tears. Not from sadness, and not from fear. From something harder to name and harder to bear: frustration — the frustration of a capable commander who had been committed to battle by a higher command that neither understood the ground nor provided him the support to fight on it, and who had watched good men die for orders that made no tactical sense.   In the aftermath of the battle, Wang Yaowu's grief was compounded by something beyond the ordinary losses of combat. The 27th alone had cost the 57th Division nearly half its strength, and the 58th Division had been essentially wiped out as a fighting formation. Of his three powerful divisions, only the 51st remained relatively intact. In war, such losses, however painful, are comprehensible. What happened next was not. Liao Lingqi, the commander of the 58th Division — one of the three officers Wang Yaowu had called his "tigers" — did not remain with his shattered troops to regroup and reorganize them. Instead, after the division's collapse, he slipped away from the battlefield with only his personal guards, changed into civilian clothes, and boarded a train bound for his hometown of Qiyang in southern Hunan to visit his family.   By unhappy chance, a senior staff officer from the Ninth War Zone was aboard the same train. He recognized Liao Lingqi and watched, saying nothing, as the division commander traveled south in civilian dress while his men lay dead on Chunhua Mountain. Upon arriving in Hengyang, the officer went directly to report the incident to General Xue Yue. Xue Yue instructed the Military Law Supervision Department to investigate and referred the case to the Military Commission's Military Law Enforcement Directorate on charges of desertion in the face of the enemy. At that point, in that situation, there was nothing Wang Yaowu could say. He had no words left. He had given everything he had to the battle, and this was what greeted him at the end of it.   The elite 74th Army, with its heroic spirit and its unbroken record, had captured the imagination of the Chinese nation and the hearts of countless young men. When soldiers of the 74th Army returned to their hometowns on leave, they wore their elite status openly, and the prestige of the unit was such that families sought them as sons-in-law. Young men who enlisted and were not selected for the 74th Army were known to weep. What a fine unit. But this time, the trap had been perfectly laid, and the intelligence had been mastered. Anami had looked at his opponent's hole cards and played accordingly. He had concentrated overwhelming force, moved with coordination and speed, and exploited the confusion generated by contradictory orders from the Ninth War Zone Command. The Chinese elite had fought with courage and skill that earned the admiration of their enemies. They had simply been outgeneraled at the operational level.   The Second Battle of Changsha, Phase Three, had cost China two of its finest armies. The 10th Army had departed Hengyang over 30,000 strong and returned barely 2,000. The 74th Army had suffered a crushing defeat from which it would require months to rebuild. Wang Yaowu had walked alone through the dark to Liuyang. Li Yutang had stood in the autumn wind at a schoolyard and looked at what remained of the men who had written their determination in blood.   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. Phase Three of the second battle of Changsha showed Anami Korechika using intelligence and planning to blunt China's elite forces as Chiang Kai-shek reluctantly deployed the "Iron Army" 74th and the 10th. Intercepted communications enable encirclement and heavy losses. Li Yutang's merit and experience shape resistance, yet Japanese strategy dominates from the outset through coordinated advances.

On this week's episode of Change Agents, Andy Stumpf travels to Virginia Beach to spend time with Dom Raso aboard his boat near Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek–Fort Story. Dom spent 12 years in the SEAL teams before founding Dynamis Alliance, a gear and combatives training company built from everything he learned in the teams. Today, Dom's life largely revolves around his faith, family, and protecting time with them has become his priority. Change Agents is an IRONCLAD Original. Chapters (00:00) Cold Open (01:11) The Power of "No" (02:44) Family, Faith & Current Ventures (05:05) Gladius Christi: Protecting the Church (10:51) Combatives Philosophy (19:11) Should Young Men Join the Military? (28:58) Faith and Military Discipline (41:44) Extortion 17 and the Path to Catholicism (49:23) Redefining Success (54:15) Fatherhood as the Front Line (57:09) Leaving the SEAL Teams (1:01:52) Gift Exchange Sponsors: Firecracker Farm  Use code IRONCLAD to get 15% off your first order at https://firecracker.farm/ Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/change-agents-with-andy-stumpf/id1677415740 Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3SKmtN55V2AGbzHDo34DHI?si=5aefbba9abc844ed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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On July 5th, one day after the deadly floods in Kerr County, another flood hit the community of Sandy Creek 100 miles away. Nine people died and more than 100 homes were damaged or destroyed. In the months that followed, survivors discovered what many disaster victims confront: just how complicated recovering can be.After the Flood is a collaboration between FRONTLINE and The Texas Newsroom.

Mary Kissel. NATO's New Vigor and the European Defense Dilemma. Mary Kissel discusses NATO's renewed urgency following Russian aggression in Ukraine. While front-line nations like Poland exceed spending targets, many Europeans have historically relied on the U.S. defense umbrella to fund social welfare states. She warns that Putincontinues to test NATO's unity at the margins. (5)