Podcast appearances and mentions of john dower

Last time we spoke about the beginning of the Battle of Hong kong. Japan's rise as a threat to British interests accelerated through the 1920s and intensified after invading China. Britain's response remained contradictory—diplomatically conciliatory yet militarily apprehensive. While Singapore and Malaya received substantial reinforcements, Hong Kong was acknowledged indefensible, yet the 1936 Defence Scheme attempted to fortify it as an island fortress. Governor Northcote urgently advocated evacuation, recognizing the futility of defense. London rejected this, fearing it would demoralize China and forfeit sovereignty claims. Reinforcement requests from commanders like Grasett fell on deaf ears until Grasett independently lobbied Canadian leaders. This persistence finally convinced Churchill to dispatch two additional battalions. On December 8, 1941, Japanese forces attacked across three fronts with overwhelming force. Within hours, the RAF was destroyed on the ground, demolitions proved ineffective, and British units rapidly retreated toward the Gin Drinkers Line, facing an enemy that outnumbered and outmaneuvered them from the opening moments.   #217 The Battle of Hong Kong Part 2: the Island Aflame 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. Around 1500 hours on 9 December, Colonel Doi of the 228th Regiment arrived at Needle Hill, just north of the Gin Drinkers Line, ahead of his main force. For two hours he studied the British defensive positions through binoculars, noting trenches and bunkers—and to his surprise, washing lines fluttering with white clothes. The sight spoke volumes about the 2 Royal Scots' lax discipline. Then fog descended, reducing visibility to barely twenty meters, and heavy rain obscured the landscape. Doi sensed a fleeting advantage but lost radio contact with his battalions. Worse still, the Shing Mun Redoubt lay outside his regimental boundary, making an unauthorized attack a serious breach of protocol. When his units finally arrived, supporting artillery remained unavailable, held up by demolished roads. Doi chose to attack anyway. Doi ordered the 2nd Battalion to scout the eastern approach while the 3rd Battalion spearheaded the main assault. Major Nishiyana commanded the 3rd, sending Lieutenant Wakabayashi and Kasugai with 150 volunteers to lead. The Shing Mun Redoubt itself comprised five concrete pillboxes and an artillery observation post, connected by underground tunnels named after London landmarks—Piccadilly, Haymarket, and others. The whole complex sat on small rises above Jubilee Dam, then the British Empire's tallest. Defending the redoubt was A Company, 2 Royal Scots, under Captain Jones—just three officers and 39 men. One platoon of 25 soldiers under 2nd Lieutenant Thompson held the forward positions. Against this stood 150 Japanese attackers, with another 1,500 troops in reserve. Battalion orders forbade using the concrete works as fighting positions; they were meant for the Vickers machine-gun team and artillery protection. No mines could spare the redoubt's perimeter. On the night of the 9th, roughly half the defenders sheltered in the observation post while the remainder manned pillboxes 401b and 402. At 2000 hours, Thompson led a nine-man patrol northward to check Needle Hill and Shing Mun Valley. Despite two and a half hours in the field, the patrol returned at 2220 hours without detecting the Japanese force massing just 500 meters away. By that time, Lieutenant Kasugai's assault group had crossed Jubilee Dam undetected, bypassed unmanned Post X, and assembled below Pillbox 401b. At 2200 hours, Japanese sappers cut through two lines of wire. At 2300—H-Hour—Lance Corporal Laird heard movement in the bushes and opened fire. The Japanese answered with grenades and rushed the pillbox lines. One team entered the tunnel system; another hurled grenades through the air vents. Corporal Campbell swung his Vickers toward Pillbox 401, catching Japanese headquarters personnel in the open. Sergeant Robb mustered a counter-attack force of thirteen men. Five fell as casualties—Laird, Basnett, Coyle, Casey, and Jardine. Casey was killed; only Jardine escaped. The alert triggered gunfire from the observation post's defenders, and Forward Observer Wilcox called down 4.5-inch and 6-inch artillery fire. Without strong reinforcement and leadership, four Royal Scots and an Indian sentry abandoned the northern positions and withdrew to the observation post. Captain Jones received orders from Brigade to counter-attack, but delegated the task to Thompson. As Thompson attempted to leave the observation post, he found the gate locked from outside. This calamity had a backstory: just before the attack, Thompson had admitted a civilian at the request of Force 163 (SOE's sabotage unit in Singapore). Private Wylie had taken the observation post key from Lance Naik Kishan Singh and, upon exit, locked the gate behind him. The three officers were now literally locked out of the battle. Second Lieutenant Mochizuki and his platoon infiltrated through open trenches and began attacking the observation post from above, attempting to breach the hatches. The defenders held for three hours before Japanese sappers forced explosives down the air vents. At 0230 hours, the blast killed two Indian signallers inside. Thompson sustained a severe eye wound from grenade shrapnel; Jones and Warrant Officer Mead were both wounded. The remaining fifteen defenders surrendered; eleven became casualties. Meanwhile, a Rajput patrol engaging Japanese forces in the river valley managed to drive them back toward the redoubt. One final pillbox endured for another eleven hours before suffering the same sapper treatment. By 0400 hours on 10 December, the entire redoubt was lost. For just two killed, the Japanese had achieved a decisive victory—the breakthrough that would shift the entire campaign's trajectory. By dawn, a Japanese flag flew triumphantly from Point 255.   Major-General Maltby's assessment was stark: "This was calamitous, for Shing Mun was the key to the whole of the left position." Yet the Japanese perspective differed sharply. Having achieved a breakthrough, Colonel Doi received astonishing orders to withdraw—his success had transgressed into the 230th Regiment's sector and violated the meticulously prepared war plan. Doi refused. After heated confrontation with Major-General Ito and Lieutenant-General Sakai, his insubordination was later censured, though a divisional staff officer, Oyadomani, bore the scapegoat's burden of rebuke for failing to restrain Doi's initiative. With Shing Mun secured, Doi methodically fed reinforcements into the position. Throughout December 10th, the Japanese remained uncertain of their advantage and adopted a cautious strategy, probing British lines to exploit the evident disorder. Brigadier Wallis ordered the Royal Scots to mount an immediate dawn counterattack supported by the Rajputs and artillery. Lieutenant-Colonel White demurred; his battalion lacked any reasonable prospect of success. The resulting counterattack proved half-hearted at best. At first light on December 11th, the Japanese pressed Golden Hill forcefully, only to be repulsed by Captain Newton's Rajputs and gunfire from HMS Cicala. White positioned D Company in shallow shell scrapes and rusted wire—inadequate defenses against Japanese assault. Captain Pinkerton led a desperate bayonet charge that morning, temporarily clearing the Japanese and enabling the evacuation of wounded. Yet B, C, and D Companies absorbed devastating losses; Captains Rose and Richardson fell commanding their positions. With the Royal Scots collapsing, X Company of the Winnipeg Grenadiers and armored support rushed westward to seal the widening gap along Castle Peak Road. Meanwhile, Maltby grappled with alarming reports: Japanese landings on Lantau Island southwest of Hong Kong. Heavy artillery drove them back. A second probe at Aberdeen, where Special Naval Landing Forces approached within 300 yards of the naval base, was repelled by Canadian machine-gun fire. In hindsight, these were mere feints—never intended as the primary thrust. The stratagem succeeded. Maltby retained his island reserves—the Middlesex and two Canadian battalions—precisely where they would be needed. Had Wallis executed a forceful counterattack on December 10th with the Royal Scots and brigade reserves, the Rajputs might have retaken Shing Mun while the Japanese remained disorganized. Instead, Colonel Doi faced a furious Sakai, who had flown down from 38th Division headquarters at Taipo for what amounted to a pre-court-martial examination. The moment passed. After only 48 hours of combat, Maltby concluded the mainland was indefensible. The three battalions would withdraw intact to Hong Kong Island to assume their fortress defense roles. The naval commodore objected—demolitions, supply transfers, and troop ferrying required more time. The evacuation order was deferred 24 hours until noon on December 11th. At that hour, the decision was finalized: the mainland would be abandoned under cover of darkness. Further demolitions followed—the China Light and Power Station, the cement works on Tsing Yi Island, the docks. Yet Brigadier Wallis believed this merely a precautionary measure; he anticipated holding the mainland for at least another week. The withdrawal avoided Kowloon's congested streets, where street fighting and fifth columnists might have entrapped the British—a calculation that proved prescient, as an IJA advance column of 350 men from the 3/230th infiltrated Kowloon on the morning of December 12th to cut off the retreating garrison. The Royal Scots and Canadians retired south to Shamshuipo Barracks and Jordan Road Pier in western Kowloon; the Rajputs and supporting gunners withdrew eastward to Ma Lau Tong, which anchored the fortified Devil's Peak Peninsula. Maltby intended to hold this commanding position permanently—it was easily supplied across the narrow Lyemun Strait. The evacuation proceeded largely as planned. The Canadians and Royal Scots embarked on the afternoon and evening of December 11th under Punjabi covering fire. The Punjabis faced a harder journey—a moonlit scramble along steep Kowloon hills laden with supplies but critically short of mules. One group lost its way at a crucial junction, splitting into two columns. One proceeded toward Devil's Peak as planned; Battalion Headquarters descended into Kai Tak Airport, threaded through Kowloon City, and was evacuated by Star Ferry at Tsim Sha Tsui, fighting until the final moment as the last man boarded. The Rajputs' commander, unable to reach his Punjabi counterpart, abandoned Ma Lau Tong for the closer Hai Wan line near Devil's Peak. By 0400 hours on December 12th, the Punjabis and one Rajput company, accompanied by the gunners of the 25th Medium Battery, crossed Lyemun Strait to Hong Kong Island. Morning evacuations continued with minimal Japanese interference—a surprising restraint. Naval support proved crucial. The withdrawal completed by the morning of December 13th, though 170 mules were lost to the desertion of Chinese laborers—a deprivation that would haunt the subsequent campaign. During this passage, the IJN attempted shore bombardment. The Japanese cruiser and supporting vessels found themselves outranged by the defenders' 9.2-inch guns. The damage inflicted proved sufficient to discourage future naval adventures; for the remainder of the battle, the IJN maintained a cautious distance and played only a peripheral role. The speed and execution of the withdrawal apparently caught the Japanese unprepared. Their most probable expectation had been a full-scale assault on Devil's Peak accompanied by heavy bombardment—a day earlier, an assault without artillery preparation had been driven back with severe losses. The British appeared stronger than anticipated. The defense of the mainland had lasted only five days. With the mainland secured, the Japanese pivoted toward Hong Kong Island. The first move was diplomatic rather than military. At 0900 hours on December 13th, a small boat bearing a white flag crossed the harbor. It carried Colonel Toda, Lieutenant Mizuno, Mr. Othsu Dak, and two European women—the prominent and heavily pregnant Mrs. Macdonald and Mrs. C. R. Lee, wife of the Governor's secretary, accompanied by her two dachshunds. The surrender terms were flatly rejected. Major Boxer delivered the written refusal personally. Mrs. Macdonald remained in Hong Kong to give birth; Mrs. Lee and her dogs returned to Kowloon. The Japanese commenced systematic shelling of selected targets. On December 13th, a 9.2-inch gun on Mt. Davis was silenced; Belcher's Fort sustained damage. The following day, a 3-inch mount on Mt. Davis was hit, killing Chinese gunners and triggering morale collapse; some deserted. On December 15th, the barrage shifted to the northern shoreline, deliberately targeting pillboxes. At 2100 hours that night, approximately three Japanese companies attempted crossing the harbor in rubber rafts toward Pakshawan but were driven off by machine-gun fire. Fifth columnists intensified their operations—signaling with mirrors, sniping from concealed positions, spreading propaganda to encourage Chinese desertion. Their impact might have been catastrophic had not Rear-Admiral Chan and Colonel Yee, armed with tommy guns and grenades, systematically eliminated many of these saboteurs. By December 16th, half the pillboxes between the racecourse and Lyemun Strait lay destroyed. The intended crossing site was unmistakable. On December 17th, the Japanese dispatched a second peace mission—Colonel Toda's team now accompanied by Mrs. Lee with her dachshunds and a pregnant Russian woman. Again, the overtures were rebuffed. On December 18th, the bombardment reached new intensity. Oil storage tanks ignited, sending dense black smoke cascading across the northeast corner of the island—perfect concealment for what was to come. All signs pointed to imminent assault.  I want to note something here, you sometimes hear about how race played a role in the Pacific War and indeed it did. Racist attitudes were found on both the western and Japanese side of the war. There is a fantastic book dedicated to this by the way called, War without Mercy by John Dower, highly recommend it. What is interesting is how these racial attitudes actually affected decision making during the war. Take General Sakai's night amphibious assault for example. Western soldiers such as the Canadians in Hong Kong reported they were told by their commanders that quote "Don't worry about the Japanese, they can't see at night, they all wear glasses" another Canadian soldier wrote in a diary "They don't see well, especially at night we knew this as a matter of fact." Indeed the week before the outbreak of the battle of Hong Kong, Canadian officers attending a briefing by a British officer were informed that "Japan's aircraft were mostly obsolete, its air force had little practice in night flying, and its pilots were myopic and thus unable to carry out dive-bombing attacks". You might be asking yourself, why did they think the Japanese were myopic? The scientific explanation of the day was this "That the Japanese suffered widespread inner-ear damage. What caused this? Japanese motherhood, the practice of strapping babies to their mothers backs, it was explained caused their heads to bounce about, like when they harvested rice and permanently impaired their sense of balance". I particularly love this quote, one of my professors dedicated an entire class to the bizarre racial attitudes before and after the pacific war. There was a belief the Japanese could not see well at night, many western air force commanders actually believed there were times of day like at dawn or dusk where Japanese pilots would not operate because of this hindrance. American military commentator Fletcher Pratt in 1939 analyzed Japan's military strengths and explained it had four major weaknesses. The first was scarcity of resources such as iron, and steel. The second was that the Japanese "can neither make good airplanes nor fly them well" as a result of " the Japanese as a race have defects of the tubes of the inner ear, just as they are generally myopic. This gives them a defective sense of balance, the one physical sense in which an aviator is not permitted to be deficient.". The third was that the Japanese were short-tempered and were inclined to waste men unnecessarily when operations did not go well. The fourth was that the Japanese would simply never date to provoke a war with the US. Again Mr Pratt was an American military commentator whose information came from multiple accounts given by high ranking military officials! The British military maintained that the Japanese avoided night operations on land because they were simply incapable of caring them out well, while they avoided nighttime aerial attacks, as well as dive-bombing for the same reasons Pratt said quote "their pilots were poor and their aircraft inferior.". So take this all to mind when I talk about how certain ranking officers go about making their decisions. By the evening of 14 December, evacuated mainland units had regrouped on Hong Kong Island. The defensive structure was restructured into two brigades: Brigadier Wallis commanded the East Brigade from Taitam Gap, while Brigadier Lawson headed the West Brigade from Wongneichong Gap. This reorganization placed the 5/7 Rajputs across the north-east perimeter, defending over 3,500 metres of coastline with B Company positioned on the hills behind Taikoo Docks. The Royal Rifles of Canada held the north-east corner from Stanley to points south, with reserve positions at Lyemun. Two HKVDC companies supported from Taitam Valley and Pottinger Gap, while the veteran Hughsiliers manned the North Point power station. British and Canadian artillery provided fire support across the northern approaches. The West Brigade held the north-western and south-western shores. The 2/14 Punjab stretched from Causeway Bay to Belcher's Point, protecting Government House and General Maltby's headquarters, with battalion headquarters at Mid-Level. The Winnipeg Grenadiers covered the south-west from Wanchai Gap, with one company detached to the brigade headquarters at Wongneichong Gap. The 2 Royal Scots, severely mauled at Shing Mun, were held in reserve with fresh replacements from the HKVDC. The Middlesex Regiment's companies were dispersed along 72 pillboxes encircling the entire shoreline, while an improvised Z Company of clerks, musicians and cooks defended battalion headquarters at Leighton Hill. Supporting artillery included 9.2-inch and 6-inch guns on Mt Davis and 4.7-inch guns at Belcher's Point. As darkness fell on 17 December, Japanese reconnaissance swimmers reached Taikoo, confirming the crossing site despite detection. Reinforcements arrived: 18 additional heavy bombers from Guangzhou and 26 fighters from Taiwan joined the aerial assault. The crescendo of artillery fire on the 18th, combined with masses of small craft gathering across the harbour, signalled the imminent invasion. Japanese divisional headquarters shifted to Ma Tau Wei near Kai Tak Airport; the 23rd Army moved to Taipo. The invasion force disposed itself with the right flank embarking from east and west of Kai Tak, the left from Devil's Hill area. At 1800 hours, the invasion order was issued; by 1930 hours Sakai himself arrived in Kowloon to oversee the crossing. At precisely 2000 hours, the 2/228th Regiment silently paddled their collapsible craft toward Taikoo Docks and the nearby sugar factory as artillery support commenced. Colonel Doi embarked with 80 headquarters personnel aboard a large barge, leading the second wave. The conditions favoured the invaders—a moonless night, sporadic showers, and thick black smoke from burning oil tanks obscured their movement. They reached the midpoint undetected before searchlights and machine-gun fire scattered the small boats, separating commanders from their units. Despite this chaos, the assault pressed forward. At 2140 hours the artillery shifted to deeper targets; at 2145 hours the first wave of 3/230th landed at North Point, followed minutes later by 2/228th and then 2/229th. Three red flares signalled a successful landing. All six Japanese battalions were ashore by midnight, though wire fencing delayed their advance and Bren carriers added to the confusion on the beach. General Sano arrived at Taikoo one hour later. The 5/7 Rajputs bore the initial brunt of the assault. Despite days of preliminary shelling, the Rajputs mounted a stubborn defence; Japanese casualties mounted rapidly. The anti-tank company suffered so grievously that only a single gun remained operational. The Japanese plan was tactical rather than frontal—bypass isolated positions for later elimination and push rapidly toward high ground. Overwhelmed by numerical superiority and losing most of their officers, Rajput resistance gradually crumbled. Contradicting all evidence, Maltby remained convinced the main Japanese assault would strike directly at Victoria from Kowloon. He therefore withheld the counter-attack, instead dispatching a platoon of Middlesex troops, Royal Marines, naval personnel, and the Rajputs' reserve company—supported by artillery—to establish a defensive line blocking the Japanese advance toward Central District. Three HKVDC armoured cars were sent to protect East Brigade headquarters; two more reinforced the Middlesex battalion headquarters. It was manifestly inadequate against six Japanese battalions. In post-war dispatches, Maltby conceded his grave miscalculation: he believed he faced at most two battalions, not a full division. As the 3/230th broke through D Company of the 5/7 Rajputs, the 2/230th came ashore nearby and wheeled westward toward Victoria. Their advance halted abruptly at the North Point power station, held by an extraordinary force: four officers and 36 men of the HKVDC Hughsiliers Platoon—alongside 39 civilian volunteers from China Light & Power and Hong Kong Electric, including the station manager Vincent Sorby—plus eight Free French soldiers commanded by Captain Jacques Egal, a Shanghai businessman turned soldier. Without exception, these men were World War I veterans, many aged 55 or older. Some had fought in the Boer War. Major J. J. Patterson, the Hughsiliers' commander, had served with Allenby's Camel Corps and been mentioned in dispatches six times; he was chairman of Jardine Matheson and a legislative councillor. Private Sir Edward Des Voeux, 8th Baronet, a millionaire bullion trader and secretary of the Hong Kong Club, had enlisted as a private when deemed too old for mobilization. Private T. A. Pearce, 67 years old, was chairman of J. D. Hutchison & Company and secretary of the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Captain Bruch, the second-in-command, aged 60, chaired a major trading house. The list extended through Hong Kong's business elite, each choosing to fight rather than flee. These old men held an entire regiment at bay. When Patterson called for aid, Maltby dispatched an HKVDC armoured car with a platoon from Z Company, 1 Middlesex, but the reinforcement was ambushed before reaching the station; only nine soldiers, including 2nd Lieutenant Caruthers, broke through. Unable to dislodge the defenders by assault, the Japanese resorted to bombardment. By 0145 hours on 19 December, surrounded and ammunition exhausted, the defenders withdrew to King's Road behind a disabled bus. The Japanese deployed three machine guns, killing or mortally wounding all but Private Geoghan. A Japanese officer, believing all dead, cautiously approached—only to have Geoghan, despite his wounds, surge from cover and charge. He killed the officer and four soldiers before collapsing from wounds. Somehow Geoghan survived. Those old men—civilians and reservists, businessmen and veterans—held the entire western Japanese advance for 18 hours, buying Maltby precious time to withdraw forces and establish a new defensive line. Their stand at North Point became one of the campaign's most improbable acts of defiance. As the 2/229th Regiment advanced southward toward Mt Parker, the 3/229th landed at Aldrich Bay and turned eastward toward Lyemun, where they seized an HKVDC 6-inch gun. Major Bishop of the Royal Rifles of Canada, unaware of the landings, dispatched 15 Platoon under Lieutenant Scott to check on A Company of the Rajputs. Unexpectedly, they encountered armed men in civilian clothes at Lyemun's gate—the first indication of the Japanese presence on the island. Yet senior officers dismissed initial reports of landings and lost positions as exaggerated, a critical miscalculation that proved catastrophic. At Lyemun Fort, the 5th Anti-aircraft Battery of the HKVDC was caught completely unaware and surrendered after minimal resistance. The Japanese then committed one of many atrocities that would characterize the battle, bayoneting 29 survivors. Alerted by 15 Platoon's report, Bishop attempted a counter-attack with two platoons to retake the fort, but the defenders could not scale the six-meter wall and withdrew with nine men killed. As the 2/229th pressed southward toward Mt Parker, they overran the Salesian Mission, which had been converted into an Advance Dressing Station. No. 8 Company of the 2/229th systematized a massacre of medical personnel and the wounded—an atrocity that would later become pivotal evidence at Colonel Tanaka's war crimes trial. Yet amid the chaos, several medical staff and wounded survived to testify: Gunners Y. K. Chan and Martin H. C. Tso of the 5th Battery, Captain Osler Thomas of the HKVDC, Captain Martin Banfill of the Royal Canadian Medical Corps, and Corporal Norman Leath of the Royal Army Medical Corps. C Company of the Royal Rifles, reinforced with captured Japanese machine guns abandoned by fleeing Rajputs, inflicted heavy casualties on the attackers, with one Japanese company suffering over 65 percent losses. Yet overwhelmed by superior numbers and suffering nearly two platoons worth of casualties themselves, the Canadians were forced to withdraw, leaving only a reinforcement platoon under Lieutenant Blaver on Mt Parker. When Captain Clerke arrived at dawn with 16 Platoon to reinforce the position, he found over 100 Japanese already entrenched. With no artillery support and only two platoons available, Clerke had no choice but to withdraw, abandoning Mt Parker to the enemy. By dawn on the 19th, the East Brigade faced catastrophe. Infantry strength had been halved, and losses of artillery were equally devastating. A series of misunderstandings and misinterpreted orders led coastal gun crews at Capes D'Aguilar and Collinson to destroy their own guns in confusion or lose them to the advancing Japanese. Of the entire artillery complement, only one 18-pounder and two 3.7-inch field guns remained operational. Wongneichong—literally "yellow muddy creek" in Chinese—occupies the center of Hong Kong Island, a valley separating the eastern hills (Mt Parker, Mt Butler, Jardine's Lookout) from the western massif (Mt Nicholson, Mt Cameron, Victoria Peak). This narrow gap formed the critical artery linking northern and southern Hong Kong, making Brigadier Lawson's decision to place West Brigade Headquarters there strategically sound yet tactically vulnerable. Recognizing the exposed position after the landings, Major Lyndon had located an alternative site south of Mt Nicholson, scheduled to open the following day. In response to the Japanese landings, Lawson dispatched three platoons of Winnipeg Grenadiers to block the advance. Lieutenant C. D. French took 18 Platoon to Mt Butler, Lieutenant G. A. Birkett's 17 Platoon moved to Jardine's Lookout, and Lieutenant L. B. Corrigan's platoon took the north-west approach to the Gap. As on Mt Parker, both French and Birkett were killed almost immediately, their small forces overwhelmed by battalion-strength enemy forces with artillery support. By morning on the 19th, two battalions each of the 230th and 228th Regiments were pushing for the high ground. The 2/230th rapidly occupied Jardine's Lookout while the 3/230th moved to Mt Nicholson and the 2/228th advanced toward the Gap itself. No. 3 Company of the HKVDC under Major E. Stewart held pillboxes around Jardine's Lookout, while No. 1 Company under Captain Penn defended Taitam Valley with forward positions at Quarry Gap. The pillboxes, despite heavy bombardment, held longer than anticipated—some for as long as 24 hours. Stewart maintained his company headquarters until the 22nd, four days of continuous fighting without adequate ammunition, food, or water. No. 3 Company suffered 80 percent casualties and ceased to exist as a cohesive unit. Realizing that the enemy had penetrated to Mt Butler, Brigadier Lawson decided counter-attack was essential. Major A. B. Gresham of A Company, Winnipeg Grenadiers, was ordered to retake Mt Butler and clear Jardine's Lookout. The Canadians initially succeeded, with Warrant Officer 2 J. R. Osborne leading a bayonet charge, but a strong counter-attack by three Japanese companies drove them back by 2200 hours. The Canadians held firm until 1500 hours, when Gresham attempted surrender despite waving a white flag—the Japanese shot him regardless. In the chaos that followed, a Canadian killed a Japanese officer in response, triggering a grenade barrage. Warrant Officer Osborne caught the grenades and hurled them back as fast as they came, but one landed in an impossible position. Without hesitation, Osborne threw himself on the grenade to save his comrades. This act of supreme self-sacrifice earned him a Victoria Cross—the first Canadian VC of World War II. At dawn on the 19th, Maltby dispatched A Company of the 2 Royal Scots under Captain K. J. Campbell to reinforce the Gap, but they lost all their officers with only 15 men reaching Lawson's headquarters. A group of sailors under Commander A. L. Pears came from the south, but were ambushed en route; only a few reached the Postbridge—a house just south of the Gap—which became an isolated strongpoint. The 3/230th captured the police station perched on a mound at the southern point of the Gap, then swept eastward to seize the anti-aircraft guns of 7th Battery (barely 250 meters from brigade headquarters) and continued uphill toward Taitam Hill to capture additional 6-inch and 3.7-inch guns. Maltby's response was to call down final protective fire from the HKSRA in Happy Valley, inflicting massive casualties on the 3/230th. At 1000 hours on the 19th, Lawson reported that his headquarters was surrounded and he was about to "go outside and shoot it out." Captain H. A. Bush provided covering fire as Lawson and his entire staff, including Middlesex signallers, were cut down by machine-gun fire across the Gap. Lawson's body was discovered two days later halfway up the hill behind his headquarters, dead from a gunshot wound to the thigh. Lieutenant Kerfoot of the 2/14 Punjab with his three Bren carriers arrived minutes too late to save him. IJA who saw the fight made a note stating "he died heroically". At 1330 hours on the 19th, Maltby issued "Operation Order No. 6" calling for a massive counter-attack to commence 90 minutes later. The plan was ambitious: A and D Companies of the 2/14 Punjab were to attack east from Victoria to North Point to relieve the Hughsiliers, while HQ Company of the Winnipeg Grenadiers and the 2 Royal Scots were to attack the Gap and Jardine's Lookout. Eight field guns were promised but never materialized. There was no reconnaissance, no proper orders, and minimal coordination. The Canadians were to rendezvous with the 2 Royal Scots at Middle Gap at 1530 hours, but the Scots were late; the Canadians advanced without them. Captain Pinkerton of D Company, 2 Royal Scots, was ordered at the last minute to attack up Wongneichong Gap Road—the same route A Company had taken only seven hours earlier and been decimated—because it was reported as "lightly held." Captain A. M. S. Slater-Brown led the advance with three Bren carriers and attached engineers, followed by D Company of the Winnipeg Grenadiers. Just as the carriers reached the burnt-out trucks of A Company, they too were ambushed. Mortars and machine-gun fire rained down from Jardine's Lookout, where the Japanese occupied captured HKVDC pillboxes. Slater-Brown and 2nd Lieutenant Bell, the battalion intelligence officer, were killed instantly. The Royal Scots waited in the roadside ditches until 0200 hours before launching an attack on the police station, reaching the steps before Pinkerton was severely wounded. Captain Ford's composite company attack at 0300 hours also failed. Simultaneously, C Company under Lieutenant F. L. Stanier attacked Jardine's Lookout—also unsuccessfully. This series of piecemeal assaults cost the Royal Scots eight officers and 68 soldiers. Growing increasingly desperate, Maltby ordered Major Hodkinson, Officer Commanding HQ Company of the Winnipeg Grenadiers, to attack the Gap and proceed to Mt Parker. Requesting reinforcements from A Company and the Royal Scots, Hodkinson launched his assault with covering fire from Lieutenant Corrigan on Mt Nicholson. The Grenadiers managed to reach Mt Nicholson with only five unwounded men, though Corrigan's group advanced to within 300 meters of the Gap road. Then came an unexpected stroke of fortune: while skirting Mt Nicholson, Hodkinson's group stumbled upon approximately 500 Japanese—probably from the 3/230th—eating lunch without posting sentries. The Winnipeg Grenadiers unleashed devastating fire, inflicting heavy casualties. By 1745 hours, Hodkinson's force was only 100 meters from Repulse Bay Road. With four men and a 2-inch mortar, Hodkinson worked his way to the abandoned brigade headquarters, bringing 20 walking wounded with him. He established a foothold at the Gap, receiving orders to attack the police station at 2200 hours. Two HKVDC armoured cars with Vickers machine guns came in support, but accurate enemy fire disabled both. Like Pinkerton before him, Hodkinson reached near his objective before being severely wounded. For this action of determination and courage, Hodkinson was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. By the morning of the 20th, the Japanese had consolidated control of the Gap, but elements of D Company, Winnipeg Grenadiers, still held various pillboxes north of the position. Initially, 17 and 18 Platoons occupied forward positions with Company Headquarters and 16 Platoon in reserve, positioned across Wongneichong Road almost directly opposite brigade headquarters. Forward positions were rapidly overrun and cut off from the company. They fought without officers until withdrawal to battalion headquarters became necessary. With Captain A. S. Bowman killed and Captain R. W. Philips wounded, command fell to Lieutenant T. A. Blackwood. An attempt by B Company to relieve D Company on the evening of the 20th failed catastrophically, killing all officers and 29 men. With fewer than 50 men remaining—all wounded—Lieutenant Blackwood continued inflicting heavy casualties on the Japanese until 22 December, when exhaustion and the complete absence of ammunition, food, and water forced surrender. D Company killed over 200 Japanese soldiers. Post-war Japanese reports refused to believe that a single company had held the Gap for so long. For their stubborn defense, Philips and Blackwood were awarded the Military Cross, and three enlisted men received the Military Medal. The battle of Wongneichong Gap was characterized by fragmented planning and poor coordination. On the night of the 19th-20th, no fewer than three separate companies attacked the police station, with another company assaulting Jardine's Lookout—all within five hours, all independently organized by local commanders. Had these disparate actions been coordinated into a single simultaneous assault, fortress headquarters' objectives might well have been achieved. By the end of the 20th, the British had lost the vital ground of Wongneichong, though Postbridge House remained as an isolated holdout. For the Japanese, Wongneichong became the single costliest engagement since the invasion began, with over 800 casualties and the regimental commander of the 3/230th seriously wounded. 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.   Japanese landings on 18-19 December overwhelmed the East Brigade. Brigadier Lawson died defending the vital Gap. Desperate, uncoordinated counter-attacks by British and Canadian troops failed to dislodge the enemy. D Company Winnipeg Grenadiers held the position for four days against overwhelming odds before surrendering. The Japanese suffered 800 casualties but secured this critical strategic ground.

Has Steven Spielberg's blockbuster alien epic Disclosure Day revealed more than audiences realise? As speculation swirls around the upcoming release of the much-discussed "UFO Files", some viewers believe the film contains clues about what governments may soon disclose regarding unidentified aerial phenomena. Spielberg himself has cited real-life whistleblower testimony and the Roswell incident as inspirations for the movie. Joining the programme are the two British filmmakers who famously convinced millions they possessed genuine footage of the Roswell alien, alongside astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who weighs in on the enduring fascination with extraterrestrial life, government secrecy and the search for the truth. Could Hollywood be preparing the public for what's to come or is it simply science fiction at its most powerful? Joining Piers Morgan to discuss the speculation are legendary astrophysicist and author of Take Me To Your Leader, Neil deGrasse Tyson; Roswell hoaxers Gary Shoefield and John Humphreys; filmmaker and Disclosure Day director John Dower; YouTube commentator Will Jordan, better known as Critical Drinker; and pop culture commentator Gary Buechler, known online as Nerdrotic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In episode 26 of the DocArena Podcast, Ross Whitaker catches up once again with BAFTA Award-winning director John Dower (Lockerbie, Thriller in Manila, My Scientology Movie) to discuss his latest film, The Balloonists. In cinemas on 22nd May, this gripping documentary follows explorer Bertrand Piccard and British flying instructor Brian Jones as they take on the world's top aeronauts and billionaires in a high-stakes race to become the first to fly nonstop around the globe in a balloon.This podcast has been made possible with the support of the Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland Stakeholders Fund.Listen now on SoundCloud, Apple, Spotify, Acast and Amazon, or subscribe to Film Ireland wherever you get your podcasts.Welcome to The DocArena Podcast in association with Film Ireland. My name is Ross Whitaker and every fortnight, I want to dig deeply into the motivations of documentary filmmakers – how do they choose their subject material and what approaches and strategies do they employ to fund, craft and distribute their work…John DowerJohn Dower is a British director who recently won a BAFTA for his series Lockerbie. His feature Thriller in Manila played at Sundance in 2009, went on to be BAFTA and Emmy-nominated, and won a Grierson and a Peabody. His film Bradley Wiggins: A Year In Yellow was BAFTA nominated in the Best Director category. John's other films include the music documentary Live Forever, My Scientology Movie, the Netflix series Sophie – A Murder in West Cork, and The Mystery of DB Cooper, described by The Guardian as, “a real-life Twin Peaks … highly entertaining” and the Times calling it “all but flawless.”The BalloonistsThe Balloonists, a thrilling new documentary opens in the winter of 1999, when Piccard - from a family of record-breaking explorers - and Jones set out to complete the last great aviation challenge of the 20th century: circumnavigating the globe nonstop in a hot-air balloon. With rival teams launching across the world, the race is on to secure a place in the history books.Working together, they must overcome extreme weather conditions, survive potentially fatal technical failures, and endure mounting mental and physical exhaustion. An exhilarating ride through breathtaking heights and perilous challenges, The Balloonists is a life-affirming story of adventure, obsession and friendship - drawn from a rich archive capturing the highs and lows of their extraordinary journey.The Balloonists is produced by Rise Films, the Oscar-winning company behind Icarus, All That Breathes, Nuisance Bear, The Invisible War, The Interrupters and George Carlin's American Dream. The film is produced in association with Anonymous Content and Red Bull Studios.In Irish cinemas 22 May 2026.Check out more DocArena episodes herePodcast music composed by michaelflemingmusic.comRoss Whitaker is a filmmaker and former editor of Film Ireland Magazine and programmer of the IFI Dublin Documentary Film Festival @RossWhitakerTVRoss is a producer and/or director of the feature documentaries Beat the Lotto (2025), Katie (2018), Between Land and Sea (2016), Unbreakable (2014) and Saviours (2007). His recent work includes the TV documentaries This Is Open Country (2025) for NBC/Sky, Birdsong (2024) for RTÉ (+ BBC, ARTE), Rachael Blackmore: A Grand Year (2021) for ITV/RTÉ, Barney Curley Beat the Bookies (2021) for BBC/RTÉ and The Boys in Green (2020) for RTÉ. His short documentaries include the award-winning Bye Bye Now (2009) and Home Turf (2011), as well as the documentary commercial Sleeping Flags (2019), which won prestigious D&AD and Cannes Lions Awards. Over the years, the podcast has featured acclaimed guests such as Phyllida Lloyd, Lenny Abrahamson, M. Night Shyamalan, John Boorman, Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell, Aisha Tyler, Colm Meaney, Paul Reiser, Niamh Algar, David Freyne, Ciarán Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, John Crowley, Niamh Algar, Gene Stupnitsky, and Terence Davies, alongside many of the most influential voices working in film and television today.So make sure to subscribe and listen back! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

À l'occasion de la Journée nationale des mémoires de la traite, de l'esclavage et de leurs abolitions du 10 mai, on part dans la cité des Ducs, premier port esclavagiste de France. À la rencontre d'un singulier duo nantais qui œuvre pour la justice réparatrice : Pierre Guillon de Princé, descendant d'armateurs négriers, et Dieudonné Boutrin, infatigable militant d'origine martiniquaise et descendant d'esclavisés. Depuis le 18 avril 2026, s'élève à Nantes le Mât de la fraternité et de la mémoire, un monument fort de symboles, hissé, porté par Pierre Guillon de Princé et Dieudonné Boutrin. C'est au pied de ce mât que Pierre a présenté des excuses officielles, pour les actes de ses ancêtres esclavagistes à Saint-Domingue, devant l'ambassadeur d'Haïti notamment.  Par ses mots, accompagnés d'un geste symbolique de réparation financière, Pierre a brisé un silence qui pèse depuis des décennies, des siècles sur la ville et le pays. Une démarche rare, unique dit-on en France, qui s'inscrit dans un long processus de réconciliation et de réparation mené par Pierre et Dieudonné. Depuis leur rencontre, cet épatant duo a mené des visites à deux voix du Mémorial de l'Abolition de l'esclavage situé sur le quai de la Fosse à Nantes. Ce qui les a amenés ensuite à se rapprocher d'autres « héritiers » de l'esclavage, des descendants d'esclavagistes anglais notamment, parmi lesquels la famille Trevelyan, première famille du Royaume-Uni à avoir présenté des excuses officielles dans les Caraïbes, pour faire avancer une cause qui leur tient, à tous et toutes, à cœur : la réconciliation mais surtout la justice réparatrice. Car, 25 ans après le vote en France de la loi Taubira reconnaissant la traite et l'esclavage comme « crime contre l'humanité », qui incluait initialement un volet sur les réparations, des voix s'élèvent, notamment au sein de l'Union africaine ou de la CARICOM dans les Caraïbes. En mars dernier, l'ONU a adopté une résolution présentée par le Ghana pour reconnaitre l'esclavage comme « le plus grave crime contre l'humanité », une résolution qui s'empare également du sujet des réparations.    À 86 ans, Pierre et Dieudonné, 61 ans, fourmillent de projets au sein de l'association La Coque Nomade Fraternité et de la Fédération internationale des héritiers de l'esclavage qu'ils viennent d'initier, avec différents acteurs de la société civile des Caraïbes, d'Angleterre ou du monde lusophone. L'objectif : rendre toujours plus visible cette mémoire et les héritages, les blessures que 400 ans d'esclavage ont laissés derrière eux dans les consciences, les identités et nos sociétés. Un projet de Mât de la fraternité est en cours à Bristol et dans d'autres villes du monde. Et des familles nantaises descendantes d'armateurs, sur l'exemple de Pierre, envisagent désormais de parler et de briser ce silence…  Un reportage de Céline Develay-Mazurelle à Nantes avec Dieudonné Boutrin, Pierre Guillon de Princé, l'historien Bernard Michon, Laura Trevelyan et John Dower, cofondateurs de l'organisation Heirs of slavery, Marie-Annick Gournet, vice-présidente associée de l'université de Bristol spécialisée dans la justice réparatrice, et Aïssata Seck, directrice de la Fondation pour la mémoire de l'esclavage.  En savoir plus : – Sur l'association La Coque Nomade Fraternité basée à Nantes et fondée par Dieudonné Boutrin – Sur le Mémorial de l'Abolition de l'Esclavage situé à Nantes sur le quai de la Fosse – Sur l'organisation Heirs of Slavery fondée par Laura Trevelyan et John Dower, descendants d'esclavagistes britanniques à la Grenade – Sur les travaux du projet Repairs de l'Agence nationale de la recherche, coordonné notamment par Magalie Bessone, Myriam Cottias et Elisabeth Cunin, avec Jessica Balguy – Sur la Fondation pour la mémoire de l'esclavage et tous les évènements prévus pour les 25 ans du vote de la loi Taubira – Sur la base de données Esclavage Indemnités qui rassemble les données sur les indemnités versées aux familles esclavagistes françaises à l'abolition de l'esclavage en 1849 et en 1825 à Haïti par le projet Repairs  – Sur la conférence Reimagining Higher Education as Accountable Partners in Repair and Transformation organisée le 19 mai 2026 à Bristol par Marie-Annick Gournet, vice-présidente associée de l'université de Bristol, en charge de la justice réparatrice – Sur notre précédent voyage en 2019 à Nantes, sur les traces de la mémoire de l'esclavage colonial. Un reportage d'Inès Edel-Garcia.

À l'occasion de la Journée nationale des mémoires de la traite, de l'esclavage et de leurs abolitions du 10 mai, on part dans la cité des Ducs, premier port esclavagiste de France. À la rencontre d'un singulier duo nantais qui œuvre pour la justice réparatrice : Pierre Guillon de Princé, descendant d'armateurs négriers, et Dieudonné Boutrin, infatigable militant d'origine martiniquaise et descendant d'esclavisés. Depuis le 18 avril 2026, s'élève à Nantes le Mât de la fraternité et de la mémoire, un monument fort de symboles, hissé, porté par Pierre Guillon de Princé et Dieudonné Boutrin. C'est au pied de ce mât que Pierre a présenté des excuses officielles, pour les actes de ses ancêtres esclavagistes à Saint-Domingue, devant l'ambassadeur d'Haïti notamment.  Par ses mots, accompagnés d'un geste symbolique de réparation financière, Pierre a brisé un silence qui pèse depuis des décennies, des siècles sur la ville et le pays. Une démarche rare, unique dit-on en France, qui s'inscrit dans un long processus de réconciliation et de réparation mené par Pierre et Dieudonné. Depuis leur rencontre, cet épatant duo a mené des visites à deux voix du Mémorial de l'Abolition de l'esclavage situé sur le quai de la Fosse à Nantes. Ce qui les a amenés ensuite à se rapprocher d'autres « héritiers » de l'esclavage, des descendants d'esclavagistes anglais notamment, parmi lesquels la famille Trevelyan, première famille du Royaume-Uni à avoir présenté des excuses officielles dans les Caraïbes, pour faire avancer une cause qui leur tient, à tous et toutes, à cœur : la réconciliation mais surtout la justice réparatrice. Car, 25 ans après le vote en France de la loi Taubira reconnaissant la traite et l'esclavage comme « crime contre l'humanité », qui incluait initialement un volet sur les réparations, des voix s'élèvent, notamment au sein de l'Union africaine ou de la CARICOM dans les Caraïbes. En mars dernier, l'ONU a adopté une résolution présentée par le Ghana pour reconnaitre l'esclavage comme « le plus grave crime contre l'humanité », une résolution qui s'empare également du sujet des réparations.    À 86 ans, Pierre et Dieudonné, 61 ans, fourmillent de projets au sein de l'association La Coque Nomade Fraternité et de la Fédération internationale des héritiers de l'esclavage qu'ils viennent d'initier, avec différents acteurs de la société civile des Caraïbes, d'Angleterre ou du monde lusophone. L'objectif : rendre toujours plus visible cette mémoire et les héritages, les blessures que 400 ans d'esclavage ont laissés derrière eux dans les consciences, les identités et nos sociétés. Un projet de Mât de la fraternité est en cours à Bristol et dans d'autres villes du monde. Et des familles nantaises descendantes d'armateurs, sur l'exemple de Pierre, envisagent désormais de parler et de briser ce silence…  Un reportage de Céline Develay-Mazurelle à Nantes avec Dieudonné Boutrin, Pierre Guillon de Princé, l'historien Bernard Michon, Laura Trevelyan et John Dower, cofondateurs de l'organisation Heirs of slavery, Marie-Annick Gournet, vice-présidente associée de l'université de Bristol spécialisée dans la justice réparatrice, et Aïssata Seck, directrice de la Fondation pour la mémoire de l'esclavage.  En savoir plus : – Sur l'association La Coque Nomade Fraternité basée à Nantes et fondée par Dieudonné Boutrin – Sur le Mémorial de l'Abolition de l'Esclavage situé à Nantes sur le quai de la Fosse – Sur l'organisation Heirs of Slavery fondée par Laura Trevelyan et John Dower, descendants d'esclavagistes britanniques à la Grenade – Sur les travaux du projet Repairs de l'Agence nationale de la recherche, coordonné notamment par Magalie Bessone, Myriam Cottias et Elisabeth Cunin, avec Jessica Balguy – Sur la Fondation pour la mémoire de l'esclavage et tous les évènements prévus pour les 25 ans du vote de la loi Taubira – Sur la base de données Esclavage Indemnités qui rassemble les données sur les indemnités versées aux familles esclavagistes françaises à l'abolition de l'esclavage en 1849 et en 1825 à Haïti par le projet Repairs  – Sur la conférence Reimagining Higher Education as Accountable Partners in Repair and Transformation organisée le 19 mai 2026 à Bristol par Marie-Annick Gournet, vice-présidente associée de l'université de Bristol, en charge de la justice réparatrice – Sur notre précédent voyage en 2019 à Nantes, sur les traces de la mémoire de l'esclavage colonial. Un reportage d'Inès Edel-Garcia.

Alors qu'il y a 25 ans, la loi dite Taubira permettait de reconnaître l'esclavage et la traite comme crime contre l'humanité, RFI revient cette semaine sur la mémoire collective de ce sujet en France. Le dernier épisode de cette série coréalisée avec la rédaction d'Outre-mer s'arrête à Nantes, ville emblématique puisqu'elle fut le premier port négrier du pays pendant plus de quatre siècles. Un mât y a été érigé en amont du Mémorial de l'abolition de l'esclavage. Un monument unique initié par deux Nantais au profil atypique.  « C'est un grand jour pour nous, pour la justice réparatrice, et il est grand temps qu'on libère la parole, personne n'est responsable du passé, mais nous sommes responsables du présent et du futur. Et Pierre, comme on dit, il ne nous reste pas beaucoup de temps, mais on l'a fait quand même, mon ami ! » Dieudonné Boutrin ne peut cacher sa joie. Lui, le Martiniquais descendant d'esclaves, s'adresse à Pierre Guillon de Princé, descendant d'armateur esclavagiste : « Je suis fier, lance-t-il publiquement, d'être un nègre, je suis là pour honorer la mémoire de mes aïeux. Le Mât de la fraternité est dédié à tous ces milliers d'Africains, d'hommes, de femmes, d'enfants déportés pendant plus de quatre siècles d'Afrique vers les Amériques et les Caraïbes. » À ses côtés se tient au pied du mât Pierre Guillon de Princé : « J'ai toujours su qui j'étais, dit-il, je sais depuis ma jeunesse que je suis descendant d'armateur. Pour moi, c'était une bizarrerie dans mon arbre généalogique. » C'est l'histoire de la rencontre entre deux hommes que tout oppose : l'un est un descendant d'esclave, l'autre est un descendant d'armateur négrier. Ensemble, ils ont imaginé ce mât. Symbole de la réconciliation Le processus a été long pendant cinq années. Tout démarre en 2021 avec cette réflexion, explique Dieudonné Boutrin : « Comment peut-on transmettre cette histoire ? Comment peut-on rendre le public acteur de la lutte contre le racisme, qui est l'héritage de l'esclavage ? Et c'est à ce moment-là que nous avons rencontré une famille anglaise, les Trevelyan. » Car en Angleterre, d'autres familles portent le même héritage colonial. Un passé lourd et difficile à vivre pour John Dower, réalisateur de films pour les jeux vidéo. Issu d'une famille aristocratique, c'est le descendant d'une famille de planteurs de canne à sucre, de coton et de café, les Trevelyan… « Je suis allée à la recherche de mon passé. Je suis tombé sur le site du centre des études de l'esclavage britannique mis en ligne en 2013, décrit le réalisateur. Quand j'ai compris que ma famille était impliquée dans l'esclavage, qu'elle avait des plantations avec 1 004 esclaves exactement, là mon cerveau a explosé. » Il y a trois ans, John Dower s'est rendu sur l'île de Grenade, dans les Caraïbes, pour présenter des excuses officielles au nom de ses ancêtres. Aujourd'hui, il est venu spécialement de Bristol, en Angleterre, pour soutenir Pierre Guillon de Princé dans cette démarche historique. Une grande première en France. À lire aussiParcours mémoriel à Nantes: sur les traces de la traite négrière en France Des excuses publiques Haut de 18 mètres, le 1ᵉʳ article de la Déclaration universelle des droits de l'Homme y est gravé sur son socle… C'est au pied de ce mât que Pierre Guillon de Princé, 86 ans et très ému, présente ses excuses solennelles au nom de ses ancêtr​es. «​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​​​​Pour moi, c'est un soulagement, en tant que descendant d'une famille d'armateurs négriers nantais, de pouvoir présenter mes excuses pour les actes de mes ancêtres, déclare-t-il. Ils armèrent six navires pratiquant la traite atlantique triangulaire entre Nantes et Saint-Domingue. Ce qui représente 18 départs de Nantes, ayant arraché 4 500 Africains de leurs terres… » Avec leur association, La coque Nomade, ils ambitionnent d'ériger 72 autres mâts de la fraternité dans des villes héritières de cet écrasant passé. Trois bateaux pédagogiques sont par ailleurs en cours de construction. Ils doivent donner à voir la réalité de la traite atlantique sur trois continents pour l'ambitieux projet triangle de la mémoire.  Une fédération internationale des descendants de l'esclavage a été mise en place pour continuer le dialogue vers la justice réparatrice. Retrouvez tous les reportages sur les 25 ans de la loi Taubira : Vingt-cinq ans de la loi Taubira: «Quand le voile se lève: se découvrir un ancêtre esclavagiste» [1/3] La loi Taubira: La flamme de l'égalité, un concours pour transmettre l'histoire de l'esclavage [2/3]

This Podcast explores why Imperial Japan committed numerous atrocities in the Pacific War, framing the discussion around five interlinked drivers. First, the erosion of international norms and treaty compliance shaped behavior: Japan signed the Hague Conventions but did not ratify the Geneva Convention, and Emperor Hirohito later issued directives that de-emphasized prisoner protection. This created a climate where POWs and civilians could be mistreated, with some memoranda explicitly prioritizing production over humane treatment. Second, war strategy and indoctrination fed a “spirit over steel” mentality. To compensate for resource gaps, Japanese leaders emphasized morale, total commitment, and a policy discouraging surrender, reinforced by the Senjinkun battlefield instructions that branded surrender as dishonorable. Third, ultra-nationalism and racism fueled brutality and dehumanization. The regime promoted the Yamato race myth, cast Western and Asian “enemies” as inferior or demonized, and used propaganda to rationalize harsh treatment of civilians and POWs, as well as widespread forced labor and sexual slavery. Fourth, surrender and the bastardization of Bushido amplified cruelty. The wartime code urged soldiers to die rather than surrender, legitimizing harsh treatment of captives and shaping behavior on the battlefield, including instances of deception and grenade attacks that exploited perceived enemy treachery. Finally, the overall brutality of the Japanese military, including the Kempetai and systemic abuse throughout ranks, created a culture in which violence, torture, and coercive labor were normalized as a means to pursue victory, often at the cost of civilians and prisoners. The presenter cites sources and recommends works like The Knights of Bushido and John Dower's Race and Power in the Pacific War for deeper context.

Hello Youtube Members, Patreons and Pacific War week by week listeners. Yes this was intended to be an exclusive episode to join the 29 others over on my Youtube Membership and Patreon, but since we are drawing to the end of the Pacific War week by week series, I felt compelled to make some special episodes to answer some of the bigger questions.   Hey before I begin I just want to thank all of you who have joined the patreon, you guys are awesome. Please let me know what other figures, events or other things you want to hear about in the future and I will try to make it happen.   So as you can see the title of this episode is, Why did the Japanese perform so many Atrocities during the Pacific War. Phewww, its honestly a difficult one to tackle, for there are countless reasons. I had a university professor who taught; ancient and modern Japanese history, history of the Japanese empire and the Pacific War. He actually answered this very question in a single lecture and in many ways I found it to be one of the most illuminating things I ever learnt about the Pacific War. To truly understand the reasons why they did such horrible things, you actually need to learn the general history of Japan, particularly the changes from Tokugawa, to Meiji, to Showa. I am going to do my very best, but I know many of you might be asking “what were the worst things they did?”, not everyone takes a special interest into such a niche part of history. May I recommend for those with strong stomachs “the knights of Bushido” by Edward Russel that covers pretty much all the atrocities of the Asia-Pacific War. For those of you who like darker things, check out Unit 731: Japan's Secret Biological Warfare in World War II by David Wallace and Peter Williams, absolute nightmare fuel.   I can't go through the entire history of Japan, but I think it's important to start off with the first Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. This was the first time the Empire of Japan fought a true war with a foreign nation, that being the Qing dynasty. At this point in time, there really emerged a sort of, to be blunt, race war. The Chinese had historically referred to the Japanese as “woren”, a racist term meaning dwarf. Now historically the Japanese had always revered the Chinese, kind of like in the way a little brother looks up to his big brother. In tokugawa Japan they would learn from the Chinese, but as the Meiji restoration began this dramatically changed. Japan watched as the Chinese were humiliating and abused by the western powers and failed to modernize. Meanwhile Japan emulated the best of the west, to modernize and become a great power themselves. In many ways, Japan saw itself become big brother and now China was little brother. The Meiji restoration had an element of nationalism built into it that would explode come the Show era. Japan for its entire history had this belief they were the “Yamato Race” dating back to the 6th century. Now while the Meiji restoration sought to emulate the west, they also emulated racism and propaganda, which in the 19th century was kind of a big deal. The Japanese government gradually began a long term campaign promoting the idea the Japanese, or Yamato people were superior to that of the other asian races. Who was the next big asian boy on the block? China, so it was inevitable they would direct a lot of racist attitudes towards the Chinese. During the first sino-japanese war, the Chinese, particularly Manchu had a habit of performing atrocities upon the Japanese. They would often cut off body parts of Japanese soldiers in grotesque manners and leave them to be found by their comrades. This was honestly a pretty typical thing of war in the region, but it did also have a racist element to it, the Chinese certainly saw the Japanese as lesser people. Just before the battle of Port Arthur, the Japanese found mutilated remains of the comrades, here is a passage from Makio Okabe who was there:   As we entered the town of Port Arthur, we saw the head of a Japanese soldier displayed on a wooden stake. This filled us with rage and a desire to crush any Chinese soldier. Anyone we saw in the town, we killed. The streets were filled with corpses, so many they blocked our way. We killed people in their homes; by and large, there wasn't a single house without from three to six dead. Blood was flowing and the smell was awful. We sent out search parties. We shot some, hacked at others. The Chinese troops just dropped their arms and fled. Firing and slashing, it was unbounded joy. At this time, our artillery troops were at the rear, giving three cheers [banzai] for the emperor.   The Japanese performed a massacre at Port Arthur, butchering perhaps up to 3000 Chinese civilians, some claim 10's of thousands and in full few of western war correspondents. It became a huge controversy that destroyed the image of the IJA internationally and hurt the Japanese governments efforts at riding themselves of unequal treaties with the western powers. The Japanese learnt a hell of a lesson and an Imperial Proclamation was made in 1894 stating that Japanese soldiers should make every effort to win the war without violating international laws. According to Japanese historian Yuki Tanaka, Japanese forces during the First Sino-Japanese War released 1,790 Chinese prisoners without harm, once they signed an agreement not to take up arms against Japan if they were released.   During the next major war the Japanese performed a dramatic 180, well at least to their enemy. During the Russo-Japanese War, over 80,000 Russian POWs were held by the IJA who were treated in accordance with the Hague conventions of 1899. The Japanese paid them for labor, housed them in conventional POW camps, made sure they received good medical treatment, ironically better than the Russians were capable of. The Japanese did all of this, making sure the foreign war correspondents wrote about it. It was a massive PR stunt in many ways. The Japanese were emulating how a world power should act, because they sought to be one. Meanwhile the Japanese swallowed their pride at being called yellow monkeys, as the prevalent Yellow Peril ideology was being pushed by Kaiser Wilhehelm and Tsar Nicholas II heavily. The Japanese treated the entire war like gentlemen and suffered horrific higher casualties than necessary because of it. But something many people don't take much notice of, because the IJA made sure of it, was they horrible treatment of the Chinese during the war.   Now the Russians in Manchuria looted, killed and raped many Chinese, pushed quite a bit by the Yellow Peril. The Chinese, certainly the Honghuzi bandits were working for the Japanese to attack them, so its not like they had no reasons. The IJA was more professional and had orders not to molest the Chinese, as they were helping the war effort, but this did not prevent it. The Japanese also looted, killed and raped Chinese. The Japanese would often wave it off as reprisals against potential spies. I only bring this up as it was very apparent, the Japanese treated the Russians much different than the chinese.   Fast forward to WW1, the Japanese had a battle against the Germans and Austro-Hungarians known in the west as the Siege of Tsingtau. The Japanese took up an identical methodology to the Russo-Japanese war with their approach to the Germans, but even took it a step further. After winning the siege, the Japanese seized nearly 5000 German POW's who were treated with a surreal amount of respect. They were brought back to Japan and housed for the rest of the war in 12 cities around Tokyo and Kumamoto. The POW's enjoyed humane treatment and a rather famous event occurred at the Bando camp where a large orchestra was formed of German POW's who toured the nation performing 100 concerts, lectures and plays. Evidence the Germans were treated well can be seen in the fact 170 prisoners never left Japan and sought wives and lives there. Now is this all a feel good love story, no, just like during the Russo-Japanese War, Japan was playing up the PR, for during WW1 they wanted official recognition as a world power and that of being racially equal to the whites.    Japan was officially recognized as a world power during the treaty of Versailles, but when Japan gave its racial equality proposal, President Woodrow Wilson of the US and Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes refused to allow it to pass, even though they received majority votes. Now The Japanese had been for a lack of better words, fucked over, during the first sino-japanese war when the triple intervention of France, Germany and Russia stole away their war earning of the Liaodong peninsula. During the Russo-Japanese war, Theodore Roosevelt limited the Japanese war gains and now here after WW1 the Japanese received another humiliation. To the Japanese, it was the last straw and it was a major reason they went to war with the west, who they viewed, and honestly rightfully so, would never see them as equals.   Ompf, lot of history there, but now we come to the Showa era, which was molded by the feelings of the past decades.   In 1937 Japan and China enter an unofficial war that saw one of the worst wartime atrocities in human history, the rape of Nanjing. It began on December 13th of 1937, lasting 6 or so weeks seeing the murder of possibly 300,000 civilians and pows, the mass rape of 20,000 and untold hardship upon the Chinese people. The Japanese followed this up with numerous other massacres in China such as the Changjiao Massacre claiming possibly 30,000 Chinese civilian lives, the Alexandra Hospital Massacre killing 200 patients and medical staff in Hong Kong, the Laha Massacre on Ambon island where 300 members of the Gull force were executed, the Bangka island massacre where 60 Australian and British soldiers and 22 Australian nurses were murdered, the Parit Sulong massacre in Malay where 150 wounded Australian and Indian POW's were executed, the Bataan Death march where negligence and brutality took the lives of 650 Americans and perhaps a possible 18,000 Filipinos, the Manila massacres claiming the lives of perhaps 54,000 filipinos including women and children in the Philippines, the Balikpapan massacre in the dutch east indies taking the lives of 78 Dutch Civilians, I can keep going and going. Where the Japanese went, massacres and horrors occurred.    Again if you really want to delve into these stories check out “the knights of Bushido”.   The Japanese also had the infamous special units like 731, who conducted horrifying experiments on civilians and POWs like vivisectioning live people without anesthesia, testing biological and chemical weapons on live people, the freezing peoples to study frostbite treatment and giving people sexually transmitted diseases to study. Lt General Shiro Ishii's unit 731 deployed plague infested fleas, cholera, bubonic plague and other nasty weapons upon Chinese civilians killing perhaps up to 500,000. This was seen during the battle of Changde and famously during operation Sei-go also known as the Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign.    The Japanese also enacted the infamous “Sanko Sakusen / three all's policy : kill all, urn all, loot all” in retaliation to the Chinese communists Hundred regiments offensive in December of 1940. Sanctioned by Hirohito personally, it is thought this act resulted in the death of 2.7 million Chinese civilians. According to author Werner Gruhl 8 million Chinese civilian deaths could be attributable to the Japanese.     So then we come back to the big question, why? So now that I've covered the loose history for coherency sake I want to list here the largest reasons for the atrocities and by no means is this official categories or even all of them, I am simply stating kind of my top ones I guess you can say:   Treaties signed or not signed War strategy and indoctrination  Ultra-Nationalism and Racism Surrender & the Bastardization of the Bushido code The Brutality of the Japanese military Treaties signed or not signed   Yes its time to talk about treaties, yawn. Now I said previously Japan did sign the Hague Conventions of 1899 and would ratify them in 1907. The Hague conventions did contain laws for prisoners of war, protection of civilians. Alongside this, in 1894 an imperial proclamation was made stating Japanese soldiers should make every effort to win a war without violating international laws. More significantly Japan “signed” but unlike the majority of other world powers did not ratify the Geneva convention of 1929. Why? To be blunt, the geneva conventions did not really benefit the Japanese military from their point of view.   First the Japanese had a very specific perspective on surrendering, they simply did not do it, so they did not expect many of their soldiers to ever become POW's, so how would it benefit them to ratify such a thing? If they are not going to have many POW's, why would they burden themselves with upholding all the conventional laws for POW's they would obtain during war?  Another glaring reason involved aerial bombing. Many Japanese leaders, like Kanji Ishiwara, believed the home islands would be subjected to massive aerial bombing if a global war broke out. If Japan was subjected to aerial bombing and ratified the geneva convention, this meant they would have to take the pilots who were caught prisoner. The Japanese believed this would encourage further bombing. Lastly the convention had rules for POW treatment that literally contradicted how Japanese soldiers were treated by their own superiors. More about that in the last part about the military's brutality, but summarized, the Japanese army were abusive as hell and to sign such a thing would literally contradict how they did things.   Emperor Hirohito personally ratified a decision to remove certain constraints of the Hague Conventions when it came to the treatment of Chinese POW's in the directive of 5 August 1937. This notification advised staff officers to simply stop using the term "prisoners of war". They would refer to their enemy as bandits, guerillas and such, anything but soldiers so they would not have to take any prisoners, though they typically did not leave anyone alive in China regardless. The Geneva Convention exempted POWs of sergeant rank or higher from manual labor, and stipulated that prisoners performing work should be provided with extra rations and other essentials. The Japanese in the later half of the war would be starved of provisions and resources, thus its to no surprise they could not meet these demands, even if they sought to uphold them. I will note in 1942, Japan indicated they would “follow” the Geneva rules and would observe the Hague Convention of 1907 outlining the laws and customs of war. Yet this is like a verbal confirmation, it had no legal basis, something the Japanese particularly loved to do during the war.   According to Dr. William Skelton III, who produced a document entitled American Ex Prisoners of War for the U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs, more POWs died at the hands of the Japanese in the Pacific theater and specifically in the Philippines than in any other conflict to date. For example in Germany, POWs died at a rate 1.2%. In the Pacific theater the rate was 37%. In the Philippines, POWs died at a rate of 40%.    Now these pieces of paper that were signed or not signed, what does this really matter when it comes to war, its obvious they were not upholding certain rules, but how did this quote en quote make them more brutal and perform more atrocities? Well here is the sticky thing, if you are part of the Japanese military and you know your nation did not ratify certain rules of war, this meant your enemy had no supposed legal basis to follow said rules against you either.    So I want you to think of two aspects of this. If your nation did not sign or ratify certain treaties, then you could not expect the enemy to respect such rules when it comes to you. But more importantly, what if the leader of your nation…just told you to believe that?    In early 1942, Great Britain, the United States of America and other great powers did officially let the Japanese know that they would, on their  part, observe all the provisions of the Convention and requested reciprocity. Japanese foreign minister at the time, Hideki Tojo gave a formal assurance that although Japan was not bound by the Geneva convention, the Japanese would apply it “mutatis mutandis” towards the Americans, British, Canadians, Australians and New Zealander POW's, note he most definitely did not extend this to the asiatic groups, nor the Dutch whom I guess he just forgot about. But this did morally bind Japan to comply with the convention. However the top brass of the Japanese military, notably Hideki Tojo in these cases, went out of his way to instill beliefs within the military as to what they should expect from the enemy. As you will see in the next points, this was basically a type of indoctrination.   War strategy and indoctrination    The leaders of Japan knew full well how unmatched they were in terms of resources and productivity before they began the war with the west. How could they possibly win the war? The IJN was dead set on a decisive naval battle, but for the IJA to compensate for their lack of resources, they believed their “spirit” would overcome the enemy. In many ways this spirit meant going above and beyond normal human endurance, to literally outperform the allies and notably to conduct the war with absolutely zero mercy. Once Japan lost the initiative in the war, after Guadalcanal, the IJA were forced to fight a war of attrition. Now they would prolong and exact maximum casualties upon the allies hoping to force them to the peace table. The idea was quite simple, the IJA would do everything possible to make the allies believe they would never give up and it would far too costly to defeat them. How does one go about achieving these aims? Well the IJA officers would tell you “by steeling your hearts”. To achieve all of this required extreme indoctrination.    Japanese children grew up in regimentation, they were desensitized to violence through tales of martial glory, and were taught that their purpose in life was to serve the emperor. Upon entering  military service, they were trained out of any individualistic spirit, and taught that compassion was a weakness and had no place in the field of war. The soldier's motto was faith equaled strength.  Faith being devotion to duty and service to the Divine Emperor. Apart from ideology and spiritual toughening, training in the Japanese Imperial Army was also extremely harsh and violent. This was not even particularly a special aspect of Showa Japan, it went all the way back to the Meiji era. From a young age children's education directed them, like a pipeline for military duty.   Now at the offset of the war, Hideki Tojo released the “Senjinkun” “instructions for the battlefield”. This was basically a manual for soldiers on how to conduct war. The document was used to establish standards of behavior for Japanese troops and improve discipline and morale within the Army, it also included things like a prohibition against being taken prisoner. It stated if you were captured by the enemy, because Japan did not sign or ratify certain treaties, you would be killed or tortured by the allies, and if you survived you and your family would face shame back home, and punishment resulting typically in 6 months of prison.   Here is a small excerpt from the document Those who know shame are weak. Always think of [preserving] the honor of your community and be a credit to yourself and your family. Redouble your efforts and respond to their expectations. Never live to experience shame as a prisoner. By dying you will avoid leaving a stain on your honor.   The purpose was basically psychological warfare, against their own army. Those like Hideki Tojo believed Japan could only defeat the resource rich Americans with spirit. Thus the manuals like Senjinkun demanded the forces not ever surrender, because the allies would do horrible things, it was shameful to do so and there were disciplinary actions for any who did. In 1942 the Army amended its criminal code to specify that officers who surrendered soldiers under their command faced at least six months imprisonment, regardless of the circumstances in which the surrender took place. This change attracted little attention, however, as the Senjinkun imposed more severe consequences and had greater moral force.   In a report dated June 1945, the U.S. Office of War Information noted that 84 percent of one group of interrogated Japanese prisoners, many of whom had been injured or unconscious when captured stated that they had expected to be killed or tortured by the Allies if taken prisoner. The OWI analysts described this as being typical, and concluded that fear of the consequences of surrender, “rather than Bushido,” was the motivation for many Japanese battle deaths in hopeless circumstances–as much as, and probably more than, the other two major considerations: fear of disgrace at home, and “the positive desire to die for one's nation, ancestors, and god-emperor.”   Something barely talked about in the west, was during the Pacific War, the Americans had a habit of taking human trophies. Human trophies were Japanese skulls, gold teeth, finger bones and such. The famous novel “With the Old Breed” by Eugene Sledge spoke of his personal accounts of these actions, its a rather gruesome and dark part of the war. Now some of these actions were publicized, despite the US military's efforts to quell and hush it down. Time magazine famously had an iconic photo of a woman whose enlisted boyfriend sent her home a Japanese skull. FDR also famously was given a letter opener carved out of Japanese bones. These stories were seized up greedily by the Japanese government who used them as propaganda to prove to their soldiers what would happen if they were captured. It had a profound effect as you can imagine. And this was not limited to Japanese soldiers. The propaganda machine would contribute at the end of the war to mass civilian suicides on Okinawa and Saipan.   Back to the POW subject. When it came to the treatment of POW's, Hideki Tojo began submitting in May of 1942 a series of memorandum, basic orders as to how POW's should be treated. “Prisoners of war can be used for the enlargement of our production and as military labor, white prisoners of war will be confined successively in Korea, Formosa and Manchuria. Superior technicians and high ranking officers -- Colonels and above -- will be included among the prisoners of war confined in Formosa. Those who are not suitable for use in enlargement of our production will be confined in prisoner of war camps which will be built immediately on the spot.Although the working of prisoner of war officers and warrant officers is forbidden by the Regulations of 1903, the policy of the control authorities is that under the situation of our country where not one person now eats without working they want them to set to work. It is desired that you give proper orders on this.The present situation of affairs in this country does not permit anyone to lie idle doing nothing but eating freely. With that in view, in dealing with prisoners of war, I hope you will see that they may be usefully employed. In Japan, we have our own ideology concerning prisoners of war, which should naturally make their treatment more or less different from that in Europe and America. In dealing with them, you should, of course, observe the various Regulations concerned, aim at an adequate application of them . . . At the same time, you must not allow them to lie idle doing nothing but eating freely for even a single day. Their labor and technical skill should be fully utilized for the replenishment of production, and contribution rendered toward the prosecution of the Greater East Asiatic War for which no effort ought to be spared."   Thus in the end as a grunt in the IJA you were led to believe: if I am captured I will be tortured, killed maybe turned into a letter opener, or someone will place my skull on their mantle. If I surrender and survive and make it back home, I will be severely punished and worst of all me and my family will be shamed. I could not expect any humanity from the enemy, because my nation did not sign or ratify treaties like the Geneva convention. More so, because my armies conduct was so unbelievably barbaric, I could only expect the very same from my enemy. It was a vicious cycle. You perform atrocities, expecting the enemy to do the same, and thus it just keeps perpetuating itself. Ultra-Nationalism and Racism   Now we spoke a little bit about the concept of the Yamato race, the Japanese were indoctrinated to believe they were a superior race and that their emperor was something akin to a living god. Until this war, the Japanese empire was on a hell of a winning streak going all the way back to the Meiji Era. For the first half of the Pacific war, the Japanese won nearly every battle. This led to something historians called “victory disease” that made them become somewhat arrogant and cocky, but it also made them feel “superhuman”. The allies' news reporting at the beginning of the war began to frantically refer to the Japanese as “supermen”or  “super jungle fighters”. Particularly because of the Malay campaign, the Japanese soldier just seemed to be tougher, could survive harsher jungle climates, even doing so with less food or war materials. The Japanese read the allied news reports and came to the conclusion that had been driven down their throats by their government, indeed the Japanese spirit was winning the war. The Japanese public ate this up in their propaganda and it perpetuated their ultra-nationalistic beliefs. The Japanese truly came to believe they were destined to rule the asia-pacific. Look at the results in China for example. Within a short amount of time they conquered much of China, though the public really had no idea how bad the China was bottled down by 1940. Then came the greater east asia co-prosperity sphere propaganda, which is an excellent example of their megalomania.    Yet alongside their ultra-nationalism, seen more strongly perpetuated against other Asian groups, the Japanese also indoctrinated their public with racism against them. The Yellow Peril of the 19th century and anti-japanese or anti-asian racism fueled the Japanese soldiers. The Japanese as a people had faced brutal racist hardships historically at the hands of the west, particularly from their point of view from America. There was the slights against them during the first sino-japanese war, the infamous triple intervention of france, germany and Russia stealing away their prize that was the liaodong peninsula. Then during the Boxer rebellion they faced racism, not being allowed to lead mutli national army formations, despite them being the lionshare of said military force. The Russo-Japanese war saw from their point of view, America stealing their war prizes. Last but not least, after WW1 they were told to their faces that they were a world power, but not racially equal. The Japanese faced anti-Japanese and anti-asian immigration laws when it came to America in the form of the gentleman's agreement and Australia's “great white Australia policy”. During the war, the American propaganda machine began pumping out racist caricatures of Japanese as rats, goggle eyed  bucktooth people, literal yellow monkey's.   For the IJA the pacific war in many was a holy war directed at the arrogant whites who had abused them for so long. This will probably sound controversial, but indeed, the pacific war was very much a race war. If you are not convinced of that, I recommend reading “War without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War” by John Dower. The human trophy taking, anti-japanese bucktooth, rat people cartoon propaganda, history of racial abuse like the japanese concentration camps, the gentleman's agreement, the stealing of victories during the first sino-japanese war, russo-japanese war and ww1 all plagued the mind of a Japanese soldier. To them in many ways, the “whites had it coming”. Which is rather ironic given how the Japanese would treat the other asian racial groups they came into contact with. But such is the contradictory nature of the Imperial Japanese military.    The Japanese also held racist beliefs about the westerners. The Japanese soldiers were taught the allies were akin to demons or beasts. They were described often as “the hairy ones” or “anglo-American demons”. Taught these men would rape women and girls, stample upon the civilians they captured with the treads of their tanks. The marines were especially dreaded.  According to a story circulated widely among the Japanese on Saipan, all Marine Corps recruits were compelled to murder their own parents before being inducted into service. It was said that Japanese soldiers taken prisoner would suffer hideous tortures—their ears, noses, and limbs would be cut off; they would be blinded and castrated; they could also be cooked and fed to dogs. As silly as this may sound, do remember the Americans were taking human trophies so the Japanese propaganda machine had its evidence. Tons of photos of skulls atop american tanks for example were displayed to the Japanese public. Another famous one was the cartoon appearing in an American servicemen's magazine, which was later reproduced and translated in the Japanese press. It suggested the existence of “Japanese hunting licenses, promising open season on the enemy, complete with free ammunition and equipment—with pay!    In terms of how the Japanese exacted their own racism towards their fellow asians. During the War the Japanese dragged into forced labor, Koreans, Chinese and southeast asians. 670,000 Koreans were brought to Japan to work mines and heavy industry, around 60,000 of them died to harsh conditions. Between April 1943 to May 1945, 41,862 Chinese were sent to Japan to work, 2800 died before even reaching the home islands. 6872 died in the work sites again from brutal conditions. When it comes to southeast asian numbers are hard to pinpoint but its safe to say at least 300,000 Javanese, Malay, Burmese, Tamil and other groups were mobilized to construct the Burma-Siam railroad between October 1942 to november 1943 and 60,000 perished. This all went for the men, for the women, all those racial groups would face the horrors of becoming comfort women, historians estimate there could have been 50-200,000 pressed into it. But for the Japanese, believing their were superior to these other asiatic groups, groups whom they would publicly say were like children, they as the father figure would guide, well they simply abused them.   So in a contradictive fashion, the Japanese believed they were superior and could do horrible things to their Asian neighbors while simultaneously decrying the racism cast towards them by western powers as justification for their brutal actions against them. These types of feelings and perspectives molded the mind of the average Japanese soldier, dehumanizing others has always been a standard military practice afterall.    Surrender & the Bastardization of the Bushido code   I think this is one the vast majority of WW2 history buffs know, the Japanese perspective on surrender and the bushido code. In the book “military trials of war criminals in the Netherlands east indies 1946-1949” Fred Borch had this to say about the variable of bushido for the brutality   As Japan continued its modernization in the early 20th century, her armed forces became convinced that success in battle would be assured if Japanese soldiers, sailors, and airmen had the "spirit" of Bushido. ... The result was that the Bushido code of behavior "was inculcated into the Japanese soldier as part of his basic training." Each soldier was indoctrinated to accept that it was the greatest honor to die for the Emperor and it was cowardly to surrender to the enemy. ... Bushido therefore explains why the Japanese soldiers who were stationed in the NEI so mistreated POWs in their custody. Those who had surrendered to the Japanese—regardless of how courageously or honorably they had fought—merited nothing but contempt; they had forfeited all honor and literally deserved nothing. Consequently, when the Japanese murdered POWs by shooting, beheading, and drowning, these acts were excused since they involved the killing of men who had forfeited all rights to be treated with dignity or respect. While civilian internees were certainly in a different category from POWs, it is reasonable to think that there was a "spill-over" effect from the tenets of Bushido.   It is very true, the Japanese soldiers and sailors were taught Japan was a sacred nation. Traditional samurai values of bushido were merged with modern training and weaponry. The government propagandized the figure of the Emperor as a living god who embodied the Japanese state, the Kokutai. Emperor Hirohito and his family were the spiritual essence of Japan. To even show your back to the enemy let alone surrender was deemed cowardly and brought dishonor upon your family. As written by Inouye Jukichi in 1910, something read by many Japanese “The Japanese warriors looked upon it as shame to themselves not to die when their Lord was hard pressed . . . their own shame was the shame upon their parents, their family, their house and their whole clan, and with this idea deeply impressed upon their minds, the Samurai, no matter of what rank, held their lives light as feathers when compared with the weight they attached to the maintenance of a spotless name”.    Young men of Japan were taught that "The greatest honor is to die for the Emperor" Additionally precept the Japanese were taught that it is an ignominy to surrender to the enemy. The combined effect of these two precepts was to inculcate in the Japanese soldier a spirit of contempt for Allied soldiers who surrendered, which, in defiance of the rules of war, was demonstrated in their ill-treatment of prisoners. They made no distinction between the soldier who fought honorably and courageously up to an inevitable surrender, and the soldier who surrendered without a fight. All enemy soldiers who surrendered under any circumstance were to be regarded as being disgraced and entitled to live only by the tolerance of their captors.   Surrender was unforgivable under their code, drilled into them through the Imperial Japanese education system and military. When the Japanese would come across vast swathes of the enemy surrendering, particularly if the enemy used up all their ammunition killing their comrades and then surrendered, well it added fuel to their brutality. One only needs to look at the deaths due to Banzai charges, take for example the incredibly massive one at the battle of Saipan seeing around 4000 dead Japanese. IJA officers brought ancestral katana's to the war, the Japanese cut off the heads of the enemies as it was seen to be honorable. When faced with death, many chose to commit seppuku, the bushido propaganda was intense.    A brutal practice emerged in the Pacific island hopping campaign, whereupon wounded Japanese would pretend to be dead or surrender only to explode grenades upon allied forces coming closer. This began to be noticed by US marines during the battle of Guadalcanal and Australians in New Guinea. This began a vicious cycle . There were of course Japanese who would surrender. Hell the Koreans forced into service often did try to surrender, but they would all be hampered by something. Because of the actions of those Japanese feinted death and taking down allied soldiers with them, the allied soldiers gradually began a practice of not bothering to accept surrender. It became a self fulfilling prophecy. Many Japanese made the allies believe all they could expect was a grenade death, thus the allies became more brutal to them. This simply led the Japanese to conclude their government was accurate about how the allies would treat them, so more and more did not surrender. An absolutely horrible cycle that went on to the very end of the war, though the allies did figure out means to get Japanese to surrender more in the last year.    The Brutality of the Japanese military   I think this is probably one of the most important factors, and its also one the “normies” would not know as much about. The Imperial Japanese military, more so the Army, had what I can only describe as a built in system of abuse. As described to me by the same university professor I keep bringing up in podcasts, picture a literal pecking order. Going from the highest ranked general to the very bottom grunt. Imagine each one who is higher than the other, routinely physically abuses them. For example, it was very typical for a colonel to slap a major across the face, the major would then strike one of his captains, and the abuse would continue through the ranks to the grunts who would have no one to abuse, thus they turned to POW's or civilian populations. This was not just an accepted part of the Japanese Imperial Army it was indoctrinated.    From day one of basic training, IJA officers taught their men, races like the Chinese were their blood enemies and racially inferior. These were people the Japanese would rule over one day. The trainers would toss the boys into rigorous training activities involving physical violence towards another alongside the notion any orders given by a higher ranking officer was infallible and to be treated as if the divine emperor himself, the living god was giving it.    The Japanese army even taught methods of torture that would be employed in all areas they occupied. Among these tortures were the water treatment, burning, electric shocks, the knee spread, suspension, kneeling on sharp instruments and flogging. The Kempetai, were the ones doing the lionshare of these tortures. Other Army and Navy units, however, used the same methods as the Kempetai. Camp guards performed similar methods, local police forces organized by the Kempetai in the occupied territories also applied the same methods of torture. The Kempetai were administered by the War Ministry, trained at specialized schools who were maintained and operated by the War Ministry in Japan. Thus the conduct of Kempetai and the camp guards directly reflected the policy of the War Ministry.    The Japanese army leadership made sure recruits were physically and mentally abused, they were given strenuously duty tasks and pushed to their absolute limit. During the war given where they were deployed, take guadalcanal for example, the Japanese soldiers would be facing starvation as well. Being half starved, beaten and suffering the effects of war would drive anyone to perform horrifying acts. The life of a Japanese solider was simply at the whims of an extremely toxic management culture. The lowest ranking echelons received the lionshare of abuse and they took out their frustration with whomever they could find deemed lower than them, ie: POW's, civilians, etc.   All of these variables combined contributed to the creation of a military willing to perform just about any atrocity they thought necessary to win the war. It was a war they could not hope to win, but many of them went to their deaths trying to defeat the hands of fate. There are countless other reasons of course for the atrocities committed in cold or hot blood. Countless books have been written on this subject, please do check out the few I mentioned. With that again, a big thanks to you patreons, you guys are awesome. Please let me know what you think in the comments, and what you want to hear more about in the future. This has been the pacific war channel over and out.

John Dower from the Alpine Garden Society discusses starting out and building a rockery in your garden. He also looks at how to get started with alpine plants. == We're delighted to have Gro-rite Horticultural Supplies sponsoring World Radio Gardening, find out about automatic pot watering systems available for mail order delivery: bit.ly/3wCPyHy For 2024, World Radio Gardening is planning a series of 4 exclusive newsletters. These will be loaded with extra special content and deals for you as a gardener. Make sure you don't miss out by signing up today via sign-up page: bit.ly/3RWwhYR The first newsletter is out now here: bit.ly/3TfbXT1 – don't miss the next one! Also, don't forget – if you like what we do, why not tip Ken and team with a coffee – Buy us a coffee (bit.ly/48RLP75) – as a thank you for the work done to bring this website to life.

This week, Kiff welcomes video game director John Dower (https://www.johndower.co.uk ) to the show. John is the co-founder of The Mocap Vaults, a spectauclar international motion capture training program. We talk about his coming up, the nature of being a director, the skill sets involved and what that means for actors in the volume. It's a fantastic conversation that sheds light on a wide array of topics that are vital to the working actor in today's emerging interactive market. Per our conversation: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JohnDowerDirector/Instagram -  https://www.instagram.com/john_dower_director/LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-dower-8219b22/Website - https://johndower.co.ukVimeo - https://vimeo.com/user6120374 MOCAP VAULTS LINKS -Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/themocapvaults/ INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/themocapvaults/Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-mocap-vaults/?viewAsMember=trueX - https://twitter.com/themocapvaultsWebsite - https://www.themocapvaults.comYoutube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7JkokMS2XUFZte1k6iEFkwIt's time to learn Motion Capture acting! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SIDGtJ1v4k&t=7s BOOK - Performing for Motion Capture - A guide for PractitionersBloomsbury - https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/performing-for-motion-capture-9781350211254/ Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Performing-Motion-Capture-Guide-Practitioners/dp/1350211257Audible - https://www.audible.com/pd/Performing-for-Motion-Capture-Audiobook/B0BZ6FPJL4? Reparations Links - Heirs of Slavery - https://www.heirsofslavery.org/reparationsDanish TV Documentary - https://vimeo.com/809696603?share=copy Password - Grenada    Note - Press cc for English captionsGuardian article on the apology - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/27/british-slave-owners-family-makes-public-apology-in-grenada

The BAFTA TV Awards are coming... and we thought we'd share this fascinating new podcast from BAFTA that explores the nominees.It's calles Countdown To The BAFTAs, and it's made by the producers of The Media Podcast (and has a few familar voices in it too).Alex Zane is your host - in this episode he reveals the documentaries in contention - what does the Spider-Man of Paris have in common with The Enfield Poltergeist? Find out as Alex is joined by TV exec Faraz Osman and foreign affairs journalist, documentary filmmaker and author Ramita Navai to discuss a challenging yet creatively ambitious year for factual production teams.The nominees discussed:FACTUAL SERIESDUBLIN NARCOS Benedict Sanderson, Claire McFall, Sacha Baveystock, Edmund Coulthard, Megan Taylor, Laura Dunne – Blast! Films / Sky DocumentariesEVACUATION Production Team - Wonderhood Studios / Channel 4LOCKERBIE Nancy Strang, John Dower, Claire McFall, Barnaby Fry, Dejan Cancar, Charlie Hawryliw - Mindhouse Productions / Sky DocumentariesONCE UPON A TIME IN NORTHERN IRELAND Production Team - KEO Films, Walk On Air Films, The Open University / BBC TwoSINGLE DOCUMENTARYDAVID HOLMES: THE BOY WHO LIVED Dan Hartley, Kevin Konak, Simon Chinn, Jonathan Chinn, Vanessa Davies, Amy Stares - Lightbox, HBO / SkyDocumentariesELLIE SIMMONDS: FINDING MY SECRET FAMILY Jasleen Sethi, David Thompson, Colleen Flynn, Kathryn Jein, Nick Underhill - Flicker Productions / ITV1HATTON Daniel Dewsbury, Paul Yoshida, Sam Bergson, Ian Davies, John McKenna - Noah Media Group / Sky DocumentariesVJERAN TOMIC: THE SPIDER-MAN OF PARIS Jamie Roberts, Dan Reed - Amos Pictures / NetflixSPECIALIST FACTUALCHIMP EMPIRE James Reed, Matt Houghton, Callum Webster, Matt Cole - KEO Films, Underdog Films / NetflixTHE ENFIELD POLTERGEIST Jerry Rothwell , Al Morrow, Stewart le Maréchal, Nicole Stott, Jonathan Silberberg, Davis Guggenheim - MetFilm, Concordia Studio / Apple TV+FORCED OUT Luke Korzun Martin, Sophie Perrins, Chibuikem Oforka, Josh Green, Tom Pullen, Richard Bond - Dragonfly / Sky DocumentariesWHITE NANNY, BLACK CHILD Andy Mundy-Castle, Natasha Dack Ojumu, Rochelle Newman, Zeb Achonu, Ross Leppard, Rachael McLean-Anderson - Doc Hearts, TigerLily Productions, BFI / Channel 5 Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does the Spider-Man of Paris have in common with The Enfield Poltergeist? Alex Zane reveals the documentaries in contention for the BAFTA TV Awards 2024 with P&O Cruises.Find out as Alex is joined by TV exec Faraz Osman and foreign affairs journalist, documentary filmmaker and author Ramita Navai to discuss a challenging yet creatively ambitious year for factual production teams.FACTUAL SERIESDUBLIN NARCOS Benedict Sanderson, Claire McFall, Sacha Baveystock, Edmund Coulthard, Megan Taylor, Laura Dunne – Blast! Films / Sky DocumentariesEVACUATION Production Team - Wonderhood Studios / Channel 4LOCKERBIE Nancy Strang, John Dower, Claire McFall, Barnaby Fry, Dejan Cancar, Charlie Hawryliw - Mindhouse Productions / Sky DocumentariesONCE UPON A TIME IN NORTHERN IRELAND Production Team - KEO Films, Walk On Air Films, The Open University / BBC TwoSINGLE DOCUMENTARYDAVID HOLMES: THE BOY WHO LIVED Dan Hartley, Kevin Konak, Simon Chinn, Jonathan Chinn, Vanessa Davies, Amy Stares - Lightbox, HBO / Sky DocumentariesELLIE SIMMONDS: FINDING MY SECRET FAMILY Jasleen Sethi, David Thompson, Colleen Flynn, Kathryn Jein, Nick Underhill - Flicker Productions / ITV1HATTON Daniel Dewsbury, Paul Yoshida, Sam Bergson, Ian Davies, John McKenna - Noah Media Group / Sky DocumentariesVJERAN TOMIC: THE SPIDER-MAN OF PARIS Jamie Roberts, Dan Reed - Amos Pictures / NetflixSPECIALIST FACTUALCHIMP EMPIRE James Reed, Matt Houghton, Callum Webster, Matt Cole - KEO Films, Underdog Films / NetflixTHE ENFIELD POLTERGEIST Jerry Rothwell , Al Morrow, Stewart le Maréchal, Nicole Stott, Jonathan Silberberg, Davis Guggenheim - MetFilm, Concordia Studio / Apple TV+FORCED OUT Luke Korzun Martin, Sophie Perrins, Chibuikem Oforka, Josh Green, Tom Pullen, Richard Bond - Dragonfly / Sky DocumentariesWHITE NANNY, BLACK CHILD Andy Mundy-Castle, Natasha Dack Ojumu, Rochelle Newman, Zeb Achonu, Ross Leppard, Rachael McLean-Anderson - Doc Hearts, TigerLily Productions, BFI / Channel 5 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next month marks the 35th anniversary of the Lockerbie Bombing, when 270 people were killed in the UK's worst ever terrorist attack. Sky documentaries has a new multi-part series which re-examines this extraordinary event. Sean was joined by director, John Dower, whose work is known to Irish audiences having previously directed the Netflix series about Sophie Toscan du Plantier...

Next month marks the 35th anniversary of the Lockerbie Bombing, when 270 people were killed in the UK's worst ever terrorist attack. Sky documentaries has a new multi-part series which re-examines this extraordinary event. Sean was joined by director, John Dower, whose work is known to Irish audiences having previously directed the Netflix series about Sophie Toscan du Plantier...

How Christina Lamb pieced together for The Sunday Times reports of acts of sexual violence by Hamas during the 7 October attacks. What a new documentary about the 1988 Lockerbie bombing tells us about how journalists would now cover a major tragedy. And a new chair for the BBC is proposed by the government.Guests: Christina Lamb, chief foreign correspondent, The Sunday Times; Daniel Thomas, global media editor, The Financial Times; John Dower, director, Lockerbie; Frank O'Donnell, former editor of The Scotsman; Eleni Courea, deputy editor, Politico London PlaybookPresenter: Katie RazzallProducer: Simon Richardson

Welcome to the second edition of the FNI Wrap Chat Podcast Fastnet Film Festival special, this is the second of two, which we recorded live from our lovely campervan provided by Rambling Rover.ie at the Fastnet Film Festival in Schull in West Cork. Please excuse the slight noise as we were parked near the hive of activity of the festival hub. Special thanks this week goes out to Windmill Lane for their support and we're very excited to be working with them on an ongoing partnership. In this second episode, we've an interview with the lovely Actor Moya Farrelly on the run-up to the 25th Anniversary of her feature Film This is my Father also featuring Aidan Quinn and John Cusack. We also spotlight some up-and-coming talent you should watch out for in the near future. Moya's Screen appearances include Fiona Kinsella in SINGLE-HANDED, Sorcha Buckley in JACK TAYLOR: THE PIKEMEN, Previous film and television credits include the lead role of Eileen in FIRST COMMUNION DAY, directed by John Dower for the BBC, Sally Lyons in BACHELORS WALK; Andrea in MESSAGGI QUASI SEGRETI, directed by Valerio Jalongo, BRAVEHEART, directed by Mel Gibson. Director Jamie O'Rourke's first short, Scrap, is still on the festival circuit, was nominated for an IFTA in 2022, and screened at the 2023 Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival and has played at festivals around the world. His second film, Calf, funded by Screen Ireland/Virgin Media had its World Premiere at The Dublin International Film Festival in February 2023 and will screen at AA/EFA qualifying Odense IFF in Denmark in Aug 2023. Shane Serrano is an award winning Director & Cinematographer from Limerick. Through his production company, Crude Media, Shane has been directing and producing for over 10 years, working on over 130 music videos for artists. Many of his films have been selected by acclaimed film festivals globally, including the Newport Beach Film Festival, Irish Film London, Galway Film Fleadh, DIFF, Berlin International Art Film Festival and Chicago Irish Film Festival. In 2019 he was the recipient of an Award for Outstanding Contribution to Film in Limerick, at the Richard Harris International Film Festival. Tania Notaro is an exciting screenwriter, director and actor from Dublin. Her comedy drama TV series Cabaret Cartel is currently in development as part of Screen Ireland's Spotlight scheme. She has just completed her first short Glitterbug as writer/director and her visually arresting short film Postpartum (See on theVirgin Media Player Now!) She was selected to take part in the Eureka Series Programme 2022 at the Series Mania Institute. She has a 1st class Master's degree in Screenwriting, NFT/IADT with a scholarship from Warner Brothers and later selected by the Warner Brothers Creative Talent Team as an exceptional artist and one-to-watch. Johnny is an award winning actor, writer and director who has been involved in film and drama for the best part of two decades. He has written and directed such comedy films as The Legend of Harry and Ambrose, Aftermath and The Blizzards behind the music. In 2021 his comedy pilot "Cancelled" won best comedy pilot at the Austin after dark comedy festival. He can be seen later this year in Maurice O'Carroll's brilliant new feature Swing bout. Michael O'Hara is an actor, award winning writer, producer and director of animation, live action and documentary. His production company Waking Dream Productions is known for Talent Drivers (2019), Donuts, People and Their Dreams (1993) and Mr Happy (2006).  His latest "In Your Dreams" a docuseries is discussed here. This is the FNI Wrapchat Podcast, and we're here to celebrate Irish film and the people who make it possible. It's a cracking bumper special edition Episode! You'll find more about us on social media on FB and Insta on @filmnetworkireland and fni_film on the twitter machine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the second edition of the FNI Wrap Chat Podcast Fastnet Film Festival special, this is the second of two, which we recorded live from our lovely campervan provided by Rambling Rover.ie at the Fastnet Film Festival in Schull in West Cork. Please excuse the slight noise as we were parked near the hive of activity of the festival hub. Special thanks this week goes out to Windmill Lane for their support and we're very excited to be working with them on an ongoing partnership. In this second episode, we've an interview with the lovely Actor Moya Farrelly on the run-up to the 25th Anniversary of her feature Film This is my Father also featuring Aidan Quinn and John Cusack. We also spotlight some up-and-coming talent you should watch out for in the near future. Moya's Screen appearances include Fiona Kinsella in SINGLE-HANDED, Sorcha Buckley in JACK TAYLOR: THE PIKEMEN, Previous film and television credits include the lead role of Eileen in FIRST COMMUNION DAY, directed by John Dower for the BBC, Sally Lyons in BACHELORS WALK; Andrea in MESSAGGI QUASI SEGRETI, directed by Valerio Jalongo, BRAVEHEART, directed by Mel Gibson. Director Jamie O'Rourke's first short, Scrap, is still on the festival circuit, was nominated for an IFTA in 2022, and screened at the 2023 Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival and has played at festivals around the world. His second film, Calf, funded by Screen Ireland/Virgin Media had its World Premiere at The Dublin International Film Festival in February 2023 and will screen at AA/EFA qualifying Odense IFF in Denmark in Aug 2023. Shane Serrano is an award winning Director & Cinematographer from Limerick. Through his production company, Crude Media, Shane has been directing and producing for over 10 years, working on over 130 music videos for artists. Many of his films have been selected by acclaimed film festivals globally, including the Newport Beach Film Festival, Irish Film London, Galway Film Fleadh, DIFF, Berlin International Art Film Festival and Chicago Irish Film Festival. In 2019 he was the recipient of an Award for Outstanding Contribution to Film in Limerick, at the Richard Harris International Film Festival. Tania Notaro is an exciting screenwriter, director and actor from Dublin. Her comedy drama TV series Cabaret Cartel is currently in development as part of Screen Ireland's Spotlight scheme. She has just completed her first short Glitterbug as writer/director and her visually arresting short film Postpartum (See on theVirgin Media Player Now!) She was selected to take part in the Eureka Series Programme 2022 at the Series Mania Institute. She has a 1st class Master's degree in Screenwriting, NFT/IADT with a scholarship from Warner Brothers and later selected by the Warner Brothers Creative Talent Team as an exceptional artist and one-to-watch. Johnny is an award winning actor, writer and director who has been involved in film and drama for the best part of two decades. He has written and directed such comedy films as The Legend of Harry and Ambrose, Aftermath and The Blizzards behind the music. In 2021 his comedy pilot "Cancelled" won best comedy pilot at the Austin after dark comedy festival. He can be seen later this year in Maurice O'Carroll's brilliant new feature Swing bout. Michael O'Hara is an actor, award winning writer, producer and director of animation, live action and documentary. His production company Walking Dream Productions is known for Taxi Drivers (2009), Donuts, People and their Dreams (1993) and Mr Happy (2006). his latest “In Your Dreams”. A Docuseries is discussed here This is the FNI Wrapchat Podcast, and we're here to celebrate Irish film and the people who make it possible. It's a cracking bumper special edition Episode! You'll find more about us on social media on FB and Insta on @filmnetworkireland and fni_film on the twitter machine.

In this week's show, we're zooming in on how to garden in small spaces. Whether you've got a neglected corner of your garden that you need to fill – or you've no garden at all – we've got you covered. We'll be exploring a host of techniques for turning odd nooks and crannies into little green oases. John Dower, a long-time member of the Alpine Garden Society, will start us off with a master-class on constructing mesmerising gardens in miniature. Connor Smith, head of the Rock Garden at Utrecht Botanic Gardens, will share his tried and tested advice for using recycled materials to make compact crevice gardens. And finally, Alpine Horticulturists Amy Smethurst & Bertie Swainston will share their love for dainty dionysias.  Links: Alpine Garden Society Harlow Carr Alpine House Rock gardening

Joining me tonight for a late night conversation is one of the UK's leading documentary directors, John Dower. Just looking over his resume, John has been nominated for and has won numerous awards and accolades for his masterful work. Earlier this year, he delivered the  Netflix hit entitled ‘Sophie: A Murder in West Cork”.  It's an incredible deep dive into one of the most tragic murders in modern Irish history. On HBO Max, you can also explore one of the greatest whodunits in US history with his riviting documentary "The Mystery of DB Cooper. I'm so excited to have as a guest for your listening pleasure, John Dower, on this episode of the Necronomicast! John Dower's Official Site

Stephen Hsu is a Professor of Theoretical Physics and Professor of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. He is also a serial entrepreneur and has published on genomics, in addition to blogging on a wide range of topics from econometrics and geopolitics to mixed martial arts. Hsu joins the Podcast, where he and Richard begin by talking about the Russia-Ukraine crisis and American military power relative to that of China and Russia. What would a Chinese attempt to conquer Taiwan look like, and what would the US be able to do in response? This is followed by a long discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of the Chinese system and its differences with the democratic capitalist model, including the former's high level of reliance on standardized tests and institutions designed to evaluate and promote government officials. The conversation closes on the topics of genomics and embryo selection, including the state of the technology, its current uses, and cross-national differences in attitudes and regulations. A full transcript of the conversation is available here. Sign up for CSPI's Substack newsletter: https://cspi.substack.com. Follow CSPI on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CSPICenterOrg. Subscribe to our YouTube for video podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvs4ugq0xSvbvwArpFJG6gA. Learn more about CSPI: https://cspicenter.org. Ezra Voegel, “Japan as Number One.” John Dower, “War Without Mercy." Dan Wang, ”2021 Letter.” Dan Bell, “The China Model.” Richard McGregor, “The Party.” "DNA Dreams" (documentary film). Richard Hanania, “The Inevitable Rise of China.” Richard Hanania, “Fertility as the Final Boss in Chinese Development, and Richard Hanania Prediction Markets.” Steve Hsu, “Sustainability of China Economic Growth.” Steve Hsu, “Les Grandes Ecoles Chinoises.” Francesco C. Billari, Hans-Peter Kohler, Gunnar Andersson and Hans Lundström, “Approaching the Limit: Long-Term Trends in Late and Very Late Fertility.”  p. 163. (On Swedish Fertility, Extreme Births) Steve's Podcast, “Manifold.”

In this final part of the latest installment of Doc Doc World, Jordan finishes John Dower's 2021 true crime docuseries, Sophie: A Murder in West Cork. The Netflix series covers the investigation into the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, a French film and TV producer who was killed in 1996 while vacationing at her holiday cottage in West Cork, Ireland. In this second of two parts, Jordan covers Episode 3 of the docuseries. *Music by Jordan Crittenden and Quincas Moreira*Watch Sophie: A Murder in West Cork on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81094755 *To support Dark Dark World: http://www.patreon.com/darkdarkworld*Web: http://www.darkdarkworld.com*Twitter: @darkworldpod*Instagram: @darkdarkworldpodcast*Email: darkworldpod@gmail.com*Thank you for listening!

In the latest installment of Doc Doc World, Jordan tackles John Dower's 2021 true crime docuseries, Sophie: A Murder in West Cork. The Netflix series covers the investigation into the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, a French film and TV producer who was killed in 1996 while vacationing at her isolated holiday cottage in West Cork, Ireland. In this first of two parts, Jordan covers Episodes 1 & 2 of the docuseries. *Watch Sophie: A Murder in West Cork on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81094755 *To support Dark Dark World: http://www.patreon.com/darkdarkworld*Web: http://www.darkdarkworld.com *Twitter: @darkworldpod *Instagram: @darkdarkworldpodcast *Email: darkworldpod@gmail.com *Thank you for listening!

In our latest episode, we discuss Diana: The Musical, the 'couch guy' TikTok & Martyn tells the story of the Cleveland Elementary School shooting by 16-year-old Brenda Spencer, who infamously gave a motive of "I don't like Mondays". - - - SOURCES San Diego Union-Tribune - “40 years ago, Brenda Spencer took lives, changed lives in a mass shooting at a San Diego elementary school.”, 2019 The Los Angeles Times - “Victims of San Diego School Shooting Are Forced to Cope Again 10 Years Later.”, 1989 “I Don't Like Mondays” - Documentary by John Dower, 2006

In our latest episode, we discuss Diana: The Musical, the 'couch guy' TikTok & Martyn tells the story of the Cleveland Elementary School shooting by 16-year-old Brenda Spencer, who infamously gave a motive of "I don't like Mondays". - - - SOURCES San Diego Union-Tribune - “40 years ago, Brenda Spencer took lives, changed lives in a mass shooting at a San Diego elementary school.”, 2019 The Los Angeles Times - “Victims of San Diego School Shooting Are Forced to Cope Again 10 Years Later.”, 1989 “I Don't Like Mondays” - Documentary by John Dower, 2006

Double episode reviewing 2 documentaries about the brutal murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in west Cork Ireland in 1996. Murder at the Cottage: The Search for Justice for Sophie by Jim Sheridan and the Netflix doc Sophie: A Murder in West Cork.Two days before Christmas in 1996,  was brutally murdered at her holiday cottage in Schull, West Cork. The murder rocked the quiet Irish town and 24 years later, the case remains a mystery. In the first doc Oscar-nominated filmmaker Jim Sheridan pieces together original evidence, never-before-seen footage, and interviews with those closest to the case to try to make sense of what really happened. In the second, John Dower examines the same evidence for a compelling Netflix series. Cherida and Tracey examine both for this Docs That Rock special.★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Netflix is today showing a new true crime series 'Sophie: A Murder in West Cork'. The John Dower series aims to paint a full picture of Ms. Toscan du Plantier who was murdered in West Cork in December 1996. Ian Bailey, one man who's been close to the centre of this case joined us on Newstalk Breakfast to discuss the case and the veracity of the Netflix Documentary. Listen and subscribe to Newstalk Breakfast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.     Download, listen and subscribe on the Newstalk App.    You can also listen to Newstalk live on newstalk.com or on Alexa, by adding the Newstalk skill and asking: 'Alexa, play Newstalk'.    

Neil Speaks to John Dower the Director of 'Sophie - A Murder in West Cork', the Delayed Re-opening of Indoor Dining, and Setting Up a New Business During the Pandemic. Tune into the Neil Prendeville Show weekdays from 9am on Cork's RedFM.

Cinematographer Edgar Dubrovskiy interviews his colleague, an Emmy, Bafta and Sundance-nominated documentary director John Dower. Working with Louis Theroux, chasing DB Cooper and destroying books. An honest chat about the filmmaking career. John: @halmack7 Edgar/Open: @edgardubrovskiy --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/openfilmmakerstalk/message

Directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker John Dower, THE MYSTERY OF D.B. COOPER brings to life the stories of four individuals fervently believed by their family and friends to be “D.B. Cooper,” the mystery man who hijacked a 727 flying out of Seattle, traded the passengers’ lives for $200,000 and four parachutes, lept from the jet over some of Washington state’s roughest terrain, and was never heard from again. ‌ Almost 50 years later, the case continues to confound the FBI and inspire wild speculation as it remains the only unsolved airplane hijacking in United States history.‌ THE MYSTERY OF D.B. COOPER draws from a combination of recreated and archival footage, as well as exclusive interviews with those most connected to the infamous case and its likeliest culprit, and explores how the heist inspired copycat hijackings around the world and elevated Cooper to “legend” status before his plane even touched back down on land. ‌Director John Dower joins us for a lively conversation on the rabid D.B. Cooper cognoscenti who claim that they “know” what happened, the surprisingly strong bond Dower formed with the subjects he met making the film and the enduring and irresistible legend born on Thanksgiving eve, 1971. For news, and screenings go to: hbo.com/documentaries/the-mystery-of-db-cooper

Episode 53 of One Week Only! This week's key film is "Raw," a French coming-of-age drama about a vegetarian student at Veterinary college who discovers an unexpected but unquenchable thirst for meat, including human flesh. Directed by Julia Ducournau and starring Garance Marillier & Ella Rumpf, this fantastic film is a complex mix of college hazing drama, art-house horror and metaphorical exploration of one's identity. It's a bold debut, and one of the best films of the year so far. Now Playing in New York and Los Angeles! (35:30) The Slamdance Cinema Club returns to Arclight theaters this weekend! This week's interview is with the director & star of the documentary "Strad Style" about an amateur violin maker in rural Ohio who attempts to make one of the most complicated violins in the world. We speak with director Stefan Avalos and star Danny Houck about how the film came together, and what it was like to win both the Jury Prize and the Audience Award for Best Documentary at this year's Slamdance Film Festival. (46:00) We also review the Greek drama "Suntan" about a middle-aged doctor obsessed with a younger woman, directed by Argyris Papadimitropoulos (7:30); and the documentary "My Scientology Movie" about British broadcaster Louis Theroux's attempts to learn about the mysterious religion, directed by John Dower (21:00). Hosted by Carlos Aguilar & Conor Holt. Music by Kevin MacLeod at www.incompetech.com

Louis, John and Face2Face host David Peck talk about   Synopsis It’s an absurd truth about the Church of Scientology that one of the world’s most secretive organizations will step angrily out into public view when provoked. This reactiveness is at the core of My Scientology Movie, the cheeky, acclaimed “reverse-investigative” documentary starring British broadcaster/journalist Louis Theroux and directed by John Dower. With the world awash in “exposes” of the neo-religion created by the late science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard – and total denials by the Church itself – My Scientology Movie uses reverse psychology to create a picture of the organization inadvertently painted by its own followers. It starts with a not-unexpected refusal by the Church to cooperate with a documentary. It continues from there with a very public casting exercise by the filmmakers and former Scientology Marty Rathbun, for actors to play real-life figures like church leader David Miscavige and the church’s most famous follower Tom Cruise. They then let gossip and paranoia do the rest, attracting the attention of Scientology’s lawyers, threats from church officials, harassment from “squirrel-busters” meeting them at random locations (at least one such incident went viral online) and phony “documentary crews” that followed Theroux, Dower and Rathbun around. The result is a documentary that doubles down on the story of Scientology. It provides details of its dark side – including the infamous California “Gold Base” facility for wayward Church officials (visited in the movie) and a punishment area called The Hole. And it renders those revelations more plausible by the actual strange and aberrant behavior of followers. “They behaved in ways that were so clearly pathological,” Theroux says of the counter-tactics he recorded. “You would expect them to understand that other people would see this behavior and conclude that this is a religion of lunatics.” “This has always been a Holy Grail project to me,” he says. “I’m attracted to stories of people doing profoundly unusual things for explainable human reasons. Normally, I am invited into the worlds I visit. I had to make the decision to make this one anyway, and to lure them out. “At the heart of it, this is a story about religious fundamentalism, which is a phenomenon that is front and center in our time.” Biography Louis Theroux is a British-American documentary filmmaker, and broadcaster. He is best known for his documentary series, including Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends, When Louis Met..., and his BBC Two specials. His career started in journalism and bears influences of notable writers in his family, such as his father Paul Theroux and brother Marcel. He works with the BBC producing his documentaries and television series. He has received two British Academy Television Awards and a Royal Television Society Television Award for his work. John Dower is one of the Britain's leading documentary directors. His feature Thriller in Manila was in competition at Sundance, BAFTA and EMMY nominated, and won a Grierson and a Peabody Award. Bradley Wiggins – A Year In Yellow was also BAFTA nominated in the best director category. As well as his sporting films he has a keen eye for comedy. His music documentary Live Forever was described by The Guardian as, “Sublime … finds that the truth is stranger and funnier than the myths” and his latest theatrical feature My Scientology Movie praised by The Telegraph as “a giddy, Pythonesque delight”, with Variety calling it “riotously funny”.    ----------   For more information about my podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit my site here.   With thanks to producer Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My Scientology Movie sees BBC presenter, Louis Theroux, attempt to infiltrate the Church of Scientology, an organisation infamous for being shrouded in secrecy. Curiosity about the mysterious inner workings of the church, along with reports of assault committed by leader, David Miscavige, motivate Theroux’s efforts to understand life inside the Church and why it is so confidential. Since first approaching the Church in 2002, Theroux’s pursuit to gain access to the Church and interview Miscavige had been denied. Classified under the spiritual state of Operating Thetan (OT) and one of the highest levels within the hierarchy, members of the “Sea Org” also declined to be involved. Without admittance to the Church or interviews with practising Scientologists, one would assume any plans for the documentary would be abandoned. Instead, Theroux sets out to re-enact incidences involving Miscavige, the Sea Org and high profile member, Tom Cruise by holding a casting call in Hollywood, where the Church’s Los Angeles headquarters resides. Theroux is aided by Mark “Marty” Rathbun, an ex-Scientologist who was previously Miscavige’s second-in-command. The casting call sparks bitter backlash from the Scientologist community, resulting in Theroux and his team being stalked and threatened throughout the film. Casting actors to re-create Marty’s recollections of being a Scientologist works well to gradually introduce the audience to Scientology and awaken Marty’s memories. Most importantly, this approach compels Scientologists to engage with the documentary. Theroux appeals to the quality all scientologists, whether practising or excommunicated, seem to share in the film; an overbearing sense of pride. This could be attributed to the “auditing sessions” all members must undergo, which involve practicing intimidation techniques and dominating your opponent’s mind. Marty helps Theroux conduct a mock auditing session with the cast members to help them understand the harsh treatment within the Church and what motivates their characters. These techniques aim to instil doubt and distrust in the follower, hardening their mind but also weakening their empathy. Marty, despite having left the Church seven years ago, displays a similar type of pride when speaking about his previous role within Scientology, boasting that the “Church was absolutely at [his] beck and call”. Marty is a conflicted character, both reminiscing about former glory and bitter towards his past aggressors. The main criticism against Theroux documentaries is the presenter tends to insert himself into the narrative, steering away from traditional methods of strict observation. Fans of Theroux will relish the moment he catches his interviewees off-guard with his quips and quirky interviewing style, a trademark of his documentaries. Those intrigued by both the subject and the way the presenter engages with the subject will find this film captivating. However, I can appreciate that those who prefer the traditional style would not welcome his techniques, which often blur the line between conventional documentary and reality tv. This is where the genius lies, though, for the cast of actors play two roles in this film; the fabricated re-enactment of Marty’s memories and their real experiences with Scientologists as they’re hounded during filming. The switches between official BBC camera footage and mobile recordings suggests the documentary is largely unfiltered, and reinforces the idea of the film’s authenticity. This balances the growing suspicion you may feel when listening to Marty’s stories, a position I found myself in especially when he omits piece of information or becomes agitated without warning. I would highly recommend going to see this film, whether you’re a Theroux fan or not. It sees the talents of director, John Dower, and producer, Simon Chinn, come together and make a thought-provoking and entertaining film. Written by Erin ConnellanSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My Scientology Movie sees BBC presenter, Louis Theroux, attempt to infiltrate the Church of Scientology, an organisation infamous for being shrouded in secrecy. Curiosity about the mysterious inner workings of the church, along with reports of assault committed by leader, David Miscavige, motivate Theroux’s efforts to understand life inside the Church and why it is so confidential.  Since first approaching the Church in 2002, Theroux’s pursuit to gain access to the Church and interview Miscavige had been denied. Classified under the spiritual state of Operating Thetan (OT) and one of the highest levels within the hierarchy, members of the “Sea Org” also declined to be involved. Without admittance to the Church or interviews with practising Scientologists, one would assume any plans for the documentary would be abandoned. Instead, Theroux sets out to re-enact incidences involving Miscavige, the Sea Org and high profile member, Tom Cruise by holding a casting call in Hollywood, where the Church’s Los Angeles headquarters resides. Theroux is aided by Mark “Marty” Rathbun, an ex-Scientologist who was previously Miscavige’s second-in-command. The casting call sparks bitter backlash from the Scientologist community, resulting in Theroux and his team being stalked and threatened throughout the film. Casting actors to re-create Marty’s recollections of being a Scientologist works well to gradually introduce the audience to Scientology and awaken Marty’s memories. Most importantly, this approach compels Scientologists to engage with the documentary. Theroux appeals to the quality all scientologists, whether practising or excommunicated, seem to share in the film; an overbearing sense of pride. This could be attributed to the “auditing sessions” all members must undergo, which involve practicing intimidation techniques and dominating your opponent’s mind. Marty helps Theroux conduct a mock auditing session with the cast members to help them understand the harsh treatment within the Church and what motivates their characters. These techniques aim to instil doubt and distrust in the follower, hardening their mind but also weakening their empathy. Marty, despite having left the Church seven years ago, displays a similar type of pride when speaking about his previous role within Scientology, boasting that the “Church was absolutely at [his] beck and call”. Marty is a conflicted character, both reminiscing about former glory and bitter towards his past aggressors. The main criticism against Theroux documentaries is the presenter tends to insert himself into the narrative, steering away from traditional methods of strict observation. Fans of Theroux will relish the moment he catches his interviewees off-guard with his quips and quirky interviewing style, a trademark of his documentaries. Those intrigued by both the subject and the way the presenter engages with the subject will find this film captivating. However, I can appreciate that those who prefer the traditional style would not welcome his techniques, which often blur the line between conventional documentary and reality tv. This is where the genius lies, though, for the cast of actors play two roles in this film; the fabricated re-enactment of Marty’s memories and their real experiences with Scientologists as they’re hounded during filming. The switches between official BBC camera footage and mobile recordings suggests the documentary is largely unfiltered, and reinforces the idea of the film’s authenticity. This balances the growing suspicion you may feel when listening to Marty’s stories, a position I found myself in especially when he omits piece of information or becomes agitated without warning. I would highly recommend going to see this film, whether you’re a Theroux fan or not. It sees the talents of director, John Dower, and producer, Simon Chinn, come together and make a thought-provoking and entertaining film. Written by Erin Connellan

Il est temps de s'intéresser aux films vus en mai 2016 pour 24FPS, le podcast ciné avec ou sans spoiler !Ce sont cette fois 10 films qui sont passés en revue par Julien et Jerome, tout d'abord sans spoiler : Mr Holmes de Bill Condon (à partir de 00h02m58s) Le Livre De La Jungle de Jon Favreau (à partir de 00h05m56s) My Scientology Movie de John Dower (à partir de 00h08m40s) Ma Loute de Bruno Dumont (à partir de 00h14m40s) Nos Pires Voisins 2 de Nicholas Stoller (à partir de 00h32m28s) Hologram For The King de Tom Tykwer (à partir de 00h37m07s) The Nice Guys de Shane Black (à partir de 00h41m03s) Elle de Paul Verhoeven (à partir de 00h59m10s) Money Monster de Jodie Foster (à partir de 01h19m32s) X-Men Apocalypse de Bryan Singer (à partir de 01h30m10s)Puis, après le signal sonore, ils reviennent, cette fois avec des détails du scénario, et donc des spoilers sur : Elle de Paul Verhoeven (à partir de 02h11m10s) Money Monster de Jodie Foster (à partir de 02h28m55s) X-Men Apocalypse de Bryan Singer (à partir de 02h41m13s)Crédits musicaux : Rock And Roll All Nite de Kiss, issu de l'album Dressed To Kill (1975)Et n'oubliez de jeter une oreille à la comédie musicale Hamilton qui vous est chaudement recommandée par Julien.

Dale Maharidge‘s Bringing Mulligan Home: The Other Side of the Good War (PublicAffairs, 2013) is something of a departure from our regular offerings. Normally our authors are established academics specializing in the field of military history. Dale Maharidge, however, is an award-winning journalist who, prior to Bringing Mulligan Home, has had only limited exposure to the subject of the Pacific Theater in World War II. What he does bring however is a personal stake in the topic – his father Steve Maharidge served in the Sixth Marine Division, and took part in the assaults on Guam and Okinawa. As a child and then as a young man, Dale was both enthralled and frightened by his father's regular accounts of the war – enthralled as a son learning more about his father's experiences in combat; frightened by the storm of emotions and anger that often accompanied his stories. Inspired to learn more about his father's service, Dale came to understand how Post-Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury shaped his father's post-war life, as well as that of the dozen other Marines he interviewed who served alongside him. Though written in a journalistic style, Dale Maharidge reserves the bulk of the text for the personal testimony of his twelve interview subjects. The account they weave spares no word or emotion as it offers a harsh testimony of the power and violence of the Pacific War. The collected narratives present a visceral account of combat that rivals Eugene Sledge's classic With the Old Breed, while also bearing witness to John Dower's conclusions in his groundbreaking monograph, War Without Mercy. While the book does occasionally lag, caught up in inconsistencies and missed conclusions, in the larger perspective these flaws are minor. Bringing Mulligan Home captures the ugly, nightmarish side of the Pacific War, but never at the expense of the humanity of his father, or his compatriots (well, there is one exception – but more on that in the interview). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dale Maharidge‘s Bringing Mulligan Home: The Other Side of the Good War (PublicAffairs, 2013) is something of a departure from our regular offerings. Normally our authors are established academics specializing in the field of military history. Dale Maharidge, however, is an award-winning journalist who, prior to Bringing Mulligan Home, has had only limited exposure to the subject of the Pacific Theater in World War II. What he does bring however is a personal stake in the topic – his father Steve Maharidge served in the Sixth Marine Division, and took part in the assaults on Guam and Okinawa. As a child and then as a young man, Dale was both enthralled and frightened by his father’s regular accounts of the war – enthralled as a son learning more about his father’s experiences in combat; frightened by the storm of emotions and anger that often accompanied his stories. Inspired to learn more about his father’s service, Dale came to understand how Post-Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury shaped his father’s post-war life, as well as that of the dozen other Marines he interviewed who served alongside him. Though written in a journalistic style, Dale Maharidge reserves the bulk of the text for the personal testimony of his twelve interview subjects. The account they weave spares no word or emotion as it offers a harsh testimony of the power and violence of the Pacific War. The collected narratives present a visceral account of combat that rivals Eugene Sledge’s classic With the Old Breed, while also bearing witness to John Dower’s conclusions in his groundbreaking monograph, War Without Mercy. While the book does occasionally lag, caught up in inconsistencies and missed conclusions, in the larger perspective these flaws are minor. Bringing Mulligan Home captures the ugly, nightmarish side of the Pacific War, but never at the expense of the humanity of his father, or his compatriots (well, there is one exception – but more on that in the interview). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dale Maharidge‘s Bringing Mulligan Home: The Other Side of the Good War (PublicAffairs, 2013) is something of a departure from our regular offerings. Normally our authors are established academics specializing in the field of military history. Dale Maharidge, however, is an award-winning journalist who, prior to Bringing Mulligan Home, has had only limited exposure to the subject of the Pacific Theater in World War II. What he does bring however is a personal stake in the topic – his father Steve Maharidge served in the Sixth Marine Division, and took part in the assaults on Guam and Okinawa. As a child and then as a young man, Dale was both enthralled and frightened by his father’s regular accounts of the war – enthralled as a son learning more about his father’s experiences in combat; frightened by the storm of emotions and anger that often accompanied his stories. Inspired to learn more about his father’s service, Dale came to understand how Post-Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury shaped his father’s post-war life, as well as that of the dozen other Marines he interviewed who served alongside him. Though written in a journalistic style, Dale Maharidge reserves the bulk of the text for the personal testimony of his twelve interview subjects. The account they weave spares no word or emotion as it offers a harsh testimony of the power and violence of the Pacific War. The collected narratives present a visceral account of combat that rivals Eugene Sledge’s classic With the Old Breed, while also bearing witness to John Dower’s conclusions in his groundbreaking monograph, War Without Mercy. While the book does occasionally lag, caught up in inconsistencies and missed conclusions, in the larger perspective these flaws are minor. Bringing Mulligan Home captures the ugly, nightmarish side of the Pacific War, but never at the expense of the humanity of his father, or his compatriots (well, there is one exception – but more on that in the interview). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dale Maharidge‘s Bringing Mulligan Home: The Other Side of the Good War (PublicAffairs, 2013) is something of a departure from our regular offerings. Normally our authors are established academics specializing in the field of military history. Dale Maharidge, however, is an award-winning journalist who, prior to Bringing Mulligan Home, has had only limited exposure to the subject of the Pacific Theater in World War II. What he does bring however is a personal stake in the topic – his father Steve Maharidge served in the Sixth Marine Division, and took part in the assaults on Guam and Okinawa. As a child and then as a young man, Dale was both enthralled and frightened by his father’s regular accounts of the war – enthralled as a son learning more about his father’s experiences in combat; frightened by the storm of emotions and anger that often accompanied his stories. Inspired to learn more about his father’s service, Dale came to understand how Post-Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury shaped his father’s post-war life, as well as that of the dozen other Marines he interviewed who served alongside him. Though written in a journalistic style, Dale Maharidge reserves the bulk of the text for the personal testimony of his twelve interview subjects. The account they weave spares no word or emotion as it offers a harsh testimony of the power and violence of the Pacific War. The collected narratives present a visceral account of combat that rivals Eugene Sledge’s classic With the Old Breed, while also bearing witness to John Dower’s conclusions in his groundbreaking monograph, War Without Mercy. While the book does occasionally lag, caught up in inconsistencies and missed conclusions, in the larger perspective these flaws are minor. Bringing Mulligan Home captures the ugly, nightmarish side of the Pacific War, but never at the expense of the humanity of his father, or his compatriots (well, there is one exception – but more on that in the interview). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dale Maharidge‘s Bringing Mulligan Home: The Other Side of the Good War (PublicAffairs, 2013) is something of a departure from our regular offerings. Normally our authors are established academics specializing in the field of military history. Dale Maharidge, however, is an award-winning journalist who, prior to Bringing Mulligan Home, has had only limited exposure to the subject of the Pacific Theater in World War II. What he does bring however is a personal stake in the topic – his father Steve Maharidge served in the Sixth Marine Division, and took part in the assaults on Guam and Okinawa. As a child and then as a young man, Dale was both enthralled and frightened by his father’s regular accounts of the war – enthralled as a son learning more about his father’s experiences in combat; frightened by the storm of emotions and anger that often accompanied his stories. Inspired to learn more about his father’s service, Dale came to understand how Post-Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury shaped his father’s post-war life, as well as that of the dozen other Marines he interviewed who served alongside him. Though written in a journalistic style, Dale Maharidge reserves the bulk of the text for the personal testimony of his twelve interview subjects. The account they weave spares no word or emotion as it offers a harsh testimony of the power and violence of the Pacific War. The collected narratives present a visceral account of combat that rivals Eugene Sledge’s classic With the Old Breed, while also bearing witness to John Dower’s conclusions in his groundbreaking monograph, War Without Mercy. While the book does occasionally lag, caught up in inconsistencies and missed conclusions, in the larger perspective these flaws are minor. Bringing Mulligan Home captures the ugly, nightmarish side of the Pacific War, but never at the expense of the humanity of his father, or his compatriots (well, there is one exception – but more on that in the interview). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices