Podcast appearances and mentions of nam dinh

Last time we spoke about the Soviet Victory in Asia. After atomic bombings and Japan's surrender, the Soviets launched a rapid Manchurian invasion, driving toward Harbin, Mukden, Changchun, and Beijing. Shenyang was taken, seeing the capture of the last Emperor of China, Pu Yi. The Soviets continued their advances into Korea with port captures at Gensan and Pyongyang, and occupation of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, ahead of anticipated American intervention. Stalin pushed for speed to avoid US naval landings, coordinating with Chinese forces and leveraging the Sino-Soviet pact while balancing relations with Chiang Kai-shek. As fronts closed, tens of thousands of Japanese POWs were taken, while harsh wartime reprisals, looting, and mass sexual violence against Japanese, Korean, and Chinese civilians were reported.  This episode is the Surrender of Japan Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, 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 world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two 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 you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800's until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.  With the Manchurian Campaign over and Japan's surrender confirmed, we've reached the end of the Pacific War and the ushering of a new era. This journey took us 3 years, 8 months, and 27 days and it's been a rollercoaster. We've gone over numerous stories of heroism and horror, victory and defeat, trying to peel back a part of WW2 that often gets overshadowed by the war in Europe. Certainly the China War is almost completely ignored by the west, but fortunately for you all, as I end this series we have just entered the China war over at the Fall and Rise of China Podcast. Unlike this series where, to be blunt, I am hamstrung by the week by week format, over there I can tackle the subject as I see fit, full of personal accounts. I implore you if you want to revisit some of that action in China, jump over to the other podcast, I will be continuing it until the end of the Chinese civil war. One could say it will soon be a bit of a sequel to this one. Of course if you love this format and want more, you can check out the brand new Eastern Front week by week podcast, which really does match the horror of the Pacific war. Lastly if you just love hearing my dumb voice, come check out my podcast which also is in video format on the Pacific War Channel on Youtube, the Echoes of War podcast. Me and my co-host Gaurav tackle history from Ancient to Modern, often with guests and we blend the dialogue with maps, photos and clips. But stating all of that, lets get into it, the surrender of Japan. As we last saw, while the Soviet invasion of Manchuria raged, Emperor Hirohito announced the unconditional surrender of the Japanese Empire on August 15. Public reaction varied, yet most were stunned and bewildered, unable to grasp that Japan had surrendered for the first time in its history. Many wept openly as they listened to the Emperor's solemn message; others directed swift anger at the nation's leaders and the fighting services for failing to avert defeat; and some blamed themselves for falling short in their war effort. Above all, there was a deep sympathy for the Emperor, who had been forced to make such a tragic and painful decision.  In the wake of the Emperor's broadcast, war factories across the country dismissed their workers and shut their doors. Newspapers that had been ordered to pause their usual morning editions appeared in the afternoon, each carrying the Imperial Rescript, an unabridged translation of the Potsdam Declaration, and the notes exchanged with the Allied Powers. In Tokyo, crowds of weeping citizens gathered all afternoon in the vast plaza before the Imperial Palace and at the Meiji and Yasukuni Shrines to bow in reverence and prayer. The shock and grief of the moment, coupled with the dark uncertainty about the future, prevented any widespread sense of relief that the fighting had ended. Bombings and bloodshed were over, but defeat seemed likely to bring only continued hardship and privation. Starvation already gripped the land, and the nation faced the looming breakdown of public discipline and order, acts of violence and oppression by occupying forces, and a heavy burden of reparations. Yet despite the grim outlook, the Emperor's assurance that he would remain to guide the people through the difficult days ahead offered a measure of solace and courage. His appeal for strict compliance with the Imperial will left a lasting impression, and the refrain “Reverent Obedience to the Rescript” became the rallying cry as the nation prepared to endure the consequences of capitulation. Immediately after the Emperor's broadcast, Prime Minister Suzuki's cabinet tendered its collective resignation, yet Hirohito commanded them to remain in office until a new cabinet could be formed. Accordingly, Suzuki delivered another broadcast that evening, urging the nation to unite in absolute loyalty to the throne in this grave national crisis, and stressing that the Emperor's decision to end the war had been taken out of compassion for his subjects and in careful consideration of the circumstances. Thus, the shocked and grief-stricken population understood that this decision represented the Emperor's actual will rather than a ratified act of the Government, assuring that the nation as a whole would obediently accept the Imperial command. Consequently, most Japanese simply went on with their lives as best they could; yet some military officers, such as General Anami, chose suicide over surrender. Another key figure who committed seppuku between August 15 and 16 was Vice-Admiral Onishi Takijiro, the father of the kamikaze. Onishi's suicide note apologized to the roughly 4,000 pilots he had sent to their deaths and urged all surviving young civilians to work toward rebuilding Japan and fostering peace among nations. Additionally, despite being called “the hero of the August 15 incident” for his peacekeeping role in the attempted coup d'état, General Tanaka felt responsible for the damage done to Tokyo and shot himself on August 24. Following the final Imperial conference on 14 August, the Army's “Big Three”, War Minister Anami, Chief of the Army General Staff Umezu, and Inspectorate-General of Military Training General Kenji Doihara, met at the War Ministry together with Field Marshals Hata and Sugiyama, the senior operational commanders of the homeland's Army forces. These five men affixed their seals to a joint resolution pledging that the Army would “conduct itself in accordance with the Imperial decision to the last.” The resolution was endorsed immediately afterward by General Masakazu Kawabe, the overall commander of the Army air forces in the homeland. In accordance with this decision, General Anami and General Umezu separately convened meetings of their senior subordinates during the afternoon of the 14th, informing them of the outcome of the final Imperial conference and directing strict obedience to the Emperor's command. Shortly thereafter, special instructions to the same effect were radioed to all top operational commanders jointly in the names of the War Minister and Chief of Army General Staff. The Army and Navy authorities acted promptly, and their decisive stance proved, for the most part, highly effective. In the Army, where the threat of upheaval was most acute, the final, unequivocal decision of its top leaders to heed the Emperor's will delivered a crippling blow to the smoldering coup plot by the young officers to block the surrender. The conspirators had based their plans on unified action by the Army as a whole; with that unified stance effectively ruled out, most of the principal plotters reluctantly abandoned the coup d'état scheme on the afternoon of 14 August. At the same time, the weakened Imperial Japanese Navy took steps to ensure disciplined compliance with the surrender decision. Only Admiral Ugaki chose to challenge this with his final actions. After listening to Japan's defeat, Admiral Ugaki Kayō's diary recorded that he had not yet received an official cease-fire order, and that, since he alone was to blame for the failure of Japanese aviators to stop the American advance, he would fly one last mission himself to embody the true spirit of bushido. His subordinates protested, and even after Ugaki had climbed into the back seat of a Yokosuka D4Y4 of the 701st Kokutai dive bomber piloted by Lieutenant Tatsuo Nakatsuru, Warrant Officer Akiyoshi Endo, whose place in the kamikaze roster Ugaki had usurped, also climbed into the same space that the admiral had already occupied. Thus, the aircraft containing Ugaki took off with three men piloted by Nakatsuru, with Endo providing reconnaissance, and Ugaki himself, rather than the two crew members that filled the other ten aircraft. Before boarding his aircraft, Ugaki posed for pictures and removed his rank insignia from his dark green uniform, taking only a ceremonial short sword given to him by Admiral Yamamoto. Elements of this last flight most likely followed the Ryukyu flyway southwest to the many small islands north of Okinawa, where U.S. forces were still on alert at the potential end of hostilities. Endo served as radioman during the mission, sending Ugaki's final messages, the last of which at 19:24 reported that the plane had begun its dive onto an American vessel. However, U.S. Navy records do not indicate any successful kamikaze attack on that day, and it is likely that all aircraft on the mission with the exception of three that returned due to engine problems crashed into the ocean, struck down by American anti-aircraft fire. Although there are no precise accounts of an intercept made by Navy or Marine fighters or Pacific Fleet surface units against enemy aircraft in this vicinity at the time of surrender. it is likely the aircraft crashed into the ocean or was shot down by American anti-aircraft fire. In any event, the crew of LST-926 reported finding the still-smoldering remains of a cockpit with three bodies on the beach of Iheyajima Island, with Ugaki's remains allegedly among them. Meanwhile, we have already covered the Truman–Stalin agreement that Japanese forces north of the 38th parallel would surrender to the Soviets while those to the south would surrender to the Americans, along with the subsequent Soviet occupation of Manchuria, North Korea, South Sakhalin, and the Kurile Islands. Yet even before the first atomic bomb was dropped, and well before the Potsdam Conference, General MacArthur and his staff were planning a peaceful occupation of Japan and the Korean Peninsula. The first edition of this plan, designated “Blacklist,” appeared on July 16 and called for a progressive, orderly occupation in strength of an estimated fourteen major areas in Japan and three to six areas in Korea, so that the Allies could exercise unhampered control over the various phases of administration. These operations would employ 22 divisions and 3 regiments, together with air and naval elements, and would utilize all United States forces immediately available in the Pacific. The plan also provided for the maximum use of existing Japanese political and administrative organizations, since these agencies already exerted effective control over the population and could be employed to good advantage by the Allies. The final edition of “Blacklist,” issued on August 8, was divided into three main phases of occupation. The first phase included the Kanto Plain, the Kobe–Osaka–Kyoto areas, the Nagasaki–Sasebo area in Kyushu, the Keijo district in Korea, and the Aomori–Ominato area of northern Honshu. The second phase covered the Shimonoseki–Fukuoka and Nagoya areas, Sapporo in Hokkaido, and Fusan in Korea. The third phase comprised the Hiroshima–Kure area, Kochi in Shikoku, the Okayama, Tsuruga, and Niigata areas, Sendai in northern Honshu, Otomari in Karafuto, and the Gunzan–Zenshu area in Korea. Although the Joint Chiefs of Staff initially favored Admiral Nimitz's “Campus” Plan, which envisioned entry into Japan by Army forces only after an emergency occupation of Tokyo Bay by advanced naval units and the seizure of key positions ashore near each anchorage, MacArthur argued that naval forces were not designed to perform the preliminary occupation of a hostile country whose ground divisions remained intact, and he contended that occupying large land areas was fundamentally an Army mission. He ultimately convinced them that occupation by a weak Allied force might provoke resistance from dissident Japanese elements among the bomb-shattered population and could therefore lead to grave repercussions. The formal directive for the occupation of Japan, Korea, and the China coast was issued by the Joint Chiefs of Staff on August 11. The immediate objectives were to secure the early entry of occupying forces into major strategic areas, to control critical ports, port facilities, and airfields, and to demobilize and disarm enemy troops. First priority went to the prompt occupation of Japan, second to the consolidation of Keijo in Korea, and third to operations on the China coast and in Formosa. MacArthur was to assume responsibility for the forces entering Japan and Korea; General Wedemeyer was assigned operational control of the forces landing on the China coast and was instructed to coordinate his plans with the Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek; and Japanese forces in Southeast Asia were earmarked for surrender to Admiral Mountbatten. With the agreement of the Soviet, Chinese, and British governments, President Truman designated MacArthur as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers on August 15, thereby granting him final authority for the execution of the terms of surrender and occupation. In this capacity, MacArthur promptly notified the Emperor and the Japanese Government that he was authorized to arrange for the cessation of hostilities at the earliest practicable date and directed that the Japanese forces terminate hostilities immediately and that he be notified at once of the effective date and hour of such termination. He further directed that Japan send to Manila on August 17 “a competent representative empowered to receive in the name of the Emperor of Japan, the Japanese Imperial Government, and the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters certain requirements for carrying into effect the terms of surrender.” General MacArthur's stipulations to the Japanese Government included specific instructions regarding the journey of the Japanese representatives to Manila. The emissaries were to leave Sata Misaki, at the southern tip of Kyushu, on the morning of August 17. They were to travel in a Douglas DC-3-type transport plane, painted white and marked with green crosses on the wings and fuselage, and to fly under Allied escort to an airdrome on Lejima in the Ryukyus. From there, the Japanese would be transported to Manila in a United States plane. The code designation chosen for communication between the Japanese plane and US forces was the symbolic word “Bataan.” Implementation challenges arose almost immediately due to disagreements within Imperial General Headquarters and the Foreign Office over the exact nature of the mission. Some officials interpreted the instructions as requiring the delegates to carry full powers to receive and agree to the actual terms of surrender, effectively making them top representatives of the Government and High Command. Others understood the mission to be strictly preparatory, aimed only at working out technical surrender arrangements and procedures. Late in the afternoon of August 16, a message was sent to MacArthur's headquarters seeking clarification and more time to organize the mission. MacArthur replied that signing the surrender terms would not be among the tasks of the Japanese representatives dispatched to Manila, assured the Japanese that their proposed measures were satisfactory, and pledged that every precaution would be taken to ensure the safety of the Emperor's representatives on their mission. Although preparations were made with all possible speed, on August 16 the Japanese notified that this delegation would be somewhat delayed due to the scarcity of time allowed for its formation. At the same time, MacArthur was notified that Hirohito had issued an order commanding the entire armed forces of his nation to halt their fighting immediately. The wide dispersion and the disrupted communications of the Japanese forces, however, made the rapid and complete implementation of such an order exceedingly difficult, so it was expected that the Imperial order would take approximately two to twelve days to reach forces throughout the Pacific and Asiatic areas. On August 17, the Emperor personally backed up these orders with a special Rescript to the armed services, carefully worded to assuage military aversion to surrender. Suzuki was also replaced on this date, with the former commander of the General Defense Army, General Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko, becoming the new Prime Minister with the initial tasks to hastily form a new cabinet capable of effecting the difficult transition to peace swiftly and without incident. The Government and Imperial General Headquarters moved quickly to hasten the preparations, but the appointment of the mission's head was held up pending the installation of the Higashikuni Cabinet. The premier-designate pressed for a rapid formation of the government, and on the afternoon of the 17th the official ceremony of installation took place in the Emperor's presence. Until General Shimomura could be summoned to Tokyo from the North China Area Army, Prince Higashikuni himself assumed the portfolio of War Minister concurrently with the premiership, Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai remaining in the critical post of Navy Minister, and Prince Ayamaro Konoe, by Marquis Kido's recommendation, entered the Cabinet as Minister without Portfolio to act as Higashikuni's closest advisor. The Foreign Minister role went to Mamoru Shigemitsu, who had previously served in the Koiso Cabinet. With the new government installed, Prince Higashikuni broadcast to the nation on the evening of 17 August, declaring that his policies as Premier would conform to the Emperor's wishes as expressed in the Imperial mandate to form a Cabinet. These policies were to control the armed forces, maintain public order, and surmount the national crisis, with scrupulous respect for the Constitution and the Imperial Rescript terminating the war. The cabinet's installation removed one delay, and in the afternoon of the same day a message from General MacArthur's headquarters clarified the mission's nature and purpose. Based on this clarification, it was promptly decided that Lieutenant General Torashiro Kawabe, Deputy Chief of the Army General Staff, should head a delegation of sixteen members, mainly representing the Army and Navy General Staffs. Kawabe was formally appointed by the Emperor on 18 August. By late afternoon that same day, the data required by the Allied Supreme Commander had largely been assembled, and a message was dispatched to Manila informing General MacArthur's headquarters that the mission was prepared to depart the following morning. The itinerary received prompt approval from the Supreme Commander. Indeed, the decision to appoint a member of the Imperial Family who had a respectable career in the armed forces was aimed both at appeasing the population and at reassuring the military. MacArthur appointed General Eichelberger's 8th Army to initiate the occupation unassisted through September 22, at which point General Krueger's 6th Army would join the effort. General Hodge's 24th Corps was assigned to execute Operation Blacklist Forty, the occupation of the Korean Peninsula south of the 38th Parallel. MacArthur's tentative schedule for the occupation outlined an initial advance party of 150 communications experts and engineers under Colonel Charles Tench, which would land at Atsugi Airfield on August 23. Naval forces under Admiral Halsey's 3rd Fleet were to enter Tokyo Bay on August 24, followed by MacArthur's arrival at Atsugi the next day and the start of the main landings of airborne troops and naval and marine forces. The formal surrender instrument was to be signed aboard an American battleship in Tokyo Bay on August 28, with initial troop landings in southern Kyushu planned for August 29–30. By September 4, Hodge's 24th Corps was to land at Inchon and begin the occupation of South Korea. In the meantime, per MacArthur's directions, a sixteen-man Japanese delegation headed by Lieutenant-General Kawabe Torashiro, Vice-Chief of the Army General Staff, left Sata Misaki on the morning of August 19; after landing at Iejima, the delegation transferred to an American transport and arrived at Nichols Field at about 18:00. That night, the representatives held their first conference with MacArthur's staff, led by Lieutenant-General Richard Sutherland. During the two days of conference, American linguists scanned, translated, and photostated the various reports, maps, and charts the Japanese had brought with them. Negotiations also resulted in permission for the Japanese to supervise the disarmament and demobilization of their own armed forces under Allied supervision, and provided for three extra days of preparation before the first occupying unit landed on the Japanese home islands on August 26. At the close of the conference, Kawabe was handed the documents containing the “Requirements of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers,” which concerned the arrival of the first echelons of Allied forces, the formal surrender ceremony, and the reception of the occupation forces. Also given were a draft Imperial Proclamation by which the Emperor would accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and command his subjects to cease hostilities, a copy of General Order No. 1 by which Imperial General Headquarters would direct all military and naval commanders to lay down their arms and surrender their units to designated Allied commanders, and the Instrument of Surrender itself, which would later be signed on board an American battleship in Tokyo Bay. After the Manila Conference ended, the Japanese delegation began its return to Japan at 13:00 on August 20; but due to mechanical problems and a forced landing near Hamamatsu, they did not reach Tokyo until August 21. With the scheduled arrival of the advanced party of the Allied occupation forces only five days away, the Japanese immediately began disarming combat units in the initial-occupation areas and evacuating them from those areas. The basic orders stated that Allied forces would begin occupying the homeland on 26 August and reaffirmed the intention ofImperial General Headquarters "to insure absolute obedience to the Imperial Rescript of 14 August, to prevent the occurrence of trouble with the occupying forces, and thus to demonstrate Japan's sincerity to the world." The Japanese government announced that all phases of the occupation by Allied troops would be peaceful and urged the public not to panic or resort to violence against the occupying forces. While they sought to reassure the population, they faced die-hard anti-surrender elements within the IJN, with ominous signs of trouble both from Kyushu, where many sea and air special-attack units were poised to meet an invasion, and from Atsugi, the main entry point for Allied airborne troops into the Tokyo Bay area. At Kanoya, Ugaki's successor, Vice-Admiral Kusaka Ryonosuke, hastened the separation of units from their weapons and the evacuation of naval personnel. At Atsugi, an even more threatening situation developed in the Navy's 302nd Air Group. Immediately after the announcement of the surrender, extremist elements in the group led by Captain Kozono Yasuna flew over Atsugi and the surrounding area, scattering leaflets urging the continuation of the war on the ground and claiming that the surrender edict was not the Emperor's true will but the machination of "traitors around the Throne." The extremists, numbering 83 junior officers and noncommissioned officers, did not commit hostile acts but refused to obey orders from their superior commanders. On August 19, Prince Takamatsu, the Emperor's brother and a navy captain, telephoned Atsugi and personally appealed to Captain Kozono and his followers to obey the Imperial decision. This intervention did not end the incident; on August 21 the extremists seized a number of aircraft and flew them to Army airfields in Saitama Prefecture in hopes of gaining support from Army air units. They failed in this attempt, and it was not until August 25 that all members of the group had surrendered. As a result of the Atsugi incident, on August 22 the Emperor dispatched Captain Prince Takamatsu Nabuhito and Vice-Admiral Prince Kuni Asaakira to various naval commands on Honshu and Kyushu to reiterate the necessity of strict obedience to the surrender decision. Both princes immediately left Tokyo to carry out this mission, but the situation improved over the next two days, and they were recalled before completing their tours. By this point, a typhoon struck the Kanto region on the night of August 22, causing heavy damage and interrupting communications and transport vital for evacuating troops from the occupation zone. This led to further delays in Japanese preparations for the arrival of occupation forces, and the Americans ultimately agreed to a two-day postponement of the preliminary landings. On August 27 at 10:30, elements of the 3rd Fleet entered Sagami Bay as the first step in the delayed occupation schedule. At 09:00 on August 28, Tench's advanced party landed at Atsugi to complete technical arrangements for the arrival of the main forces. Two days later, the main body of the airborne occupation forces began streaming into Atsugi, while naval and marine forces simultaneously landed at Yokosuka on the south shore of Tokyo Bay. There were no signs of resistance, and the initial occupation proceeded successfully.  Shortly after 1400, a famous C-54  the name “Bataan” in large letters on its nose circled the field and glided in for a landing. General MacArthur stepped from the aircraft, accompanied by General Sutherland and his staff officers. The operation proceeded smoothly. MacArthur paused momentarily to inspect the airfield, then climbed into a waiting automobile for the drive to Yokohama. Thousands of Japanese troops were posted along the fifteen miles of road from Atsugi to Yokohama to guard the route of the Allied motor cavalcade as it proceeded to the temporary SCAP Headquarters in Japan's great seaport city. The Supreme Commander established his headquarters provisionally in the Yokohama Customs House. The headquarters of the American Eighth Army and the Far East Air Force were also established in Yokohama, and representatives of the United States Pacific Fleet were attached to the Supreme Commander's headquarters. The intensive preparation and excitement surrounding the first landings on the Japanese mainland did not interfere with the mission of affording relief and rescue to Allied personnel who were internees or prisoners in Japan. Despite bad weather delaying the occupation operation, units of the Far East Air Forces and planes from the Third Fleet continued their surveillance missions. On 25 August they began dropping relief supplies, food, medicine, and clothing, to Allied soldiers and civilians in prisoner-of-war and internment camps across the main islands. While the advance echelon of the occupation forces was still on Okinawa, “mercy teams” were organized to accompany the first elements of the Eighth Army Headquarters. Immediately after the initial landings, these teams established contact with the Swiss and Swedish Legations, the International Red Cross, the United States Navy, and the Japanese Liaison Office, and rushed to expedite the release and evacuation, where necessary, of thousands of Allied internees.  On September 1, the Reconnaissance Troop of the 11th Airborne Division conducted a subsidiary airlift operation, flying from Atsugi to occupy Kisarazu Airfield; and on the morning of September 2, the 1st Cavalry Division began landing at Yokohama to secure most of the strategic areas along the shores of Tokyo Bay, with Tokyo itself remaining unoccupied. Concurrently, the surrender ceremony took place aboard Halsey's flagship, the battleship Missouri, crowded with representatives of the United Nations that had participated in the Pacific War.  General MacArthur presided over the epoch-making ceremony, and with the following words he inaugurated the proceedings which would ring down the curtain of war in the Pacific “We are gathered here, representatives of the major warring powers, to conclude a solemn agreement whereby peace may be restored. The issues, involving divergent ideals and ideologies, have been determined on the battlefields of the world and hence are not for our discussion or debate. Nor is it for us here to meet, representing as we do a majority of the people of the earth, in a spirit of distrust, malice or hatred. But rather it is for us, both victors and vanquished, to rise to that higher dignity which alone befits the sacred purposes we are about to serve, committing all our peoples unreservedly to faithful compliance with the understandings they are here formally to assume. It is my earnest hope, and indeed the hope of all mankind, that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past — a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance and justice. The terms and conditions upon which surrender of the Japanese Imperial Forces is here to be given and accepted are contained in the instrument of surrender now before you…”.  The Supreme Commander then invited the two Japanese plenipotentiaries to sign the duplicate surrender documents : Foreign Minister Shigemitsu, on behalf of the Emperor and the Japanese Government, and General Umezu, for the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters. He then called forward two famous former prisoners of the Japanese to stand behind him while he himself affixed his signature to the formal acceptance of the surrender : Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright, hero of Bataan and Corregidor and Lt. Gen. Sir Arthur E. Percival, who had been forced to yield the British stronghold at Singapore. General MacArthur was followed in turn by Admiral Nimitz, who signed on behalf of the United States. Alongside the recently liberated Generals Wainwright and Percival, who had been captured during the Japanese conquest of the Philippines and Singapore respectively, MacArthur then signed the surrender documents, followed by Admiral Nimitz and representatives of the other United Nations present. The Instrument of Surrender was completely signed within twenty minutes. Shortly afterwards, MacArthur broadcast the announcement of peace to the world, famously saying, “Today the guns are silent.” Immediately following the signing of the surrender articles, the Imperial Proclamation of capitulation was issued, commanding overseas forces to cease hostilities and lay down their arms; however, it would take many days, and in some cases weeks, for the official word of surrender to be carried along Japan's badly disrupted communications channels. Various devices were employed by American commanders to transmit news of final defeat to dispersed and isolated enemy troops, such as plane-strewn leaflets, loudspeaker broadcasts, strategically placed signboards, and prisoner-of-war volunteers. Already, the bypassed Japanese garrison at Mille Atoll had surrendered on August 22; yet the first large-scale surrender of Japanese forces came on August 27, when Lieutenant-General Ishii Yoshio surrendered Morotai and Halmahera to the 93rd Division. On August 30, a British Pacific Fleet force under Rear-Admiral Cecil Harcourt entered Victoria Harbour to begin the liberation of Hong Kong; and the following day, Rear-Admiral Matsubara Masata surrendered Minami-Torishima. In the Marianas, the Japanese commanders on Rota and Pagan Islands relinquished their commands almost simultaneously with the Tokyo Bay ceremony of September 2. Later that day, the same was done by Lieutenant-General Inoue Sadae in the Palaus and by Lieutenant-General Mugikura Shunzaburo and Vice-Admiral Hara Chuichi at Truk in the Carolines. Additionally, as part of Operation Jurist, a British detachment under Vice-Admiral Harold Walker received the surrender of the Japanese garrison on Penang Island. In the Philippines, local commanders in the central Bukidnon Province, Infanta, the Bataan Peninsula, and the Cagayan Valley had already surrendered by September 2. On September 3, General Yamashita and Vice-Admiral Okawachi Denshichi met with General Wainwright, General Percival, and Lieutenant-General Wilhelm Styer, Commanding General of Army Forces of the Western Pacific, to sign the formal surrender of the Japanese forces in the Philippines. With Yamashita's capitulation, subordinate commanders throughout the islands began surrendering in increasing numbers, though some stragglers remained unaware of the capitulation. Concurrently, while Yamashita was yielding his Philippine forces, Lieutenant-General Tachibana Yoshio's 109th Division surrendered in the Bonins on September 3. On September 4, Rear-Admiral Sakaibara Shigematsu and Colonel Chikamori Shigeharu surrendered their garrison on Wake Island, as did the garrison on Aguigan Island in the Marianas. Also on September 4, an advanced party of the 24th Corps landed at Kimpo Airfield near Keijo to prepare the groundwork for the occupation of South Korea; and under Operation Tiderace, Mountbatten's large British and French naval force arrived off Singapore and accepted the surrender of Japanese forces there. On September 5, Rear-Admiral Masuda Nisuke surrendered his garrison on Jaluit Atoll in the Marshalls, as did the garrison of Yap Island. The overall surrender of Japanese forces in the Solomons and Bismarcks and in the Wewak area of New Guinea was finally signed on September 6 by General Imamura Hitoshi and Vice-Admiral Kusaka Jinichi aboard the aircraft carrier Glory off Rabaul, the former center of Japanese power in the South Pacific. Furthermore, Lieutenant-General Nomi Toshio, representing remaining Japanese naval and army forces in the Ryukyus, officially capitulated on September 7 at the headquarters of General Stilwell's 10th Army on Okinawa. The following day, Tokyo was finally occupied by the Americans, and looking south, General Kanda and Vice-Admiral Baron Samejima Tomoshige agreed to travel to General Savige's headquarters at Torokina to sign the surrender of Bougainville. On September 8, Rear-Admiral Kamada Michiaki's 22nd Naval Special Base Force at Samarinda surrendered to General Milford's 7th Australian Division, as did the Japanese garrison on Kosrae Island in the Carolines. On September 9, a wave of surrenders continued: the official capitulation of all Japanese forces in the China Theater occurred at the Central Military Academy in Nanking, with General Okamura surrendering to General He Yingqin, the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China National Revolutionary Army; subsequently, on October 10, 47 divisions from the former Imperial Japanese Army officially surrendered to Chinese military officials and allied representatives at the Forbidden City in Beijing. The broader context of rehabilitation and reconstruction after the protracted war was daunting, with the Nationalists weakened and Chiang Kai-shek's policies contributing to Mao Zedong's strengthened position, shaping the early dynamics of the resumption of the Chinese Civil War. Meanwhile, on September 9, Hodge landed the 7th Division at Inchon to begin the occupation of South Korea. In the throne room of the Governor's Palace at Keijo, soon to be renamed Seoul, the surrender instrument was signed by General Abe Nobuyuki, the Governor-General of Korea; Lieutenant-General Kozuki Yoshio, commander of the 17th Area Army and of the Korean Army; and Vice-Admiral Yamaguchi Gisaburo, commander of the Japanese Naval Forces in Korea. The sequence continued with the 25th Indian Division landing in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan on Malaya to capture Port Dickson, while Lieutenant-General Teshima Fusataro's 2nd Army officially surrendered to General Blamey at Morotai, enabling Australian occupation of much of the eastern Dutch East Indies. On September 10, the Japanese garrisons on the Wotje and Maloelap Atolls in the Marshalls surrendered, and Lieutenant-General Baba Masao surrendered all Japanese forces in North Borneo to General Wootten's 9th Australian Division. After Imamura's surrender, Major-General Kenneth Eather's 11th Australian Division landed at Rabaul to begin occupation, and the garrison on Muschu and Kairiru Islands also capitulated. On September 11, General Adachi finally surrendered his 18th Army in the Wewak area, concluding the bloody New Guinea Campaign, while Major-General Yamamura Hyoe's 71st Independent Mixed Brigade surrendered at Kuching and Lieutenant-General Watanabe Masao's 52nd Independent Mixed Brigade surrendered on Ponape Island in the Carolines. Additionally, the 20th Indian Division, with French troops, arrived at Saigon as part of Operation Masterdom and accepted the surrender of Lieutenant-General Tsuchihashi Yuitsu, who had already met with Viet Minh envoys and agreed to turn power over to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.  When the Japanese surrendered to the Allies on 15 August 1945, the Viet Minh immediately launched the insurrection they had prepared for a long time. Across the countryside, “People's Revolutionary Committees” took over administrative positions, often acting on their own initiative, and in the cities the Japanese stood by as the Vietnamese took control. By the morning of August 19, the Viet Minh had seized Hanoi, rapidly expanding their control over northern Vietnam in the following days. The Nguyen dynasty, with its puppet government led by Tran Trong Kim, collapsed when Emperor Bao Dai abdicated on August 25. By late August, the Viet Minh controlled most of Vietnam. On 2 September, in Hanoi's Ba Dinh Square, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. As the Viet Minh began extending control across the country, the new government's attention turned to the arrival of Allied troops and the French attempt to reassert colonial authority, signaling the onset of a new and contentious phase in Vietnam's struggle.  French Indochina had been left in chaos by the Japanese occupation. On 11 September British and Indian troops of the 20th Indian Division under Major General Douglas Gracey arrived at Saigon as part of Operation Masterdom. After the Japanese surrender, all French prisoners had been gathered on the outskirts of Saigon and Hanoi, and the sentries disappeared on 18 September; six months of captivity cost an additional 1,500 lives. By 22 September 1945, all prisoners were liberated by Gracey's men, armed, and dispatched in combat units toward Saigon to conquer it from the Viet Minh, later joined by the French Far East Expeditionary Corps, established to fight the Japanese arriving a few weeks later. Around the same time, General Lu Han's 200,000 Chinese National Revolutionary Army troops of the 1st Front Army occupied Indochina north of the 16th parallel, with 90,000 arriving by October; the 62nd Army came on 26 September to Nam Dinh and Haiphong, Lang Son and Cao Bang were occupied by the Guangxi 62nd Army Corps, and the Red River region and Lai Cai were occupied by a column from Yunnan. Lu Han occupied the French governor-general's palace after ejecting the French staff under Sainteny. Consequently, while General Lu Han's Chinese troops occupied northern Indochina and allowed the Vietnamese Provisional Government to remain in control there, the British and French forces would have to contest control of Saigon. On September 12, a surrender instrument was signed at the Singapore Municipal Building for all Southern Army forces in Southeast Asia, the Dutch East Indies, and the eastern islands; General Terauchi, then in a hospital in Saigon after a stroke, learned of Burma's fall and had his deputy commander and leader of the 7th Area Army, Lieutenant-General Itagaki Seishiro, surrender on his behalf to Mountbatten, after which a British military administration was formed to govern the island until March 1946. The Japanese Burma Area Army surrendered the same day as Mountbatten's ceremony in Singapore, and Indian forces in Malaya reached Kuala Lumpur to liberate the Malay capital, though the British were slow to reestablish control over all of Malaya, with eastern Pahang remaining beyond reach for three more weeks. On September 13, the Japanese garrisons on Nauru and Ocean Islands surrendered to Brigadier John Stevenson, and three days later Major-General Okada Umekichi and Vice-Admiral Fujita Ruitaro formally signed the instrument of surrender at Hong Kong. In the meantime, following the Allied call for surrender, Japan had decided to grant Indonesian independence to complicate Dutch reoccupation: Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta signed Indonesia's Proclamation of Independence on August 17 and were appointed president and vice-president the next day, with Indonesian youths spreading news across Java via Japanese news and telegraph facilities and Bandung's news broadcast by radio. The Dutch, as the former colonial power, viewed the republicans as collaborators with the Japanese and sought to restore their colonial rule due to lingering political and economic interests in the former Dutch East Indies, a stance that helped trigger a four-year war for Indonesian independence. Fighting also erupted in Sumatra and the Celebes, though the 26th Indian Division managed to land at Padang on October 10. On October 21, Lieutenant-General Tanabe Moritake and Vice-Admiral Hirose Sueto surrendered all Japanese forces on Sumatra, yet British control over the country would dwindle in the ensuing civil conflict. Meanwhile, Formosa (Taiwan) was placed under the control of the Kuomintang-led Republic of China by General Order No. 1 and the Instrument of Surrender; Chiang Kai-shek appointed General Chen Yi as Chief Executive of Taiwan Province and commander of the Taiwan Garrison Command on September 1. After several days of preparation, an advance party moved into Taihoku on October 5, with additional personnel arriving from Shanghai and Chongqing between October 5 and 24, and on October 25 General Ando Rikichi signed the surrender document at Taipei City Hall. But that's the end for this week, and for the Pacific War.  Boy oh boy, its been a long journey hasn't it? Now before letting you orphans go into the wild, I will remind you, while this podcast has come to an end, I still write and narrate Kings and Generals Eastern Front week by week and the Fall and Rise of China Podcasts. Atop all that I have my own video-podcast Echoes of War, that can be found on Youtube or all podcast platforms. I really hope to continue entertaining you guys, so if you venture over to the other podcasts, comment you came from here! I also have some parting gifts to you all, I have decided to release a few Pacific War related exclusive episodes from my Youtuber Membership / patreon at www.patreon.com/pacificwarchannel. At the time I am writing this, over there I have roughly 32 episodes, one is uploaded every month alongside countless other goodies. Thank you all for being part of this long lasting journey. Kings and Generals literally grabbed me out of the blue when I was but a small silly person doing youtube videos using an old camera, I have barely gotten any better at it. I loved making this series, and I look forward to continuing other series going forward! You know where to find me, if you have any requests going forward the best way to reach me is just comment on my Youtube channel or email me, the email address can be found on my youtube channel. This has been Craig of the Pacific War Channel and narrator of the Pacific war week by week podcast, over and out!

Send us a textGet ready to discover a side of Vietnam that remains largely unknown to most Western visitorsVietnam's northern provinces hold secrets beyond the usual tourist trail—and in this episode, we go “church hunting” to uncover them. Joined by my returning guest, Ha (Hannah) from S5-E18 – Hanoi Below the Surface, we explore the stunning Catholic heritage in regions like Ninh Binh and Nam Dinh.With roots dating back to the 16th century and flourishing during French colonial times, Catholicism in Vietnam has left behind a breathtaking legacy of Gothic cathedrals, convents, and monasteries. We visit iconic sites like Phú Nhai Basilica and Bùi Chù Cathedral, as well as hidden gems like the Chau Son Monastery. All in flourishing communities.Ha shares her local insights and personal reflections as we trace the footsteps of history through quiet villages brimming with faith, architectural wonder, and community spirit. If you thought Vietnam was only temples and beaches—prepare to be surprised. These soulful spaces welcome all who seek beauty, history, and a deeper connection to place.The Churches we visited in our trip are listed below. I urge you to go to the Podcast episode for pictures and video of our journey;- www.whataboutvietnam.comChurch 1 -Bui Chu Cathedral Church 2 - Phu Nhai Basilica Church 3 - Kien Lao Church.Church 4 - Hung Nghia Church Church 5 – Chau Son MonasteryChurch 6 - Phat Diem Stone Cathedral I also encourage you to check out this newly released book on churches in Vietnam by Peter Steinhauer - CathedralsThe best way to connect with me is not via text, it is through the website www.whataboutvietnam.com website and email.Thank you for listening. Do not send TEXT as I am unable to respond directly. Please email whataboutvietnam@gmail.com Keep abreast of news on our social pages on FB, IG,LinkedIn and TikTokWe'd love a review on your podcast channel.Let me design your #customised #private tour of Vietnam - See our Travel ServicesDo you need a #Dental Procedure? Why not find out what's possible through our Dental and #Cosmetic Medical partner Worldwide Beauty Hospital. Mention #whataboutvietnam to receive 5% discount at Worldwide Beauty Hospital

O atacante Rafaelson Bezerra Fernandes é cria da base do Vitória (BA) e aos 20 anos, quando seu histórico como profissional era bem recente, acabou sendo emprestado ao Vegalta Sendai, do Japão. O ano era 2018 e Rafaelson estava cheio de vontade de mostrar seu futebol, mas as poucas oportunidades e uma lesão acabaram fazendo com que sua passagem japonesa fosse muito breve. Ainda querendo muito fazer seus gols e mostrar seu futebol, ele se tranfseriu ao Naestved, da Dinamarca. Em pouco mais de uma temporada pelo time, enfim Rafaelson teve sua chance nos gramados e conseguiu mostrar um pouco de seu valor. Com 22 anos e acreditando em seu potencial, Rafaelson recebia uma oferta para jogar na elite do Vietnã e decidiu ir com tudo. Pouco mais de 5 anos se passaram e o atacante mostrou que a escolha foi certeira. Ídolo no país, ele se tornou cidadão vietnamita e já realizou sua estreia pela Seleção do país, marcando dois gols. Falando da carreira e ótima fase, Rafaelson gentilmente atendeu o Canal Outra Liga e bateu um papo bem descontraído. #rafaelson #canaloutraliga #futebolpelomundo #brasileirospelomundo

O segundo entrevistado do Canal está de volta para uma segunda entrevista! Caio César da Silva Silveira se destacou cedo pelo Avaí e numa passagem pelo Tombense acabou se transferindo para o Japão. Após seis temporadas na terra do sol nascente, o meia Caio César teve uma breve passagem pelo CRB e agora se transfere ao time campeão da Liga do Vietnã: o Nam Dinh FC. Falando da nova vida e experiência no futebol asiático, Caio César relata sobre a vida e os desafios de um time que agora disputa a AFC Champions League 2. #caiocesar #vietna #futebolasiatico

Nam is the owner of Ace Bath in Canada. Immigrated to Canada in middle school, Nam has to overcome many challenges before finding success in construction. Nam touched on how having mentors and people that guide him early on in North America has helped him assimilate to the language and culture. From personal trainer to a multi million dollar bath remodeler, Nam's success has a lot to do with his willingness to seek help and focuses on building systems.

Pho, alebo vietnamský vývar, vzniklo v mestečku Nam Dinh. Odtiaľ pochádza aj rodina Lucie Šimekovej (Thao Huong), ktorá so svojím bratrancom v roku 2017 založila sieť Phočkární. Lucia, ktorá samú seba označuje za "mamu Phočkárne", sa narodila sa na Slovensku a chcela ľuďom predstaviť autentickú vietnamskú kuchyňu. V reštauráciách varia podľa receptov jej starej mamy. Phočkáreň má v súčasnosti tri prevádzky a zamestnáva 70 ľudí. “Keď som porodila prvé dieťa, práve v tom období sme dostali ponuku otvoriť druhú a tretiu pobočku Phočkárne. S dvojtýždňovým bábätkom som chodila na stretnutia ku generálnym dodávateľom, aby sme to stihli postaviť za dva mesiace. Bolo to šialené obdobie a neodporúčam to,” hovorí víťazka ocenenia EY Začínajúci podnikateľ roka 2022. V čom je vietnamská mentalita v podnikaní iná ako slovenská? Akí sú Vietnamci zamestnanci? Ako sa dá skĺbiť materstvo a práca? A čo pre Vietnamcov znamená rodina? Aj to sa dozviete v podcaste Prečo práve oni?, kde predstavujeme príbehy úspešných slovenských podnikateľov zo súťaže EY Podnikateľ roka. Podcast vychádza každú stredu a moderuje ho Adela Vinczeová.

Last time we spoke about Francis Garnier and his wild expedition in Vietnam. Yes against all his superiors orders, Garnier decided to grab a few of the boys and sail up river to threaten and steal territories for France. He first struck at the grand city of Hanoi, taking it much to the shock of the Nguyen officials. But he did not stop there oh no, he then set his eyes upon the provinces of Hung Yen and Phu Ly. Both were taken with shockingly small forces, but Garnier strived for even more and dispatched a force to take Hai Duong. Then he found out the Vietnamese at Ninh Binh were forming an army to fight him so he attacked it. This greatly pissed off the Vietnamese and their Black Flag Army allies who attacked Hanoi and in the process Garnier died charging into the enemy like a madman. Today we continue the story of how France colonized Indochina.   #43 The Tonkin Campaign   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. Now last we spoke, Henri Riviere basically took up the mantle of Francis Garnier and began to seize territory in Tonkin against his nation's wishes. That was of course until the government changed and the new administration led by Jules Ferry were very pro colonization and immediately supported Riviere.  Now Rivieres actions had caused a real maestrum for the Nguyen empire. Liu Yongfu went to Hanoi and slapped a note against the citadel on March 26th of 1883 threatening to kill Henri Riviere, taunting the french into battle. This scared the hell out of the Nguyen court who expected Riviere to unleash hell so they ordered prince Hoang Ke Viem to go seek out the Black Flag Army to see what could be done. Hoang Ke Viem was sent under the guise he was trying to move the Black Flag forces away from Hanoi, but Riviere did not buy it at all. Riviere sent a letter to Hanoi's military commander Hoang Dieu, demanding he submit or get rid of the Black Flags, otherwise he would yet again attack Hanoi. Hoang Dieu simply stated it was impossible for him to do so. Thus Riviere and his forces occupied Hanoi by April 26th, further stressing out the Nguyen court who desperately sent envoys to negotiate with France. Meanwhile Hoang Ke Viem saw the paint on the wall and began to mobilize forces in the northern provinces for war. During the negotiations with the French, Riviere demanded the French be allowed to garrison at Son Tay, but the Nguyen court said they could not, it was in fact because the Black Flags were there. Rivier took this as an act of hostility and began to suspect Hoang Ke Viem was working directly with the Black Flags. Things were however not looking good for Riviere, he had very limited forces and was forced to go on the defensive. The Nguyen court then ordered Hoang Ke Viem to write a letter to the French in Hanoi to officially explain the role of the Black Flags, in the vain hope of regaining Hanoi free of conflict. Despite all of this Hoang Ke Viem and the Black Flags mobilized for battle. On March 28th, in response to Liu Yongfu's taunting, Riviere elected to go out and fight the enemy. Why would he do this with basically under 500 men against thousands? According to the French, Riviere was forced to do so to protect the prestige of France, so he led a column of 450 troops out of Hanoi's citadel to face the Black Flag Army who had taken a position in Phy Hoai, just a few miles away. His force was soon discovered by Liu Yongfu's scouts who set up an ambush at a village called Cau Giay. Within this village was a bridge, known to the french as Pont de Papier “Paper bridge”. The Black Flag forces hid themselves west of the bridge in the village of Trung Thong, Thien Thong and Ha Yen Ke. These 3 smaller villages were covered in thick bamboo groves and trees making them excellent spots to perform an ambush. The French column reached the Paper bridge around 7:30am led at the ron by the Chef de Bataillon Berthe de Villers. As they crossed the bridge, the French vanguard was suddenly fired upon by Black Flag troops prompting Berthe de Villers to deploy his men into a line formation and push forward towards the 3 villages. Liu Yongfu waited for the enemy line to fully commit, then tossed in his reserves, launching a sudden flank attack to the French's right. The Black Flag flank's volleys caused tremendous casualties upon the french, mortally wounding Berthe de Villers, forcing Riviere to assume direct command of the column. To avoid encirclement, Riviere ordered his men to pull back and regroup on the other side of Paper bridge. The retreat was conducted initially in good order, being covered by artillery support, but then disaster struck. Suddenly their artillery cannons overturned by the force of their recoil fire, prompting Riviere and some officers to rush forward to help the gunners allowing the Black Flag to unleash some deadly volleys. The volley's killed some French officers and wounded Riviere, and upon seeing this the Black Flag Soldiers surged forward to attack the French rearguard. During the mayhem Riviere was killed, and almost complete catastrophe occurred for the French forces, until Lt De Vaisseau Pissere took command and pulled the men to the eastern side of the bridge. The Black Flag were finally pushed back and the French column was forced to limp back to Hanoi. The French had lost 5 officers, 30 men and had 55 wounded. The Black Army were estimated to have lost 50 dead and perhaps 50 wounded out of a total of 1500 men. In the greater scheme of things, it was a small battle, but it had a significant effect. Aside from the loss of face for France and death of Riviere, it prompted action from the new government of France. Jules Ferry's administration received word of the loss and Rivieres death on May 26th and it was met with outrage. French Naval minister Admiral Peyron declared “'France will avenge her glorious children!' His words would be echoed in the Chamber of Deputies for they immediately tossed 3.5 million france to finance a punitive expedition to Tonkin. The Tonkin Expeditionary corps were established in June of 1883 sent primarily to pacify Tonkin. They were led by General de Brigade Alexandre-Eugene Bouet, the most senior marine infantry officer close on hand, that being in Cochinchina. Bouet began his new mission by changing the attire of his forces, introduced lightweight black pyjama style summer uniforms, with some added black cloth to cover their white pith helmets. The idea behind this was simple, try not to stand out like a sore thumb so much in the jungle. Bouet arrived to Tonkin to find their position pretty precarious. The French only had small garrisons in Hanoi, Nam Dinh, Haiphong and very isolated small outposts in Hon Gai and Qui Nhon. Thus for the month of June he had the men dig in and perform defensive actions, sporadically being harassed by Vietnamese and Black Flag forces. Bouet needed to wait for reinforcements and decided to hire some local Yellow Flags. I have not mentioned them, but the Yellow Flag's were basically the same type of force as the Black FLag's, Chinese bandits who crossed over the border after the Taiping Rebellion. The Vietnamese government initially began to support the Yellow Flags to fight off the Black Flags, but as time went on the Black Flag's pretty much beat the shit out of the Yellow flags, excuse my French. Bouet would allegedly hire 800 Yellow Flag members to augment his forces.  In late july Bouet received reinforcements when Admiral Amedee Courtbet arrived to Ha Long Bay giving the French around 2500 infantry, 6 gunboats and some artillery pieces to work with. Bouet knew with these forces he could perform some offensive campaigns against the Black Flag Army, but he also was under orders to push for a political settlement with the Nguyen empire to recognize the French protectorate in Tonkin. Bouet and Courtbet met with Jules Harmand the new civil commissioner general for Tonkin to discuss war plans. The 3 men agreed that Bouet should launch an offensive against the Black Flag Army in Phu Hoai as a first action. They also noted that Rivieres suspicions about the Nguyen working with the Black Flags covertly was most likely true, therefore they decided to also strike against the Vietnamese forces as well. This was a significant escalation as attacking the Nguyen army forces could provoke the Qing dynasty.  The first thing to be done was sail up the Hue river, but in order to do so the French would need to seize the Thuan An forts guarding its entrance. Admiral Courtbet took his flagship Bayard out on august 16th to scout the forts while his flotilla assembled. Courtbet would have the ironclad Bayard and Atalante, the cruiser Chateaurenault and gunboats Vipere, Lynx and armed transport Drac and Annamite. On August the 18th the flotilla got into position at the entrance of the Hue river. A delegation was sent in advance to the Nguyen officials to demand the surrender of the forts, but the fort commander declined to respond. At 5:40pm the French ships began to open fire, met by return fire from the forts. The bombardment lasted only an hour, until it got dark and the ships had to turn on their electric searchlights to illuminate the forts. Dawn the next day the ships recommenced bombardment devastating the forts, though the Nguyen return fire did manage to strike their ships a few times. On August the 20th, 2 marine companies were landed near the northern fort led by Captain Parrayon of the ship Bayard. The Vietnamese trench line troops fired upon the invaders. After and hour of fighting, Parrayon seized the northern fort and raised the French flag.  After taking this fort the French turned their attention to the southern fort and began to bombard it and prepared marines to land. It was all for nothing however as the defenders had abandoned the fort and nearby village while the northern fort was under attack. The casualties for the Nguyen forces were heavy, with some outrageous estimates ranging up to 2000. Enseigne de vaisseau Louis-Marie-Julian Viaud served under Admiral Courbet aboard the Atalante and he wrote extensively of the Tonkin campaign under the pen name Pierre Loti. He wrote about the battle of Thuan An, giving accounts of atrocities committed by the French forces. He would later be recalled by the French navy and suspended from duty for publishing such works, here is a passage about the aftermath of the battle “The great slaughter now began. Our men fired double volleys, and it was a pleasure to see their streams of well-aimed bullets shredding the enemy ranks, surely and methodically, twice a minute, on the word of command... We could see some men, quite out of their senses, standing up, seized with a dizzy desire to run... They zigzagged, swerving this way and that way as they tried to outrun death, clutching their garments around their waists in a comical way... Afterwards, we amused ourselves by counting the dead…” Pierre Loti spoke of how the French marines took pleasure bayoneting wounded Vietnamese troops, slaughtering the clearly outgunned men. The seizure of the forts shocked the Nguyen court and an 48 hour armistice was quickly agreed upon. The Nguyen court agreed immediately to evacuate 12 inland forts defending the Hue river, destroyed their ammunition and removed barrages. Jules Harmand sailed up the Hue river to meet directly with the Nguyen court where he threatened them with complete annihilation unless they accepted a French protectorate over both Tonkin and Annam. This is what he said to them “If we wanted to, we could destroy your dynasty root and branch and seize for ourselves the entire kingdom, as we have done in Cochinchina. You know very well that this would present no difficulty to our armies. For a moment, you hoped to find help from a great empire on your borders, which has on several occasions posed as your suzerain. But even if such a suzerainty ever existed, and whatever the consequences that might once have resulted from it, it is now nothing but a historical curiosity. Now here is a fact which is quite certain. You are completely at our mercy. We have the power to seize and destroy your capital and to starve you all to death. It is up to you to choose between war and peace. We do not wish to conquer you, but you must accept our protectorate. For your people, it is a guarantee of peace and prosperity. For your government and your court, it is the only chance of survival. We give you forty-eight hours to accept or reject, in their entirety and without discussion, the terms which we are magnanimously offering you. We believe that there is nothing in them dishonourable to you, and if they are carried out with sincerity on both sides they will bring happiness to the people of Annam. But if you reject them, you can expect to suffer the most terrible of misfortunes. The worst catastrophe you are capable of imagining will fall far short of what will actually befall you. The empire of Annam, its royal dynasty and its princes and court will have voted for their own extinction. The very name of Vietnam will be erased from history.” The Nguyen court, cowed to this on August 25th by signing the Treaty of Hue. The treaty forced the Nguyen empire to recognize the French protector for both Tonkin and Annam. The Nguyen court would survive, but now had to take direction from  French advisors. The Nguyen Emperor would be required to take personal audience with the French commissioner general in Tonkin, a unprecedented thing for them. And in return for all of this, the French would drive out the Black Flags, something they were already doing.  Now while Admiral Courbet slammed the Nguyen forces at Thuan An, General Bouet led the offensive against Liu Yongfu's Black Flag army. He led 2500 French and Vietnamese troops augmented by a further 450 Yellow Flag members. His force was divided into 3 columns, the left led by Lt Colonel Revillon consisting of marines, Cochinchinese riflement, 2 artillery sections and the Yellow Flag battalion. The central column led by Chef de bataillon Paul Coronnat consisted of a marine battalion, a marine artillery battery and some Cochinchinese riflemen. Finally the right column was led by Colonel Bichot consisting of a marine infantry battalion, a artillery battery and more Cochinchinese riflement.  Bichot took his column along the Red river where 6 French gunboats could support his movements. Bouet took a reserve force and marched behind Revillons column as they went to Phu Hoai. Liu Yongfu's Black Flag army consisted of around 3000 men who he had position 2 lines of field fortifications blocking the roads going to Son Tay. The first line was near the village of Cau Giay where Riviere had died on paper bridge and the second was close behind it defending the approach to the villages of Phu Noai, Noi and Hong. As Revillon's left column tried to attack the right side of the Black Flag first line they were quickly counterattacked by Liu Yongfu and the bulk of his forces. Revillons men began to run low on ammunition and performed a fighting withdrawal towards the Paper bridge. As they did so their Vietnamese coolies began to panic, nearly causing a rout. However a marine infantry battalion took up a position in the village of Vong and provided cover fire for the withdrawing forces inflicting heavy casualties upon the Black Flag army units who had left their defensive line to pursue them out in the open field. As night was approaching, Bouet tossed his reserves in enabling Revillon to stabilize a line. During the evening, Bouet had not received word from the other 2 columns thus he ordered Revillons column to pull back to Hanoi. It turned out the other 2 columns had failed to apply enough pressure on the Black Flag line of defenses allowing Liu Yongfu to toss nearly the kitchen sink at Revillons force who were simply more isolated. Coronet's center column had no even made contact with the enemy at all while Bichots column captured the village of Trem but then became stuck when they ran into the 2nd black flag defensive line. On the night of the 16th of august, Bichots men advanced on the defensive line only to find out the Black Flag units abandoned it during the night, because while all of this was going on, the Red River had begun flooding on august the 15th. The Black Flag army knew more so about the flooding situation in the area and had slowly pulled out. Bichot meanwhile was simply content with occupying their abandoned line and decided not to pursue the enemy which was a huge mistake as the black flag army was actually in quite a disarray from the flooding. The battle of Phu Hoai as it became known resulted in 17 deaths and 62 wounded for the French and perhaps a few hundred deaths and many hundred wounded black flag units. Though the Black Flag army took very heavy casualties, the fact was they had stopped the french advance and thus won a victory. This led to local Tonkinese officials to be quite wary over who was going to win the conflict.  Now the flooding forced the Black Flag to pull back behind the Day River. They took up new positions around the villages of Phong which lay on the road going to Son Tay and the village of Palan which lay at the junction of the Red and Day rivers. Bouet resolved to attack the black flags again, so now he took his French, Cochinchinese and Yellow flag forces alongside 6 gunboats to hit the village of Palan. On August the 31st he began his offensive by using his gunboats to bombard the village and sent a French battalion to storm Palan. The village was taken with ease as the Black Flag units fled along the dykes away. Then the next day Bouet's column marched towards Phong along the 2 meter wide dykes running along the bank of the Day River. The column made it 3 kms from Palan where they ran into 1200 or so Black Flag units supported by over 3000 Vietnamese. The Black Flag units were armed with many modern Winchester rifles fighting tenacious giving little ground. The Vietnamese forces meanwhile were not making much of an active resistance and instead beat gongs, drums and made war chants, perhaps sitting on the fence so to say. As the French column pressed forward the Black flags began to pull back to a central defensive line behind earthen works and dykes. Li Yongfu had his HQ in a small pagoda and around his central command were hidden artillery positions well camouflaged. As the French approached the earthen works and dykes the artillery began to fire off causing heavy casualties amongst the French. The French were unable to locate where all the fire was coming from, prompting Bouet to order his gunboats to come closer to bombard the area. However the gunboat shells were soaked by rain and many were failing to explode causing little damage. Eventually Bouet ordered an assault upon the enemy's center. The column marched into a flooded rice paddy wading up to their breast in water and holding their rifles above their heads. The Black Flags from their concealed positions rained hell upon them. Despite the carnage the French pressed forward forcing the defenders to give way from intense fire and soon the Black Flag right wing collapsed towards the center. The French forces took advantage and began charging upon the enemy causing a rout as the Black Flag army fled. The french had roughly 16 dead with almost 50 wounded while the Black flags left 60 dead on the battlefield and probably had several hundred more dead and wounded carried off.  Bouets men tried to keep orderly conduct, but apparently the Yellow Flag units went around cutting off heads from the corpses and plundering peaceful nearby Vietnamese villages, so Bouet disbanded them. Liu Yongfu retained his army despite the tactical victory for the French, thus from the point of view of his superiors, Bouet had failed. Bouet resigned in early september as a result and would be replaced by Lt Colonel Anicet-Edmon-Justin Bichot, the next high ranking officer in Tonkin. His tenure would be short lived however and consisted of little more than reconnaissance actions, though during these his men did find the remains of Henri Riviere, whose mutilated body had been buried near the village of Kien Mai. From that point on France decided to give Admiral Courbet command over the expeditionary forces. Courbet would receive significant reinforcements in the form of over 10,000 men led by General Charles Theodore Millot. Courbet was instructed to uphold the primary mission, to annihilate the Black Flag army of Liu Yongfu. However things were about to get a whole lot messier. The Black Flag army had fled to the fortified city of Son Tay and the French had gradually figured out they were being supported by the Qing dynasty. The French had discovered the Qing had sent a large amount of troops over the border pretending to be Black Flag army units. French foreign minister Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour had met with the Qing minister Zeng Jize in Paris multiple times in 1883. He attempted to get the Qing to withdraw their covert forces who were garrisoning cities like Bac Ninh, Lang Son and Son Tay. The Qing refused and continuously made excuses. The French tried to speak to the German government to delay their recent sale of the battleships Dingyuan and Zhenyuan to the Qing to pressure them, only to be met with anti-french protests within China. Riots and minor attacks began against French held concessions in Guangzhou. The French knew, to attack the Black Flag Army further would most likely see a war break out with the Qing. France's military planners decided if they could launch a lightning storm campaign against the rest of Tonkin and seize it quickly enough, the Qing would likely back down. Thus in december of 1883 Admiral Courbet received authorization to launch a campaign against Liu Yongfu and the Black Flag Army, knowing full well it would probably result in an undeclared war against the Qing dynasty. 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. The French kept allowing officers to stir up trouble in Vietnam leading to the Tonkin Campaign. Now France was stuck in a war against the Nguyen Empire, the Black Flag Army of Liu Yongfu and soon the Qing dynasty would join in the fun.

Last time we spoke about how France ended up in Indochina. Yes while Britain got her hands very messy in China, France had likewise done the same in Southeast Asia. It began with Jesuit priests trying to convert those to Catholicism but they soon found themselves becoming increasingly more involved. The Nguyen empire grew weary of the tiresome catholics and began to crack down on them, leading to conflicts with the French and to a lesser extent the Spanish. Before they knew it a full blown war emerged where the Vietnamese tried desperately to fight off a Franco-Spanish force, but in the end were forced to capitulate to brutal demands. Yet again unequal treaties were placed upon a nation of the far east, but worse than that, the French took colonial possession of what became known as French Indochina. Today we continue that story.   #42 Francis Garnier's Insane Expedition   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. So we ended off the last episode with the signing of the Treaty of Saigon, yet again another unequal treaty in the east. It was so harsh, the Nguyen Emperor, Tu Duc sent an embassy to France in 1863 trying to revise it. The embassy failed their mission as Napoleon III had no intentions of lightening his grip on the new territorial acquisitions. Those territorial acquisitions to refresh your minds were Bien Hoa, Gia Dinh and Dinh Tuong. Thus by 1864 France had acquired a large part of southern Vietnam and declared it the French colony of Cochinchina. Also in August of 1863 the King of Cambodia Norodom signed a protectorate treaty with France cutting off the Kingdom of Siam and Empire of Nguyen's suzerainty over his country. If you think that is humiliating, just wait to hear this. Tu Duc's envoy to France, Phan Thanh Gian returned to Vietnam and was nominated governor ship of 3 southwestern provinces, Vinh Long, Chau Doc and Ha Tien. His French counterpart the Governor of the news Cochinchina, Pierre-Paul de la Grandiere was worried the 3 provinces to his west might be troublesome so he secretly organized an expedition to occupy them. Perhaps Phan Thanh Gian was told, or perhaps not, but it seems the French convinced Tu Duc to simply hand over the provinces which he did. Phan Thanh Gian told his people not to resistance, awaited orders which never came and killed himself via poisoning. Thus France now controlled all of southern Vietnam. Emperor Tu Duc officially handed the provinces over in the 1874 treaty of Saigon. The treaty officially made the rest of Vietnam a protectorate of France, to which she promised military protection against the Qing dynasty. A large reason why the Vietnamese signed off on this was because of another event that occurred in 1873, known as the Garnier affair. In 1873 the French explorer Jean Dupuis traveled up the Red River to attempt trade with Yunnan province, specifically to sell guns to its governor. While that sounds bad, Dupuis also performed the heinous crime of carrying salt up the river. Yes it turns out this was strictly prohibited by the Nguyen empire. A dispute emerged and Dupuis found himself stuck in a district of Hanoi alongside 90 of his Chinese hired mercenaries. The Vietnamese feared french reprisals, thus instead of using force to get rid of them they issued a complaint to the French admiral Marie Jules Dupre who was acting governor of Cochinchina. Dupre seemed to think he had something to gain from the situation, so he sent an expedition led by Lt Francis Garnir to Hanoi to solve the mater. Garnier took the ships D'estree and Fleurus alongside 83 men. Another 60 men would join them 2 weeks later aboard the Decres. The D'estree arrived at Tonkin on October 23rd , while Garnier and his men traveled to Hanoi using local junks. On November 5th Granier's party arrived and met with Dupuis. Despite being told to tell Dupuis to simply leave, Dupuis managed to convince Garnier he had been greatly mistreated by forces led by Marshal Nguyen Tri Phuong. Garnier then tried to negotiate with the local Nguyen authorities, but they would not budge on anything, so Garnier decided for military action. When the second part of his expeditionary forces arrived on, plus some additional units he requested, a total of 180 men, he decided to use them to capture Hanoi. Garnier wrote a letter and sent it back to Admiral Dupre using the D'estree to justify his actions. Garnier took the 2 gunboats he had left, the Scorpion and Espingole and anchored them roughly 1200 meters away from the walls of Hanoi, in the perfect position to fire upon her citadel, but being out of range of the Vietnamese cannons.  On the morning of October 20th, Lt Garnier took a large portion of his forces towards the south eastern gate of Hanoi. Once they were in position they began to fire upon its thick door. The Vietnamese defenders atop the walls attempted to fire down upon the enemy with their cannons, but they were placed “en barbette” instead of inside embrasures, basically they were aimed to hit ships out in the water and could not properly aim downwards. The cannons failed to hit the french, while the French returned fire using Chassepot rifles. The defenders then tried to use older style riles, and as a french eye witness noted began throwing nails on the floor, which he assumed was to try and stop them from walking closer to the wall. Regardless the nails did not work. Once the gate had been demolished the defenders began to rout and the French quickly seized the south western entrance to the city.  Meanwhile the two gunboats bombarded the northern and western gates and Garnier led another party to use land artillery to hit the south eastern gate. Garnier entered through a breach and this began a general rout for the enemy. Meanwhile Dupuis and 30 of his mercenaries including a former EVA member named Georges Vlavianos held the eastern gate to make sure the enemy did not escape there. During the chaos the French who came across Dupuis force assumed the chinese mercenaries were Vietnamese defenders and began to fire upon them causing some casualties until Dupuis stopped them. In the end Garnier took the city with a force of around 200 men, a city with a population of 80,000. Marshal Tri Phuong was captured alongside 2000 of his soldiers. On November 23rd, Garnier dispatched the Espingole from Hanoi to go obtain the submission of Nguyen officials at the fortified cities of Hung Yen and Phu-ly. The next day the small force aboard the Espingole arrived to Hung Yen and they met with some Nguyen officials. The officials promised the europeans they would capitulate as quote ‘you have managed to capture the great citadel of Hanoi. We will not have the audacity to attempt defending this one against you”. The Governor officially submitted, so the Espingole left Hung Yen and proceeded for Phu Ly. It was only a 3 hours journey. This time the French found the doors closed to them, with a few defenders offering fight. The French force began firing at those they saw and this caused the defenders to flee. The French entered Phu Ly finding some cannons, a few low quality rifles and a lot of rice and local currency. They waited a week holding the city and on December 1st a Vietnamese man named Le Van Ba, whom Garnier had appointed to be in charge of Phu Ly arrived with a small militia force. The French force greeted them, handing over some weapons to help them garrison the city and then proceeded to take the Espingole to Hai Duong. Hai Duong held strong fortifications, outfitted with a large number of cannons, including some more modern european ones and was defended by roughly 2000 men. The French delegation was met by the governor of Hai Duong, Dang Xuan Bang who politely had tea with them. The French demanded he come aboard their ship to officially begin handing over the city. He politely refused to go aboard their ship, so a French officer threatened him stating “we will capture Hai Duong like we captured Hanoi”. The governor politely refused their demands again, notably being charming and polite the entire time. The French went back to the Espingole, carrying some gifts the governor gave them. The last thing they told the governor was if he did not come over to their boat by 3pm, the city would be considered an enemy. 3pm went by without any sight of the governor, so the Espingole began to open fire on the citadel firing 10 shells to devastating effect. The French then ceased their fire hoping the damage to the citadel would entice the governor to surrender. The next day a junk came to the Espingole and aboard was an official, but not the governor himself. The French demanded the governor come himself or they would continue their attack. Well the governor did not show up so at 8:30 at night the Espingole made its way to fire on the nearest fort. The fort returned fire, but its cannons fire right over the Espingole's mast. The French sent 15 marines and 12 sailors aboard two sampans to assault the fort. Once they got within 50 meters of the fort they began firing their rifles which routed the forts defenders. They seized the fort with ease which was 600 meters from the cities citadel. From the fort they began to fire upon the Vietnamese soldiers. Eventually they began a march towards the citadel's main gate, but it had a moat. From atop its walls the Vietnamese were firing cannons, but the French simply waited for the cannons to fire and bolted towards the gate while they were reloading. The French had brought not artillery nor scaling ladders and were forced to run around the citadels walls looking or a weak spot to breach which they did find on its southern end. By 10:15am the French got inside the citadel and hoisted the french flag from its highest tower. They captured a few hundred vietnamese soldiers, but countless got away, including the governor. During this mess, the Espingole party was informed the governor of Ninh Binh and some Hanoi officials who had run away during the battle were organizing forces to oppose the French. The Espingole received 400 reinforcements who had been sent to help garrison their recent earnings. The Espingole commander sent word to Garnier about the Vietnamese building up a force to face them, prompting Garnier to send a force to subdue Ninh Binh. Garnier dispatched Aspirant Hautefeuille with a squad for the task and enroute he found out the Vietnamese were building large dams in the riverways to thwart their movements. Hautefeuilles force tore down the first dam operation they found only to find out another one was being built closer to Ninh Binh. They made their way to Ninh Binh and Hautefeuille got aboard a canoe with some sailors to parley at its citadel. When they landed they were swarmed by local civilians trying to give them gifts of oxen. As soon as the French reached the citadels gate they were swarmed by Vietnamese troops who proded them with spears trying to entice a battle. Hautefeuille noticed not to far away was the provincial governor, one Nguyen Vu, he recognized him because he had four parasols. Hautefeuille raised his pistol and screamed at the governor to submit to Garnier. The governor replied he would submit whole-heartedly. So Hautefeuille went over to him with a paper and pen demanding he write down his submission officially and allow him to escort the governor into the citadel, but to this the governor rejected. Apparently Hautefeuille grabbed the governor by his collar, but his gun to the mans head and threatened to kill him. A tense standoff occurred until the governor gave in and soon the french flag was raised over the citadel. For this achievement Hautefeuille would be appointed governor of the province by Garnier later in early December. Throughout early december Garniers garrisons were attacked by Vietnamese guerilla forces and hire Black Flag mercenaries. I had mentioned them once before, but to explain who exactly they are, they were the remnants of a bandit group that had ventured into northern vietnam from Guangxi province. Basically they were products of the Taiping Rebellion and when the Qing cracked down, they took up their shop and left for Vietnam. Nguyen officials loved to hire them to fight the French as they had experience fighting westerners. Garnier ended up visited some of the garrisons having issues with attacks, offering reinforcements and instructions on how to hold onto their cities. On December 18th, Garnier was back in Hanoi, receiving reports the Black Flags were becoming a real problem for its defenses. Garnier was just about to plan a assault of Son Tay where it was alleged the Black Flag's were operating, when a Nguyen envoy party showed up proclaiming a truce. Garnier began negotiations with the party, when on December 21st suddenly 2000 Vietnamese soldiers led by Hoang Ke Viem and 600 Black Flags approached Hanoi. The Black flags attacked Hanoi's citadel while the Vietnamese forces held back a further km away. The French lookouts saw an elephant amongst their force, which indicated the presence of a high Nguyen official. Garnier distributed his men around the walls while his men used their French cannons upon the Black Flag's, refusing to use the outdated Vietnamese swivel cannons. The French cannons began to cause a panic amongst the vietnamese army which quickly turned into a rout, while the Black Flag forces made an orderly retreat. Garnier was not satisfied with this, knowing full well they would attack again, so he decided to send a decisive blow against the Black Flags. Garnier sent Ensign Balny D'Avricourt with a squad of 12 men to hit the enemies left flank while he took 18 men to hit the village of Thu Le, around 1.2 kms southwest of the citadel where it looked like the Black Flag's were holding up. The two French forces went their separate paths and met up to bombard Thu Le. Garniers force saw the Black Flag force withdrawing and pursued them only to run into a swamp. Their cannon got stuck, but Garnier simply yelled “A la baionnette, en avant!”. Garnier charged through the swamp as his men tried to keep up with him. They were suddenly met with a volley from the Black Flag who had lured them in, killing a few of the French. Garnier unhit, kept charging with his handgun, but tripped and fell. Upon seeing this the Black flag forces rushed forward and stabbed Garnier multiple times with spears and swords while firing at his comrades. The French retreated back to the citadel losing more men, as the Nguyen forces took Garniers head and some others back to Son Tay.  Despite losing their leader, the French held onto the garrisons, sending word of his death and receiving word a new French envoy would be sent. At this point French authorities had found out about the Garnier expedition and were quite embarrassed by the entire thing. Actually they had found out a bit early in late november, prompting Lt Paul-Louis-Felix-Philastre to relieve Garnier and send a scathing letter to him that he never got a chance to read “Have you thought about the shame that will befall upon you when it will be known that, having been sent to expel some ruffian, you allied yourself with him to attack people who hadn't caused you any harm?” Lt Philastre arrived in Haiphong to meet with Nguyen officials to end the unsanctioned campaign. On December 29th, Philastre went to Hai Duong where he ordered the garrisons to be evacuated, where the local french forces tried to persuade him otherwise. Philastre then went to Hanoi to speak to more Nguyen officials about his orders for the French to leave the cities they stole. This led to the 1874 signing of the new treaty of Saigon where the French gave back the stolen cities, thus concluded what was in essence a short undeclared war. So Garnier had been sent to simply tell a guy caught smuggling to leave an area in Vietnam, only to begin a war stealing a bunch of major cities. The French government was deeply embarrassed by the ordeal, disavowing Garnier for his actions, but because of how incredible his accomplishments were, many in France saw him heroic. Yes he was romanticized, much like the conquistador Francisco Pizarro or Hernan Cortez, absolute psychopaths that they were.  So while you think, boy oh boy France sure loves to send people on expeditions that results in them stealing territory…well France was nowhere near done with this recurring activity.  In 1881 the French naval officer Henri Riviere was sent with a small military force to Hanoi to investigate Nguyen complaints involving French merchants. As you can already guess by now, Henri acted in defiance of orders placed upon him. As he would later argue, based on the fact the Nguyen dynasty was not respecting the Treaty of Saigon, still having a tributary relation with China, was paying the Black Flags to attack French in southeast asia and not complying with trade regulations, Henri took a force of 2 gunboats and some forces straight to the citadel of Hanoi and stormed it. When he showed up to Hanoi he told the Nguyen officials he was simply leading his forces to stamp out Black Flag soldiers in the area, but instead immediately set to work stationing his forces within the citadel. The governor, Hoang Dieu was given an ultimatum to have his forces stand down, but instead Hoang Dieu sent a letter of apology to his emperor and killed himself. It was yet again another embarrassment for France who handed Hanoi back over to the Nguyen officials, but Henri was not done yet. In the meantime, Henri's actions pushed the Nguyen Empire to seek aid from the Qing dynasty and Black Flag army. The Qing seeking to help their Vietnamese allies, but not at the cost of incurring the wrath of France again said they would aid them via the Black Flag's. In the summer of 1882 Chinese forces from Yunnan and Guangxi crossed the border into Tonkin, beginning to covertly occupy Hung Hoa, Bac Ninh, Lang Son and other cities. The French and Qing saw the paint on the wall, despite the covert activity leading Li Hongzhang and a French envoy to try and work out a deal where they would divide Tonkin into French and Qing controlled spheres of influence, but the deal never came to be. Thus both sides gradually increased their power in the region and in February of 1883, France sent a 500 man battalion of marines led by Lt Colonel Carreau to Hanoi who would be at the disposal of Henri Riviere. On the other side the Nguyen officials received aid from the warlord and leader of the Black Flag Army, Liu Yongfu. Liu Yongfu came from Guangxi and joined a local militia during the Taiping Rebellion, some claim this militia also fought for the Taiping. When the Taiping Rebellion came to a close, Liu Yongfu's prospects looked dire so he took his forces southwest, until they were finally pushed to cross the border into northern Tonkin. Liu Yongfu then established a camp outside Son Tay where he formed the “Heiqi Jun / black flag army” based on his dream of becoming “general of the black tiger”. Though seen initially as an invader, the Vietnamese officials also were surprised at how proficient the Black Flag army was and reasoned it would be difficult to dislodge them. They reasoned if the Black Flag army could be hired to fight their enemies that served them just fine. When the Black Flag's killed Garnier that certainly earned them praise from the Vietnamese who would increasingly call upon them. Henri Riviere upon receiving the new forces was instructed specifically that they were not to venture past the French occupied parts of Tonkin. So Henri did the opposite of that, because French. He had learnt in early march of 1883, the Nguyen government was planning to lease some coal mines in Hon Gai to the Qing dynasty, but this proved to be a front for the British ironically enough. If the British were to gain this it would spell the end of French colonial expansion in Tonkin, this Riviere could have none of that. Riviere ordered Commandant Berthe de Villers to take 50 marines aboard the Parseval to take Hon Gai, and they did just that meeting zero resistance. As Riviere put it in a letter to the governor of Cochinchina, Charles Thomson “"I have taken possession of the entire mining district. We have always coveted it, but have always hesitated to act. This will force them to take forward their Tonkin Question!"” Now Riviere did not stop there, he received word that Liu Yongfu was preparing to attack Hanoi with an army of 5000 Black Flag troops. Over in Nam Dinh, their citadel had been warned by their governor of the incoming battle, prompting Riviere to act first. In Riviere's words "As this indecisive government has been imprudent enough to send me 500 men. I have decided to use them to do what it did not decide I should do." Riviere elected to strike at Nam Dinh, similar to how Garnier did in 1873. Nam Dinh was defended by around 6000 Nguyen soldiers and 500 Chinese led covertly by the Black Flag officer Vinh Thong Chat. These chinese soldiers wore the Black Flag Army uniforms, but in reality were Qing troops. French reconnaissance indicated around 8000 men defended Nam Dinh, regardless Riviere decided to go forward and attack the city with 520 men. They traveled the red river using 6 gunboats, reaching the Nam Dinh by march 25th. They quickly went to work seizing the naval barracks which were unoccupied. They also cleared fields of huts to set up firing lanes for their gunboats and set up artillery pieces. The next morning the bombardment began as Riviere simultaneously summoned the governor of Nam Dinh, Vu Trong Binh to come to his ship Pluvier to submit the citadel before 8am. Governor Vu Trong Binh was able to reject this before 8am. Nam Binh had 15 feet thick walls, unscalable and pretty much impossible to breach vie cannons, thus Riviere decided to force an entrance into the city by destroying one of its main gates with explosives.  While his gunboats and artillery smashed the Vietnamese cannons along the walls, on March 27th his marines went ashore carrying dynamite blowing a gate up. The French then charged the citadel under heavy fire with Riviere at the front urging them on. The Vietnamese soldiers were overwhelmed by the superior firepower and by the afternoon the city fell as the governor fled. Riviere jubilantly stated “This will force them to take forward their Tonkin Question!'” Now Riviere expected to be punished for his renegade actions, but he lucked out enormous, for back home in France there was a change of government. The new administration led by Jules Ferry strongly supported colonial expansion and backed Riviere up from the offset. The new government followed this up by sending word to Li Hongzhang that Tonkin was going to be under French protection and to back off immediately. The Nguyen officials now were in quite a plight without their Qing defenders and wholeheartedly tossed their lot in with Liu Yongfu and the Black Flags. 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. Francis Garnier died in a blaze of glory or insanity and now it seemed he had a successor found 10 years later in Henry Riviere. Would southeast Asia be able to thwart off the colonizing efforts of France or fall like domino pieces?   

Do Duc Luu, director of the Center for Disease Control in Nam Dinh Province, and four senior officials of CDC Nam Dinh have been detained for alleged involvement in the Viet A test kit price gouging case, reported the local media.

Viet Nam is the home of the traditional hand-crafted bronze drum, aged 4000 years. It is said that tens of thousands of ancient bronze arrowheads were stuck dating back before Christ in the age of King An Duong Vuong. Located about 20km from Nam Dinh city, Yen Xa commune, Y Yen district, Nam Dinh province, is considered one of the homes of traditional bronze casting craft. For over 900 years, bronze casting in the commune has been preserved and strongly developed, enriching the life of the local people. Today, let’s take a tour of the locality to explore the bronze casting there. One of processes to cast a bronze product of Van Diem artisans (Photo: dongmynghe.com.vn) https://vovworld.vn/en-US/sunday-show/the-craft-of-casting-bronze-in-yen-xa-commune-766759.vov --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/vov5thatslife/support

Viet Nam is the home of the traditional hand-crafted bronze drum, aged 4000 years. It is said that tens of thousands of ancient bronze arrowheads were stuck dating back before Christ in the age of King An Duong Vuong. Located about 20km from Nam Dinh city, Yen Xa commune, Y Yen district, Nam Dinh province, is considered one of the homes of traditional bronze casting craft. For over 900 years, bronze casting in the commune has been preserved and strongly developed, enriching the life of the local people. Today, let’s take a tour of the locality to explore the bronze casting there. One of processes to cast a bronze product of Van Diem artisans (Photo: dongmynghe.com.vn) https://vovworld.vn/en-US/sunday-show/the-craft-of-casting-bronze-in-yen-xa-commune-766759.vov --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/vov5thatslife/support

Viet Nam is the home of the traditional hand-crafted bronze drum, aged 4000 years. It is said that tens of thousands of ancient bronze arrowheads were stuck dating back before Christ in the age of King An Duong Vuong. Located about 20km from Nam Dinh city, Yen Xa commune, Y Yen district, Nam Dinh province, is considered one of the homes of traditional bronze casting craft. For over 900 years, bronze casting in the commune has been preserved and strongly developed, enriching the life of the local people. Today, let’s take a tour of the locality to explore the bronze casting there. One of processes to cast a bronze product of Van Diem artisans (Photo: dongmynghe.com.vn) https://vovworld.vn/en-US/sunday-show/the-craft-of-casting-bronze-in-yen-xa-commune-766759.vov --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/vov5thatslife/support

Phu Nhai church, officially known as the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, is a Roman Catholic church located in Bui Chu Diocese in Xuan Truong district, Nam Dinh province. Phu Nhai church was the biggest in Indochina back when it was built. (Photo: Vnexpress) https://vovworld.vn/en-US/discovery-vietnam/phu-nhai-church-one-of-four-minor-basilicas-in-vietnam-815698.vov --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/v5vietnam/support

In this episode... 1) Nam Dinh shares his path to nuclear engineering and the international education and research that kicked off his career 2) Why nuclear reactors were not originally designed with failure scenarios in mind and how that has changed 3) Nam reviews how current research projects are changing the way technology and simulation impact the design and licensing of nuclear reactors

- Practicing yoga is proven to significantly improve mental and physical health. In today’s edition of That’s life, yoga teacher Nguyen Hieu will share several useful tips for doing yoga at home. Nguyen Hieu is currently the general director of Zenlife Yoga Vietnam, which specializes in training yogis. She is the first Vietnamese online yoga instructors. Hieu said the first thing you need to do in order to practice yoga at home is to create a space for it. “You need to find a space to practice yoga at home. It’s a good idea to make it a green space with some trees. Light up some candles, use essential oils, and turn on some gentle music. And don’t forget that you need your own mat for doing yoga,” she said. Even when you do yoga at home, you need to warm up to avoid injuries when performing certain movements, Hieu recommended. If you practice alone, you might find your motivation lagging, as opposed to when you do yoga in a group. No matter what, though, you should practice it regularly, Hieu added: “Trust yourself. Don’t give up. When you first start, spend at least 15 minutes per session. Gradually increase your practice up to 60 minutes.” Eating habits can considerably influence yoga practice. Numerous yogis advise that you should follow certain basic principles, like only eating when you are hungry. Don’t eat when you are not calm and relaxed because it will negatively affect your digestion. The time between meals must be long enough. Don’t eat too much! Your stomach should never be completely full. ¼ of its space should be for water. Another ¼ is for the passage of air. Such a balance is great for digestion. Don’t eat late at night before going to bed. Relaxing after doing yoga is necessary. Spend the last 15 minutes to relax and refresh. Loosening your body and muscles is the fastest way for muscles and joints to recover after practice. In addition, women should cool off their body to release the heat accumulated during yoga to get the body back to normal. “At the end of the exercise, lay down at a relaxed position for 5 to 10 minutes to refresh and recover your energy,” said Nguyen Hieu. Yoga has become more and more popular in Vietnam thanks to its health benefits. It helps practitioners reduce stress, chronic pain, and depression. Doing yoga also increases flexibility and improves muscle strength. 55-year-old Nguyen Anh Phuong said that she has been practicing Hatha yoga, which focuses on the control of spirit, air, and body. “I have been practicing yoga for 7 months. It has helped me improve my health significantly. I’ve learned to take deep and consistent breaths to help the blood vessels circulate and conduct oxygen better and tone up my muscles,” she said. Diagnosed with breast cancer, Ms. Dang Thi Lac Quy of Nam Dinh province was in deep physical and mental disrepair. She found motivation to live on and recover thanks to doing yoga. “I find myself stronger thanks to doing yoga. I don’t feel tired anymore. My health has gotten much better,” she said. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/vov5thatslife/support

Dr Lorraine Paterson gives a talk at the Southeast Asia Seminar on June 10th, 2015. Under French colonialism in Indochina, approximately ten thousand prisoners from Vietnam and Cambodia were deported to penal or exile sites within the wider French colonial world. From Gabon in Africa to French Guiana, these prisoners were transported for sentences ranging from five years to a lifetime. Many of these prisoners had committed common-law crimes but others were anti-colonial nationalists who occupied a grey area between political crimes and those considered to be piracy or banditry. Out of this group there was one prisoner who was exiled for longer and further than any other prisoner from any background. Indeed, given that he suffered his first exile at the age of twelve, and was only at liberty for another eleven months thereafter, he was the longest political prisoner in French colonial history. Born Nguyen Van Cam in the north of Vietnam, by the age of eight his prodigious powers of fortune telling and poetry writing had become renowned throughout northern Vietnam. At the age of twelve, he became the figurehead of an anti-French uprising in the town of Nam Dinh which led to a life of forced exile spanning the French colonial empire from Algeria to French Polynesia. This talk will explore how such an extraordinary personal life story can provide a lens through which to examine larger colonial and exilic contexts. As well as examine the possibilities and constraints of a new form of historical biography. Lorraine Paterson is a cultural historian whose work focuses on the lives of exiles from Indochina, and their cultural production throughout the wider French empire. She has a Ph.D. in History from Yale University and an M.A. in Asian Studies from Cornell University. Her forthcoming book, Exiles from Indochina in the Transcolonial World (Oxford University Press) will examine political exiles from French Indochina in various global geographic contexts throughout the French empire. She has also written various articles on Southeast Asian history including, a chapter, "Prisoners from Indochina in the Nineteenth Century French Colonial World," in a forthcoming volume Exile in Colonial Asia: Kings, Convicts, Commemoration edited by Ronit Ricci and published by University of Hawaii Press. She is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Oxford Centre for Life Writing completing the biography of the Vietnamese political prisoner, Nguyen Van Cam.

THIS WEEK: This week Planet Forward is taking a look at the work PISA, a GW-based group, is doing in Nam Dinh, Vietnam. The women in Nam Dinh are adapting to a changing planet and they say they learned their tricks from none other than their ancestors! ASK AN EXPERT: Don't forget to ask a question to PISA expert, Linda Yarr, about the ladies of Nam Dinh and climate adaptation in Southeast Asia. MORE IDEAS: Worried about rising sea levels? Check out this idea from PFF Chutayaves Sinthuphan about floating houses and how they can help in our future. FROM OUR BLOG: Want to know what other countries are doing to be sustainable? Check out PFF Sarah Cahlan's photo blog about sustainable communities around the world! NEXT WEEK: Want to know who gets the title for the world's first LEED platinum auto plant? Tune in to next week's webisode and learn about what innovations make this auto plant the first of its kind!