Podcasts about noumea

Plans for a high level Pacific Islands Forum mission to New Caledonia have become messy with the French High Commission in Noumea and the local government at loggerheads over who should be organising the visit and welcoming the delegation.

Plans for a high level Pacific Islands Forum mission to New Caledonia have become messy with the French High Commission in Noumea...and the local government at loggerheads over who should be organising the visit and welcoming the delegation; Two young Pacific researchers have teamed up with the South Auckland community to take on rheumatic fever and gout which are two of the major health issues facing Māori and Pacific people; The expanded Pacific Nations Cup series will get underway in Fiji and Canada this weekend with the likes of Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Canada, USA and Japan.

//The Wire//1830Z July 11, 2024////ROUTINE////BLUF:  CHINESE ACTIVITY INCREASES SUBSTANTIALLY IN THE TAIWAN STRAIT. CONTROVERSIAL ARMY TRAINING PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS GROWING CONCERNS.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-France: A fire broke out in the spire of Rouen Cathedral in Normandy yesterday evening. The cause of the fire within this 12th century cathedral remains unknown.Far East: Chinese activity in the Taiwan Strait substantially increased overnight. 66x PLA aircraft and 7x PLAN vessels were reported to be operating in the area by Taiwanese forces. AC: This is a significant increase in one day's observed PLA activity, with some sources claiming it's a new record for the number of PLA aircraft observed in single day.South Pacific: Conflict and civil unrest reignites in New Caledonia as demonstrations against French forces increase. Riots have increased over the past few days in response to a police shooting on the outskirts of the capitol of Noumea.-HomeFront-North Carolina: Controversy has erupted following a training event at Fort Bragg (currently named Fort Liberty, due to the revisionist name-change DoD policy). Leaked images of Powerpoint slides used during the training event indicate that units are labeling peaceful pro-life groups as terrorists, not just “extremists” as they were previously categorized. The leaked training product makes many false claims, and is directly hostile towards Constitutionally protected activities such as peaceful protests, picketing, etc.Following this controversy, an official statement by the XVIII Airborne Corps (posted on the Fort Liberty Facebook page) has disavowed the training product and the ideology contained on the slides. However, as these slides came from the unit responsible for installation access and security, it is not clear as to if gate guards were using this guidance to conduct unlawful, ideologically-motivated searches, flag certain license plates in their databases, or otherwise commit other Constitutional violations. It is also not clear as to if military law enforcement were using this guidance in the gathering of intelligence on US Persons as defined by EO 12333 or DoD Regulation 5240.01, which specifically states that Defense personnel “may not investigate U.S. persons or collect or maintain information about them solely for the purpose of monitoring activities protected by the First Amendment or the lawful exercise of other rights secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States.”-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: Many may not see the value in the significance of a Powerpoint presentation that was prepared by a random soldier, and already disavowed by higher leadership. However, this scandal is par for the course with regards to the recent ideological indoctrination that has run rampant through the military over the past few years. As the election creeps closer, and the inevitable militarization of our nation's Capitol comes to fruition during this time, it would be wise to consider the atmospherics of how soldiers in some units view Constitutionally protected rights.Though this specific situation is a somewhat minor case study and must be treated as such, in a larger sense this is not an isolated incident. In all likelihood these highly controversial Powerpoint slides are probably a holdover recycled from the “Extremism Standdown” that swept through the DoD a couple of years ago. As a reminder, this was an 8-10 month training campaign to push the one-sided idea that most conservative ideas are extremist in nature. Whether this latest anti-conservative, anti-American scandal is representative of an escalation of official DoD policy remains to be seen, but this indoctrination would hardly be surprising at this point….the jump from labeling peaceful American citizens as “extremists” to labeling them as “terrorists” seems to have occurred

Talu mai le vevesi i le masina na te'a nei, lea na maliliu ai tagata e to'a 9 i Noumea, ua fa'atonuina e le peresitene o Farani, Emmanuel Macron, palota e faia i le faai'uga o le masina nei.

More than a month after deadly unrest broke out in New Caledonia, the overseas French territory is now preparing to go to an election, after President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly in Paris. While the streets of the New Caledonian capital, Noumea, are calmer than when the unrest started on the 13th of May, a string of arrests of protest leaders has sparked fears the violence may return.

Hơn một tháng sau khi tình trạng bất ổn chết người nổ ra ở New Caledonia, vùng lãnh thổ hải ngoại của Pháp hiện chuẩn bị tiến hành một cuộc bầu cử, sau khi Tổng thống Emmanuel Macron giải tán Quốc hội ở Paris. Trong khi đường phố ở thủ đô Noumea của New Caledonian yên bình hơn so với thời điểm tình trạng bất ổn bắt đầu vào ngày 13 tháng 5, một loạt vụ bắt giữ các thủ lãnh biểu tình đã làm dấy lên lo ngại bạo lực có thể quay trở lại.

Noumea crisis seemingly 'forgotten' in France.

PNG aid assistance hampered by lack of road access; Noumea crisis seemingly 'forgotten' in France; Wellington's young Samoan students remember independence; Pasifika Sipoti for 08 June.

Another Defence Force evacuation flight from Noumea has landed in Auckland today - with 49 passengers.  It's our third group to return - and it's understood 160 New Zealanders are still in the French Territory.  Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters told Heather du Plessis Allan “We think we might have it resolved by the end of the week.”  Peters said “We've got security issues, that those on the ground will better understand.”  LISTEN ABOVE.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The government says it is frustrated there has been no progress in bringing New Zealanders stuck in New Caledonia home today. More than 200 are still in the Pacific Island nation after France declined our government's application for another evacuation. The stalling of getting our people out - comes as French President Emmanuel Macron flew in ... to Noumea for crisis talks. Worldwatch's Charlie Dreaver has the details.

More Australians stranded in New Caledonia have been repatriated, meaning over half of those who want to leave the French territory have returned home. President Emmanuel Macron said a "return to peace" was his priority as he arrived in the Pacific island for a day of talks, following deadly riots triggered by a contested electoral reform.

French President arrives in Noumea amid tensions.

French President arrives in Noumea amid tensions; Fiji rugby locals say Drua coach selection is 'biased'; Tonga's Lavulavu faces hefty fine for contempt of court; Discrimination against Pacific people in NZ increases - study.

Tensions are high in New Caledonia, as France's President meets officials in the region. The violence is over voting reforms that indigenous Kanaks say would dilute their vote - and undermine their struggle for independence. Six people have died and new barricades have been appearing across the capital. Emmanuel Macron's former Defence Advisor, Dominique Trinquand says things are still very tense. "The French President will spend 24 hours there, to try to sort out and calm down the situation. But until then, it will be very difficult to move from Noumea to the airport." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today's First Up pod: as the government works to get the remaining New Zealanders out of Noumea - our Pacific correspondent Kalafi Moala joins us with the latest on the tensions in New Caledonia; RNZ explainer editor Katie Kenny talks about speedy e-scooters and we visit a Wellington Street that's correcting a one hundred and fifty year old te reo typo. First Up - Voice of the Nathan!

Welcome to the 9News podcast. A snapshot of the latest stories from the9News team including:  ** More Australians home from Noumea ** A snap election in the UK ** Homebuyers see the benefits of going green The biggest news stories in less than 10 minutes delivered three times a day,with reports from the 9News team across Australia and overseas. Subscribenow to make it part of your daily news diet.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

French President Emmanuel Macron's imminent arrival in New Caledonia is being viewed as a show of defiance.  Six have died in the unrest sparked by government electoral reforms.  A further 49 New Zealanders have been rescued from Noumea following the initial 50 people evacuated on Tuesday night.  They arrived in Auckland early this morning aboard a Defence Force plane, having initially being taken to Brisbane.  Logistical arrangements for subsequent flights are still being worked through by MFAT and the defence force.  International Relations expert, Geoffrey Miller told Mike Hosking that Macron's also bringing his Defence Minister and two other senior officials.  He believes it's a sign of defiance from Macron, to show he won't be cowered by the protests.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A New Zealand Defence Force evacuation flight's en route to New Caledonia to pick up Kiwis stranded there due to riots and civil unrest Foreign Minister Winston Peters speaks to Lisa Owen.

Winston Peters says multiple Defence Force flights will collect Kiwis from New Caledonia in the coming days. The first C-130 Hercules has touched down at Noumea's Magenta Aerodrome, the island's domestic airport. It will bring about 50 people back to Auckland tonight. Foreign Minister Winston Peters says French authorities are confident people can now traverse the roads to get to the airport. "That was the reason for the delay. I mean, the moment we heard about this issue, we started preparing for a circumstance like this - and awaiting developments." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealanders caught up in the conflict in New Caledonia are holding out hope flights out of Noumea will resume tomorrow. Lucy Xia reports.

Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.Israel's wartime government frays as frustration with Netanyahu growsSummary: A politically centrist member of Israel's war cabinet, Benny Gantz, announced over the weekend that he would leave the government if Prime Minister Netanyahu doesn't present a plan for the future of the war in Gaza by June 8.Context: This ultimatum is being seen as an indication that the temporary alliance of necessity between political parties in Israel following Hamas' attack on the country on October 7 is beginning to fray, and that Netanyahu's seeming lack of a plan for what happens after Israeli forces root out the last of Hamas' leadership in the Gaza Strip is a broad cause for consternation; the country's defense minister recently demanded that Netanyahu make a pledge to not establish a military government in Gaza, which he worries is where things are headed, and which is a situation he says would be untenable for many reasons; Netanyahu, in response, has accused Gantz of supporting Israel's defeat in the conflict against Hamas.—The New York TimesOne Sentence News is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.UN urges US to stop forced returns to Haiti after latest deportation flightSummary: The UN refugee agency has asked the US government to stop forcibly returning Haitian refugees to Haiti, as doing so puts those refugees at life-threatening risk due to widespread gang violence.Context: This call for a change in policy came after the US's most recent deportation flight last week, and the concern is that Haiti is basically under the control of a slew of gangs, which unified against the government in recent months; the UN estimates that 362,000 people, about half of them children, are internally displaced in Haiti right now, and the UN's refugee agency is asking the US to redesignate Haiti for a temporary protective status which grants Haitian refugees temporary permission to stay and work in the US—this status is currently set to expire in early August.—Al JazeeraFrance mobilises police to regain control of New Caledonia airport roadSummary: In the wake of several days of at times violent and destructive riots, French police have cleared barricades from the main road leading to the airport in the New Caledonian capital city, Noumea, though officials say it will still be a few days before all the debris has been cleared.Context: The French territory's main airport is still closed because of unrest, and these protests, which sparked the rioting, were catalyzed by a constitutional amendment that would allegedly dilute the vote of indigenous people by allowing French people who had lived in New Caledonia for ten years to vote in provincial elections—something pro-independence (from France) indigenous groups say is an attempt to prevent their movement from ever resulting in a decoupling from European governance.—ReutersAccording to a new survey, Americans are reporting being more stressed on average, and the number for women is substantially higher than for men across four major age-groups, though young women in particular are reporting the highest levels of stress across all age and gender demographics.—Gallup40,000Milestone (in points) that the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached late last week for the first time.The surge in money flooding into Dow-listed companies is being attributed to new data that showed annual inflation in the US has eased a bit, following three months of less-than-ideal inflation news—suggesting the Fed could still lower their interest rate sometime this year.—NPR NewsTrust Click Get full access to One Sentence News at onesentencenews.substack.com/subscribe

A Kanak journalist in Noumea says the young people barricading streets in the French controlled territory are fed up with the lack of good jobs, inequality, and environmental degradation. Kanak journalist at Radio Djiido Andre Qaeze spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

Amid continuing unrest in New Caledonia, our Defence Force is preparing rescue flights for about 250 stranded Kiwis. Protests in Noumea have been escalating after violence broke out over proposed changes to voter lists – with six dead and hundreds arrested. French authorities have declared a state of emergency – as pro-independence supporters and security forces clash. Today, Chelsea talks with Mike Lightfoot, a Kiwi tourist currently stuck in Noumea, who updates us on the situation as he awaits evacuation, and then geopolitical analyst Geoffrey Miller to explain how the unrest began – and what steps can be taken to promote calm. Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network. Host: Chelsea DanielsSound Engineer: Paddy FoxProducer: Ethan SillsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today's episode, The New Zealand Defence Force is ready to send a Hercules to Noumea to bring New Zealanders home - as soon as the French give permission to do so, we hear from Defence Minister Judith Collns as well as journalist in Noumea Coralie Cochin, the Greens this weekend sought to put their scandals behind them, with a focus instead on a government they describe as cynical and cruel, co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick joins us, former Kiwi and Warriors player Adam Blair discusses the Warriors stunning victory over the Panthers, and we cross the Tasman to get the latest from Kerry-Anne Walsh.

French authorities in New Caledonia say they've regained control of the road between Noumea and the international airport, but the Tontouta international airport remains closed. New Zealander Mike Lightfoot spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

The New Zealand Defence Force is ready to send a Hercules to Noumea to bring New Zealanders home - as soon as the French give permission to do so. Defence Minister Judith Collins spoke to Corin Dann.

Hundreds of armed French police have used non-lethal grenades and tanks to clear the protesters and roadblocks cutting off access between New Caledonia's airport and main city Noumea. New Caledonia La Premiere news service journalist Coralie Cochin spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

There's still no word on when Defence Force aircraft will be sent to retrieve tourists stuck in New Caledonia.  Commercial flights remain cancelled due to the unrest in Noumea; 231 Kiwis are registered as being there.  Defence Minister Judith Collins told Mike Hosking “The issue is that Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has to work with the French government.”  Collins said “Stay in your own home, don't go out unnecessarily and understand that help is coming.”  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shula Guse speaks to Lisa Owen about being stuck in Noumea as the violence escalates, and the airport remains closed.

Chillie Chats With CEO Elysia Everett of Friendly Like Me is the main topic of today's Friday Travel and Cruise Industry News Podcast, May 17, 2024. Chillie and Elysia discuss how Friendly Like Me can assist people with disabilities to make, everyday trips to new places, such as the theater or a dinner with friends, which are often preceded by fear of the unknown and hours of online reconnaissance to determine whether or not a place is able to accommodate non-average bodies. Also how the app can help pre- and post- cruise port stays or port of call planning. Also, these headlines today: MSC To Offer 2nd Ship From Port Canaveral; Unrest in Noumea; Virgin Voyages Offers Caribbean Season Pass; 2024 European Championships Football on MSC; 10 Million Guests From Galveston; Carnival Cancels Cruises From 4 Ships; and Lots more LIVE today at 11 AM EDT. CLICK HERE to access video feed #fridaytravelandcruiseindustrynews #podcast #cruisenews #travelnews #cruise #travel #chilliescruises #chilliefalls #chilliechats #whill_us #friendlylikeme #elysiaeverett Thanks for visiting my channel. NYTimes The Daily, the flagship NYT podcast with a massive audience. "Vacationing In The Time Of Covid" https://nyti.ms/3QuRwOS Cruise Ship Doctor Cruise: https://bookayt.net/cruisedoctor/ To access the Travel and Cruise Industry News podcast; https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/trav... or go to https://accessadventure.net/ To subscribe: http://bit.ly/chi-fal As always, I appreciate super chats or any other donation to support my channel. For your convenience, please visit: https://paypal.me/chillie9264?locale.... Chillie's Cruise Schedule: https://www.accessadventure.net/chillies-trip-calendar/ For your mobility needs, contact me, Whill.inc/US, at (844) 699-4455 .or Scootaround, YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ChilliesCruises Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chillie.falls Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChillieFalls Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chilliefalls/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chilliescruises Business Email: chillie@chilliefalls.com Accessible Travel Blog: https://accessadventure.net Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Air New Zealand has confirmed Nouméa airport in New Caledonia is closed until Tuesday, as civil unrest continues.  Air New Zealand says it will only resume services when it can guarantee safety for ground staff and customers.  Air New Zealand's Captain Hugh Pearce told Heather du Plessis Allan that it's one thing for the airfield to be opened and operating, but it's another thing for people to safely get to and from the airfield.  Pearce said “Our thoughts are with those people on the ground.”  LISTEN ABOVE.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

French security forces are still struggling to restore law and order in New Caledonia four days into widespread unrest in the capital Noumea. RNZ Pacific's Lydia Lewis looks at how the week of violence has unfolded.

French security forces are still struggling to restore law and order in New Caledonia four days into widespread unrest in the capital Noumea.

The international airport in New Caledonia is closed and many holidaymakers are stuck in Noumea, including Mike Lightfoot from Auckland. Lightfoot spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

Rioting has continued overnight in the New Caledonian capital Noumea, with reports of gunfire and arrests as people defied the curfew. Journalist Coralie Cochin spoke to Corin Dann.

Tensions remain high in the New Caledonian capital Noumea which has been under curfew overnight after widespread rioting saw buildings and cars across the city set ablaze. RNZ Pacific Editor Koroi Hawkins has the story.

The president of New Caledonia is calling for calm and a return to normalcy amid ongoing public unrest in and around the capital Noumea.

The president of New Caledonia is calling for calm and a return to normalcy amid ongoing public unrest in and around the capital Noumea; The slump in the Japanese tourism market is seen as the key reason for one of the two main hotels on the Northern Mariana's island of Saipan shutting its doors; Sixteen Pacific Islanders have embarked on the voyage of a lifetime, sailing from Cook Islands to Hawaii for the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture.

"Situated on the largest island in the archipelago, Grand Terre, New Caledonia's bustling capital proudly flaunts its oh là là influence as a French overseas territory, where European chic mingles with laid-back Melanesian charm, set amid coconut palms in the swagger of a sea breeze. If you want a tropical island getaway with a little Parisian panache and the best baguettes in the South Pacific, you've come to the right place." Read Mike's full article here. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, passionate cruisers! I am delighted to welcome this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, Venus Anderson, I was browsing Melanin At Sea, one of the most influential Facebook affinity groups comprised of 96,000-member, created by friends of the show and global cruise personalities A Rich and Jazzy Life. Venus happens to be the administrator of Melanin At Sea (and sister and sister-n-law of the founders, Richand Jazzy.) Following the holidays Venus posted: “We recently returned from our 19-day trip to Sydney, Australia. After planning this trip for about 16 months, we braved the 22 hours in flights from JFK to SYD with ease. Thankfully no hiccups or delays. We had the opportunity to stay in Honolulu, Hawaii for 36 hours and in Sydney for one whole day before boarding the cruise. We took an 8-day cruise on the Carnival Splendor to Noumea and Lifou, New Caledonia.” This sounded like a dream trip to me; I have interviewed well over 100 passionate cruises and many, even seasoned world travelers still have Australia on their bucket list. As I am wont to do, I reached out to Venus and invited her to the podcast so that I and the listeners could experience hertrip vicariously through Venus. I am so glad she agreed to join The Joy of Cruising Podcast. Venus' adventure took place from mid-December 2023, through Christmas and New Year's. Accompanied by her daughter, 13-year-old Autumn, and her cousin, her cousin's husband and their son, the group flew from JFK in New York to Honolulu, Hawaii, where they got to spend a couple of days. Afterwards, they flew to Sydney, Australia and boarded the Carnival Splendor December 18 for an 8-day Christmas cruise with 2 stops—Lifou, and Noumea, 2 French territories in New Caledonia.  After the cruise they spent 6 additional nights in Sydney and rung in the New Year there. Before flying to New York. Surprise, Venus plans to go back again someday! I asked Venus what inspired her to put together such a grand trip. Many veteran world travelers still have Sydney, Australia on their bucket list. One influence on her to see the world was a quite poignant interaction and left a lasting impression on Venus.Support the show

Last time we spoke about the defense of Finschhafen. Finschhafen was a enormous staging camp for the allies now. The Japanese could not sit idly by allowing such a strategic location to be in allied hands. General Katagiri launched a major counter offensive, kicked off with signal fires from Sattelberg. He sent a force of raiders to try and neutralise some heavy allied artillery, but it ended in failure. Having not neutralised their big guns, the rest of the counter offensive fell to pieces.  The Japanese would officially report 422 killed, 662 wounded. For the Australians they had 228 casualties of which 49 were dead. With the counter offensive done with, the allies now would go back on the offensive. The next large target was going to be the stronghold of sattelberg, but the Japanese were not going to make it easy on the allies. But today we are going to be jumping into some new places. This episode is the invasion of the treasury islands 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.  For quite some time now we have been focusing on the New Guinea campaign, such as the offensives against Finschhafen and the Ramu valley. Today we are going to enter a new phase of the Pacific War. With the incoming invasions of the Gilbert and Marshall islands, the Northern Solomons and Western New Britain, General Douglas MacArthur and Admirals Hasley and Nimitz were going to turn up the heat. Admiral Halsey had just seized Vila, Barakoma, Munda and Rendova, gaining their valuable airfields for the forces of General Twinings AirSols to utilise. Within the central Solomons, Bougainville was finally within range of allied land-based aircraft. Lae, Salamaua and Finschhafen were taken, thus Operation Cartwheel would begin a new phase. Back in July, plans were formed for General Vandegrifts 1st Marine Amphibious corps to seize airfields sites at Buin and Kahili, the important Japanese anchorage at Tonolei Harbor, and the Faisi and Ballale islands in the neighboring Shortlands. That same month, the 43rd and 37th divisions were involved in the New Georgia campaign. Of the 5 divisions remaining under his control, Admiral Halsey planned to use the fresh and unblooded 3rd Marine division and the Army's 25th division for the invasion. He sought to keep the 2nd marine division and 3rd new zealand division in training for the conquest of Rabaul. Yet things had changed. Because of the intense resistance on New Georgia, the 25th division had to be committed. Then the decision to strike Makin and Tarawa in the Gilbert islands removed the 2nd marine division from Hasley's south pacific area. These changes ultimately dictated he would need a substitution, and it was to be the 37th division, whom had suffered 1100 casualties on New Georgia already. Nevertheless the 37th was in better condition than the 25th. The 3rd marine divisions task went unchanged. Major General Allen Turnage's 3rd Marine division was going to spearhead the invasion of Bougainville, with a launch date set for September. On top of this Halsey had received some reports indicating the Japanese were heavily reinforcing the Shortland Islands. He decided to bypass them and hit the Treasury island and Choiseul. It is also possible Halsey sought to perform these actions hoping to lure out the Japanese fleet into a major engagement. The treasury islands and Choiseul were lightly garrisoned, but held airfields that could be turned against Bougainville. Meanwhile , General MacArthur was planning the next stepping stone towards the Philippines. His overall plan was to break the Bismarcks Barrier through a series of aggressive leaps along the New Guinea-Mindanao axis. New Guinea as we are all quite familiar with by now, is a logistical nightmare. Lush jungles, raging rivers, cold mountains, every time of geographical nightmare was present. Thus to traverse the western landmass of it only on land was not exactly desired. What MacArthur's logistical team sought was to secure the 50 mile expanse of sea lying between New Guinea and New Britain. With that in hand Admiral Barbey's 7th Amphibious force would be able to transport troops along the coast, a significantly easier method than having the poor boys battle through the jungle. Rooke Island split the sea into the Vitiaz Strait and the narrower Dampier Strait. General Wootten's 9th Australian division were currently fighting for control of Vitiaz, but there had been no effort to date to hit the Dampier. MacArthur decided to capture Kavieng and the Admiralty Islands, because they represented enemy aerial threats against his westwards push through New Guinea. Closing in on the end of the year he also planned to amphibious assault Cape Gloucester, the northwestern point of New Britain which commanded the Dampier Strait. In hindsight the wisdom of landing at Cape Gloucester seems rather dubious. It was not necessary to seize the point in order to make use of the Vitiaz or Dampier strait. The Japanese did not have big artillery on the western end of New Britain to command the channel, the islands infrastructure was largely undeveloped. The only way the Japanese could interfere with the allied use of either strait was by torpedo boats, something they did not have many of. There of course was aircraft based on New Britain as well, but that would be neutralised by Kenney's AirSols.  MacArthur planned to have the AirSols hit Rabaul continuously; to seize the Green Islands, the Admiralty Islands and Kavieng. The Western New Britain operation was codenamed Operation Dexterity which would be sub divided into Operations Lazaretto and Backhander. There would be a staggered attack first hitting Gasmata performed by the 2nd battalion, 228th regiment. They would establish an air base in the southern coast of the island, this was operation Lazaretto. Operation Backhander would be the invasion of Cape Gloucester. Some of the landings could be carried out in November, but MacArthur chose to wait until the new airfields were established in the Markham and Ramu valleys as they would provide close air support for the amphibious operations.  On September the 10th, Admiral Hasley sent staff to present his plan for the invasion to Bougainville to MacArthur's staff. Halsey would be surprised to find MacArthur opposed using all their aircraft to strike Rabaul before the invasion of western New Britain. MacArthur proposed instead to continue heavy airstrikes against all Japanese airfields on Bougainville throughout October. Then in late October, Halsey's forces could occupy the Treasury islands and possibly northern Choiseul. Northern Choiseul could provide radar coverage and PT boat bases. On the 1st of November, Halsey's forces could then begin landing on Bougainville to form a beachhead before constructing a new airfield to host the AirSols so they could hit Rabaul just in time to take some pressure off MacArthur's troops advancing in New Guinea and New Britain. Thus MacArthur was determined to make the main goal of the operation not the securance over the entirety of Bougainville, but just a portion of it where an aerodrome could be established then used to batter Rabaul. Halsey was presented two options for his landing site: there was Kieta Harbor sitting on the northeast coast and Empress Augusta Bay on the southwest coast. Kieta seemed the better location from which to launch air strikes against Rabaul. Kieta also held a protected harbor, requiring Halsey's forces to move up the longer outside passage to secure Choiseul first. Empress Augusta Bay was on an exposed side of the island during an approaching monsoon season. It was closer to Rabaul and would only require the securing of the Treasury islands first. After further reconnaissance there was indications airfields could be constructed midway up the west coast of Bougainville at Cape Torokina on Empress Augusta Bay. Halsey chose it for the landing site stating on September 22nd “it's Torokina. Now get on your horses!”  The operation against Cape Torokina was codenamed Cherryblossom and its task was handed to the hero of Guadalcanal, General Vandegrift who formed the plans but it would not be he who lead the operation. Vandegrit was promoted to commandant of the Marines, the first serving marine to become a four star general, he had to depart for Washington. His replacement was Major General Charles Barrett the former commander of the 3rd Marine division. Barret was given command of the 1st Marine Amphibious corps and the responsibility over operation Cherryblossom. His mission statement read “land in the vicinity of Cape Torokina, seize and occupy and defend a beachhead including Torata Island and adjacent island— 3,750 yards west of Cape Torokina—allowing approximately 2,250 yards inland from the beach and 3,600 yards east of Cape Torokina. To prepare and continue the attack in coordination with the 37th Infantry on arrival.” However the mission statement was to be his last major contribution to the war.  On October 8th Barrett accidentally fell from the third floor of the officers quarters at Noumea and suffered a cerebral haemorrhage. He soon died afterwards and was recorded as an accidental death, but there was heavy speculation it was in fact a suicide. Thus the job fell to Major General Roy Geiger, the director of the marine aviation corp in washington. For the naval aspect of the mission Hasley had to do with what he had on hand. He would not be receiving any significant naval reinforcements, because Admiral Nimitz feared that any vessels lent to the 3rd fleet would not be able to come back in time to help with the invasion of the Gilberts. What Halsey could count on was task force 38 commanded by Rear Admiral Frederick Sherman built around carrier Saratoga and later joined by the Princeton; Admiral Merrills task for 39 comprised of cruiser division 12 and destroyer division 23; and Task force 31 commanded by Admiral Wilkinson consisting of three destroyer squadrons, transports and covering ships. It would be Admiral Wilkinson who would bring over the 3rd marine division, the 1st brigade and 3rd New Zealand division to invade the Treasury islands. Rear Admiral George Fort would take the reigns of the first offensive and Wilkinson would looked over the Torokina landings. Wilkinson would have 12 Attack transports and Amphibious cargo ships for the landings, just enough to get every echelon with their equipment over. The 3rd Marine division was reinforced with the 3rd marine defence battalion, the 198th coast artillery, the 2nd provisional marine raider regiment and the 1st marine parachute regiment. After landing at Cape Torokina they would later be reinforced by General Beightlers 37th division. The 29th, 34th and 36th New Zealander battalions of the 8th brigade group led by Brigadier Robert Row would hit the Treasury islands and help establish long range radar stations and a landing craft staging area. There was a final last minute change to the overall plan made by Halsey. They decided not to attempt seizing northern Choiseul but to instead send a marine raiding party around 656-725 men of the US 2nd Parachute battalion led by Lt Colonel Victor Krulak there to persuade the Japanese to divert forces to Choiseul from southern Bougainville.   To support the operation General Kenny's 5th air force would smash the airfields in Rabaul while the AirSols 489 aircraft would hit airfields in and around Bougainville. General Twinning tactics were to harass the Japanese every day, so he launched a total of 158 flights in October, comprising 3259 sorties and land and naval targets in Hahili, Kara, Ballale, Buka, Bonis and Choiseul. The result of this incredible air campaign was 5 Japanese airfields pulverized, 136 enemy aircraft claimed destroyed at the cost of 26 allied aircraft shot down. Meanwhile on October 12th, Kenney launched a raid using 349 aircraft smashing airstrips, shipping and supply dumps. The 6000-ton IJN transport Keisho Maru was sunk alongside two smaller craft. On the 18th 54 B-25's took off from Dobodura, but only caused minor damage. On October the 23rd, 24th and 25th daylight raids consisting of 45 B-242's, 62 B-25's and 61 B-24's respectively managed to shoot down 9 enemy planes, destroyed 25 aircraft on the ground and damaged another 27. On October 29th, he tossed a raid at Vunakanau's airdrome using 41 liberators covered by 75 P-38's and managed to destroy around 10 aircraft. The enemies attention was certainly diverted away from Rabaul. Now the Japanese knew an invasion of Bougainville was coming. They believed the main target of such an offensive would be first against the Shortlands or Kahili. General Kanda's 6th division was deployed to reinforce these places. His 1st battalion, 45th regiment was placed at Kieta, the rd battalion and 4th south sea garrison was sent to reinforce Bougainville while the rest were sent to the Shortland islands. Bougainville was given north/south/east/west sectors garrisoned by numerous forces under Kanda. Admiral Koga also launched Operation RO, a plan devised to strengthen Rabaul. Koga's intelligence indicated the Pacific Fleet was on a warpath, so he decided to take the entire combined fleet from Truk to Eniwetok, which Koga considered a good advance position where he could sortie and annihilate the enemy in a decisive naval battle. The combined fleet stayed a week in the uncomfortable and lonely lagoon until they departed having not found the allied pacific fleet. By October 24th the combined fleet travelled back to Truk while the aircrews of carriers Zuikaku, Shokaku and Zuiho reinforced Rabaul.  82 Zeros, 45 D3As, 40 B5Ns and 6 Yokosuka D4Y reconnaissance planes. 192 trained air crews in total would be in Rabaul by November 1st. They were just in time to intercept one of Kenney's raids consisting of 75 b-25's and 80 p-38s. The Japanese airmen claimed to have downed 9 B-25s, 10 P-38s at the cost of 20 aircraft and 3 small vessels. Koga alerted the 12th air fleet who were in Japan to prepare to head over to Rabaul, but instead of also sending the 8th fleet, he kept them back, still thinking a decisive naval battle would be on the menu soon in the central pacific.  General Sakai's 17th division were transported to New Britain in late september. Their first echelon comprising of the 53rd regiment arrived on october 5th and immediately began to move west to reinforce Cape Gloucester and the 3rd battalion went to northern Bougainville. The remainder of the 17th division would arrive between November 5th and 12th, though the auxiliary cruiser Kurita Maru caring the 1st battalion, 81st regiment was sunk by the USS Grayson. 1087 men, most of the battalion, were lost.  The invasion of the Treasuries codenamed Operation Goodtime. They would establish a staging area, an advanced naval base at Blanche Harbor and a radar station on the north coast of Mono Island. It was hoped the assault on the Treasuries would confused the Japanese as to where the major effort would actually be. At this time there was a short supply of assault forces throughout the Pacific and the Bougainville invasion was mere days away. Thus it was difficult to comprehend why an entire brigade would be used to subdue a tiny enemy garrison on one small island. It has been theorised that Halsey and Vandegrift were reluctant to use some untried New Zealand troops in the more ambitious undertaking, but were also under pressure from their Anzac allies to see some action. For whatever reason the Treasury island operation would be one of the few examples of Allied overkill during the mid Pacific War.  The 8th Brigade had limited shipping available to them. They would have eight destroyer transports, eight LCIs, two LSTs, eight LCMs, three LCTs and two APCs, under the command of Admiral Fort who was using the USS Raton as his flagship. The 34th battalion was going to land on the north side of Stirling Island to secure a nearby airfield; the 29th and 36th battalions would land abreast near Falami Point on southern Mono and Major George Logan D company of the 34th, designated Logan force would land at the mouth of the Soanotalu River to establish a radar station with the help of 20 seabees. The USS Pringle and Philip would perform a bombardment to help. The operation was set into motion on October 27th when the convoy departed guadalcanal and the Russells. George Fort's destroyers approached Blanche Harbor during a storm and began their bombardment. The assault waves raced through the harbor in two columns. As was suspected the 34th met zero resistance, they immediately went to work sending out patrols to make certain if there were any Japanese on the island they would not get to surprise them. Mortars were set up on the nearby Watson island, cool theres an island bearing my name to support the landings on Mono. The landings on Mono met very little resistance, basically just a bunch of surprised Japanese naval troops who offered some half hearted gunfire before withdrawing. The New Zealanders went to work establishing a perimeter as the Japanese began opening fire using mortars which managed to knock out two LST's killing 2 and wounding 30 men. Interesting to note this was the first amphibious assault launched by Kiwi's since the horrible Gallipoli campaign of 1916 and it was the second combat operation undertaken by Kiwi's during the Pacific War. The real resistance would come in the form of a air raid consisting of 25 vals who bombed the beachhead and support ships. The destroyers Cony  took two hits; eight crewmen were killed and ten wounded. An allied fighter patrol managed to shoot down 12 vals during the raid. To their north, the Logan force faced no difficult landing at the mouth of the Soanotalu river. They quickly formed a 150 yard perimeter and began working on the radar station. By the end of the day, all but one LST had successfully unloaded and cleared Blanche harbor, however during the night the New Zealanders tossed back numerous counter attacks, particular around the Saveke river. By the 28th the Japanese survivors were retreating north in the hope of escaping to Bougainville, but along the way they ran into the Logan Force. On October 29th during the late afternoon, 20 Japanese attacked the western part of the Logan Forces perimeter. They were easily beaten off with mortars and rifle fire, leaving 5 dead Japanese behind. The next day saw some intermittent firing against concealed Japanese. Scouts eventually figured out there was a larger number of Japanese to the west of the perimeter, but the area between Soanotalu and Malasi was clear of the enemy.  November began with the rest of the brigade coming over. The radar station was already up and running and the Logan Force had built themselves a small blockhouse near the landing barge. That said blockhouse immediately became the objective of the Japanese, since it represented the only hope of them escaping the island. As Brigadier Row's men began to occupy the central and northern parts of Mono, the Japanese began to infiltrate the Logan Forces perimeter. On the night of November 1st, the main breech was made across the News Zealanders line. A ton of Japanese had infiltrated the lines and managed to cut telephone wires from the blockhouse to the company HQ. Soon after this was accomplished a concerted attack was made against the blockhouse. 6 New Zealanders and 3 Americans defended it. They had automatic weapons, some 50 and 30 cal machine guns, but they were soon put out of action by the attacking Japanese who could have numbered between 70-100 men. The fight for the blockhouse would continue until dawn, with the surviving defenders beating off numerous attacks, mainly by tossing grenades. Captain Kirk, Sergeant DD Hannafin were both killed during the fight. Command of the blockhouse then fell to a cook of D Company, Private J.E Smith. By daybreak the Japanese finally were beaten off as the 3 remaining survivors were all wounded. 26 Japanese had been killed trying to overrun the blockhouse and seize the landing craft. Elsewhere across the perimeter the Japanese attacked throughout the night seeing another 15 dead Japanese in the western section and 9 in the east. It was to be there best chance at taking the blockhouse, for the next few days their attacks were much smaller and by November 4th, New Zealander patrols were fanning out and killing or capturing stragglers. The last significant action on Mono would be on November 6th when a dozen Japanese were routed from a cave during a two hour firefight east of Soanatalu. Operation Goodtime resulted in the annihilation of a Japanese garrison roughly 200 men strong, but it came at a cost. 40 New Zealanders and 12 Americans were killed with 174 wounded. The allies got their supply bases and radar station. Over on Choiseul, Operation Blissful was about to kick off. In an attempt to make the Japanese believe the Shortland islands were the target for their offensive, General Vandegrift tossed Lt Colonel Victor Krulaks 2nd Parachute battalion, roughly 656 men at a beach near the village of Voza. On October 27th the men and their equipment were loaded onto 8 LCMS and during the night the paratroopers were transferred over to four destroyer transports, the Kilty, Ward, Crosby and McKean, the same ships that had just been used to transport the New Zealanders for Operation Goodtime. Forts destroyers provided escort as the Paramarine landed at Voza shortly after midnight without any resistance. During the morning of the 28th they began unloading supplies from landing crafts that had been concealed on a smaller island offshore. Once landed they carried them up a narrow trail leading from the beach a mile northwest of Voza upon some high ground which would be their first base camp. Nearly a hundred friendly natives helped the marines carry the equipment up the beach and they also helped guide the men. Allied radio broadcasting finally alerted the Japanese to the imminent danger to southern Bougainville as Krulaks men began establishing their perimeter. The morning of the 29th brought an enemy strafing attack upon them and the native guides reported to Krulak that there was a barge staging base at Sangigai, the main Japanese position on Choiseul bay, garrisoned by around 150 men. Krulak decided that was to be the first objective, he sent out patrols going north and south. In the north Lt Averill with the help of native guides discover considerable evidence of the Japanese presence, abandoned equipment and rations, but no Japanese. In the south two patrols scouted the Japanese base near Sangigai. Krulak led one of the patrols personally and managed to surprise some Japanese who were unloading a barge. They killed 7 Japanese and sunk the barge before pulling out. The other patrol group ran into a Japanese platoon and got into a skirmish seeing another 7 dead Japanese. Thus Krulak got his confirmation there indeed was a Japanese base at Sangigai.  Early on the 30th, Krulak requested an air strike at it arrived at 6am. 12 Avengers with 26 fighter escorts hit Sangigai. Unfortunately some of the planes mistook the marines at Voza for the enemy and strafed them as well. No marines were killed but one of their boats was sunk, that Krulak had planned to use. As a result of the boat getting sunk, Companies E and 5 departed Voza overland to hit Sangigai. A Japanese outpost along the Vagara river opened fire on the paratroopers, but was easily overwhelmed. Krulak then divided his forces to perform a two pronged assault. Company E led by Captain Robert Manchester would advance along the coastline to hit the Japanese from the north, while Krulak with Company F would move inland to hit them from the rear.  Company E quickly advanced along the coast and began shelling the town with mortars and rockets during the afternoon, only to find out it was abandoned. The Japanese had taken up a new position on some high grounder in the interior. So the paramarines began destroying and looting the village. Meanwhile company F were advancing through rough terrain to try and secure some high ground near Sangigai where the retreating Japanese were just passing through. The Japanese literally walked right into F company and a hour long fight broke out. The Japanese outnumbered F company and as Krulak would later report “the outcome appeared to be in question, until the Japs destroyed their chances by an uncoordinated banzai charge which was badly cut up by our machine guns. Seventy-two Japs were killed and an undetermined number wounded. Marine losses were 6 killed, 1 missing and 12 wounded." The marines had 6 deaths, 12 wounded and one man missing. Krulak was wounded as well as F companies commander Spencer Pratt. The Japanese suffered a devastating 72 casualties Back over at E company after plundering the village they came across some documents  and Krulak reported "The one that fascinated me, it was a chart that portrayed the minefields around southern Bougainville. When I reported this, the night after the Sangigai attack, I saw my first flash message. I had never seen one before. It came back and said, "Transmit at once the coordinates of the limits of the minefields and all channels as shown going through it." So we laboriously encoded the critical locations and sent them off. To an armada going into that area this is not incidental information. This is necessary information. Halsey in true Halsey fashion was not satisfied to know where the minefields were; he, before the Torokina landings, sent in a minelayer there and dropped mines in the entrance ways to those channels and they got two Japanese ships.” E company then retired to the Vagara river and was later evacuated by boat back to the Voza area. F company followed suite but was delayed by the heavy engagement they had. The men stayed to bury their dead. The friendly natives reported a Japanese concentration to the north near the Warrior River, so Krulak sent a strong patrol up by boat to check it out. On November 1, the large patrol of 87 paratroopers from Company G,  led by Major Warner Bigger, headed north by landing craft towards Nukiki with orders "destroy the southern outposts of CHOISEUL BAY, and if possible to shell the Jap supply depot on GUPPY ISLAND." Major Bigger began an overland march along the eastern bank of the river and after crossing the warrior, their native guides became lost so they all had to bivouac for the night. In the early morning of November 2nd, Biggers men found themselves surrounded by Japanese who began infiltrating their perimeter from the rear. Bigger had the men continue north along the beach where the surprise attacked a small enemy outpost of 4 men. They managed to kill 3 of 4, but the last man ran away, thus the element of surprise was gone. Bigger knew the jig was up he could not hope to attack the main objective so instead he ordered the men to go shell Guppy island.  G Company setup some 60mm mortars in the water and fired 143 rounds at the island setting up two large fires, one looked to have hit a fuel dump. The Japanese were taken by surprise there and only offered resistance in the form of some poorly directed machine gun bursts. On the way back G company had to fight their way through because of the infiltrators. Krulak was notified of the situation and alerted a PT boat base at Vella Lavella. Lt Arthur Berndtson had 5 PT boats under his command there, 2 were already assigned to other missions, another was under repair. PT 59 only had ⅓ tanks worth of fuel, but her commander, Lt John F Kennedy, yes he is back in action, agreed to rescue the boys. Kennedy believed he had enough fuel to get to Choiseul and another boat could tow them back to base. Despite overheating the engines, at around 9:30 PT 59 escorted a small convoy to Voza and Bigger's men were off loaded. The PT-59 ran out of fuel on the return trip down the slot and was towed back to Lambu Lambu Cove. By this point the landings at Cape Torokina had been carried out, so a diversion was not really needed anymore. Furthermore the Japanese were moving in on the base camp from all directions. On the night of November 3rd, just in the nick of time, 3 LCIs from Vella Lavella arrived to successfully load Krulaks paratroopers and got them out of there before dawn of the 4th. The Paratroopers had been outnumbered 6-1. They managed to kill an estimated 143 Japanese, destroyed a major staging base at Sangigai, sunk two barges and destroyed a considerable amount of enemy fuel and supplies on Guppy island. The cost was 13 dead and 13 wounded. Krulaks after action report mentioned evidence that the Japanese had sent reinforcements from the Shortland islands to counter the Choiseul operation. On November 1st, the day of the Cape Torokina landings, the Japanese had sent a large bomer force south to Choiseul hunting a reported Task Force. The Japanese found nothing, and by the time they diverted back to Empress Augusta Bay, the landings were done, American fighters were ready to deal with them. It seems the Japanese had been greatly confused from all the activity around Bougainville, particularly from many intercepted messages. Its hard to say how successful the Choiseul raid actually was. It's possible the Japanese fell for the diversion, but no one really knows. 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 diversionary raids may or may not have had an effect on the landings at Cape Torokina. Regardless the multiple operations were all successful and the Japanese seemed none the wiser. Now the stranglehold over Bougainville would begin.

Last time we spoke about the allied offensive against Mubo and the naval battle of Kolombangara. The Australians and Americans were continuing the drive towards Salamaua and Lae, but in their way was the once heavily fortified area of Mubo. Because of intricate diversionary attacks in multiple places, the Japanese gradually lifting their defensive positions in Mubo, until the time was ripe for the allies to seize it. The Pimple, Green Hill and Observation hill, places that caused suffering and hardship were finally seized, Mubo was secured. Over in the Solomons, the New Georgia campaign was continuing, forcing the Japanese to make another daring Tokyo Express run like they did at the battle of Kula Gulf. Yet again Admiral Ainsworth went out to face the enemy, completely ignorant of their torpedo capabilities and he paid for it dearly. Today we are going to continue these stories. This episode is the Drive on Munda Point 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.  Today we are starting with the main drive towards Munda. We are picking up from last time where General Wing had finally begun his main advance on Munda on July 9th. Now the landings had occurred on July 2nd, from then on the Americans were busy making another landings such as at Rice Anchorage, getting forces to assembly points and trying to hinder any efforts by the Japanese to reinforce Munda. If you were looking down upon a map it would basically look like multiple forces taking up positions that cut off trails and ports that extend towards Munda. Everyone had a unique task and a time table, but as we all know not everything goes according to plan. When General Wing ordered the main advance, two infantry regiments were greatly delayed, those being the 172nd who moved a grand total of 1100 yards and the 169th who made zero ground at all. The war planners had not considered how difficult it would be for ground forces to travel the single narrow tracks, dense jungles, mangroves, creeks, ridges and ravines. The men found navigation difficult and whenever the terrain seemed to narrow they found Japanese defenses. The 172nd were ordered by Major Genera Hester to carry out flanking maneuvers against a roadblock set up by the 9th company, 3rd battalion, 229th regiment while the 169th attacked them frontally. They were supported by heavy artillery, naval bombardment and aerial bombing. But General Sasaki correctly predicted the American commanders intentions and responded to them rather quickly with his own counter flanking maneuvers. His forward area was held by Japanese snipers, well concealed in baskets in trees whom employed rifles that gave little to no muzzle flashes, something that was turning into a real trait of the Japanese.  The 172nd progressed a few hundreds yards with its 1st battalion leading the way, the 2nd behind them and the 3rd following from a distance. They were assaulting a point where the Munda trail intersected another trail running southwest to a beach and southwest of this were the native villages of Ilangana and Laiana. The Japanese managed to keep them 1500 yards away with this defenses. The Artillery was not working to dislodge the Japanese from their roadblock and during the night the Japanese were reinforced with some units of the 11th company who took up some high ground later called Reincke Ridge. This made things ever worse for the inexperienced and pretty brutally shaken 169th who had the unfortunate job of meeting them in a front assault. Things were becoming even worse for General Wing. Despite the slow progress, the American forces had actually overstretched their logistics by July 10th. The 118th engineer battalion had been making some good progress building a jeep trail going from Zanana to the Barike River. They relied on information provided by native scouts, and the engineers built the trail over high dry ground, averaging around half a mile or so per day. But the 5 foot deep fast running stream east of the Barike caused a ton of soft mud, not  very engineer friendly. To get the ground firm enough for footbridges and such they were forces to swing the road northward parallel to the river for over 2 miles. This gap between the end and front of the road meant near half of the combat troops were forced to carry forward ammunition, food, water and other supplies and let us not forget everyone who gets sick or wounded needed to be carried back on the same roadways. Again, logistics are not as sexy as the combat and don't usually get much time of day, but its important for any war effort, hell look at Russia today. To solve his logistical headache, General Hester decided to divert the 172nd infantry regiment south towards Laiana, while the 169th would continue their miserable advance up the Munda trail. Now Laiana was just 500 yards east of the main Japanese defensive line at Ilangana, currently held by the 2nd and 3rd battalion of the 229th regiment and 2nd independent Quick-fire battalion all under the command of Colonel Hirata Genjiro. The 172nd would have the support of the 3rd battalion, 103rd regiment and 8 M3 Stuart tanks of the 9th defense battalion who were expected to land at Laiana by July 13th. On the morning of the 11th, the 172nd began turning south wading through knee deep mud and having the Japanese fire mortars upon them. By midway they had advanced 450 yards when they came across some Japanese bill boxes. While this was going on the 169th were pushing against the Japanese upon the high ground leading to a stalemate. Because of this Colonel Temple Holland replaced Colonel Eason as commander of the 169th and Colonel Frederick Reincke took command of its 3rd battalion which was being led by Major William Stebbins. On July 12th the Colonel Holland began a plan calling for the 1st battalion to attack frontally while the 2nd battalion enveloped the Japanese left flank. The 3rd battalion who were in reserve were released to engage the enemy, but the entire thing bogged down immediately as units became intermingled with the 172nd who were on their way to Laiana. Meanwhile Rear Admiral Aaron Merrill with task force 36 was ordered to depart Ironbottom Sounds and provide naval bombardment from the Blanche Channel in coordination with heavy artillery in Rendova and aerial bombing from AirSols. Merrill took 4 light cruisers Columbia, Cleveland, Denver and Montpelier into the narrow channel while his two destroyers Farenholt and Buchanen took up a position near the Munda Bar to shell the Kokenggolo Hill Area. Merrills force fired 8600 shells for 40 minutes, which did clear the jungle in front of the advancing troops, but ultimately did little else as they were forced to fire a mile in front of the American positions, but within that mile were the said Japanese defenses. As you can imagine, the boys on the ground were all too excited to now advance, only to find the same unhampered enemy facing them. The 1st battalion, 169th regiment managed to gain about 300 yards; the 2nd battalion received enfilading fire from a ridge to the north, unable to progress and the 3rd battalion assaulted the southern ridge for several hours enjoying some artillery and aerial support. To the south the 172nd were stuck in front of the pill boxes. These pill boxes were not made out of concrete, but instead coconut logs and coral, pretty ingenious stuff. They ranged from 10-12 feet square, with 3-4 layers of logs banked with 6-8 feet of weathered coral. Their ceilings were usually around 10 feet from the floor, dug into the earth so that 2-4 feet of the pill box projected above the ground. Each had several firing slits for riflemen or machine guns. Outside the pill boxes were foxholes, and trenches connected all positions. All of this was well camouflage using earth, grass, vines, palm fronds and such, leading Americans to stumble onto a pill box without even noticing it. One remark made by the 43rd division after coming across them was that they had an easier time smelling them than seeing them. So if you ever watched classic Pacific War films or the Pacific Series and wondered how some of these pill boxes were made, there you go.  On the morning of the 13th Colonel Holland requested some aerial support and he got some at 10am. 12 Dauntless dropped 1000 pound daisy cutters upon some smoke markers laid out by the 169th. The dive bombers manage to hit the target perfectly before Holland ordered the men to charge. The 2nd battalion went through the center, while the 1st battalion took the right and the 3rd battalion took the left. They hit the north and south ridges trying to envelop the Japanese. E and F companies of the 2nd battalion ran into heavy machine gun fire, causing a halt. The 1st battalion tried to climb the north ridge but were obstructed by a ton of felled trees and craters due to the bombing. The Japanese who survived the bombardments opened fire from their pillboxes keeping the Americans in check. The charging Americans now without artillery or mortar support tried to push forward with rifle and bayonet, seeing many killed upon the crest or wounded. Company B would lose 3 of its 4 officers alone. The 3rd battalion now led by Colonel Reincke fought for some hours managing to progress 500 yards into the Japanese lines securing the south ridge. They fought pillbox through pillbox, it was a terribly bloody affair, resulting in 100 casualties. When they took the ridge they held the position, beating back several counterattacks during the night, to which the men named the ridge Reincke. Soon the 1st and 2nd battalions took up positions on the 3rds flanks securing Reincke ridge, while the Japanese concentrated on the northern ridge and to the west they held a higher ground called Horseshoe hill. Meanwhile the 172nd had their lines of communication cut off in their rear by the Japanese forcing them to quicken up the pace as they were running low on food. They made it to Laiana beach in the late afternoon successfully securing the beach and organizing defensive positions. The following morning General Hester landed the 3rd battalion, 103rd regiment and the tanks to back them up at Laiana. This came also with some much needed supplies for the worn out men. Having supplied the men to the southern beach, now the men in the northern front required resupply. Reinckes men were tossing back more counterattacks. One morning Japanese artillery fired upon the ridge bursting a tree that killed 4 men and wounded 23. Alongside this 5 men were reported to have a case of shell shock, 7 others war neurosis. Machine gun fire claimed 2 men, wounded another 5. At 8pm artillery began again killing another 8 men and wounding 26. There were no medical officers with the battalion, leaving medics to do what they could. Despite the hardship the 3rd battalion held their ground, and gradually the Japanese evacuated the northern ridge which the 2nd battalion quickly seized. By July 15th, the 4rd divisions engineers had managed to complete the jeep trail from Laiana to the 169th area. Telephone lines crews began to lay underwater cables between Zanana, Laiana and General Barkers artillery teams. Engineers also finished a bridge over the Barike on the 12th and on the 14th had extended the trail within 500 yards of the 169th front lines. Supply lines were finally being secured, and more importantly the wounded would be able to be safely transported. By July 17th, the 43rd division had 90 deaths, 636 wounded in actions and over 1000 cases of sickness ranging from the ever present friend malaria, but also diarrhea, dysentery and such. As mentioned, cases of psychological problems were also very apparent. Half of the 43rd division were suffering war neurosis, which we call today Combat Stress Reaction “CSR”. This is an acute reaction from the stress of war that causes the combatant to feel fatigued, have slower reactions, be indecisive, and can become disconnected from one's surroundings. It's classic psychological trauma, kind of similar to what I assume many of you listeners would think of as PTSD, but it is not the same thing, PTSD can see durations lasting months if not even years, while CSR has a short duration. Small tidbit of info since my first degree is in neuroscience, a fairly recent study in the later 2000's was done to look at the issue of CSR, shellshock and such from a neurological point of view. The idea was to figure out if specific physical damage was being done to parts of the brain during blast trauma that caused combat stress reactions. The reason the study was done was because the symptoms from such maladies often overlap with things you see in traumatic brain injuries, anyways was interesting reading back in my uni days. As pointed out by historian Samuel Eliot Morison, it seemed General Hester's choice of sending the 172nd infantry regiment south, had greatly exposed the inexperienced 169th. In his words “This was perhaps the worst blunder in the most unintelligently waged land campaign of the Pacific war (with the possible exception of Okinawa). Laiana should have been chosen as the initial beachhead; if it was now required, the 172nd should have been withdrawn from Zanana and landed at Laiana under naval gunfire and air support. Or Hester might have made the landing with his reserves then waiting at Rendova. As it was, General Sasaki interpreted the move correctly and by nightfall had brought both advances to a standstill.” In order to break the deadlock that was occurring, some of the command structure would be reorganized. This coincided with half of the 4rd division being knocked out of commission, prompting General Hester to request reinforcements for the drive against Munda. General Harmon performed a inspection of the situation and reported back to Admiral Halsey on Guadalcanal. He advised sending forward General Oscar Griswold of the 14th corps with a forward echelon of staff so he could begin building up the administrative, supply and planning for the future New Georgia occupation force. Once Munda had fallen, this would allow General Hester to carry on against Vila. Harmon justified this by stating Hesters force was too small to do it, but there was another rationale. By doing this it would relegate Admiral Turner to a supporting role, whom the army and marines were resenting because of what they deemed to be his meddling of ground operations. Admiral Turner opposed the idea, and Halsey replied to Harmon he could simply increase Hester's staff. This prompted Harmon to fly back to COMSOPAC HQ on Noumea to personally talk to Halsey and force the issue. Griswold showed up at midnight on the 15th assuming command of the occupational force, leaving Hester to focus on the actions of his 43rd divisions offensive. Griswold began his new task by directing Major General Robert Beightler to the rest of the 37th division to New Georgia alongsideColonel Collins 161st regiment of his 25th division. Over at Zanana, the 1st battalion of the 145th regiment arrived at 5pm, which Colonel Holland tossed up to help reinforce the 169th.Now that Admiral Turner was relieved as commander of the South Pacific Amphibious force, his new orders were to take command of the central pacific offensives, replacing Admiral Wilkinson. Now General Hester was preparing for a corps level offensive, but it would take over 10 days to build up and in the meantime the Japanese began to prepare a major counter offensive. On July 16 and 17 some small attacks were performed against the Ilangana line, supported now by the newly arrived tanks, but a lack of coordination between the 172nd regiments infantry and tanks led to only a bit of gain. Nonetheless the tanks did help against the pillboxes. The tanks took up a wedge formation and used their 37mm guns with high explosive shells to dislodge the panicking Japanese trying to fight back with their machine guns from many of the forward pillboxes. However the Japanese were only phased by the arrival of the tanks for about a day as on July 18th they started to employ anti tank strategies to great effect. The Japanese defenders began tossing a mixture of mines, molotov cocktails and flame-throwers, forcing Griswold to withdraw the remaining tanks and ordered the transportation of the 10th defense battalions tanks to reinforce them.  Meanwhile the 169th regiment were advancing southwest towards Kelley Hill located 400 yards southwest of Reincke Ridge. They faced little opposition, but would soon see wave after wave of Japanese counterattacks to dislodge them. On the other side, the 1st and 3rd battalions of Colonel Tomonari's 13th regiment had arrived at the scene and managed to bypass Colonel Liversedge's roadblock. General Sasaki planned to toss Tomonari around the American's right flank near the east bridge over the Barike river. From there they could advance upon Zanana Beach. By July 14th, the 1th regiment were marching to the upper Barike, but the men lacked maps and were hacking their own trail. Tomonari said of this  “If we had to go round and round in circles in the jungle, not having been able to find the enemy, nor having been able to help the 229th Regiment and let them die, it would really hurt the reputation the 13th Infantry Regiment had had for a long time, since the Sino- and Russo-Japan War. That was why most soldiers were feeling the pressure. Finally meeting the enemy at that point was like meeting Buddha in hell.” It would take them  days to march through the thick jungle. On the night of July 17th, Tomonari and the men found a jeep trail heading towards General Hesters HQ on Zanana Beach. He ordered his men to attack the area which at this time was being guarded by a platoon of the 4rd reconnaissance troops and 70 Fijian commandos led by Captain David Williams. General Hester was not at the HQ at this time he was at Laiana, but Generals Wing and Barker were. The Japanese launched simultaneous raids against the engineer and medical bivouacs and 43rd divisional command post. At the same time Captain Kojima of the 229th regiment launched an attack against Kelley Hill on the 18th. At 10am Japanese machine guns north of Kelley opened fire as riflement charged the its western slope. The 1st battalion fired upon the charging Japanese as the 3rd battalion fired upon the machine gunners to the north. The Japanese assault was threatening to break the line. Many of the Japanese managed to crawl within grenade tossing distance of the northern line of the 1st battalion, but mortar fire forced them back. It was an extremely bloody attack and the 1st battalion reported finding 102 dead Japanse upon the slopes at daybreak. Another predawn attack was launched by the 2nd battalion 229th infantry against the 3rd battalion, 103rd infantry but they repulsed it. The attacks were done to prevent the American troops there from helping the Zanana defenders. If all went well, Sasaki could destroy the 43rd divisions rear installations cutting off major lines of communications to the surrounding front line forces. Tomonari's raids however were chaotic and disorderly. Rather than a organized assault, it fell into a series of separate smaller raids allowing the few reconnaissance and Fijian commandos to fend off the invaders. The reconnaissance forces repelled the attacks upon the engineer and medical bivouacs while the Fijian commandos manned a perimeter alongside Headquarters personnel such as drivers, medical orderlies, clerks, everyone grabbed a rifle despite many not even using one since basic training. The Fijians had better eyesight at night than anyone else and showcased their abilities to the Japanese who were certainly not used to being contested in this field of expertise. Tafa a Tongan, was firing from his foxhole when a Japanese officer wielding a katana and a grenade in the other hand charged at him. Tafa used his Owen gun to mow the man down killing him. The Japanese officer was found later to be carrying documents showcasing the full strength of the Japanese force and details of their mission. The Japanese were screaming as they charged from all directions as the close quarters melee raged on. The Japanese managed to infiltrate the perimeter multiple times, destroying communications equipment, but they could not reach the most important part of the area, General Barkers artillery. Barker unleashed a tight box barrage from extremely close range to devastating effect. The Japanese had no other option than to flee up the jeep trail they came from. Tomonari had his surviving forces erect some road blocks for the next 3 days, but Sasaki's hopes of knocking out the 43rd divisions HQ were thwarted. Having survived the major counter offensive, the 148th regiment was quickly landed at Zanana on the 18th and were soon sent over to Reincke Ridge to relieve the poor 169th regiment. Colonel Stuart Baxter of the 148th regiment was surprised by the roadblocks as Griswold never warned him about them. His advance parties were ambushed leading to 2 deaths and some wounded. During the night the Japanese were found drunk off looted whiskey they had taken from a rations dump near the bridge on the Barike. There was a clash where a platoon from the 169th were bringing wounded men down. The drunken Japanese managed to kill many of the wounded men being carried on litters alongside 2 medics. The bridge henceforth was called “Butchers bridge”. The next morning at 8am, Baxter sent his 1st battalion and his HQ up the jeep road to fight the Japanese, but as they went up it seemed the Japanese had withdrawn. Baxters men crossed the east bridge without incident, but as they went further up the road suddenly Japanese machine guns opened up on them. A company lost over a dozen men to this ambush and soon the Japanese were attacking his flanks forcing Baxter to dig in. By July 21st the Japanese would finally depart the area allowing the 148th regiment to relieve the 169th. As for the 169th, they were sent over to Rendova and General Beightler took command of the 37th division whom he reshuffled for an offensive. A 1300 yard line was formed north of Ilangana with Hester's 43rd division to the south and Beightler's 37th division to the north. By this point Hester moved his 43rd divisional command post from Zanana to Laiana where many trails were created to help with the supply lines. Griswold now planned to start an offensive on July 25th, opening up with a naval, artillery and aerial bombardment, before the infantry and tanks performed a frontal assault upon the Japanese line. The 43rd division would hit from the left to take Lambete plantation and its airfield while the 37th division would hit from the right against Bibilo Hill, thus enveloping the Japanese north of the airfield. Meanwhile, Colonel Currin's 4th Raiders had secured the Enogai inlet, allowing Liversedge to launch his attack against Bairoko. For the attack on Bairoko, Liversedge planned to use the 1st and 4th Raiders along the ENogai-Bairoko trail to hit the Japanese frontally, while the 3rd battalion, 148th regiment would take the Triri-Bairoko trail to hit their southern flank. Liversedge appeared to have expected aerial bombing support, but did not request or failed to request the air support in time. On the morning of the 20th, the forces began their advance. At 10:00am, Colonel Griffiths 1st Raiders ran into some Japanese outposts manned by just a handful of Japanese. They fired upon them sending them fleeing, as they continued their advance they soon came across a larger force. Eventually they were forced to a halt as they came upon the Japanese main defensive line at around Noon. Commander Okumura Saburo had created 4 successive lines of mutually supporting pillboxes on low parallel ridges running north to south. Meanwhile the 4th raiders advanced within 300 yards short of the shore of Bairoko harbor meeting the Japanese lines of defense. At 2:30pm, Griffiths D company managed to break into the first line of defense, but an hour later, Okumura ordered heavy mortar fire from the ridges pushing the Americans back and turning the area into a killing field. The 1st raiders were unable to move forward, now resting their hopes on the 4th raiders making a breakthrough in the south. The 4th raiders ran into the Japanese main line during the midday and were not making any progress. Liversedge called the forces at the front and consequently ordered the two raider battalions to take up defensive positions further east on some high ground. The raiders had suffered 200 casualties before they retired to the south shores of Leland Lagoon. The next day, reinforcements came over from Enogai along with air support. At 9:50am 24 Dauntless, 25 Avengers and 8 B-25's swooped in to bomb Bairoko. This was followed up at noon by 37 Avengers, 6 B-25s, then at 4pm 48 Dauntless and 25 Avengers. 130 tons of bombs his Bairoko alongside an estimated 24,000 rounds of machine gun bullets. Liversedge ordered the men to sit tight and hold their positions for now along a line stretching from Enogai, Triri and Rice Anchorage.  Meanwhile, after the victory during the battle of Kolombangara, Admiral Samejima formed a new Night battle unit, consisting of  Heavy cruisers Kumano, Suzuya and Chokai; light cruiser Sendai; and destroyers Yugure, Kiyonami, Yukikaze and Hamakaze, led by Admiral Nishimura. Their unit was given the task of harassing American transportation efforts. Rear Admiral Ijuin Matsuji was now commanding the reinforcement unit who were going to make a run on the 17th, but this was greatly hampered by an American air strike against Buin. On the 17th, 7 B-24s, 32 P-38's and P-40's, 37 Dauntless, 36 Avengers and 64 Wildcats and Corsairs hit Buin. 48 Zeros began to take off from Kahili, but they could not scramble fast enough as the Americans bombed the shipping, setting a cargo ship on fire, before the Hatsuyuki took a direct hit to her forward magazine sinking her and 3 other destroyers were damaged. 13 Zeros were shot down while the Americans lost 6 aircraft. Many of Ijuins transports received some minor damage delaying his departure. On July 19th, Nishimura attempted a reinforcement run to New Georgia, but his force was intercepted northwest of Kolombangara by a pack of Avengers. Nishimura's ships scattered at high speed upon seeing the enemy aircraft, but Yugure was successfully torpedoed and sank as a result. The Kiyonami stuck behind to grab survivors. Meanwhile cruisers Chokai and Kumano were also heavily damaged. The Kiyonami was later attacked by 8 B-25's who bombed her at masthead level, leaving her dead in the water. The B-25's also attacked the transports doing some minor damage to the Matsuzuki and Minazuki. 582 men, 102 tons of supplies and 60 drums of fuel were successfully delivered, but the terrible losses led to the newly formed Night Battle unit to be canned. On the 22nd another reinforcement convoy consisting of Seaplane tender Nishin and destroyers Arashi, Isokaze and Hagikaze made a run to Bougainville led by Rear Admiral Osugi Morkazu. They were carrying 630 men of the South Seas 4th guard unit, 22 tanks and 8 artillery pieces. They were intercepted by a huge force consisting of 12 B-24's, 16 Dauntless, 18 Avengers, escorted by 134 fighters flown by US army, Marine and New Zealanders. The Nisshin was devastated by bombs, torpedoes and strafing attacks leading her to sink within 14 minutes from the start of the interception. Of her 633 crewmen and 630 troops onboard, only 178 would be rescued later on by destroyers who faced considerable attacks from aircraft doing so. Despite the rather insane levels of allied aircraft attacks, General Imamura continued to commit more forces to the defense of the Central Solomons now assigning the elite 2nd battalion, 230th regiment “Yano Battalion” led by Lt COlonel Yano Keiji to reinforce Vila. They were sent aboard the destroyers Yukikaze, Mikazuki and Hamakaze on the night of the 23rd. Instead of sailing through the slot, they used the Wilson straight which was very fortunate as Admiral Merrill was coming up the slot with a large task force to supply Liversedge at Enogai. At Least the poor Japanese transports dodge one bullet. 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 American drive upon Munda was seeing significant delays as the Japanese proved themselves very capable at defense, especially in pillboxes. However the battles to reinforce New Georgia were costing the Japanese defeats or pyrrhic victories. 

Introducing epsiode 136In Episode 136, Chris shares the 90 Years of P&O Australia's leisure cruises. We answer some listener questions and share the latest news from, Viking, Swan Hellenic, Coral Expeditions, Carnival, Saga, Celebrity, Windstar & P&O UK. Plus who wins this weeks Fact or Fiction.  Support the showListen, Like, Subscribe & Review on your favourite podcast directory.Share the podcast with someone you think will enjoy the showBuy Me A Coffee – This podcast is only possible thanks to our supporters, simply buying a coffee keeps us on air. It is just like shouting your mate a coffee, and we consider our listeners close mates. https://bit.ly/2T2FYGXSustainable Fashion – choose a TBCP design or design your own… all using organic cotton, green energy and zero plastic https://bit.ly/32G7RdhRun for a Reason – This year Chris will Run for a Reason, raising money for the Type 1 Diabetes Family Centre. The Family Centre is a unique WA based home away from home for people with type 1. The team work alongside people living with type 1 diabetes, to support them to live a full and rewarding life. Donations can be made here: https://lnkd.in/gjs7jXXjListener QuestionsListener Question from KerryHi Baz and Chris, new cruiser here. Last year my husband started working for Cunard and so we are really new to cruising but want to make the most of his staff discount. We have a cruise to the Norwegian Fjords booked for July 2023, 7 nights out of Southampton on Queen Victoria. So far the only excursion we've booked is a visit to Briksdal Glacier. We have done lots of research and feel happy with this as the only pre-booked cruise line excursion. The other port days we are happy to just wander nearby to the ship and see where we end up. My question is, do you feel that you can get the best out of port days just going with the flow or do you prefer pre-booked and organised trips? Sitting on a coach with 60 other people looking at passing views is my idea of hell, I'd much rather put on some hiking boots and walk to a waterfall. Love the show, especially Chris's Cunard insights, hope to catch an enrichment talk one day!Baz suggests look at the independant shore excursions operators such as Venture Ashore: https://www.ventureashore.com/Listener Question from KeithWhile cruising recently on Holland America's Nieuw Statendam, I noticed an interesting shape on the rear of the hull below deck 1.  What is the purpose of the extended structure at the rear of the ship beneath the mooring lines?  When viewed from the rear or side, most of the “extension” is above the water.BazCruise NewsViking Opens up 2025 River Cruises for sale Due to overwhelming demand, Viking's 2025 river voyages are now open for sale.  This response comes as Viking celebrated record-breaking sales in January and earning top honours in the Cruise Critic 2023 Cruisers' Choice Awards across river, ocean and expedition categories.It is the first time Viking has three river seasons open for sale at once, providing guests with more choice when selecting their next unforgettable journey.Viking started the year with record-breaking sales in January and this demand has only continued throughout the following months. A large percentage of those bookings have come through its trusted travel agent network, with agents seeing exceptional volume of bookings.Viking is also offering guests additional savings of $200 per couple for new 2024/2025 river bookings made by 30 April 2023.River highlights include:15-day Grand European Cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest or v.v.23-day European Sojourn from Amsterdam to Bucharest or v.v.8-day Paris & the Heart of Normandy from Paris to10-day Portugal's River of Gold from Lisbon to Porto12-day Pharaohs & Pyramids from Cairo to Cairo15-day Magnificent Mekong from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh CitySwan Hellenic announces delivery of third state-of-the-art expedition ship: SH DianaOn Tuesday the 4th of April: Swan Hellenic announced that it had taken delivery of SH Diana from the Helsinki Shipyard on Friday the 31st of March, and that its newest and largest ship is en-route in the Baltic and will pass the through the Kiel Canal tomorrow night.SH Diana is now sailing to Palermo for her inaugural cultural expedition cruise, the ten-night Mysteries of Carthage and the Moors, which will take her guests to explore some of the most fascinating locations in North Africa before crossing the “Pillars of Hercules” to Seville and Lisbon. Departing Lisbon on the 25th of April, the nine-night Historic Ports of the Western Seaboard will see her hugging the coasts of Spain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands to reach Amsterdam.Here on the 4th of May, a Christening Ceremony with US luxury travel industry icon Valerie Wilson as godmother will take place naming SH Diana in the traditional manner with a modern twist, sending her on her way in style to cruises of the Scandinavian fjords and a full Arctic season.Coral Expeditions expands season in the Spice IslandsCoral Expeditions, Australia's pioneering cruise line, has today announced the launch of four new 18-night extended voyages to Raja Ampat and Spice Islands of West Papua in early 2025. The release coincides with the current expeditions in March and April on Coral Adventurer which are both sold out due to popular demand. These voyages are the first back to the region since 2020.The new expeditions are scheduled for the peak summer season from January to March in 2025 and will be hosted on Coral Geographer. Each trip will have fewer than 120 guests and be accompanied by expert guides in keeping with our true expedition ethos.New voyage dates:Darwin to Sorong > 18 nights departing 24 January 2025Sorong to Darwin > 18 nights departing 11 February 2025Darwin to Sorong > 18 nights departing 2 March 2025Sorong to Darwin > 18 nights departing 20 March 2025As is the case with most Coral Expeditions voyages in remote international regions, the company will charter a jet aircraft for guest transfers from Darwin to Sorong and return.Key highlights of the new itineraries include:Three days in spectacular Raja Ampat, the famed archipelago of the “four Kings”Swimming with the gentle and majestic giant whale sharks at Cenderawasih BayDiscovering Wayag's ‘gumdrop' islands and be rewarded by the view from Pindito PeakEnjoying a welcome to Banda Neira by the traditional Kora Kora canoesExploring the ancient spice kingdoms fought over by English, Dutch, and Portuguese explorersLearning the customs & cultures of West Papua and Indonesia, and experiencing local culture, including traditional dance, handicrafts and local cuisineQueensland Children's Hospital patients enjoy Dr. Seuss-themed day onboard Carnival LuminosaBringing some Dr. Seuss-themed fun to the Sunshine State, Carnival Cruise Line, along with the Children's Hospital Foundation, today hosted Queensland Children's Hospital patients and families onboard Carnival Luminosa for a special Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast.With The Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 and Thing 2, all were invited onboard the ship red and blue. Green Eggs were enjoyed, and the kids had a ball, but their mums and their dads had the best time of all. There was singing and dancing, by crew and by waiters, but the kids were by far the best fun creators.Carnival Cruise Line has been a proud supporter of the Children's Hospital Foundation in Queensland since 2019 and has hosted its recurring Conga for Kids event onboard Carnival Luminosa since the ship began sailing from Queensland in November 2022.Raising much-needed funds for the Foundation, Carnival Cruise Line VP, Kara Glamore also presented Children's Hospital Foundation CEO, Lyndsey Rice with a giant cheque for $34,245. The money raised is the cumulative efforts of the brand's ‘Conga for Kids' events during Carnival's first-ever Brisbane season. And with two events to go, this number is only expected to increase. This figure adds to a previous donation of $10,000 following the 2022 Nine Telethon in support of the foundation, bringing the total funds raised to just under 45 thousand dollars.Deck' the halls! Carnival Cruise Line announces ‘Grinchmas in July' cruisesRoll out the mince pies! Carnival Cruise Line announces it will offer five ‘Grinchmas in July' themed sailings onboard Carnival Splendor to its existing roster of fun-filled cruises.As part of Carnival's ongoing Dr. Seuss partnership, the Grinch-themed cruises will bring the very best of ‘Christmas in July' traditions to sea, allowing Australian guests to experience the fun of a wintry ‘Christmas'. The new additions come as part of Carnival's ‘Seuss at Sea' offerings, including its Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast, Seussapalooza and Seuss Storytime.Grinchmas in July will see Carnival Splendor transformed into a magical winter wonderland, its giant Christmas tree adorned with glittering lights and baubles galore; there'll even be winter ‘snow' on board. Guests will be able to immerse themselves in the full holiday spirit by enjoying a delicious array of festive food and beverage offerings, including Christmas-themed beverages and specialty dining options, ensuring a very merry time. The festive fun comes on top of the full array of 45+ activities guests have come to know and love on a Carnival Cruise.The Grinch himself will join the festivities with special appearances and a screening of How the Grinch Stole Christmas at the Dive-In Movies. The fun doesn't stop there, as guests can party like a Who from Who-ville, to a ‘Jingle Bell Jam' soundtrack, as well as Christmas carolling, festive games, trivia and arts and crafts. There's even an ugly Christmas sweater night and festive outfit competition for the fashionistas of the family.Carnival's Grinchmas in July sailings depart from Sydney starting from 30th June 2023. The full list of sailings include:Friday 30th June: 9-night sailing to the South Pacific visiting three amazing ports including Noumea, Mystery Island and LifouSunday 9th July: 4-night sailing including a trip to the picturesque Moreton Island, one of Australia's best kept secretsThursday 13th July: 3-night Weekend Sampler where guests can soak in the very best of Sydney's famous landmarks whilst getting a taste of the fun on boardSunday 16th July: 12-night South Pacific tour with just under two weeks sailing around the stunning South Pacific. Enjoy the sunshine in Noumea, whilst stopping off at other stunning locations such as Mystery Island and LifouFriday 28th July: 3-night Weekend SamplerSaga launches full range of 2024 ocean cruisesSaga has officially launched its full range of 2024 ocean cruises with 48 all-inclusive itineraries now available.New for 2024, Saga has revamped its UK travel package and the included return chauffeur service has now been extended to 300 miles from the departure port (previously it was 250 miles). Those guests who live further afield and choose to join the cruise via a domestic flight to London or Southampton will also receive a chauffeur service from home to their local airport. They will then be picked up from their flight and driven to the ship, making the whole experience easy and stress-free.In addition to the complimentary chauffeur service, Saga's boutique ocean cruises are all-inclusive with no hidden costs on-board either. Saga Cruises come with all dining and house drinks including a selection of cocktails, draft beers and lagers, wines, spirits, mixers and soft drinks. New for 2023 and in response to guest feedback, a selection of premium label spirits are also available at no additional cost. Wi-Fi, gratuities, fitness facilities, 24-hour room service, sightseeing tours in selected ports, entertainment (from lectures to recitals to shows), porterage of luggage, shuttle buses to nearest town centres and travel insurance are also included.Celebrity Cruises' Next Edge-Series Ship Brings New Flex Fuel Engine To IndustryWhen Celebrity Cruises introduces the fifth ship in the  revolutionary Edge Series, it will feature the collaborative efforts of its parent company Royal Caribbean Group, technology group Wärtsilä and shipyard Chantiers de L'Atlantique (CdA) to advance the use of alternative fuels for the cruise industry. The ship continues the innovation that debuted with the Edge Series but will also be equipped with a new engine model, along with storage and delivery systems, that will give unmatched fuel flexibility, with the ability to use three types of fuel, including methanol.To allow for the ship's fuel flexibility, Wärtsilä will deliver two converted 8-cylinder Wärtsilä 46F engines to allow them to utilize three fuel sources, including methanol. These changes not only advance carbon-free cruising, but by adding methanol as a fuel option, local emission like sulphur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and particulate matter are significantly reduced.Formula 1 Races in Abu Dhabi + Monaco Can Be Accessed Via a Cruise Ship So Small & Nimble It Feels Like Your Own Private YachtSmall ship line Windstar Cruises has added a new Formula 1 experience for its guests, this time at the final race of the 2023 season at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November. The racing excursion is in addition to Windstar's long-standing themed F1® cruise to the Monaco Grand Prix, with this year's Rome & Prix du Monde of Monaco slated for May 21-28 aboard Windstar's flagship: 342-passenger sailing yacht Wind Surf.Offered by no other cruise line, the Windstar shore excursion to the Formula 1® Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2023 is available as part of Windstar's first-ever sailings in the Middle East on board the all-suite, 312-passenger Star Legend.During an overnight in Abu Dhabi amidst the inaugural 10-day Sparkling Sands & Cities of the Persian Gulf voyage departing Dubai on November 23, guests will have the option to experience the climactic race of the F1® season on November 25 and 26 with premium grandstand seats for the time trials and the race, transfers to and from Yas Marina Circuit, English-speaking coordinators, and onboard perks like an exclusive cocktail party. Guests will also be joined by F1® Sports Broadcaster Bob Varsha, who will provide insights and expert analysis of the race and drivers.Cruising to the Monaco Grand Prix has its origins in the 1990s as Windstar's first themed cruise and one of the industry's very first themed cruises (long before cat lovers, bikers, rockers, and other hobby groups made them so ubiquitous). Windstar's passengers n the Rome & Prix du Monde of Monaco itinerary, which consistently sells out far in advance, all receive race tickets, specifically Section K seats for the time trials and final. The entire cruise is hosted by a Formula 1® racing expert who provides behind-the-scenes insight, and there is also a themed cocktail reception and dinner on board, plus extras like high definition binoculars, comfy seat cushions, and ear protection.P&O Cruises announces multi-million pound investment in Arcadia and AuroraP&O Cruises has today announced that it will be updating guest areas on its adults only ships, Arcadia and Aurora.The changes, which are due to be completed by May 2023, will include new balcony furniture, new chairs in cabins, as well as new furniture on the ship's open deck areas. On Arcadia, the Neptune Pool will also see considerable investment with new lounge chairs, sofas, tables and armchairs. Arcadia's wider refit will take place in November 2024 and Aurora's is scheduled for April 2025.SH DianaViking Nile CruiseViking EuropeCarnival in QueenslandAnd more...Join the show:If you have a cruise tip, burning question or want to record a cruise review get in touch with us via the website https://thebigcruisepodcast.com/join-the-show/ Guests: Chris Frame: https://bit.ly/3a4aBCg   Chris's Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChrisFrameOfficialListen & Subscribe: Amazon Podcasts: https://amzn.to/3w40cDcApple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2XvD7tF Audible: https://adbl.co/3nDvuNgCastbox: https://bit.ly/2xkGBEI Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/2RuY04u  I heart Radio:  https://ihr.fm/3mVIEUASpotify: https://spoti.fi/3caCwl8 Stitcher: https://bit.ly/2JWE8Tz Pocket casts: https://bit.ly/2JY4J2M Tune in: https://bit.ly/2V0Jrrs Podcast Addict: https://bit.ly/2BF6LnE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I never had the pleasure of working with my guest today, but she worked for Club Med from 1988 to 2000. Her first season was in Club Med Eleuthera in 1988 as a Mini Club G.O. Everyone, please help me welcome one amazing Aussie, Julie Ford!! When she was a young twenty-something first-grade teacher, Julie went to Club Med Moorea by herself as a G.M. at the suggestion of her mother. Even after that vacation Julie still was not sure she would apply one day to become a G.O., but she eventually did and had her interview in the Club Med New York offices with John Shelly. Julie worked in such villages as St. Lucia (89), Ixtapa (91), Noumea (92), Lindeman Island (93), Cherating (94), and Copper Mountain (95). She worked with Chiefs of Village such as Pierre Ruffaldi, Andrea Livingston, Patrice Prual, Carlos Castro, and Jean-Pierre Franquin. Julie was at the opening of Club Med Lindeman Island with Carlos Castro in 1993. I ask Julie to go into detail about the opening and she was kind enough to oblige me. Julie shares a story about a “borrowed” VCR and a future Chief of Village that you really must hear! She remembers watching the live telecast of the Olympics announcement on September 24, 1993, in the theatre of Lindeman and the place going nuts when Australia won the bid. Julie told herself then that when the Olympics came in 2000, she would be a part of it somehow. Did she? You will have to listen to find out!! We cover a lot in this episode so get comfortable! At the end of the interview, Julie tells us what she is doing now, the things she misses most about Club Med, and if she would do anything differently. Please enjoy this episode with Julia Ford!!  **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podchaser, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

Episode 142In episode 142, Chis has another Fact or Fiction, they answer listener questions and share the latest cruise news from Ponant, Silversea, Viking Coral Expeditions and Viking.Ponant Celebrates 35 yearsSupport the showListen, Like, Subscribe & Review on your favourite podcast directory.Share the podcast with someone you think will enjoy the showBuy Me A Coffee – This podcast is only possible thanks to our supporters, simply buying a coffee keeps us on air. It is just like shouting your mate a coffee, and we consider our listeners close mates. https://bit.ly/2T2FYGXSustainable Fashion – choose a TBCP design or design your own… all using organic cotton, green energy and zero plastic https://bit.ly/32G7RdhRun for a Reason – This year Chris Walked for a Reason, raising money for the Type 1 Diabetes Family Centre. The Family Centre is a unique WA based home away from home for people with type 1. The team work alongside people living with type 1 diabetes, to support them to live a full and rewarding life. Donations can be made here: https://lnkd.in/gjs7jXXjListener QuestionsDamian from Liverpool asks. Chris/Baz Europe appears to be the modern leader in construction of passenger ships, but are their any Australian ship builders of significance?Unknown, Chris Baz have you ever visited the Barcelona Maritime Museum. I recently visited and highly recommend a visit. Just a short walk from the port area, it was the former Royal Dockyards of Barcelona, and houses some great content from the 15th Century to present day including a replica Royal Galleon, over 60m in length and powered by 59 oars and the power of 236 rowers and the fully operation Schooner Santa Eulalia.Cruise newsPONANT – 35 Years of Exploration Guided by NaturePonant is celebrating its 35th anniversary by paying tribute to those who have been at the heart of its development and growth since 1988 with a new media campaign highlighting their expertise and commitment. The people of PONANT all share the same ambition to make travel a unique experience of discovery, understanding and meaning, with nature as a guide.Exactly two years ago, Captain Etienne Garcia reached the North Pole aboard the first LNG-powered hybrid electric polar exploration vessel. Maria, a naturalist, shared her passion for tropical marine life in Las Islas de la Bahía archipelago in Honduras. Sandrine, a naturalist, and expedition leader accompanied passengers across to Macquarie Island to educate them on penguin species, and Mick returned to Indonesia, to connect with local communities in his mission to craft sustainable and inclusive expedition itineraries. All embody the philosophy that has guided PONANT on its own journey for the last 35 years.35 years of environmental awarenessReducing emissions remains a major challenge for the coming years, which is why PONANT targets to equip its entire fleet with shore power by 2026.This corporate journey could not be achieved without the commitment of guests, partners, and the daily work of its employees, all committed towards more sustainable tourism.https://youtu.be/kH6sTNEoFhsSilversea Unveils 140-Day World Cruise for 2026, Its Most Diverse Voyage EverSilversea Cruises has unveiled details on its 140-day World Cruise 2026, ‘The Curious and the Sea'—the most diverse and immersive voyage in the cruise line's history, which broadens the largest collection of extended sailings in ultra-luxury cruising. Guests will embark Silver Dawn® in Fort Lauderdale on January 6, 2026, before travelling deep into 70 destinations in 37 countries—the most ever on a Silversea World Cruise—including 26 calls that are new for a Silversea World Cruise or unvisited since 2020, and 9 overnights. An exclusive pre-sale opens to Venetian Society members on June 14, while general sales open on June 22.‘The Curious and the Sea' will connect travellers with the rich history of navigation, inspired by the same curiosity that led ancient seafarers to sail to unknown lands. Channeling the same spirit of discovery that has driven exploration throughout the ages, bespoke events ashore, onboard activities, regionally inspired culinary experiences, three optional overland tours (Uzbekistan, Luxor, and the Balkans), and more will enrich the voyage. Guests will follow ancient trade routes, sailing the waters that connected the Silk Road, and transiting both the Panama and Suez canals; they will step foot on some of the world's most remote islands, including those in the South Pacific, a region explored by Captain James Cook in the 18th century; and they will witness lands that inspired scientific progression, such as Western Australia, which attracted Charles Darwin in 1836.70 DESTINATIONS, 37 COUNTRIES, 26 NEW DESTINATIONS, 140 DAYSFollowing a curated travel experience—including private executive transfers, Business class air, and a dedicated meet and greet service—world cruising guests will board Silver Dawn in Fort Lauderdale on January 6, 2026, journeying through Central America, before transiting the Panama Canal to South America. Easter Island, French Polynesia, and the South Pacific will follow, leading guests to New Zealand and a semi-circumnavigation of Australia. Travellers will then explore Southeast Asia, crossing the Bay of Bengal to Sri Lanka, India, and the Red Sea, before passing through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean. They will delve into European history and culture, before the voyage concludes in Lisbon, Portugal, on May 27, 2026. Highlights will include:NEWLY SCOUTED: 28-DAY DEEP DIVE OF THE SOUTH PACIFICFollowing months of extensive scouting by Silversea's destination experts to unlock new destinations, a 28-day immersion into French Polynesia and the South Pacific will highlight the global voyage. New calls for a Silversea World Cruise include Nuku Hiva and Atuona in the Marquesas Islands; Fakarava, with its UNESCO-listed biosphere reserve; Tonga's Nuku'alofa; New Caledonia's Lifou and Noumea; and Norfolk Island. Explorations of Bora Bora and Papeete in French Polynesia, Aitutaki in the Cook Islands, and Savusavu in Fiji will also highlight the region. Bespoke World Cruise events will spotlight the South Pacific's history, traditions, and folklore.FIRST TIME ON A SILVERSEA WORLD CRUISE: SEMI-CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF AUSTRALIASilver Dawn will sail between Hobart (Tasmania) and Darwin on a 21-day semi-circumnavigation of Australia, journeying off the beaten path along the country's southern and western coastlines for the first time on a Silversea World Cruise. Guests will admire some of the world's clearest night skies, retracing the steps of early explorers who looked to the stars for navigation, as well as the country's most spectacular landscapes and wildlife species—some of which inspired Charles Darwin's ‘Theory of Evolution.' Highlights will include the rarely visited Phillip Island for the chance to see the penguin parade, during which thousands of Little Penguins dash from the sea to the dunes; Port Lincoln, for the Coffin Bay National Park and the Eyre Peninsula; and Esperance, visited for the first time on a Silversea World Cruise, with its pink salt lakes. Other calls will include Melbourne and Adelaide, as well as Exmouth for the Ningaloo Reef and the chance to swim with whale sharks, and the Kimberley Coast.ALL-NEW CULTURAL EXPERIENCES IN NORTHERN AFRICAAn emphatic finale to ‘The Curious and the Sea,' Silver Dawn will unlock the cultures of Northern Africa for the first time on a Silversea World Cruise. One of the most eagerly anticipated calls on the voyage, La Goulette in Tunisia will provide insight into the bygone eras of the Ancient Carthaginians and the Roman Empire, with its UNESCO-listed medina, the Bardo Museum, and its fascinating cultural offering. A gateway to Tunisia, La Goulette is an historic port that has long been key for international trade, connecting Africa with Europe.BESPOKE & EXCLUSIVE: WORLD CRUISE EVENTSWorld cruising guests will unite at an exclusive Bon Voyage reception in Fort Lauderdale on the evening of January 5, before spending a pre-cruise night in a luxury hotel and embarking Silver Dawn at leisure on January 6. Towards the voyage's conclusion, a grand finale farewell event will immerse guests into the culture, heritage, and traditions of the Southern Mediterranean. Priceless experiences designed by Silversea's destination experts, the following events will also enrich the World Cruise 2026 offering:‘POLYNESIAN DREAMS' – FRENCH POLYNESIA: A bespoke event in French Polynesia, reserved exclusively for world cruising guests, will display the rich, historical seagoing cultures of local communities, with a seafood feast and cultural performances that connect guests with the soul of these spectacular islands. During the event, guests will sample the local flavours, learn the local dances, and bask in the Polynesian sunset.‘THE MAGIC OF MYSTERY ISLAND' – MYSTERY ISLAND, VANUATU: Collaborating closely with the island's Chief and the department of tourism, Silversea has curated a special event on Mystery Island in Vanuatu. Dancers from various islands throughout the region will perform a fusion of cultural rituals, while guests dine on catch of the day in a scenic beach setting and snorkel in some of the world's clearest waters, which teem with marine life.‘FROM PADDY TO PLATE' – BENOA, BALI: The cruise line's guests will feast on regional cuisine alongside the stunning rice paddies of the five-star Tanah Gajah resort in Benoa, Bali. Authentic Balinese performances will enrich the occasion, as travellers develop an appreciation for Southeast Asia's sacred grain, which migrated around the world with the early seafarers.‘THE EXOTIC MARIGOLD AND MORE' – COCHIN, INDIA: Guests will journey into Alleppey in the backwaters of Cochin for a bespoke afternoon of entertainment. Following a tuk-tuk ride through the urban streets, guests will be greeted with flower garlands and exclusive cultural experiences, including performances from Kerala drummers and martial artists, an authentic Sadhya lunch served on banana leaves, and a traditional houseboat cruise down the Kerala River.SILVER DAWN: AMONG THE MOST LUXURIOUS SHIPS AT SEATravelling aboard the ultra-luxury Silver Dawn, guests will benefit from the small-ship intimacy and spacious all-suite accommodations that are hallmarks of the Silversea experience. All guests will enjoy the personalised service of a butler and one of the highest space-to-guest ratios at sea, at 68 GRT-per-guest. The latest Muse-class ship offers travellers immersive culinary experiences both on board and ashore through Silversea's S.A.L.T.℠ culinary programme. In the S.A.L.T. Lab, an onboard test kitchen, more than 60 culinary programmes curated by regional food experts will enable travellers to get hands-on with local ingredients during the World Cruise 2026. In the S.A.L.T. Kitchen, the menu will change daily, inspired by local flavours. The S.A.L.T. Bar will offer approximately 70 custom-designed cocktails related to visited destinations. Exclusively reserved for full world cruising guests, two complimentary S.A.L.T. experiences ashore, designed in collaboration with some of the world's foremost restaurants, will also enrich guests' travels. Moreover, a complimentary treatment and a host of wellness experiences offered through the Roman-inspired Otium℠ wellness programme will indulge guests as they discover the world.Viking announces new expedition voyages in the ArcticViking today announced three new summer season expedition voyages in the Arctic. Debuting in July 2025, the new itineraries, which range from 13 to 27 days, explore the polar north in Canada and Greenland, with two of the three voyages visiting the Canadian High Arctic.2025 Arctic Voyages:                                                                                                                                         Viking's new itineraries in the Arctic include:NEW Into the Northwest Passage (13 days; Nuuk to Nuuk) – Discover the diverse landscapes and rugged shores of the world's largest island. Immerse yourself in Inuit traditions as you explore towns dotted with colourful wooden houses. Head out kayaking on the fjord or partake in a Zodiac landing and witness stunning displays of nature, from towering peaks to blue-tinged glaciers. Join Viking on a fascinating voyage exploring the Canadian High Arctic to undiscovered territories beneath the skies of the midnight sun. Sailing dates are available from July through September 2025.NEW Canada & Greenland Explorer (15 days; between Toronto, Ontario and Nuuk) – Explore Canada and Greenland's rugged shores on an awe-inspiring journey through one of the most fascinating corners of the world. Sail amid floating icebergs as they drift in blue-tinged waters and witness the wonders of Mother Nature as you immerse yourself in dramatic landscapes. Learn about the Inuit traditions that still thrive in remote communities and experience the stark beauty of the Arctic beneath the skies of the midnight sun. Sailing dates are available in July and September 2025.NEW Canada & the Northwest Passage (27 days; between Nuuk and Toronto, Ontario) – Witness the majesty of floating icebergs and rugged lands as you embark on a journey to the Canadian High Arctic and Greenland. View towering icebergs, expansive icefields and deep-blue fjords that are rich in marine life. Get a glimpse of life in Inuit communities and learn about traditions that have sustained for generations. Bask beneath the skies of the endless midnight sun as you join us on a voyage of discovery to far-flung lands. Sailing dates are available in July and September 2025.Coral Expeditions Installs Next-Generation Broadband Technology Across FleetCoral Expeditions, Australia's pioneering cruise line, has announced that it has completed the installation of advanced satellite and 4G broadband connectivity across its fleet of three expedition ships. The new satellite technology will provide Coral Expeditions guests and crew with a reliable and high-speed service when exploring remote areas. The multi-month installation process was completed in April with successful testing across the fleet on the Kimberley coast, Scott and Ashmore Reefs, Raja Ampat and the Spice Islands, Komodo and Cape York.As part of the new service, all guests and crew will be provided complimentary access to standard wi-fi as part of their fare inclusion. Guests will also be able to purchase package upgrades enabling access to higher bandwidth if they so wish.Viking announces new Treasures of the Rhine itineraryViking today announced Treasures of the Rhine, a new river voyage allowing guests the opportunity to experience Europe's rich culture during winter. The new Middle Rhine itinerary debuts in December 2023 and establishes Viking as the first line to operate year-round on Europe's storied rivers, offering guests easier access to landmarks when there are typically fewer crowds.The 10-day Treasures of the Rhine itinerary allows guests to discover the enchanting landscape and rich cultures of the Middle Rhine, a UNESCO Site boasting turreted fortresses, grand cathedrals, medieval towns and stunning scenery. Guests can admire the terraced vineyards dating back to the Romans and taste the region's renowned red and white wines. An ideal time to visit, winter offers Viking guests smaller crowds, easier access to landmarks and opportunities to savour the culinary traditions of Alsace while exploring Amsterdam, Basel and Cologne.Hosting 190 guests in 95 staterooms, the award-winning fleet of identical Viking Longships offers a variety of stateroom categories and true, two-room suites with full-size verandas. Onboard amenities include a restaurant, bar and lounge, library and expansive sun deck. The ships feature al fresco dining on the revolutionary Aquavit Terrace, elegant Scandinavian design and environmentally considerate features, such as solar panels, an onboard organic herb garden and energy-efficient hybrid engines for a remarkably smooth ride.Carnival to Serve Estimated 10.5 Million Burgers This YearCarnival Cruise Line ships will serve up nearly 30,000 tasty burgers – which is about the daily average fleetwide at Guy's Burger Joint – this International Burger Day on May 28. In celebration of burgers beloved worldwide, the cruise line is revealing which of its menu items guests order most.Guy's Burger Joint, a Carnival mainstay created by longtime partner, celebrity chef and restaurateur Guy Fieri, will serve an estimated 10.5 million burgers this year. Here's how the popular options stack up:5.) Pig Patty: 577,000 orders – This burger has many traditional toppings, including lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle, but it also features Super Melty Cheese and a patty made out of crispy bacon.4.) Chilius Maximus: 640,000 orders – A tasty beef burger patty is made even tastier by topping it with a heaping helping of delicious chili.3.) The Ringer: 2.3 million orders – The Ringer is topped with Super Melty Cheese plus Guy's Bourbon and Brown Sugar BBQ sauce, and a crispy and spicy onion ring.2.) Straight Up: 3.2 million orders – This burger is a classic and the choice of about 30 percent of the orders at Guy's Burger Joint. It's topped off with Super Melty Cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and a liberal slathering of Donkey Sauce.1.)  Plain Jane: 3.7 million orders – It's clear, most guests want to choose how to top off their burgers themselves. This 80/20 ground chuck is seasoned, smashed on the grill, and served up to be finished however guests like it at the toppings station, which is featured at every Guy's Burger Joint fleetwide. The Plain Jane makes up more than a third of all burger orders.Guy's Burger Joint launched in 2011 and is featured on all of Carnival's 25 ships serving up the best burgers at sea. Select Carnival ships also feature Guy's Pig & Anchor offering smoked-on-board barbecue favourites and sides, as well as Guy's Pig & Anchor Smokehouse Brewhouse serving craft beer brewed on board. Earlier this year, Fieri – along with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Sammy Hagar – expanded his offerings aboard Carnival ships by introducing Guy and Sammy's premium Santo Tequilas. and more...Join the show:If you have a cruise tip, burning question or want to record a cruise review get in touch with us via the website https://thebigcruisepodcast.com/join-the-show/ Co-hosts: Chris Frame: https://bit.ly/3a4aBCg   Chris's Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ChrisFrameOfficialListen & Subscribe: Amazon Podcasts: https://amzn.to/3w40cDcApple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2XvD7tF Audible: https://adbl.co/3nDvuNgCastbox: https://bit.ly/2xkGBEI Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/2RuY04u I heart Radio:  https://ihr.fm/3mVIEUASpotify: https://spoti.fi/3caCwl8 Stitcher: https://bit.ly/2JWE8Tz Pocket casts: https://bit.ly/2JY4J2M Tune in: https://bit.ly/2V0Jrrs Podcast Addict: https://bit.ly/2BF6LnE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following recording and notes:Frequency: variousRecption location: Ancaster, Ontario, CanadaYour receiver and antenna: Hallicrafters S-52 using a longwire antennaMode: Single Side BandNotes: Part 2 of 3Point to point stations were commonly found on shortwave in the 1970's outside of the normal SWBC bands. They could often be heard transmitting a repeating test message so a receiving station could tune them in prior to conducting radiotelephone traffic.1. Radio Telephone Circuit, Godthaab, Greenland2. PTT, Papeete, Tahiti3. AFA, USAF Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, USA4. AFI, USAF McClellan AFB Sacramento, CA, USA5. Imperial Board of Telecommunications of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa6. Radiografica Costarricense, San Jose, Costa Rica7. International Radio Telephone Service, Havana, Cuba8. France Cables and Radio Company, Douala, Cameroon9. French Telecommunications Service, Noumea, New Caledonia10. AEZ, U.S. Army, Asmara, Ethiopia11. French Telecommunications Service, Fort de France, Martinique12. CUW, USAF Aerospace Communications Complex, Lajes AFB, Azores13. Malgache Republic International Telecommunications Company, Tananarive, Madagascar14. French Telecommunications Service, Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe15. France Cables and Radio Company, Niamey, Niger16. French Telecommunications Service, St. Pierre et Miquelon17. France Cables and Radio Company, Monrovia, Liberia

Last time we spoke about the first adventure of the Chindits. Eccentric and quite literally madman Wingate was championed by Wavell to create a guerrilla unit to perform operations in Burma. Wingate soon readjusted the group to be a long range penetration group known as the Chindits. Their purpose was to disrupt the Japanese behind their front lines. The eccentric Wingate proved to be capable of turning men into onion wearing jungle warriors and they marched into the jungle to sabotage railway lines to hinder the Japanese. Their first mission was met with tremendous disaster after disaster, but surprisingly by the end they had achieved their goal of blowing up some railway. We finished off by talking about a lesser known allied partner during the Pacific War, Free France. The Japanese had ignored them for a long time, but eventually enough was enough and they seized Guangzhouwan from Free France thus ending their position in China. But today we are venturing back to the Aleutians. This episode is Landing at Amchitka and Invasion of the Russels 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.  Now the last time we were in the Aleutians, the Americans had taken Adak back on August 30th of 1942. There they began building a new airfield from which they could continue to reclaim the Aleutian island chain. However the Japanese did not give up on their northern possessions and reoccupied Attu Island by late October. The Japanese acted so boldly because they believed the Amerians were not able to construct an airtstip yet on the neighboring island of Amchitka. Also during October, Kiska was reinforced by massive amounts of anti-aircraft weapons and an impressive underground network of bunkers. Now initially the plan for the Aleutians for the Japanese was simply a large feint that would see them gradually withdrawing to the northern Kuriles while bleeding the americans of lives and resources. However all the American activity in the north was surprising Japanese high command and they now were beginning to believe the Americans sought to hop along the Aleutian island chain all the way to the home islands to potentially invade Japan from the north, a rather insane war strategy to be sure. As a result, the Japanese high command decided not to abandon the Aleutians for the winter and on November 1st, the formulated a joint plan to strengthen the defenses of Kiska and Attu by February of 1943. They also sought to create a seaplane base at the unoccupied island of Shemya. Now on the other side, the US army planned to occupy Tanaga along with Atka after the Adak base was established, but for the time being this was not a pressing issue. What was a pressing issue was a concern that the Japanese might seize Amchitka, 60 miles east of Kiska. Admiral Nimitz directed Theobald to preempt any such occupation and for Colonel Talley to go with a party of Alaskan scouts to go to the island to see if it was possible to build an airfield there. The Alaskan scouts landed on the island having to hid, while Japanese reconnaissance aircraft flew overhead. They found test holes all over the island that had been made by Japanese patrols. Contrary to the Japanese reports, the Alaskan scouts determined Amchitka was long, narrow and flat, except of course for a volcano at one end, but this indicated it could operate an airfield. Given the viability of the island and the presence of the Japanese holes testing its viability likewise, the race was on. Thus Admiral Nimitz approved the invasion of Amchitka codenamed Operation Longview. General Marshall approved the plan to advance upon Amchitka and agreed to assign troops for an invasion. While planning for the Amchitka occupation was underway, major changes in command structure also were going on. On January 4th of 1943, Theobald was transferred out of his command assumed by Rear Admiral Thomas Kincaid. Likewise Theobalds second in command, rear admiral W.W Smith was also replaced by rear admiral Charles McMorris. Kincaid was a combat veteran who liked action and was more to Buckner's liking as he immediately went on the offensive, arranging for a task force to deliver the Army's Amchitka occupation forces of 2000 men led by Brigadier General Lloyd Jones. Beginning in early November upon discovering the Japanese reoccupation of Attu, General Butler sent missions against the island. Colonel William Eric Eareckson led the airforce to hit Attu, successfully destroying several beach installations, sank a cargo ship and took out 9 Zero fighters at Holtz Bay. During the first 6 months of 1943, Attu and Kiska would be attacked by the 11th air force who would hit the islands with over 3,000,000 pounds of bombs. In July Kiska alone would be hit by 900,000 pounds of bombs. Liberators, mitchells, dauntless, lightnings and warhawks took part in the aerial attacks making the islands untenable. This is quite a lesser known aspect of the Pacific War. The American airfield on Adak was little more than 200 miles away from the Japanese on Kiska and nearly twice that distance from Attu. Any day weather permitted it, American aircraft departed from Adak to strike at the Japanese, it was grueling work fighting the Japanese and mother nature.  Over on the Japanese side on November 23rd the first Shemya convoy departed from Paramushiro, carrying 1100 troops of the 303rd independent battalion escorted by the light cruisers Abukuma, Kiso, Tama and the destroyers Hacuoshimo, Wakaba and Usugumo led by Admiral Hosogaya. But before the convoy was able to get to the island, the Americans sent a wave of B-24's on November 27th which managed to sink the transport Cherrybourne Maru just off Attu waters. Hosogaya began receiving reports indicating a North Pacific task force was in the vicinity as well. This prompted Hosogaya to postpone the Shemya landings and return back to Paramushiro. Ironically there was no American task force in the north pacific as Admiral Theobald had literally taken the majority of warships with him for the invasion of North Africa.  Eareckson's constant aerial attacks forced Hosogaya to consolidate his vessels at all times and prompted him to take the entire convoy to Kiska landing the troops there on December 2nd. On December 18th, Earecksons aerial forces smashed Amchitka, destroying every building on the island. Mere hours after the report of the damage, General Buckner decided to send the Alaska scouts in. The Alaska Scouts, were also known as Castner's Cutthroats, led by Colonel Lawrence Castner. The scouting expedition showed further signs the Japanese had been on the island recently doing the same type of work as them. Thus operation longview's timetable had to be increased. The scouts reported a fighter strip could be built up in 2 to possibly 3 weeks and a main airfield in 3-4 months time. By the end of the year the 11th air force had managed to take down 50 enemy planes in combat and lost around a dozen in the combat. However, over 80 other aircraft had been lost to a multitude of other causes, such as good old mother nature. Operating in the far reaches of the north was extremely dangerous, and the weather seemed to be taking a heavier toll than the Japanese. In spite of mother nature, Eareckson's bombers continued their work using rather innovative means. Eareckson pioneering a low-level bombing technique to raid the enemy and thwart the effects of the unpredictable Aleutian weather. To overcome the shortness of the daylight cycle, he was forced to bomb at night and to do so he would use a single plane that preceded the main force by a minute to drop incendiary bombs to illuminate the area. It was a very Japanese type of strategy, perhaps he was learning from his enemy. As I had mentioned the 11th air force would literally drop more than a million pounds of bombs over Attu, Kiska and other islands under Earecksons command. Earecksons personally was in the air ever flyable day of the campaign excluding one brief October mission to the States. On January 4th, Admiral Kinkaid, an American admiral who had seen action in more big naval battles than anyone else, finally arrived at Kodiak to replace Theobald. The day after, Kinkaid ordered the full troop landings on Amchitka to be executed. Butler was very pleased to have a “fighting admiral”. Heavy cruiser Indianapolis, light cruisers Detroit, Raleigh and 7 destroyers led by Admiral McMorris were to do the job. Yet mother nature did not comply, the weather became severe forcing the americans to postpone the operation for a few days. Meanwhile Butler sent a reconnaissance over Amchitka and more air strikes against Attu and Kiska. These runs led to the sinking of the freighter Montreal Maru off the Komandorski islands, hey I am from Montreal and the Kotohiro Maru off Attu.  Because of the nonstop pressure from the 11th air fleet, the Japanese were only able to pull off 8 resupply runs for Kiska and 4 for Attu between December 17th to January 30th. Basically it was similar to the situation on Guadalcanal, trying to stop the Japanese from receiving provisions. By the night of January 11th the weather continued to look bad, but as the storms slacked just a bit, Admiral McMorris decided to depart with the 2100 Engineer and army troops led by Brigadier General Lloyd Jones. It was a risk to be sure, you could not trust any windows of decent weather to be open for very long. McMorris also ordered the destroyer Worden to take a detachment of Alaska Scouts led by Lt COlonel William Verback to hit Constantine harbor. The destroyer blasted through the surf at the harbor mouth shortly before dawn, successfully landing Verbeck's scouts. But as the Worden made her departure from the harbor mouth a brutal current smashed her onto a pinnacle rock, leaving her powerless. The destroyer Dewey was sent racing off to assist her, but the Worden would capsize and kill 14 of her crew before the rescue could be made. Like I said, mother nature was taking a heavier toll than the Japanese. Verbecks scouts did a full reconnaissance of the island finding no Japanese forces, so the rest of the convoy came in. They came ashore the same way they had come ashore at Adak, wading through icy surf. They were soaked with ice water and oil. It was miserable, but Amchitka was quickly secured. The American engineers went to work immediately to construct the new airfield. They would have 12 days before a Japanese aircraft emerged to the scene, it was a floatplane which reported their presence back to Kiska. The men made good use of the 12 days and it was the same story as what occurred on Adak before. Men toiling without rest in winter rain and wind, in the bitter cold surf of Constantine harbor, wading through black Aleutian mud, climbing over rocks and heavy tundra. They unloaded, carried ashore, stored and protected their arms, ammunition, food, fuel and other equipment, even the smallest of kindling. Her in the Aleutians, the soldiers bodily needs were more than that in a place like the south pacific, I can assure you I live in a place where we get the nasty combination of ice rain and snow, its not fun to be out in that. The Japanese commanders were shocked by the unexpected occupation of Amchitka which lay only 50 miles from their main base at Kiska. The Japanese began their own series of air strikes against Amchitka hoping to hinder the construction of the airfield. They knew if the American completed an airfield the already relentiles air attacks would increase. The Japanese air raids caused considerable damage over the course of the following days, but the american engineers performed miracles and managed to complete the Amchitka runway by the end of January, allowing a P-40 squadron to be landed on January 28th. After this the Japanese bombing missions became more sporadic until February 18th when they ceased. Just like the Americans, mother nature was just as cruel to the Japanese and they simply could not spare anymore aircraft bombing Amchitka, they had to have a reserve to defend themselves. Now additional air forces were joining the daily raids against Kiska using Amchitka as a launch pad. The Japanese were being whittled down slowly but surely in the north. Yet we need to leave the north and head back south to the Solomons. After the epic conclusion of the Guadalcanal campaign, culminating with the success of Operation KE, the Japanese Empire now had to switch to the defensive. During Operation KE, on February the 1st, the Americans received a cascade of sighting reports from coastwatchers and scouting aircraft. Some 20 Japanese destroyers had headed down the slot and a small Japanese infantry force was landed in the Russell Islands. Likewise allied flights over the Japanese held anchorage off Buin noted a sharp increase in the number of ships. Now the third run of Operation KE took place on the night of February 7th and lifted 1796 men off Guadalcanal and the Russell Islands. This prompted Admirals Nimitz and Halsey to commence their campaign to move up the solomons and thwart any Japanese incursions moving down them. In January they wanted to hit the Japanese base at Munda, but lacked the necessary forces for such an operation. One place in the solomons they could perform an operation against was the Russell Islands to the southeast. Admiral Halsey decided it would be advantageous to seize the Russell Islands and develop them while preventing their use to the Japanese. Thus operation Cleanslate was born. The idea behind it was simple, take the island away from Japanese use, further limited the Japanese operational capacity in the solomons and the Russell Islands could be used as a launching pad to hit other places like New Georgia. As Air Force historian Kramer Rohfleisch put it “for allied operations worked in such a way, that each fresh base became a successive cancer in the structure of the enemy's defense lines, sending out its tentacles and relentlessly destroying the equipment and personnel opposing it”. Operation Cleanslate was to be the first step in the conquest of the central and northern solomon islands, all to culminate with the final drive against the stronghold of Rabaul. By the end of January Halsey received permission from Nimitz to proceed with the invasion. The americans would dispatch an infantry battalion and anti-aircraft units from Guadalcanal into 2 destroyers to occupy the Russell Islands. Likewise the Japanese quickly beat them to the punch by landing around 400 troops as indicated by their aerial reconnaissance. As we know however, this was not a reinforcement of the island, but a part of Operation KE. The 17th army sought to use the Russell islands as a backup extraction point if the destroyers failed to get the men off Guadalcanal. Halsey was forced to postpone Operation Cleanslate, believing the Japanese were going to put up a large fight for the Russell Islands. In early february the Americans still were unaware the Japanese had evacuated Guadalcanal, but Hasley finally kicked off Operation Cleanslate regardless on the 7th. The 103rd and 169th regiments of Major General John Hester along with the 3rd marine raider battalion, anti aircraft units from the 10th and 11th marine defense battalions and ACORN 3: a naval engineering force of the 35th naval construction battalion.  Admiral Turner was given command of the operations with his task force 64 consisting of 8 destroyers, 5 minesweepers, 12 tank landing craft and a number of barges and torpedo boats. He was going to receive assistance from Admiral Fitch's land based aircraft to cover the transports and 2 other task forces. Task force 18 led by Admiral Giffen consisting of heavy cruisers Wichita, Louisville and 3 destroyers and Task force 68 led by Rear Admiral Aaron Merrill consisting of light cruisers Montpelier, Cleveland, Denver, Columbia and 4 destroyers. The other task forces would be in close proximity just in case things got dicey. Of course unbeknownst to the Americans the Japanese had evacuated the Russell Islands by the 10th closing off Operation KE. Australians and New Zealand coastwatcher alongside US army, marine and naval air reconnaissance saw a ton of abandoned equipment on the Russell Islands, which Halsey ignored as he was deadset to carry out Operation Cleanslate as planned, fearing the enemy might try to reinforce the islands still. On February the 20th the first echelon of the Russells Occupation force departed Guadalcanal under strict radio silence. It was an uneventful trip and the transports were divided into 3 groups to hit their landing sites. The 10rd regiment landed on Banika easily taking control over the island. The 3rd marine raider battalion did the same at Pavuvu. The landings went unopposed, but the Marines quickly found out that the 10 man rubber rafts used for their landings had motor issues. Alongside this the 169th field artillery battalion somehow managed to get lost and took over 19 hours to land instead of 2, but by the end of the day the islands were firmly in American hands. The men began digging themselves into defensive positions. As soon as reports came in that the islands were secure, Halsey began pouring Seabees into the islands and supplied their 2 new fighter strips with lavish amounts of ammunition and aviation fuel in anticipation of expanding the air operations in the central solomons. But the Russell Islands were at the absolute limit of Hasleys designated border, technically they were over that border. No more westward progress could occur without good old General MacArthurs blessing. So the men simply set to work, and by the end of hte month over 9000 soldiers were in the Russells and the construction of a new airbase was occurring in Banika and a torpedo boat base at Wernham Cove. Upon learning of the American seizure of the Russells, the Japanese launched a surprise air strike. 12 Vals and 25 zeros struck the unfinished airfield and torpedo boat base on March 6th without any warning. They caused little damage, but would just be the beginning of a 3 month long campaign of night air attacks. By late may the airfield at Banika alongside the torpedo boat base, a training center and staging area for the future operation against new georgia. Operation Cleanslate may have been lackluster when it came to combat, but acted as a great practice run for what was to be the future of island hoping warfare in the solomons. The landing craft tank veterans of operation cleanslate would help teach others, increasing Americans amphibious capabilities. The American also learned a very valuable lesson when it came to loading and landing operations. They had certainly come a long way from the earlier experience of operation Watchtower. Now back to the issue of Hasley's operation stepping on the toes of MacArthur's area. Upon taking the Russell Islands, Halsey had his eyes on Munda Point, where there was a new Japanese fighter strip in New Georgia, around 120 miles to the west. The terrain looked suitable for a large bomber field, something highly desired. But MacArthur stood in the way, so they were going to have to talk. A face to face summit was made in early april, forcing Halsey to cross the Coral sea to present himself to the general at the AMP building in Brisbane. There was no reason to believe this was going to be a warm meeting. Halsey to this point had certainly not appreciated MacArthur's credit snatching communiques. In fact one aide to Halsey had referred to General MacArthur as quote “a self-advertising son of a bitch”. MacArthur had also declined an invitation from Admiral Nimitz to attend a command conference in Noumea in September of 1942, a slight insult if you were. He instead sent Sutherland and Kenney in his place to which one of Nimitz staff officers remarked “MacArthur found himself unable to be present”. When Halsey met MacArthur face to face, believe or not they instantly took a liking to another. Within just 5 minutes Halsey wrote “I felt as if we were lifelong friends. I have seldom seen a man who makes a quicker, stronger, more favorable impression. He was then 63 years old, but he could have passed as 50. His hair was jet black; his eyes were clear; his carriage was erect. If he had been wearing civilian clothes, I still would have known at once that he was a soldier”. MacArthur was equally impressed writing about Halsey  “He was of the same aggressive type as John Paul Jones, David Farragut, and George Dewey. His one thought was to close with the enemy and fight him to the death. . . . I liked him from the moment we met, and my respect and admiration increased with time.” In the year that followed the admiral and general would effectively coordinate their operations in the south pacific. As Kenney and Kinkaid had learned, and as Halsey was in turn, MacArthur was accustomed to deference but did not bristle at well reasoned opposition. MacArthur could yield to sound arguments. Of course heated arguments occurred between the two men. Halsey's long term chief of staff, Robert Carney witnessed one in 1943 where he said “The admiral, with his “chin sticking out a foot,” told MacArthur that he was placing his “personal honor . . . before the security of the United States and the outcome of the war!” MacArthur responded “Bull, that's a terrible indictment. That's a terrible thing to say. But, I think in my preoccupation, I've forgotten some things. . . . You can go on back now. The commitment will be met.” Imagine that, MacArthur almost admitting a mistake, that goes to show the character of Halsey. What they were arguing about was Hasley proposing to attack New Georgia and it turned out to be inline with MacArthurs thinking. MacArthur approved the operation on the spot and it would intersect with his own plans for an offensive up the north coast of New Guinea.  Because of the seizure of the Russell Island's, D-Day for the invasion of New Georgia would be originally set for May 15th, but would get postponed to June 30th. However that is far into the future for us!   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. Amchitka and the Russell Islands were taken unopposed and with relative ease. The Americans were being cautious in their actions, but little by little they were breaking down Japan's new defensive posture, a few islands down and many more to come.

This week Bill and I have a special guest with us, he's been here before and we always love to have him, he's the one, the only, my good buddy, Jon Parshall.This week we are going to take a step back from the battlefront, into the backwaters if you will, to discuss some of the leaders of WATCHTOWER, the men who made the decisions, for better or worse, that propelled, and sometimes didn't propel the all-encompassing campaign.Talking PointsGhormleyNimitz nominates Ghormley as COMSOPAC for future operations in April 1942Ghormley had previously acted as a special naval observer in Britain and desired to stay in the European theater.Highly intelligent and a savy negotiator, he had almost zero tactical command experience.He had never held an operational post despite being a Vice AdmiralGhormley was in over his head as COMSOPACGhormley receives word to prepare for what would become WATCHTOWER and immediately greets it with pessimism. Nimitz showed a lot of confidence in Ghormley initially.  Essentially granting him free reign to establish himself and his operations to prepare for the offensive.The very next day, Nimitz received a copy of a letter from Ghormley to King that stated that the timeline for the operation was “unrealistic” and that both Ghormley and MacArthur were doubtful as to the success of the operation and had the “gravest doubts” about the plan.This had to have shaken Nimitz's confidence in Ghormley as a leader.Regarding the July pre-invasion meeting: the sheer fact that Ghormley declined to attend this incredibly important meeting personally should have been a red flag.Despite being told by Nimitz to command “in person” Ghormley sends Callaghan.This pattern of non-personal leadership causes issues right away…The issue of Turner and Fletcher going after one another in the July meeting over how long the CVs should remain in the area is one example of how things turned to shit quickly.Ghormley “suggested” to Fletcher to leave 2 VF Squadrons on Henderson if the field is ready. BUT…if enemy CVs appear then they are the priority.  As a result of this confusing memo, Fletcher thought he had the approval to maneuver independently and Turner thought that COMSOPAC had assured him that Fletcher would cover the landings until Henderson was operational.  Had Ghormley been present, his intentions would have become known by his own voice.  But alas, that was not to be…After Savo, which you could technically throw blame on Ghormley, Ghormley acted scared and ordered his surface forces all the way back to Noumea, 1000 miles away.He told Nimitz he could not protect the sea lanes requested air support.In truth, Ghormley had no fucking clue what was going on…In messages to Nimitz, Ghormley constantly pleaded for reinforcements, always stating that the forces on Guadalcanal were just barely hanging on…Consistently, Nimitz urged Ghormley to be more active…yet he sat on the Argonne and roasted in his hot quartersMost of his message stank of anxiety and near desperation, and he never seemed to know what was going on.Had he gone to Guadalcanal, maybe just once, he would have had a better understandingNimitz decided to visit Ghormley on September 25 he arrived 3 days later to find the logistics situation a complete mess.When Nimitz met with Ghormley, the latter's physical state shocked Nimitz.He was pale, and gaunt, he had dental problems, lived aboard an old, cramped ship with no air circulation and refused to acquire land space for his HQ because of the French not wanting to give the land over to him.Nimitz flew to Guadalcanal the next day, returned to Noumea and told Ghormley how optimistic the men were, and urged him to be more assertive.When Nimitz got back to Pearl he asked some of his staff if Ghormley should be relieved. They all agreed.Halsey was preparing to reclaim his old position aboard CV6, when Nimitz nominated him to King to replace Ghormley.  King replied with one word.  Approved.Nimitz ultimately believed that Ghormley was too timid and out of touch.  Not to say he was physically scared, but he was too timid to commit forces that were needed when they were needed at the right place.HalseyHalsey takes command on October 18.  He reads the directive from Nimitz twice to make sure he is reading it right and then exclaims, “Jesus Christ and General Jackson.  This is the hottest potato they've ever given me!”Morale amongst the fighting men ashore and at sea immediately goes through the roof once word gets out that Halsey is in command.Halsey enters the fray at the most critical time of the entire campaign.  His leadership, fighting spirit and bull-headedness are exactly what the doctor ordered.Almost immediately, Halsey asserted himself.  He seized land ashore and set up a permanent base of operations, which pissed off the French.Then, two weeks after he took command, he got in a plane and flew to Guadalcanal.The Marines ashore ate it up.Before his Guadalcanal vacation, however, his forces became engaged in what would become Santa Cruz.

This week Bill and I have a special guest with us, he's been here before and we always love to have him, he's the one, the only, my good buddy, Jon Parshall.If you've been listening to the podcast as of late, you are well aware that we are making our way through the slug fest that was the Guadalcanal campaign.  While the fighting ashore has raged on and off between pitched engagements, the seas around the Canal have been anything but quiet.  Savo Island in August was a debacle for the US Navy, the carrier forces under Admiral fletcher landed some fairly significant blows on the Japanese carrier force at Eastern Solomons, and Admiral Norman Scott finally exacted some revenge for Savo at the Battle of Cape Esperance.  The US Navy has seen it's share of victories, as well as defeats in these bloody waters.  And while the fighting has been significant at sea…it ain't over.  Not even close.  The calendar now sits in October 1942, October 26 exactly.  And ashore, the Japanese have launched a massive offensive to finally push the Marines and Army off Guadalcanal.  The October offensive and the fighting that takes place ashore will be remembered as the Battle of Henderson Field.  The fighting at sea that takes place only a day later, all coinciding with the offensive ashore, will be called the Battle of Santa Cruz.Talking Points:Japanese Preparations and Plans Pre-Battle:The combined fleet sorties from Truk on October 11.  The force is very large, the largest Japanese force that has put to sea since Midway and consists of 4 CVs and 1 light CV3 Fleet CVs1 Light CV4 BBs8 CAs2 CLs24 DDsThe Japanese had planned that the naval force that was now at sea would not necessarily support the operation ashore, but would directly benefit from the success of the ground offensiveThat being said, once Hyakutake's infantry had captured Henderson, the Japanese combined fleet would then be free from any attack from land based air.The pre-sailing plans called for the Japanese so-called Support Force to make a high-speed run into the Guadalcanal area to intercept and destroy any American fleet units that would come to the rescue of the infantry following the Japanese land-based offensive's success.This is part of the reason why Kongo and Haruna blasted the shit out of Henderson on October 14-15.  Both to soften the defenses, destroy the airfield and also, hopefully draw the Americans out to fight.Japanese intel, which we have not talked about very much, had deduced via traffic patterns that at least 1 US CV was in the Canal area.Based on traffic patterns, the Japanese had seen a large flurry of messages go out to a “powerful unit” south of Guadalcanal that would receive the messages and maintain radio silence.This of course is CV8Again, based on traffic patterns, the Japanese had deduced that another major fleet unit had sailed from Pearl Harbor on or about Oct 15.This is the newly repaired CV6The Japanese estimated that this task force was headed south as well to join up with the other “ghost” forceJapanese. Intel also read US newspapers and listened to the news, as US officials ignorantly declared on October 20 that US Naval forces off Guadalcanal were preparing for a “sea clash”The Land influences the SeaDelays ashore from the Japanese 17th Army (future Henderson Field offensive force) caused Y-Day to be pushed from October 19 to the 22nd.  Incidentally, Hiyo suffers a fire in her engineering spaces that causes her to return to port and not take part in the planned upcoming action.17th Army again delays the offensive until the 24th further irritating the IJN.The delay by the Army forced the Navy to delay its attack which allowed CV6 to rejoin the American forces off Guadalcanal on October 24 and thus restoring some parity to any upcoming carrier battle.US Forces for battleUS forces are under the overall command of ADM Thomas Kinkaid TF 16 under Kinkaid has:CV61 CA1 CL 8 DDs 1 BB (SoDak)TF 17 under ADM George Murray has:CV82 CAs2 CLs 6 DDs Previous to CV6 returning from Pearl, CV8 was the only US CV in the area.CV8 was still, despite having been at Midway, an unexperienced CV.That being said, her aircrew was a mix of veterans and newbies.VS-8 skipper Gus Widhelm Veteran of Coral Sea and hit and run raids with VS-5Fantastic leaderVB-8 SBD pilot Clayton FisherVeteran of the Flight to Nowhere, June 4 afternoon raid and Mogami/Mikuma raid on June 6, but otherwise relatively fresh CV6 had just returned to the fleet after having been patched up after Eastern SolomonsCV6 still retained her well-trained deck crews, DC parties and the like.  Battle tested, CV6 would need all the help she could get in the upcoming fightWhile a veteran carrier, she deployed a brand-new air group, AG 10.Air Group 10, although new, is rife with veterans of different engagementsVF-10, better known as the Grim Reapers, is led by the legendary Jimmy Flatley and hosts names like:Jack LepplaDon Flash GordonWhitey Feightner and most importantly, Swede VejtasaBucky Lee led VS-10, not so much a veteran, but an incredible leader.  He had with him names that were both familiar and would become familiarBirney StrongMartin “Red” CarmodyAgain, technically a new air group, Air Group 10 would prove to be, arguably, the finest Air Group put to sea in 1942, and maybe the warThe Battle draws nearNight of October 24-25 the Japanese send out searches to find the suspected US CVs but do not find them.  They do detect ADM Willis Lee's BB56 but do not attack due to extreme rangeAround noon on October 25 US PBYs spot 2 Japanese CVsMonitoring the radio intercepts in Noumea, Halsey reads the sightings and messages Kinkaid “STRIKE! REPEAT STRIKE!”Amplifying reports allowed Kinkaid to launch at 1430 and again at 1520 his main strikeThe Japanese turned north, but radio silence does not allow Kinkaid to recall his strikers. This ends up, not so well, in that the majority of the strike gets lost and is, thankfully, shepherded back to CV6 by Swede Vejtasa who recalls that CV6 has an oil leak, spots the leak and follows it, at wave-top height, back to CV6 with the majority of the strike…at night.The Carrier Battle (Morning)Both sides readied search planes for a first light search patternDuring the night of 25-26, US PBYs spotted, and attacked, the Japanese including Zuikaku.  The PBYs missed, and their contact reports essentially went unheard.The Japanese got scouts off first, between 0415 and 0445.CV6 launched her own scouts around 0445 as well.  Kinkaid finally received the PBYs sighting report at 0512 but deemed the information old (which it was) and considered it to be inaccurate.One of CV6s scouts saw and approached one of Nagumo's Kate scout planes, only 85 miles away from CV6, confirming the presence of Japanese CVs in the area. First BloodBucky Lee, skipper of VS-10 spotted Nagumo's CVs at 0650 and climbed to attack altitude, but were driven off by CAPLee's scouting report alerted every SBD in the area, and drove them towards the Japanese like flies to honeyRadioman Clarence Garlow heard Lee's report, jotted it down and reported the contact to his pilot, Birney Strong.Birney and Eastern Solomons, pressure from Crommelin to attack and a bruise on his prideStrong diligently plotted the contact report, adjusted his fuel mixture for maximum distance and headed in the direction of the sighting.Showing off his supreme navigational skills, Strong found the enemy 20 minutes later as 2 of the 3 CVs in the area emerged from cloud cover.At the same time that Strong and his wingman Irvine approached, 2 other SBDs, one piloted by Red Carmody were being harassed by CAP Zeros, leaving Strong and Irvine wide open for a clear attack.Diving from 14,000 feet, at 0740, Strong popped in and out of clouds for the 30 seconds he dove.  At 1,500 feet the clouds parted and directly beneath him was the flight deck of Zuiho.Both Strong and Irvine planted their 500 pounders into the flight deck of Zuiho. The hits were not fatal, but did force her withdrawal.At 0658, Japanese scouts spot the HornetDespite the fact that the US spotted the Japanese first, it is the IJN that gets their strike off first (no surprise here)At 0725 Shokaku and Zuikaku launches their strikes, 62 aircraft led by MurataTalk about MurataComposition of the strikeAs the Japanese strike is on its way to Hornet, CV8 and a small CV6 strike passes them in the air.Let's talk about how the US strikes during this entire battle are very piecemeal, unorganized and generally unpreparedAs the Hornet strikers pass the Japanese, Zeros from Zuiho break off and attack the CV6 formationThe TBFs are hit hard as their fighter protection was in the process of making S turns to keep up with the slow TBFs and were on the outward leg of the turn during the attackAt 0850 Hornet's strike spotted Shokaku.  As the SBDs home in, they are hit again by Zuiho CAP, as well as Shokaku CAPGus Widhelm, strike leader, is shot down but later rescued.At the tail end of the formation is Clay FisherTalk about Clay's experienceHornet's strike, despite taking heavy casualties, is successful in hitting ShokakuJohn describe Shokaku damage 4-06 hits from 1000 poundersHornet Under AttackHornet receives word of the inbound strike from her outbound strikePoor coordination from CV6 and CV8 FDOs do not allow the CAP to engage in sufficient numbers to deter the incoming attack (Like Eastern Solomons)Japanese sight Hornet at 0855, but do not see CV6 as she dives into a rain squallHornet prepares for the attack, turns NE and dials up 31 knotsCAP engages at 15 miles but Vals break through and commence the attack at 0910First two Vals miss At 0912 Hornet is hit by three bombs within minutes1st bomb hits the flight deck and kills 60 men as it explodes 3 decks downMoments later another bomb struck the flight deck, this time exploding on the deck itself. The explosion blew an 11-foot hole in the deck, and the flying shrapnel killed another 30 of Hornet's crew. Still the rain of bombs came. Hornet suffered yet another hit when another 550-pound bomb penetrated three decks below and exploded there, causing severe damage but no loss of life. Seconds later, a damaged “Val” dive-bomber, hit by Hornet's own antiaircraft fire, plunged into the carrier's stack, glancing off of the port leading edge of the stack and smacking into the flight deck, the engine and propeller embedded firmly into the sea-blue stained Douglas fir flight deck. All of the hits suffered by Hornet thus far had occurred in a blinding fast span of just over two minutes. As Hornet reels from the Val attack, the Kates come into viewDescribe the Kate attack led by MurataHammer and anvil attack0915 Hornet is struck by 2 torpedoes starboard1 Val, having already dropped its load, swerves around Hornet from astern, passes the bridge and makes a wingtip vertical turn to crash into her port bowAt 0925 the attack is over and Hornet is dead in the water and listingFires were under control by 10, and she is being prepared for a two by NorthamptonThe Big E under attackJapanese Vals spot CV6 at 1000. They commence their attack at about 1015, led by SekiLT Keiichi Arima, who had hit the Big E at Eastern Solomons, again dives on CV6 and scores yet another hit on the ship.  Dead center near the bow.  The bomb flew through the flight deck and exploded in the water, showering CV6 with shrapnel and starting fires in the focsleMinutes later another bomb hits CV6, near the after portion of the forward elevator exploding in the hangar deck killing 40 menWilliam PinckneyAfrican American of slight build- carried wounded up the ladders to safety before he himself passed out, both wounded and with 3rd degree burns.  Navy CrossA third bomb was a tooth rattling near miss that opened hull plates and 2 empty fuel bunkersBy 1020, the attack was over.At 1035 the Kates arrived.  One of the CAP pilots to engage was Swede VejtasaDuring the attack on Hornet, Swede engaged and shot down one of the Vals that was about to dive on CV8, as well as one of the Vals that attacked CV6.Still aloft and with the majority of his ammunition still available, Swede switched off his two outboard weapons so as to conserve ammo, climbed above the Kate's altitude, dove into them and began picking them off one by one, dropping five of the bandits in about 15 seconds.His last target, another Kate, was riddled by Swede's guns, but flew on.  The aircraft piloted by Takei Kiyomi, dropped down, flew over SoDak and deliberately crashed into USS Smith.  The dead aircraft slid off the ship but the torpedo cooked off, setting the destroyer ablaze.Smith, under the command of LCDR Hunter Wood, steered directly into the boiling wake of SoDak.  The enormous wake thrown up by the battleship sliding along at 27 knots extinguished the flames, allowing the plucky little DD to resume station and resume firing.Vejtasa is credited with downing 7 Japanese aircraft in that one CAP mission, a record that still stands today. He would be recommended for the MOH, but instead would receive his 3rd (!) Navy CrossCV6 dodges a total of 9 Japanese torpedoes, throughout her ordeal USS South Dakota (BB-57) keeps station, a scant 1,000 yards astern, matching every move she makes so as to provide AAA support with her new 40mm bofors guns.SoDak claims 26 kills, an unlikely mark, but nevertheless, her guns and her adroit maneuvering certainly helped keep the Big E afloat.The returning Japanese (what few manage to return) get back to their CVs and speak of the tremendous amounts of American AA.  Some of those who returned were visibly shaken and could not speak due to shock.The Battle OverAt 1135 with CV8 out of action and CV6 heavily damaged, Kinkaid withdraws, leaving CV8 under tow by Northampton and a few screeners.At 1235 CV6 resumes landing ops and recovers the remaining aircraft aloft with only one operable elevator.  LSO Robin Lindsey, performs his legendary “virtuoso” He receives word from the bridge to stop landing aircraft as the deck is clogged.  Knowing that the majority of the remaining aircraft are SBDs, he elects to literally pull the plug from his headset, ignore orders and bring the boys down.  Lindsey landed so many planes that he was landing the last batch on the last arresting wire, unfazed. Last to land was Swede catching the #1 wire, with 56 other aircraft jammed ahead of him on the deck.At 1520, with the majority of US forces leaving the field of battle, Hornet is attacked again.  She is struck by 1 torpedo from Junyo. At this point, the remaining crew abandons ship and she is ordered to be scuttled.2 US DDs fire over 400 rounds into CV8 as well as torpedoes, but she refuses to sink.  (Harder than woodpecker lips)Knowing the IJN is closing, the DDs beat feet and get the hell out of the area, leaving CV8 to her enemy. 2 Japanese DDs finally finish Hornet off.Implications on the CampaignClearly Santa Cruz is a US defeat, although we claimed victory.  We leave the field of battle to the enemy and suffer more damage…clear defeat…in one way, a victory in another although unseen at that time.Japanese air losses have now reached a critical level.  Through attrition at Coral Sea, Midway, eastern Solomons, and especially Santa Cruz, more than half of the elite aviators who started the war are now dead.  Japanese pilot training and replacement systems problemsFinal Tally:US- 1 CV sunk, 1 DD sunk, 1 CV heavily damaged.  1 BB lightly damaged, 1 CL and 2 DDs damaged.81 aircraft lost266 men KIAJapanese- 1 CV heavily damaged, 1light CV damaged, 1 CA damaged, 1 DD damaged99 aircraft lost400-500 men KIA18% of Zero pilots killed 50% of Val crews killed31% of Kate crews killedHorrendous aircrew lossesUS AA, with the introduction of the 40mm account for roughly half of these losses!

This week we would like to welcome back Dave Holland.  Dave is a former United States Marine, owns and runs the facebook and youtube channel called Guadalcanal: Walking a battlefield, a Solomon islands battlefield guide, and most importantly, a Guadalcanal expert.  Welcome back, Dave. We've been building up to this specific event for some time now, and so have the Japanese.  As you will recall, the last several months on Guadalcanal have seen steadily larger Japanese assaults hit that Marines with intents on grabbing Henderson Field.  The Japanese have tried and failed at Tenaru in August, tried and came very close at Edson's Ridge in September, tried a few smaller attacks here and there the next several weeks, all failures.   Now we sit in late October and the Japanese have finally built enough forces on Guadalcanal for their almighty “decisive battle”.  All the Japanese thrusts, both ashore and at sea, have led to this operation.  This is the all or nothing, the decisive battle that the Japanese have clamored for and the Americans have been preparing for. This is the tipping point for better or worse.  Talking Points: Preparations:The Japanese had been steadily sending troops and supplies, more troops than supplies, to Guadalcanal for several weeks in anticipation of this specific offensive. The IJN fully supported the operation in just about any way that they could. On October 14, two battleships, Kongo and Haruna, along with screening vessels shelled Henderson Field in what was easily, the worst bombardment of the entire campaign.For nearly an hour and a half the two battleships fired over 900 rounds of 14 inch ammunition into the Lunga perimeter to knock out both airfields and destroy the Cactus Air Force's aircraft.The shelling, known as “the Bombardment” by the Marines and soldiers ashore destroyed about half of the Cactus Air Force, and heavily damaged the two airfields, although one was back in operation in a few hours.This bombardment, as well as others in between, were all in conjunction with the large-scale offensive, all with plans to soften the defenses of the Americans. The Japanese had begun steadily moving troops into the attack area for many days, through the jungle (again), with the date of the main assault set for October 22, but would actually take place two days later.   To distract the Americans attention from the main location of the attack, the Japanese set up a series of diversionary infantry assaults. The Japanese were under the assumption that only 10,000 Americans were ashore, when in actuality the number was over 23,000. The Americans, aware that a large scale assault was eventually coming, had been preparing their defensive perimeter for weeks.The addition of the Army's 164th Infantry Regiment gave Vandegrift a total of 13 infantry battalions to defend the perimeter in an almost continuous line.  Prelude to the main event: The Japanese had been moving their main assault force through the jungle, along a trail blazed by their engineers, for days…completely undetected by American forces. At dusk on October 23, one of the diversion attacks under COL Nakaguma, alomng with 9 tanks, attacked Marine defenses at the mouth of the Matinikau river. The Japanese tanks advanced near the river under the cover of an artillery barrage, however, the Japanese tanks were either disabled or destroyed by Marine anti-tank weapons on the opposite side of the river.   In response to the Japanese assault, and the Japanese artillery, 4 battalions of Marine artillery fired over 6,000 rounds at the Japanese inflicting heavy casualties and essentially stopping the assault at the river. In between the artillery detonations, Marines on the line could audibly hear Japanese screaming and moaning in pain.  The artillery, yet again, was devastating.It should be mentioned that while this was happening, Vandegrift was in Noumea at the bidding of newly appointed head banana, Admiral Halsey. We'll get to Haley's installation as main man in another episode when we discuss the leadership, both good and bad, of the Guadalcanal campaign with buddy and friend of the show Jon Parshall.  The Main Event October 24:At first light on October 24, Marines along the Matinikau caught sight of a long column of Japanese infantry  on a ridge to the left rear of the American lines.  COL Hanneken's 2/7 redeployed to the rear and loosely tied in with the Marines of 3/7, albeit with a gap in the line. With the departure of Hanneken's people, Chesty Puller was forced to stretch his single battalion over a regimental front.Only 700 men guarded an area designed for the protection from over 2,000.Puller, ever vigilant, personally walked the line inspecting each area, and each emplacement ordering improvements or movements as he saw fit in each area. As the Japanese under GEN Maruyama approached the area thought to be the correct position for attack, they began to get bogged down again by the jungle and now, also, heavy rain.The original kick off time for the attack, 1900, came and went as the Japanese continued to grope towards American lines. Finally, around 2200, elements of COL Shoji's people stumbled into the leading elements of puller's defenses.The fighting was short but fierce as Puller's men eventually drove off the attackers, making no progress and gaining no ground.Oddly enough, the Japanese sent a message back to 2nd Division HQ that stated that Japanese infantry were moving into the grassy area at the edge of the airfield, when in reality, they were nowhere near the airfield and had certainly not broken through any lines.   COL Matsumoto called and stated that the airfield was now completely in Japanese hands. The 17th Army signaled “2300 Banzai-a little before 2300 the right wing captured the airfield.” This odd transmission is even stranger when one considers that the “right wing” had marginal, at best, participation in the event at all. Meanwhile, the left wing of the Japanese assault decidedly did attack.3rd Battalion 29th Infantry 11th Company under CAPT Katsumata reconned American lines in the area, found a soft spot between 2 MG emplacements and began a low crawl advance towards the American gap in the lines that was threaded with barbed wire. Japanese engineers began snipping the wire, unbeknownst to Americans, as the infantry low crawled through the grass to spring a surprise assault.Either due to delirium from the long march, fear, excitement or a combination of all 3, one lone Japanese let out a war cry that was soon picked up by many others alerting the Americans of their presence.   Almost instantly American machine gun fire erupted as did mortars. The Japanese now knowing the surprise was gone, leapt up and charged.  They began to get entangled in the barbed wire and were summarily annihilated by the Marines holding that area, which was Puller's A Company at about 0100. Shortly thereafter, Japanese of the 9th Company moved to the left in the wake of the now dead 11thCompany and prepared to attack.After giving a great Banzai, the men of the 9th Company charged Marine lines, running straight through the prepared machine gun position firing lanes of Puller's C Company. Within 5 minutes, the 9th Company was wiped out. John Basilone After the majority of the infantry were killed, American artillery began dropping, killing what was left of the Japanese. Puller was now aware that he was under attack from a large and well-seasoned Japanese force. He immediately fed 3 platoons from 3/164th into his lines to beef up the defenses.The National Guardsmen were led, sometimes by hand, through the torrential rain into the raging battle and fed piecemeal into the Marine lines, mixing with Marine units and holding their own in the fight. The only real success of the initial assaults came in the form of COL Furimaya's assault at dawn. Realizing he had little to work with, Furimaya assembled what he could and personally led an assault that partially pierced the American lines.About 100 Japanese broke through and held a salient in the Marine lines that was eradicated in the morning. The Main Event October 25:By mid-morning, it was obvious that the Japanese were not through with their assault.  As a result, Marines and Army troops began to reshuffle their defenses and prepare for another night time assault.  For over an hour after 2000, the Japanese fired artillery into the positions of Puller's 1/7 and LCOL Robert Hall's 164th IR.  The majority of the assault fell on the soldiers of the 164th who held their ground again, all night long.  With the main push coming through an artery between the 2nd and 3rd BTLN 164th.  However, that artery was manned by a couple of Marine 37mm guns that were firing canister into the charging Japanese.A few Japanese parties broke the lines, but those were hunted down and killed by soldiers and Marines within hours. The return of Col Oka…His attacks concentrate on the area held by Hanneken's 2/7Just before midnight, the Japanese surged forward against the Marine positions, finally culminating in an all out assault at 0300.Company F bore the brunt of this assault…Mitch PaigeDespite Paige's heroics, Japanese scaled the slopes in front of F Company and ejected them from their positionsMAJ Odell Conoley led a group of Marines that counterattacked and eliminated the Japanese in the former positions of F Company. The Battle Over: Rough US casualties run about 90 KIA Japanese casualties are unknown in exact figures but estimates range in the neighborhood of 2,200 but probably more than that. The Japanese blamed the terrain, the march through the jungle, no air support, poor physical condition of the troops, inadequate supplies, faulty intel, etc, etc…all of which were accurate. While this isn't the last land battle on Guadalcanal, it certainly was the most crucial to the Japanese, and the most decisive for the Americans.  For all intents and purposes, the land campaign, in terms of Japanese all-out assaults and large-scale operations, was over.  While there were plans for yet another assault in November, as we shall see, this does not end well for the Japanese.