Podcasts about Red Army

The Allied Intervention into the Russian Civil War remains one of the most ambitious yet least talked about military ventures of the 20th century. Coinciding with the end of the first World War, some 180,000 troops from several countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Italy, Greece, Poland, and Romania, among others, were sent to fight alongside Russian “Whites” against the Red Army. Despite one victory for the Allied troops – independence for the Latvians and the Estonians – the two-year long attempt at reversing the 1917 Russian Revolution ended in humiliating defeat. To explore this crucial event of the early 20th century is today’s guest, Anna Reid, author of “A Nasty Little War: The Western Intervention into the Russian Civil War.” What was originally aimed to prevent Germany from exploiting the power vacuum in Eastern Europe left by the Russian Revolution ultimately morphed into the Allies’ gamble to destroy Communist ideology. It was a mixture of good intentions and self-delusion, flag-waving and empty promises, cover-ups, exaggerations, and downright lies from politicians.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While some of your flowers might've lost the colour that gave you joy throughout the summer, their charm in your home is far from over.Drying seedheads is one of Sarah and Arthur's great delights, and with summer rolling into autumn it's the perfect time to start drying seedheads and grasses ready to create stunning, sustainable Christmas decorations.In this episode, discover:How to perfectly time your harvest for the most vibrant and long-lasting dried flowers and seed headsSimple, tried-and-tested techniques for drying and storing your blooms for lasting colour and structure right through the winterInspiring ideas for using dried flowers in festive decorations, creative arrangements, and sustainable home décorPersonal favourites and new discoveries from Sarah and Arthur, including must-try varieties like strawflowers, xeranthemums, and the wonderfully quirky “fish bone grass”Products mentioned:Helichrysum bracteatum 'White' (Sunflower)https://www.sarahraven.com/products/helichrysum-bracteatum-whiteXeranthemum annuumhttps://www.sarahraven.com/products/xeranthemum-annuumAmaranthus tricolor 'Red Army'https://www.sarahraven.com/products/amaranthus-tricolor-red-armyAmaranthus cruentus 'Hot Biscuits'https://www.sarahraven.com/products/amaranthus-hot-biscuitsChasmanthium latifoliumhttps://www.sarahraven.com/products/chasmanthium-latifoliumFollow Sarah: https://www.instagram.com/sarahravenperchhill/Get in touch: info@sarahraven.comShop on the Sarah Raven Website: http://bit.ly/3jvbaeuFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahravensgarden/Order Sarah's latest books: https://www.sarahraven.com/gifts/gardening-books?sort=newest

Last time we spoke about the surrender of Japan. Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender on August 15, prompting mixed public reactions: grief, shock, and sympathy for the Emperor, tempered by fear of hardship and occupation. The government's response included resignations and suicide as new leadership was brought in under Prime Minister Higashikuni, with Mamoru Shigemitsu as Foreign Minister and Kawabe Torashiro heading a delegation to Manila. General MacArthur directed the occupation plan, “Blacklist,” prioritizing rapid, phased entry into key Japanese areas and Korea, while demobilizing enemy forces. The surrender ceremony occurred aboard the Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, with Wainwright, Percival, Nimitz, and UN representatives in attendance. Civilians and soldiers across Asia began surrendering, and postwar rehabilitation, Indochina and Vietnam's independence movements, and Southeast Asian transitions rapidly unfolded as Allied forces established control. This episode is the Aftermath of the Pacific War 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.  The Pacific War has ended. Peace has been restored by the Allies and most of the places conquered by the Japanese Empire have been liberated. In this post-war period, new challenges would be faced for those who won the war; and from the ashes of an empire, a defeated nation was also seeking to rebuild. As the Japanese demobilized their armed forces, many young boys were set to return to their homeland, even if they had previously thought that they wouldn't survive the ordeal. And yet, there were some cases of isolated men that would continue to fight for decades even, unaware that the war had already ended.  As we last saw, after the Japanese surrender, General MacArthur's forces began the occupation of the Japanese home islands, while their overseas empire was being dismantled by the Allies. To handle civil administration, MacArthur established the Military Government Section, commanded by Brigadier-General William Crist, staffed by hundreds of US experts trained in civil governance who were reassigned from Okinawa and the Philippines. As the occupation began, Americans dispatched tactical units and Military Government Teams to each prefecture to ensure that policies were faithfully carried out. By mid-September, General Eichelberger's 8th Army had taken over the Tokyo Bay region and began deploying to occupy Hokkaido and the northern half of Honshu. Then General Krueger's 6th Army arrived in late September, taking southern Honshu and Shikoku, with its base in Kyoto. In December, 6th Army was relieved of its occupation duties; in January 1946, it was deactivated, leaving the 8th Army as the main garrison force. By late 1945, about 430,000 American soldiers were garrisoned across Japan. President Truman approved inviting Allied involvement on American terms, with occupation armies integrated into a US command structure. Yet with the Chinese civil war and Russia's reluctance to place its forces under MacArthur's control, only Australia, Britain, India, and New Zealand sent brigades, more than 40,000 troops in southwestern Japan. Japanese troops were gradually disarmed by order of their own commanders, so the stigma of surrender would be less keenly felt by the individual soldier. In the homeland, about 1.5 million men were discharged and returned home by the end of August. Demobilization overseas, however, proceeded, not quickly, but as a long, difficult process of repatriation. In compliance with General Order No. 1, the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters disbanded on September 13 and was superseded by the Japanese War Department to manage demobilization. By November 1, the homeland had demobilized 2,228,761 personnel, roughly 97% of the Homeland Army. Yet some 6,413,215 men remained to be repatriated from overseas. On December 1, the Japanese War Ministry dissolved, and the First Demobilization Ministry took its place. The Second Demobilization Ministry was established to handle IJN demobilization, with 1,299,868 sailors, 81% of the Navy, demobilized by December 17. Japanese warships and merchant ships had their weapons rendered inoperative, and suicide craft were destroyed. Forty percent of naval vessels were allocated to evacuations in the Philippines, and 60% to evacuations of other Pacific islands. This effort eventually repatriated about 823,984 men to Japan by February 15, 1946. As repatriation accelerated, by October 15 only 1,909,401 men remained to be repatriated, most of them in the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the Higashikuni Cabinet and Foreign Minister Shigemitsu Mamoru managed to persuade MacArthur not to impose direct military rule or martial law over all of Japan. Instead, the occupation would be indirect, guided by the Japanese government under the Emperor's direction. An early decision to feed occupation forces from American supplies, and to allow the Japanese to use their own limited food stores, helped ease a core fear: that Imperial forces would impose forced deliveries on the people they conquered. On September 17, MacArthur transferred his headquarters from Yokohama to Tokyo, setting up primary offices on the sixth floor of the Dai-Ichi Mutual Life Insurance Building, an imposing edifice overlooking the moat and the Imperial palace grounds in Hibiya, a symbolic heart of the nation.  While the average soldier did not fit the rapacious image of wartime Japanese propagandists, occupation personnel often behaved like neo-colonial overlords. The conquerors claimed privileges unimaginable to most Japanese. Entire trains and train compartments, fitted with dining cars, were set aside for the exclusive use of occupation forces. These silenced, half-empty trains sped past crowded platforms, provoking ire as Japanese passengers were forced to enter and exit packed cars through punched-out windows, or perch on carriage roofs, couplings, and running boards, often with tragic consequences. The luxury express coaches became irresistible targets for anonymous stone-throwers. During the war, retrenchment measures had closed restaurants, cabarets, beer halls, geisha houses, and theatres in Tokyo and other large cities. Now, a vast leisure industry sprang up to cater to the needs of the foreign occupants. Reopened restaurants and theatres, along with train stations, buses, and streetcars, were sometimes kept off limits to Allied personnel, partly for security, partly to avoid burdening Japanese resources, but a costly service infrastructure was built to the occupiers' specifications. Facilities reserved for occupation troops bore large signs reading “Japanese Keep Out” or “For Allied Personnel Only.” In downtown Tokyo, important public buildings requisitioned for occupation use had separate entrances for Americans and Japanese. The effect? A subtle but clear colour bar between the predominantly white conquerors and the conquered “Asiatic” Japanese. Although MacArthur was ready to work through the Japanese government, he lacked the organizational infrastructure to administer a nation of 74 million. Consequently, on October 2, MacArthur dissolved the Military Government Section and inaugurated General Headquarters, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, a separate headquarters focused on civil affairs and operating in tandem with the Army high command. SCAP immediately assumed responsibility for administering the Japanese home islands. It commandeered every large building not burned down to house thousands of civilians and requisitioned vast tracts of prime real estate to quarter several hundred thousand troops in the Tokyo–Yokohama area alone. Amidst the rise of American privilege, entire buildings were refurbished as officers' clubs, replete with slot machines and gambling parlours installed at occupation expense. The Stars and Stripes were hoisted over Tokyo, while the display of the Rising Sun was banned; and the downtown area, known as “Little America,” was transformed into a US enclave. The enclave mentality of this cocooned existence was reinforced by the arrival within the first six months of roughly 700 American families. At the peak of the occupation, about 14,800 families employed some 25,000 Japanese servants to ease the “rigours” of overseas duty. Even enlisted men in the sparse quonset-hut towns around the city lived like kings compared with ordinary Japanese. Japanese workers cleaned barracks, did kitchen chores, and handled other base duties. The lowest private earned a 25% hardship bonus until these special allotments were discontinued in 1949. Most military families quickly adjusted to a pampered lifestyle that went beyond maids and “boys,” including cooks, laundresses, babysitters, gardeners, and masseuses. Perks included spacious quarters with swimming pools, central heating, hot running water, and modern plumbing. Two observers compared GHQ to the British Raj at its height. George F. Kennan, head of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff, warned during his 1948 mission to Japan that Americans had monopolized “everything that smacks of comfort or elegance or luxury,” criticizing what he called the “American brand of philistinism” and the “monumental imperviousness” of MacArthur's staff to the Japanese suffering. This conqueror's mentality also showed in the bullying attitudes many top occupation officials displayed toward the Japanese with whom they dealt. Major Faubion Bowers, MacArthur's military secretary, later said, “I and nearly all the occupation people I knew were extremely conceited and extremely arrogant and used our power every inch of the way.” Initially, there were spasms of defiance against the occupation forces, such as anonymous stone-throwing, while armed robbery and minor assaults against occupation personnel were rife in the weeks and months after capitulation. Yet active resistance was neither widespread nor organized. The Americans successfully completed their initial deployment without violence, an astonishing feat given a heavily armed and vastly superior enemy operating on home terrain. The average citizen regarded the occupation as akin to force majeure, the unfortunate but inevitable aftermath of a natural calamity. Japan lay prostrate. Industrial output had fallen to about 10% of pre-war levels, and as late as 1946, more than 13 million remained unemployed. Nearly 40% of Japan's urban areas had been turned to rubble, and some 9 million people were homeless. The war-displaced, many of them orphans, slept in doorways and hallways, in bombed-out ruins, dugouts and packing crates, under bridges or on pavements, and crowded the hallways of train and subway stations. As winter 1945 descended, with food, fuel, and clothing scarce, people froze to death. Bonfires lit the streets to ward off the chill. "The only warm hands I have shaken thus far in Japan belonged to Americans," Mark Gayn noted in December 1945. "The Japanese do not have much of a chance to thaw out, and their hands are cold and red." Unable to afford shoes, many wore straw sandals; those with geta felt themselves privileged. The sight of a man wearing a woman's high-buttoned shoes in winter epitomized the daily struggle to stay dry and warm. Shantytowns built of scrap wood, rusted metal, and scavenged odds and ends sprang up everywhere, resembling vast junk yards. The poorest searched smouldering refuse heaps for castoffs that might be bartered for a scrap to eat or wear. Black markets (yami'ichi) run by Japanese, Koreans, and For-mosans mushroomed to replace collapsed distribution channels and cash in on inflated prices. Tokyo became "a world of scarcity in which every nail, every rag, and even a tangerine peel [had a] market value." Psychologically numbed, disoriented, and disillusioned with their leaders, demobilized veterans and civilians alike struggled to get their bearings, shed militaristic ideologies, and begin to embrace new values. In the vacuum of defeat, the Japanese people appeared ready to reject the past and grasp at the straw held out by the former enemy. Relations between occupier and occupied were not smooth, however. American troops comported themselves like conquerors, especially in the early weeks and months of occupation. Much of the violence was directed against women, with the first attacks beginning within hours after the landing of advance units. When US paratroopers landed in Sapporo, an orgy of looting, sexual violence, and drunken brawling ensued. Newspaper accounts reported 931 serious offences by GIs in the Yokohama area during the first week of occupation, including 487 armed robberies, 411 thefts of currency or goods, 9 rapes, 5 break-ins, 3 cases of assault and battery, and 16 other acts of lawlessness. In the first 10 days of occupation, there were 1,336 reported rapes by US soldiers in Kanagawa Prefecture alone. Americans were not the only perpetrators. A former prostitute recalled that when Australian troops arrived in Kure in early 1946, they “dragged young women into their jeeps, took them to the mountain, and then raped them. I heard them screaming for help nearly every night.” Such behaviour was commonplace, but news of criminal activity by occupation forces was quickly suppressed. On September 10, 1945, SCAP issued press and pre-censorship codes outlawing the publication of reports and statistics "inimical to the objectives of the occupation." In the sole instance of self-help General Eichelberger records in his memoirs, when locals formed a vigilante group and retaliated against off-duty GIs, 8th Army ordered armored vehicles into the streets and arrested the ringleaders, who received lengthy prison terms. Misbehavior ranged from black-market activity, petty theft, reckless driving, and disorderly conduct to vandalism, arson, murder, and rape. Soldiers and sailors often broke the law with impunity, and incidents of robbery, rape, and even murder were widely reported. Gang rapes and other sex atrocities were not infrequent; victims, shunned as outcasts, sometimes turned to prostitution in desperation, while others took their own lives to avoid bringing shame to their families. Military courts arrested relatively few soldiers for these offenses and convicted even fewer; Japanese attempts at self-defense were punished severely, and restitution for victims was rare. Fearing the worst, Japanese authorities had already prepared countermeasures against the supposed rapacity of foreign soldiers. Imperial troops in East Asia and the Pacific had behaved brutally toward women, so the government established “sexual comfort-stations” manned by geisha, bar hostesses, and prostitutes to “satisfy the lust of the Occupation forces,” as the Higashikuni Cabinet put it. A budget of 100 million yen was set aside for these Recreation and Amusement Associations, financed initially with public funds but run as private enterprises under police supervision. Through these, the government hoped to protect the daughters of the well-born and middle class by turning to lower-class women to satisfy the soldiers' sexual appetites. By the end of 1945, brothel operators had rounded up an estimated 20,000 young women and herded them into RAA establishments nationwide. Eventually, as many as 70,000 are said to have ended up in the state-run sex industry. Thankfully, as military discipline took hold and fresh troops replaced the Allied veterans responsible for the early crime wave, violence subsided and the occupier's patronising behavior and the ugly misdeeds of a lawless few were gradually overlooked. However, fraternisation was frowned upon by both sides, and segregation was practiced in principle, with the Japanese excluded from areas reserved for Allied personnel until September 1949, when MacArthur lifted virtually all restrictions on friendly association, stating that he was “establishing the same relations between occupation personnel and the Japanese population as exists between troops stationed in the United States and the American people.” In principle, the Occupation's administrative structure was highly complex. The Far Eastern Commission, based in Washington, included representatives from all 13 countries that had fought against Japan and was established in 1946 to formulate basic principles. The Allied Council for Japan was created in the same year to assist in developing and implementing surrender terms and in administering the country. It consisted of representatives from the USA, the USSR, Nationalist China, and the British Commonwealth. Although both bodies were active at first, they were largely ineffectual due to unwieldy decision-making, disagreements between the national delegations (especially the USA and USSR), and the obstructionism of General Douglas MacArthur. In practice, SCAP, the executive authority of the occupation, effectively ruled Japan from 1945 to 1952. And since it took orders only from the US government, the Occupation became primarily an American affair. The US occupation program, effectively carried out by SCAP, was revolutionary and rested on a two-pronged approach. To ensure Japan would never again become a menace to the United States or to world peace, SCAP pursued disarmament and demilitarization, with continuing control over Japan's capacity to make war. This involved destroying military supplies and installations, demobilizing more than five million Japanese soldiers, and thoroughly discrediting the military establishment. Accordingly, SCAP ordered the purge of tens of thousands of designated persons from public service positions, including accused war criminals, military officers, leaders of ultranationalist societies, leaders in the Imperial Rule Assistance Association, business leaders tied to overseas expansion, governors of former Japanese colonies, and national leaders who had steered Japan into war. In addition, MacArthur's International Military Tribunal for the Far East established a military court in Tokyo. It had jurisdiction over those charged with Class A crimes, top leaders who had planned and directed the war. Also considered were Class B charges, covering conventional war crimes, and Class C charges, covering crimes against humanity. Yet the military court in Tokyo wouldn't be the only one. More than 5,700 lower-ranking personnel were charged with conventional war crimes in separate trials convened by Australia, China, France, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Of the 5,700 Japanese individuals indicted for Class B war crimes, 984 were sentenced to death; 475 received life sentences; 2,944 were given more limited prison terms; 1,018 were acquitted; and 279 were never brought to trial or not sentenced. Among these, many, like General Ando Rikichi and Lieutenant-General Nomi Toshio, chose to commit suicide before facing prosecution. Notable cases include Lieutenant-General Tani Hisao, who was sentenced to death by the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal for his role in the Nanjing Massacre; Lieutenant-General Sakai Takashi, who was executed in Nanjing for the murder of British and Chinese civilians during the occupation of Hong Kong. General Okamura Yasuji was convicted of war crimes by the Tribunal, yet he was immediately protected by the personal order of Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek, who kept him as a military adviser for the Kuomintang. In the Manila trials, General Yamashita Tomoyuki was sentenced to death as he was in overall command during the Sook Ching massacre, the Rape of Manila, and other atrocities. Lieutenant-General Homma Masaharu was likewise executed in Manila for atrocities committed by troops under his command during the Bataan Death March. General Imamura Hitoshi was sentenced to ten years in prison, but he considered the punishment too light and even had a replica of the prison built in his garden, remaining there until his death in 1968. Lieutenant-General Kanda Masatane received a 14-year sentence for war crimes on Bougainville, though he served only four years. Lieutenant-General Adachi Hatazo was sentenced to life imprisonment for war crimes in New Guinea and subsequently committed suicide on September 10, 1947. Lieutenant-General Teshima Fusataro received three years of forced labour for using a hospital ship to transport troops. Lieutenant-General Baba Masao was sentenced to death for ordering the Sandakan Death Marches, during which over 2,200 Australian and British prisoners of war perished. Lieutenant-General Tanabe Moritake was sentenced to death by a Dutch military tribunal for unspecified war crimes. Rear-Admiral Sakaibara Shigematsu was executed in Guam for ordering the Wake Island massacre, in which 98 American civilians were murdered. Lieutenant-General Inoue Sadae was condemned to death in Guam for permitting subordinates to execute three downed American airmen captured in Palau, though his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1951 and he was released in 1953. Lieutenant-General Tachibana Yoshio was sentenced to death in Guam for his role in the Chichijima Incident, in which eight American airmen were cannibalized. By mid-1945, due to the Allied naval blockade, the 25,000 Japanese troops on Chichijima had run low on supplies. However, although the daily rice ration had been reduced from 400 grams per person per day to 240 grams, the troops were not at risk of starvation. In February and March 1945, in what would later be called the Chichijima incident, Tachibana Yoshio's senior staff turned to cannibalism. Nine American airmen had escaped from their planes after being shot down during bombing raids on Chichijima, eight of whom were captured. The ninth, the only one to evade capture, was future US President George H. W. Bush, then a 20-year-old pilot. Over several months, the prisoners were executed, and reportedly by the order of Major Matoba Sueyo, their bodies were butchered by the division's medical orderlies, with the livers and other organs consumed by the senior staff, including Matoba's superior Tachibana. In the Yokohama War Crimes Trials, Lieutenant-Generals Inada Masazumi and Yokoyama Isamu were convicted for their complicity in vivisection and other human medical experiments performed at Kyushu Imperial University on downed Allied airmen. The Tokyo War Crimes Trial, which began in May 1946 and lasted two and a half years, resulted in the execution by hanging of Generals Doihara Kenji and Itagaki Seishiro, and former Prime Ministers Hirota Koki and Tojo Hideki, for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace, specifically for the escalation of the Pacific War and for permitting the inhumane treatment of prisoners of war. Also sentenced to death were Lieutenant-General Muto Akira for his role in the Nanjing and Manila massacres; General Kimura Heitaro for planning the war strategy in China and Southeast Asia and for laxity in preventing atrocities against prisoners of war in Burma; and General Matsui Iwane for his involvement in the Rape of Nanjing. The seven defendants who were sentenced to death were executed at Sugamo Prison in Ikebukuro on December 23, 1948. Sixteen others were sentenced to life imprisonment, including the last Field Marshal Hata Shunroku, Generals Araki Sadao, Minami Hiro, and Umezu Shojiro, Admiral Shimada Shigetaro, former Prime Ministers Hiranuma Kiichiro and Koiso Kuniaki, Marquis Kido Koichi, and Colonel Hashimoto Kingoro, a major instigator of the second Sino-Japanese War. Additionally, former Foreign Ministers Togo Shigenori and Shigemitsu Mamoru received seven- and twenty-year sentences, respectively. The Soviet Union and Chinese Communist forces also held trials of Japanese war criminals, including the Khabarovsk War Crime Trials, which tried and found guilty some members of Japan's bacteriological and chemical warfare unit known as Unit 731. However, those who surrendered to the Americans were never brought to trial, as MacArthur granted immunity to Lieutenant-General Ishii Shiro and all members of the bacteriological research units in exchange for germ-w warfare data derived from human experimentation. If you would like to learn more about what I like to call Japan's Operation Paper clip, whereupon the US grabbed many scientists from Unit 731, check out my exclusive podcast. The SCAP-turn to democratization began with the drafting of a new constitution in 1947, addressing Japan's enduring feudal social structure. In the charter, sovereignty was vested in the people, and the emperor was designated a “symbol of the state and the unity of the people, deriving his position from the will of the people in whom resides sovereign power.” Because the emperor now possessed fewer powers than European constitutional monarchs, some have gone so far as to say that Japan became “a republic in fact if not in name.” Yet the retention of the emperor was, in fact, a compromise that suited both those who wanted to preserve the essence of the nation for stability and those who demanded that the emperor system, though not necessarily the emperor, should be expunged. In line with the democratic spirit of the new constitution, the peerage was abolished and the two-chamber Diet, to which the cabinet was now responsible, became the highest organ of state. The judiciary was made independent and local autonomy was granted in vital areas of jurisdiction such as education and the police. Moreover, the constitution stipulated that “the people shall not be prevented from enjoying any of the fundamental human rights,” that they “shall be respected as individuals,” and that “their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness shall … be the supreme consideration in legislation.” Its 29 articles guaranteed basic human rights: equality, freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin, freedom of thought and freedom of religion. Finally, in its most controversial section, Article 9, the “peace clause,” Japan “renounce[d] war as a sovereign right of the nation” and vowed not to maintain any military forces and “other war potential.” To instill a thoroughly democratic ethos, reforms touched every facet of society. The dissolution of the zaibatsu decentralised economic power; the 1945 Labour Union Law and the 1946 Labour Relations Act guaranteed workers the right to collective action; the 1947 Labour Standards Law established basic working standards for men and women; and the revised Civil Code of 1948 abolished the patriarchal household and enshrined sexual equality. Reflecting core American principles, SCAP introduced a 6-3-3 schooling system, six years of compulsory elementary education, three years of junior high, and an optional three years of senior high, along with the aim of secular, locally controlled education. More crucially, ideological reform followed: censorship of feudal material in media, revision of textbooks, and prohibition of ideas glorifying war, dying for the emperor, or venerating war heroes. With women enfranchised and young people shaped to counter militarism and ultranationalism, rural Japan was transformed to undermine lingering class divisions. The land reform program provided for the purchase of all land held by absentee landlords, allowed resident landlords and owner-farmers to retain a set amount of land, and required that the remaining land be sold to the government so it could be offered to existing tenants. In 1948, amid the intensifying tensions of the Cold War that would soon culminate in the Korean War, the occupation's focus shifted from demilitarization and democratization toward economic rehabilitation and, ultimately, the remilitarization of Japan, an shift now known as the “Reverse Course.” The country was thus rebuilt as the Pacific region's primary bulwark against the spread of Communism. An Economic Stabilisation Programme was introduced, including a five-year plan to coordinate production and target capital through the Reconstruction Finance Bank. In 1949, the anti-inflationary Dodge Plan was adopted, advocating balanced budgets, fixing the exchange rate at 360 yen to the dollar, and ending broad government intervention. Additionally, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry was formed and supported the formation of conglomerates centered around banks, which encouraged the reemergence of a somewhat weakened set of zaibatsu, including Mitsui and Mitsubishi. By the end of the Occupation era, Japan was on the verge of surpassing its 1934–1936 levels of economic growth. Equally important was Japan's rearmament in alignment with American foreign policy: a National Police Reserve of about 75,000 was created with the outbreak of the Korean War; by 1952 it had expanded to 110,000 and was renamed the Self-Defense Force after the inclusion of an air force. However, the Reverse Course also facilitated the reestablishment of conservative politics and the rollback of gains made by women and the reforms of local autonomy and education. As the Occupation progressed, the Americans permitted greater Japanese initiative, and power gradually shifted from the reformers to the moderates. By 1949, the purge of the right came under review, and many who had been condemned began returning to influence, if not to the Diet, then to behind-the-scenes power. At the same time, Japanese authorities, with MacArthur's support, began purging left-wing activists. In June 1950, for example, the central office of the Japan Communist Party and the editorial board of The Red Flag were purged. The gains made by women also seemed to be reversed. Women were elected to 8% of available seats in the first lower-house election in 1946, but to only 2% in 1952, a trend not reversed until the so-called Madonna Boom of the 1980s. Although the number of women voting continued to rise, female politicisation remained more superficial than might be imagined. Women's employment also appeared little affected by labour legislation: though women formed nearly 40% of the labor force in 1952, they earned only 45% as much as men. Indeed, women's attitudes toward labor were influenced less by the new ethos of fulfilling individual potential than by traditional views of family and workplace responsibilities. In the areas of local autonomy and education, substantial modifications were made to the reforms. Because local authorities lacked sufficient power to tax, they were unable to realise their extensive powers, and, as a result, key responsibilities were transferred back to national jurisdiction. In 1951, for example, 90% of villages and towns placed their police forces under the control of the newly formed National Police Agency. Central control over education was also gradually reasserted; in 1951, the Yoshida government attempted to reintroduce ethics classes, proposed tighter central oversight of textbooks, and recommended abolishing local school board elections. By the end of the decade, all these changes had been implemented. The Soviet occupation of the Kurile Islands and the Habomai Islets was completed with Russian troops fully deployed by September 5. Immediately after the onset of the occupation, amid a climate of insecurity and fear marked by reports of sporadic rape and physical assault and widespread looting by occupying troops, an estimated 4,000 islanders fled to Hokkaido rather than face an uncertain repatriation. As Soviet forces moved in, they seized or destroyed telephone and telegraph installations and halted ship movements into and out of the islands, leaving residents without adequate food and other winter provisions. Yet, unlike Manchuria, where Japanese civilians faced widespread sexual violence and pillage, systematic violence against the civilian population on the Kuriles appears to have been exceptional. A series of military government proclamations assured islanders of safety so long as they did not resist Soviet rule and carried on normally; however, these orders also prohibited activities not explicitly authorized by the Red Army, which imposed many hardships on civilians. Residents endured harsh conditions under Soviet rule until late 1948, when Japanese repatriation out of the Kurils was completed. The Kuriles posed a special diplomatic problem, as the occupation of the southernmost islands—the Northern Territories—ignited a long-standing dispute between Tokyo and Moscow that continues to impede the normalisation of relations today. Although the Kuriles were promised to the Soviet Union in the Yalta agreement, Japan and the United States argued that this did not apply to the Northern Territories, since they were not part of the Kurile Islands. A substantial dispute regarding the status of the Kurile Islands arose between the United States and the Soviet Union during the preparation of the Treaty of San Francisco, which was intended as a permanent peace treaty between Japan and the Allied Powers of World War II. The treaty was ultimately signed by 49 nations in San Francisco on September 8, 1951, and came into force on April 28, 1952. It ended Japan's role as an imperial power, allocated compensation to Allied nations and former prisoners of war who had suffered Japanese war crimes, ended the Allied post-war occupation of Japan, and returned full sovereignty to Japan. Effectively, the document officially renounced Japan's treaty rights derived from the Boxer Protocol of 1901 and its rights to Korea, Formosa and the Pescadores, the Kurile Islands, the Spratly Islands, Antarctica, and South Sakhalin. Japan's South Seas Mandate, namely the Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands, and Caroline Islands, had already been formally revoked by the United Nations on July 18, 1947, making the United States responsible for administration of those islands under a UN trusteeship agreement that established the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. In turn, the Bonin, Volcano, and Ryukyu Islands were progressively restored to Japan between 1953 and 1972, along with the Senkaku Islands, which were disputed by both Communist and Nationalist China. In addition, alongside the Treaty of San Francisco, Japan and the United States signed a Security Treaty that established a long-lasting military alliance between them. Although Japan renounced its rights to the Kuriles, the U.S. State Department later clarified that “the Habomai Islands and Shikotan ... are properly part of Hokkaido and that Japan is entitled to sovereignty over them,” hence why the Soviets refused to sign the treaty. Britain and the United States agreed that territorial rights would not be granted to nations that did not sign the Treaty of San Francisco, and as a result the Kurile Islands were not formally recognized as Soviet territory. A separate peace treaty, the Treaty of Taipei (formally the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty), was signed in Taipei on April 28, 1952 between Japan and the Kuomintang, and on June 9 of that year the Treaty of Peace Between Japan and India followed. Finally, Japan and the Soviet Union ended their formal state of war with the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956, though this did not settle the Kurile Islands dispute. Even after these formal steps, Japan as a nation was not in a formal state of war, and many Japanese continued to believe the war was ongoing; those who held out after the surrender came to be known as Japanese holdouts.  Captain Oba Sakae and his medical company participated in the Saipan campaign beginning on July 7, 1944, and took part in what would become the largest banzai charge of the Pacific War. After 15 hours of intense hand-to-hand combat, almost 4,300 Japanese soldiers were dead, and Oba and his men were presumed among them. In reality, however, he survived the battle and gradually assumed command of over a hundred additional soldiers. Only five men from his original unit survived the battle, two of whom died in the following months. Oba then led over 200 Japanese civilians deeper into the jungles to evade capture, organizing them into mountain caves and hidden jungle villages. When the soldiers were not assisting the civilians with survival tasks, Oba and his men continued their battle against the garrison of US Marines. He used the 1,552‑ft Mount Tapochau as their primary base, which offered an unobstructed 360-degree view of the island. From their base camp on the western slope of the mountain, Oba and his men occasionally conducted guerrilla-style raids on American positions. Due to the speed and stealth of these operations, and the Marines' frustrated attempts to find him, the Saipan Marines eventually referred to Oba as “The Fox.” Oba and his men held out on the island for 512 days, or about 16 months. On November 27, 1945, former Major-General Amo Umahachi was able to draw out some of the Japanese in hiding by singing the anthem of the Japanese infantry branch. Amo was then able to present documents from the defunct IGHQ to Oba ordering him and his 46 remaining men to surrender themselves to the Americans. On December 1, the Japanese soldiers gathered on Tapochau and sang a song of departure to the spirits of the war dead; Oba led his people out of the jungle and they presented themselves to the Marines of the 18th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Company. With great formality and commensurate dignity, Oba surrendered his sword to Lieutenant Colonel Howard G. Kirgis, and his men surrendered their arms and colors. On January 2, 1946, 20 Japanese soldiers hiding in a tunnel at Corregidor Island surrendered after learning the war had ended from a newspaper found while collecting water. In that same month, 120 Japanese were routed after a battle in the mountains 150 miles south of Manila. In April, during a seven-week campaign to clear Lubang Island, 41 more Japanese emerged from the jungle, unaware that the war had ended; however, a group of four Japanese continued to resist. In early 1947, Lieutenant Yamaguchi Ei and his band of 33 soldiers renewed fighting with the small Marine garrison on Peleliu, prompting reinforcements under Rear-Admiral Charles Pownall to be brought to the island to hunt down the guerrilla group. Along with them came former Rear-Admiral Sumikawa Michio, who ultimately convinced Yamaguchi to surrender in April after almost three years of guerrilla warfare. Also in April, seven Japanese emerged from Palawan Island and fifteen armed stragglers emerged from Luzon. In January 1948, 200 troops surrendered on Mindanao; and on May 12, the Associated Press reported that two unnamed Japanese soldiers had surrendered to civilian policemen in Guam the day before. On January 6, 1949, two former IJN soldiers, machine gunners Matsudo Rikio and Yamakage Kufuku, were discovered on Iwo Jima and surrendered peacefully. In March 1950, Private Akatsu Yūichi surrendered in the village of Looc, leaving only three Japanese still resisting on Lubang. By 1951 a group of Japanese on Anatahan Island refused to believe that the war was over and resisted every attempt by the Navy to remove them. This group was first discovered in February 1945, when several Chamorros from Saipan were sent to the island to recover the bodies of a Saipan-based B-29. The Chamorros reported that there were about thirty Japanese survivors from three ships sunk in June 1944, one of which was an Okinawan woman. Personal aggravations developed from the close confines of a small group on a small island and from tuba drinking; among the holdouts, 6 of 11 deaths were the result of violence, and one man displayed 13 knife wounds. The presence of only one woman, Higa Kazuko, caused considerable difficulty as she would transfer her affections among at least four men after each of them mysteriously disappeared, purportedly “swallowed by the waves while fishing.” According to the more sensational versions of the Anatahan tale, 11 of the 30 navy sailors stranded on the island died due to violent struggles over her affections. In July 1950, Higa went to the beach when an American vessel appeared offshore and finally asked to be removed from the island. She was taken to Saipan aboard the Miss Susie and, upon arrival, told authorities that the men on the island did not believe the war was over. As the Japanese government showed interest in the situation on Anatahan, the families of the holdouts were contacted in Japan and urged by the Navy to write letters stating that the war was over and that the holdouts should surrender. The letters were dropped by air on June 26 and ultimately convinced the holdouts to give themselves up. Thus, six years after the end of World War II, “Operation Removal” commenced from Saipan under the command of Lt. Commander James B. Johnson, USNR, aboard the Navy Tug USS Cocopa. Johnson and an interpreter went ashore by rubber boat and formally accepted the surrender on the morning of June 30, 1951. The Anatahan femme fatale story later inspired the 1953 Japanese film Anatahan and the 1998 novel Cage on the Sea. In 1953, Murata Susumu, the last holdout on Tinian, was finally captured. The next year, on May 7, Corporal Sumada Shoichi was killed in a clash with Filipino soldiers, leaving only two Japanese still resisting on Lubang. In November 1955, Seaman Kinoshita Noboru was captured in the Luzon jungle but soon after committed suicide rather than “return to Japan in defeat.” That same year, four Japanese airmen surrendered at Hollandia in Dutch New Guinea; and in 1956, nine soldiers were located and sent home from Morotai, while four men surrendered on Mindoro. In May 1960, Sergeant Ito Masashi became one of the last Japanese to surrender at Guam after the capture of his comrade Private Minagawa Bunzo, but the final surrender at Guam would come later with Sergeant Yokoi Shoichi. Sergeant Yokoi Shoichi survived in the jungles of Guam by living for years in an elaborately dug hole, subsisting on snails and lizards, a fate that, while undignified, showcased his ingenuity and resilience and earned him a warm welcome on his return to Japan. His capture was not heroic in the traditional sense: he was found half-starving by a group of villagers while foraging for shrimp in a stream, and the broader context included his awareness as early as 1952 that the war had ended. He explained that the wartime bushido code, emphasizing self-sacrifice or suicide rather than self-preservation, had left him fearing that repatriation would label him a deserter and likely lead to execution. Emerging from the jungle, Yokoi also became a vocal critic of Japan's wartime leadership, including Emperor Hirohito, which fits a view of him as a product of, and a prisoner within, his own education, military training, and the censorship and propaganda of the era. When asked by a young nephew how he survived so long on an island just a short distance from a major American airbase, he replied simply, “I was really good at hide and seek.”  That same year, Private Kozuka Kinshichi was killed in a shootout with Philippine police in October, leaving Lieutenant Onoda Hiroo still resisting on Lubang. Lieutenant Onoda Hiroo had been on Lubang since 1944, a few months before the Americans retook the Philippines. The last instructions he had received from his immediate superior ordered him to retreat to the interior of the island and harass the Allied occupying forces until the IJA eventually returned. Despite efforts by the Philippine Army, letters and newspapers left for him, radio broadcasts, and even a plea from Onoda's brother, he did not believe the war was over. On February 20, 1974, Onoda encountered a young Japanese university dropout named Suzuki Norio, who was traveling the world and had told friends that he planned to “look for Lieutenant Onoda, a panda, and the abominable snowman, in that order.” The two became friends, but Onoda stated that he was waiting for orders from one of his commanders. On March 9, 1974, Onoda went to an agreed-upon place and found a note left by Suzuki. Suzuki had brought along Onoda's former commander, Major Taniguchi, who delivered the oral orders for Onoda to surrender. Intelligence Officer 2nd Lt. Onoda Hiroo thus emerged from Lubang's jungle with his .25 caliber rifle, 500 rounds of ammunition, and several hand grenades. He surrendered 29 years after Japan's formal surrender, and 15 years after being declared legally dead in Japan. When he accepted that the war was over, he wept openly. He received a hero's welcome upon his return to Japan in 1974. The Japanese government offered him a large sum of money in back pay, which he refused. When money was pressed on him by well-wishers, he donated it to Yasukuni Shrine. Onoda was reportedly unhappy with the attention and what he saw as the withering of traditional Japanese values. He wrote No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War, a best-selling autobiography published in 1974. Yet the last Japanese to surrender would be Private Nakamura Teruo, an Amis aborigine from Formosa and a member of the Takasago Volunteers. Private Nakamura Teruo spent the tail end of World War II with a dwindling band on Morotai, repeatedly dispersing and reassembling in the jungle as they hunted for food. The group suffered continuous losses to starvation and disease, and survivors described Nakamura as highly self-sufficient. He left to live alone somewhere in the Morotai highlands between 1946 and 1947, rejoined the main group in 1950, and then disappeared again a few years later. Nakamura hinted in print that he fled into the jungle because he feared the other holdouts might murder him. He survives for decades beyond the war, eventually being found by 11 Indonesian soldiers. The emergence of an indigenous Taiwanese soldier among the search party embarrassed Japan as it sought to move past its imperial past. Many Japanese felt Nakamura deserved compensation for decades of loyalty, only to learn that his back pay for three decades of service amounted to 68,000 yen.   Nakamura's experience of peace was complex. When a journalist asked how he felt about “wasting” three decades of his life on Morotai, he replied that the years had not been wasted; he had been serving his country. Yet the country he returned to was Taiwan, and upon disembarking in Taipei in early January 1975, he learned that his wife had a son he had never met and that she had remarried a decade after his official death. Nakamura eventually lived with a daughter, and his story concluded with a bittersweet note when his wife reconsidered and reconciled with him. Several Japanese soldiers joined local Communist and insurgent groups after the war to avoid surrender. Notably, in 1956 and 1958, two soldiers returned to Japan after service in China's People's Liberation Army. Two others who defected with a larger group to the Malayan Communist Party around 1945 laid down their arms in 1989 and repatriated the next year, becoming among the last to return home. That is all for today, but fear not I will provide a few more goodies over the next few weeks. I will be releasing some of my exclusive podcast episodes from my youtube membership and patreon that are about pacific war subjects. Like I promised the first one will be on why Emperor Hirohito surrendered. Until then if you need your fix you know where to find me: eastern front week by week, fall and rise of china, echoes of war or on my Youtube membership of patreon at www.patreon.com/pacificwarchannel.

Zbigniew Brzezinski was a key architect of the Soviet Union's demise, which ended the Cold War. A child of Warsaw—the heart of central Europe's bloodlands—Brzezinski turned his fierce resentment at his homeland's razing by Nazi Germany and the Red Army into a lifelong quest for liberty. Born the year that Joseph Stalin consolidated power, and dying a few months into Donald Trump's first presidency, Brzezinski was shaped by and in turn shaped the global power struggles of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. As counsel to US presidents from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, and chief foreign policy figure of the late 1970s under Jimmy Carter, Brzezinski converted his acclaim as a Sovietologist into Washington power. With Henry Kissinger, his lifelong rival with whom he had a fraught on-off relationship, he personified the new breed of foreign-born scholar who thrived in America's “Cold War University”—and who ousted Washington's gentlemanly class of WASPs who had run US foreign policy for so long.Brzezinski's impact, aided by his unusual friendship with the Polish-born John Paul II, sprang from his knowledge of Moscow's “Achilles heel”—the fact that its nationalities, such as the Ukrainians, and satellite states, including Poland, yearned to shake off Moscow's grip. Neither a hawk nor a dove, Brzezinski was a biting critic of George W. Bush's Iraq War and an early endorser of Obama. Because he went against the DC grain of joining factions, and was on occasion willing to drop Democrats for Republicans, Brzezinski is something of history's orphan. His historic role has been greatly underweighted. In the almost cinematic arc of his life can be found the grand narrative of the American century and great power struggle that followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

IDF Confirms Massive Strikes In Yemen, Houthis Says Israel Soldiers Retreathttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/idf-confirms-massive-strikes-in-yemen-houthis-says-israel-soldiers-retreat/24/08/2025/#Breaking News #Israel #Sanaa #Yemen ©August 24th, 2025 ®August 24, 2025 8:12 pm Israel Defense Forces, IDF has confirmed that the Middle East country soldiers carried out massive air strikes on multiple locations in Yemen capital of Sanaa on Sunday, while Nasruddin Amer, the Chairman of Yemen's Saba News Agency and the Vice President of the Media authority of Ansar Allah Movement that has Houthis group as one of its organisations said the air defenses were able to thwart the majority of the Israeli attacks and confronted several of its combat formations, which he said forced Israeli soldiers to retreat, with the Houthis fighters using locally manufactured air defense systems. #OsazuwaAkonedoMan Conspires With Friend, Kidnap Self In Nigeriahttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/man-conspires-with-friend-kidnap-self-in-nigeria/24/08/2025/#Life #Aniocha #Asaba #Delta #Gwamnishu #IsseleUku #Nwoko #Ugboko ©August 24th, 2025 ®August 24, 2025 7:10 am A young man from Delta State in the oil rich Niger Delta region in Nigeria has been arrested after he conspired with his friend to fake a kidnapping to get money from his family in order to be able to travel abroad, the young man was seen in a video the alleged kidnapper sent to his family, threatened to be killed with a cutlass placed on his neck by the suspected fake kidnapper who is also a native and indigene of Delta State but faked his voice to sound like an Hausa Fulani man from Northern Nigeria, according to one of the popular human rights activists against insecurity in the West Africa country, Harrison Gwamnishu, the two suspects were arrested inside the bush after intelligence gathering indicated that the kidnapping was not genuine, adding that they were not mobilized by Senator Ned Munir Nwoko, the Senator, representing Delta North Senatorial zone who had said in a press statement that the “father of the supposed victim, together with two members of the Idumuje Ugboko community, reached out to me, I also spoke with the victim's brothers, as well as the police in Issele-Uku and Asaba, in addition, I contacted and mobilized the Idumuje Ugboko Vigilante group and held discussions with my police contacts in Asaba, giving clear instructions to track the kidnappers and ensure the safe rescue of the victim, throughout the operation, I received tracking updates and was kept informed of the rescue movements from Asaba to Issele-Uku until the eventual arrests were made”, in an earlier post, Harrison Gwamnishu had said that; “for clarity, I do not know who he claims he mobilized for a rescue mission, I also do not know what he meant by saying he mobilized the Police and Local Vigilantes, I personally fueled three vehicles, paid other logistics for the operation he's claiming he mobilized”. #OsazuwaAkonedoSoludo Sacks 8 Vigilantes Over Corps Member Assaulted To Complete Nakednesshttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/soludo-sacks-8-vigilantes-over-corps-member-assaulted-to-complete-nakedness/20/08/2025/#Breaking News #Agunechemba #Anambra #NYSC #oba #Soludo ©August 20th, 2025 ®August 20, 2025 5:21 pm Anambra state Governor, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo has dismissed eight members of the state special vigilante group known as Agunechemba after the sacked security operatives were seen in a now viral video allegedly assaulting a female National Youth Service Corps, NYSC member, Jennifer Elobor to the level of complete nakedness after they torn her clothes and continued assaulting her even when they observed during the process nothing more was covering any part of her body, this, the dismissed vigilantes did after they allegedly chased some young men on motorcycles they claimed were members of a secret cult to the victim's compound at Oba community in Idemili South local government area of Anambra State on July 23, 2025. #OsazuwaAkonedoIbom Air Staff Injured My Private Part - Attacked Passenger Emmansonhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/ibom-air-staff-injured-my-private-part-attacked-passenger-emmanson/18/08/2025/#Issues #Emmanson #IbomAir #Lagos #Uyo ©August 18th, 2025 ®August 18, 2025 5:14 pm Comfort Emmanson Bob, the 26 years old female passenger that was recently seen on viral video allegedly attacked and provoked to action has said that she sustained injuries in her private part when  a yet to be identified Ibom Air Staff pulled off her shirt and exposed her nakedness at Lagos Airport, this, according to Comfort, the shirt torn while she was been carried out from the aircraft was her inner wear that was pinned together below her private part, saying, the Ibom Air hostess, had allegedly broke her phone, necklace and forcefully removed her wig hair from her head which caused her a severe sharp pain, and as a result of the pain, she hit the air hostess on the cheek, adding, she became more aggressive when she saw the airport staff video recording her nakedness while she was battling to cover her body as a result of her shirt that was torn with her chest sexual organs completely exposed. #OsazuwaAkonedoNigeria Captures US, UK, UN Wanted Terrorists' Leadershttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/nigeria-captures-us-uk-un-wanted-terrorists-leaders/17/08/2025/#Breaking News #AFN #BurkinaFaso #Mali #Niger #Nigeria #Ribadu #UK #UN #US ©August 17th, 2025 ®August 17, 2025 3:56 pm Leaders of the Nigeria affiliates of Al-Qaeda international terrorist group, known as Ansaru and Mahmuda have been captured by men of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, AFN, after two months of intelligence led special operations in Northern Nigeria, the West Africa nation National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu stated this at a press conference with the nation security chiefs, saying, the two arrested suspected terrorists leaders have cells across the country where they have been executing various crimes of armed robbery in addition to raise funds for their terrorist activities. #OsazuwaAkonedoWe Know, Coming Days, Russia May Increase Attacks - Zelenskyyhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/we-know-coming-days-russia-may-increase-attacks-zelenskyy/16/08/2025/#Breaking News #Putin #Russia #Trump #Ukraine #US #Zelenskyy ©August 16th, 2025 ®August 17, 2025 11:02 am Following the meeting of President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Donald Trump of the United States on Friday in Alaska, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he knows the treachery of President Putin, that, in the coming days, Russia soldiers may try to increase pressure and strikes against Ukrainian positions in order to create more favorable political circumstances for talks with global actors, Zelenskyy made this statement some hours ago while stating that Ukrainian soldiers have achieved some successes in Donetsk region, especially in the areas of Dobropillia and Pokrovsk, then, ordered the Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi to speak with combat commanders that Ukraine needs strong positions and truly tangible resistance to the enemy. #OsazuwaAkonedoNo Peace In Sight After Putin, Trump Nearly 3hrs Meeting In Alaskahttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/no-peace-in-sight-after-putin-trump-nearly-3hrs-meeting-in-alaska/16/08/2025/#Issues #Nawrocki #Poland #Putin #Russia #Trump #Ukraine #US #Zelenskyy ©August 16th, 2025 ®August 16, 2025 5:48 pm There is still no peace in sight after nearly three hours of meeting held in Anchorage city in Alaska, a state in the United States, US, between President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Donald Trump of the United States, over the war Russia launched since 2022 in Ukraine which has led to thousands of deaths mostly Ukrainians, which, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine who was not invited for the meeting on Friday in a statement said that it was time to end the war but Russia must take the necessary steps to a genuine peace deal, and while commenting on the statement made by the President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki on Friday via X social media platform to mark Poland Armed Forces Day which coincided with the day Putin and Trump met in Alaska, President Zelenskyy said that; “Ukraine's independence strengthens Poland's independence, And we must always remember that the Miracle on the Vistula was made possible through joint efforts, and it saved Europe”, and the Polish President, Karol Nawrocki had said that: “Today we celebrate the 105th anniversary of the great Polish victory at the Battle of Warsaw in 1920, The Polish Army, together with Ukrainian forces, successfully repelled the Red Army's westward march, safeguarding Europe from a communist revolution, For centuries, Russian imperialism has been a mortal threat to our freedom, Poland's political tradition teaches that Russian expansionism rests on a legacy of domestic despotism, in which the only free man is the ruler himself, But precisely because Russian despotism is the enemy of freedom, Russian imperialism can only be defeated through an alliance of free peoples, My nation halted Russian imperialism at Orsha (1514), Klushino (1610) and Warsaw (1920)”. #OsazuwaAkonedoPeter Obi Faults President Tinubu Trip To Brazil, Frequent Foreign Travelhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/peter-obi-faults-president-tinubu-trip-to-brazil-frequent-foreign-travel/15/08/2025/#Politics #Brazil #Lulu #Obi #Tinubu ©August 15th, 2025 ®August 15, 2025 1:47 pm Co-contestants in the last concluded general elections in Nigeria and former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi has faulted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu trip to Brazil and also condemned the President frequent travel abroad at any slightest invitation and abandoned  pressing issues of insecurity and other deplorable situations that make the Nation bleeds, specifically, Peter Obi said; “the situation we findBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/osazuwaakonedo--4980924/support.

Willie Peters spoke to press on Sauaso Sue's knee injury, facing St. Helens this week and returning home to the Red Army!

IDF Confirms Massive Strikes In Yemen, Houthis Says Israel Soldiers Retreathttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/idf-confirms-massive-strikes-in-yemen-houthis-says-israel-soldiers-retreat/24/08/2025/#Breaking News #Israel #Sanaa #Yemen ©August 24th, 2025 ®August 24, 2025 8:12 pm Israel Defense Forces, IDF has confirmed that the Middle East country soldiers carried out massive air strikes on multiple locations in Yemen capital of Sanaa on Sunday, while Nasruddin Amer, the Chairman of Yemen's Saba News Agency and the Vice President of the Media authority of Ansar Allah Movement that has Houthis group as one of its organisations said the air defenses were able to thwart the majority of the Israeli attacks and confronted several of its combat formations, which he said forced Israeli soldiers to retreat, with the Houthis fighters using locally manufactured air defense systems. #OsazuwaAkonedoMan Conspires With Friend, Kidnap Self In Nigeriahttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/man-conspires-with-friend-kidnap-self-in-nigeria/24/08/2025/#Life #Aniocha #Asaba #Delta #Gwamnishu #IsseleUku #Nwoko #Ugboko ©August 24th, 2025 ®August 24, 2025 7:10 am A young man from Delta State in the oil rich Niger Delta region in Nigeria has been arrested after he conspired with his friend to fake a kidnapping to get money from his family in order to be able to travel abroad, the young man was seen in a video the alleged kidnapper sent to his family, threatened to be killed with a cutlass placed on his neck by the suspected fake kidnapper who is also a native and indigene of Delta State but faked his voice to sound like an Hausa Fulani man from Northern Nigeria, according to one of the popular human rights activists against insecurity in the West Africa country, Harrison Gwamnishu, the two suspects were arrested inside the bush after intelligence gathering indicated that the kidnapping was not genuine, adding that they were not mobilized by Senator Ned Munir Nwoko, the Senator, representing Delta North Senatorial zone who had said in a press statement that the “father of the supposed victim, together with two members of the Idumuje Ugboko community, reached out to me, I also spoke with the victim's brothers, as well as the police in Issele-Uku and Asaba, in addition, I contacted and mobilized the Idumuje Ugboko Vigilante group and held discussions with my police contacts in Asaba, giving clear instructions to track the kidnappers and ensure the safe rescue of the victim, throughout the operation, I received tracking updates and was kept informed of the rescue movements from Asaba to Issele-Uku until the eventual arrests were made”, in an earlier post, Harrison Gwamnishu had said that; “for clarity, I do not know who he claims he mobilized for a rescue mission, I also do not know what he meant by saying he mobilized the Police and Local Vigilantes, I personally fueled three vehicles, paid other logistics for the operation he's claiming he mobilized”. #OsazuwaAkonedoSoludo Sacks 8 Vigilantes Over Corps Member Assaulted To Complete Nakednesshttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/soludo-sacks-8-vigilantes-over-corps-member-assaulted-to-complete-nakedness/20/08/2025/#Breaking News #Agunechemba #Anambra #NYSC #oba #Soludo ©August 20th, 2025 ®August 20, 2025 5:21 pm Anambra state Governor, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo has dismissed eight members of the state special vigilante group known as Agunechemba after the sacked security operatives were seen in a now viral video allegedly assaulting a female National Youth Service Corps, NYSC member, Jennifer Elobor to the level of complete nakedness after they torn her clothes and continued assaulting her even when they observed during the process nothing more was covering any part of her body, this, the dismissed vigilantes did after they allegedly chased some young men on motorcycles they claimed were members of a secret cult to the victim's compound at Oba community in Idemili South local government area of Anambra State on July 23, 2025. #OsazuwaAkonedoIbom Air Staff Injured My Private Part - Attacked Passenger Emmansonhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/ibom-air-staff-injured-my-private-part-attacked-passenger-emmanson/18/08/2025/#Issues #Emmanson #IbomAir #Lagos #Uyo ©August 18th, 2025 ®August 18, 2025 5:14 pm Comfort Emmanson Bob, the 26 years old female passenger that was recently seen on viral video allegedly attacked and provoked to action has said that she sustained injuries in her private part when  a yet to be identified Ibom Air Staff pulled off her shirt and exposed her nakedness at Lagos Airport, this, according to Comfort, the shirt torn while she was been carried out from the aircraft was her inner wear that was pinned together below her private part, saying, the Ibom Air hostess, had allegedly broke her phone, necklace and forcefully removed her wig hair from her head which caused her a severe sharp pain, and as a result of the pain, she hit the air hostess on the cheek, adding, she became more aggressive when she saw the airport staff video recording her nakedness while she was battling to cover her body as a result of her shirt that was torn with her chest sexual organs completely exposed. #OsazuwaAkonedoNigeria Captures US, UK, UN Wanted Terrorists' Leadershttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/nigeria-captures-us-uk-un-wanted-terrorists-leaders/17/08/2025/#Breaking News #AFN #BurkinaFaso #Mali #Niger #Nigeria #Ribadu #UK #UN #US ©August 17th, 2025 ®August 17, 2025 3:56 pm Leaders of the Nigeria affiliates of Al-Qaeda international terrorist group, known as Ansaru and Mahmuda have been captured by men of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, AFN, after two months of intelligence led special operations in Northern Nigeria, the West Africa nation National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu stated this at a press conference with the nation security chiefs, saying, the two arrested suspected terrorists leaders have cells across the country where they have been executing various crimes of armed robbery in addition to raise funds for their terrorist activities. #OsazuwaAkonedoWe Know, Coming Days, Russia May Increase Attacks - Zelenskyyhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/we-know-coming-days-russia-may-increase-attacks-zelenskyy/16/08/2025/#Breaking News #Putin #Russia #Trump #Ukraine #US #Zelenskyy ©August 16th, 2025 ®August 17, 2025 11:02 am Following the meeting of President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Donald Trump of the United States on Friday in Alaska, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he knows the treachery of President Putin, that, in the coming days, Russia soldiers may try to increase pressure and strikes against Ukrainian positions in order to create more favorable political circumstances for talks with global actors, Zelenskyy made this statement some hours ago while stating that Ukrainian soldiers have achieved some successes in Donetsk region, especially in the areas of Dobropillia and Pokrovsk, then, ordered the Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi to speak with combat commanders that Ukraine needs strong positions and truly tangible resistance to the enemy. #OsazuwaAkonedoNo Peace In Sight After Putin, Trump Nearly 3hrs Meeting In Alaskahttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/no-peace-in-sight-after-putin-trump-nearly-3hrs-meeting-in-alaska/16/08/2025/#Issues #Nawrocki #Poland #Putin #Russia #Trump #Ukraine #US #Zelenskyy ©August 16th, 2025 ®August 16, 2025 5:48 pm There is still no peace in sight after nearly three hours of meeting held in Anchorage city in Alaska, a state in the United States, US, between President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Donald Trump of the United States, over the war Russia launched since 2022 in Ukraine which has led to thousands of deaths mostly Ukrainians, which, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine who was not invited for the meeting on Friday in a statement said that it was time to end the war but Russia must take the necessary steps to a genuine peace deal, and while commenting on the statement made by the President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki on Friday via X social media platform to mark Poland Armed Forces Day which coincided with the day Putin and Trump met in Alaska, President Zelenskyy said that; “Ukraine's independence strengthens Poland's independence, And we must always remember that the Miracle on the Vistula was made possible through joint efforts, and it saved Europe”, and the Polish President, Karol Nawrocki had said that: “Today we celebrate the 105th anniversary of the great Polish victory at the Battle of Warsaw in 1920, The Polish Army, together with Ukrainian forces, successfully repelled the Red Army's westward march, safeguarding Europe from a communist revolution, For centuries, Russian imperialism has been a mortal threat to our freedom, Poland's political tradition teaches that Russian expansionism rests on a legacy of domestic despotism, in which the only free man is the ruler himself, But precisely because Russian despotism is the enemy of freedom, Russian imperialism can only be defeated through an alliance of free peoples, My nation halted Russian imperialism at Orsha (1514), Klushino (1610) and Warsaw (1920)”. #OsazuwaAkonedoPeter Obi Faults President Tinubu Trip To Brazil, Frequent Foreign Travelhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/peter-obi-faults-president-tinubu-trip-to-brazil-frequent-foreign-travel/15/08/2025/#Politics #Brazil #Lulu #Obi #Tinubu ©August 15th, 2025 ®August 15, 2025 1:47 pm Co-contestants in the last concluded general elections in Nigeria and former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi has faulted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu trip to Brazil and also condemned the President frequent travel abroad at any slightest invitation and abandoned  pressing issues of insecurity and other deplorable situations that make the Nation bleeds, specifically, Peter Obi said; “the situation we findBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/osazuwaakonedo--4980924/support.

IDF Confirms Massive Strikes In Yemen, Houthis Says Israel Soldiers Retreathttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/idf-confirms-massive-strikes-in-yemen-houthis-says-israel-soldiers-retreat/24/08/2025/#Breaking News #Israel #Sanaa #Yemen ©August 24th, 2025 ®August 24, 2025 8:12 pm Israel Defense Forces, IDF has confirmed that the Middle East country soldiers carried out massive air strikes on multiple locations in Yemen capital of Sanaa on Sunday, while Nasruddin Amer, the Chairman of Yemen's Saba News Agency and the Vice President of the Media authority of Ansar Allah Movement that has Houthis group as one of its organisations said the air defenses were able to thwart the majority of the Israeli attacks and confronted several of its combat formations, which he said forced Israeli soldiers to retreat, with the Houthis fighters using locally manufactured air defense systems. #OsazuwaAkonedoMan Conspires With Friend, Kidnap Self In Nigeriahttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/man-conspires-with-friend-kidnap-self-in-nigeria/24/08/2025/#Life #Aniocha #Asaba #Delta #Gwamnishu #IsseleUku #Nwoko #Ugboko ©August 24th, 2025 ®August 24, 2025 7:10 am A young man from Delta State in the oil rich Niger Delta region in Nigeria has been arrested after he conspired with his friend to fake a kidnapping to get money from his family in order to be able to travel abroad, the young man was seen in a video the alleged kidnapper sent to his family, threatened to be killed with a cutlass placed on his neck by the suspected fake kidnapper who is also a native and indigene of Delta State but faked his voice to sound like an Hausa Fulani man from Northern Nigeria, according to one of the popular human rights activists against insecurity in the West Africa country, Harrison Gwamnishu, the two suspects were arrested inside the bush after intelligence gathering indicated that the kidnapping was not genuine, adding that they were not mobilized by Senator Ned Munir Nwoko, the Senator, representing Delta North Senatorial zone who had said in a press statement that the “father of the supposed victim, together with two members of the Idumuje Ugboko community, reached out to me, I also spoke with the victim's brothers, as well as the police in Issele-Uku and Asaba, in addition, I contacted and mobilized the Idumuje Ugboko Vigilante group and held discussions with my police contacts in Asaba, giving clear instructions to track the kidnappers and ensure the safe rescue of the victim, throughout the operation, I received tracking updates and was kept informed of the rescue movements from Asaba to Issele-Uku until the eventual arrests were made”, in an earlier post, Harrison Gwamnishu had said that; “for clarity, I do not know who he claims he mobilized for a rescue mission, I also do not know what he meant by saying he mobilized the Police and Local Vigilantes, I personally fueled three vehicles, paid other logistics for the operation he's claiming he mobilized”. #OsazuwaAkonedoSoludo Sacks 8 Vigilantes Over Corps Member Assaulted To Complete Nakednesshttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/soludo-sacks-8-vigilantes-over-corps-member-assaulted-to-complete-nakedness/20/08/2025/#Breaking News #Agunechemba #Anambra #NYSC #oba #Soludo ©August 20th, 2025 ®August 20, 2025 5:21 pm Anambra state Governor, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo has dismissed eight members of the state special vigilante group known as Agunechemba after the sacked security operatives were seen in a now viral video allegedly assaulting a female National Youth Service Corps, NYSC member, Jennifer Elobor to the level of complete nakedness after they torn her clothes and continued assaulting her even when they observed during the process nothing more was covering any part of her body, this, the dismissed vigilantes did after they allegedly chased some young men on motorcycles they claimed were members of a secret cult to the victim's compound at Oba community in Idemili South local government area of Anambra State on July 23, 2025. #OsazuwaAkonedoIbom Air Staff Injured My Private Part - Attacked Passenger Emmansonhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/ibom-air-staff-injured-my-private-part-attacked-passenger-emmanson/18/08/2025/#Issues #Emmanson #IbomAir #Lagos #Uyo ©August 18th, 2025 ®August 18, 2025 5:14 pm Comfort Emmanson Bob, the 26 years old female passenger that was recently seen on viral video allegedly attacked and provoked to action has said that she sustained injuries in her private part when  a yet to be identified Ibom Air Staff pulled off her shirt and exposed her nakedness at Lagos Airport, this, according to Comfort, the shirt torn while she was been carried out from the aircraft was her inner wear that was pinned together below her private part, saying, the Ibom Air hostess, had allegedly broke her phone, necklace and forcefully removed her wig hair from her head which caused her a severe sharp pain, and as a result of the pain, she hit the air hostess on the cheek, adding, she became more aggressive when she saw the airport staff video recording her nakedness while she was battling to cover her body as a result of her shirt that was torn with her chest sexual organs completely exposed. #OsazuwaAkonedoNigeria Captures US, UK, UN Wanted Terrorists' Leadershttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/nigeria-captures-us-uk-un-wanted-terrorists-leaders/17/08/2025/#Breaking News #AFN #BurkinaFaso #Mali #Niger #Nigeria #Ribadu #UK #UN #US ©August 17th, 2025 ®August 17, 2025 3:56 pm Leaders of the Nigeria affiliates of Al-Qaeda international terrorist group, known as Ansaru and Mahmuda have been captured by men of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, AFN, after two months of intelligence led special operations in Northern Nigeria, the West Africa nation National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu stated this at a press conference with the nation security chiefs, saying, the two arrested suspected terrorists leaders have cells across the country where they have been executing various crimes of armed robbery in addition to raise funds for their terrorist activities. #OsazuwaAkonedoWe Know, Coming Days, Russia May Increase Attacks - Zelenskyyhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/we-know-coming-days-russia-may-increase-attacks-zelenskyy/16/08/2025/#Breaking News #Putin #Russia #Trump #Ukraine #US #Zelenskyy ©August 16th, 2025 ®August 17, 2025 11:02 am Following the meeting of President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Donald Trump of the United States on Friday in Alaska, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he knows the treachery of President Putin, that, in the coming days, Russia soldiers may try to increase pressure and strikes against Ukrainian positions in order to create more favorable political circumstances for talks with global actors, Zelenskyy made this statement some hours ago while stating that Ukrainian soldiers have achieved some successes in Donetsk region, especially in the areas of Dobropillia and Pokrovsk, then, ordered the Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi to speak with combat commanders that Ukraine needs strong positions and truly tangible resistance to the enemy. #OsazuwaAkonedoNo Peace In Sight After Putin, Trump Nearly 3hrs Meeting In Alaskahttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/no-peace-in-sight-after-putin-trump-nearly-3hrs-meeting-in-alaska/16/08/2025/#Issues #Nawrocki #Poland #Putin #Russia #Trump #Ukraine #US #Zelenskyy ©August 16th, 2025 ®August 16, 2025 5:48 pm There is still no peace in sight after nearly three hours of meeting held in Anchorage city in Alaska, a state in the United States, US, between President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Donald Trump of the United States, over the war Russia launched since 2022 in Ukraine which has led to thousands of deaths mostly Ukrainians, which, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine who was not invited for the meeting on Friday in a statement said that it was time to end the war but Russia must take the necessary steps to a genuine peace deal, and while commenting on the statement made by the President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki on Friday via X social media platform to mark Poland Armed Forces Day which coincided with the day Putin and Trump met in Alaska, President Zelenskyy said that; “Ukraine's independence strengthens Poland's independence, And we must always remember that the Miracle on the Vistula was made possible through joint efforts, and it saved Europe”, and the Polish President, Karol Nawrocki had said that: “Today we celebrate the 105th anniversary of the great Polish victory at the Battle of Warsaw in 1920, The Polish Army, together with Ukrainian forces, successfully repelled the Red Army's westward march, safeguarding Europe from a communist revolution, For centuries, Russian imperialism has been a mortal threat to our freedom, Poland's political tradition teaches that Russian expansionism rests on a legacy of domestic despotism, in which the only free man is the ruler himself, But precisely because Russian despotism is the enemy of freedom, Russian imperialism can only be defeated through an alliance of free peoples, My nation halted Russian imperialism at Orsha (1514), Klushino (1610) and Warsaw (1920)”. #OsazuwaAkonedoPeter Obi Faults President Tinubu Trip To Brazil, Frequent Foreign Travelhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/peter-obi-faults-president-tinubu-trip-to-brazil-frequent-foreign-travel/15/08/2025/#Politics #Brazil #Lulu #Obi #Tinubu ©August 15th, 2025 ®August 15, 2025 1:47 pm Co-contestants in the last concluded general elections in Nigeria and former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi has faulted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu trip to Brazil and also condemned the President frequent travel abroad at any slightest invitation and abandoned  pressing issues of insecurity and other deplorable situations that make the Nation bleeds, specifically, Peter Obi said; “the situation we findBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/osazuwaakonedo--4980924/support.

IDF Confirms Massive Strikes In Yemen, Houthis Says Israel Soldiers Retreathttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/idf-confirms-massive-strikes-in-yemen-houthis-says-israel-soldiers-retreat/24/08/2025/#Breaking News #Israel #Sanaa #Yemen ©August 24th, 2025 ®August 24, 2025 8:12 pm Israel Defense Forces, IDF has confirmed that the Middle East country soldiers carried out massive air strikes on multiple locations in Yemen capital of Sanaa on Sunday, while Nasruddin Amer, the Chairman of Yemen's Saba News Agency and the Vice President of the Media authority of Ansar Allah Movement that has Houthis group as one of its organisations said the air defenses were able to thwart the majority of the Israeli attacks and confronted several of its combat formations, which he said forced Israeli soldiers to retreat, with the Houthis fighters using locally manufactured air defense systems. #OsazuwaAkonedoMan Conspires With Friend, Kidnap Self In Nigeriahttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/man-conspires-with-friend-kidnap-self-in-nigeria/24/08/2025/#Life #Aniocha #Asaba #Delta #Gwamnishu #IsseleUku #Nwoko #Ugboko ©August 24th, 2025 ®August 24, 2025 7:10 am A young man from Delta State in the oil rich Niger Delta region in Nigeria has been arrested after he conspired with his friend to fake a kidnapping to get money from his family in order to be able to travel abroad, the young man was seen in a video the alleged kidnapper sent to his family, threatened to be killed with a cutlass placed on his neck by the suspected fake kidnapper who is also a native and indigene of Delta State but faked his voice to sound like an Hausa Fulani man from Northern Nigeria, according to one of the popular human rights activists against insecurity in the West Africa country, Harrison Gwamnishu, the two suspects were arrested inside the bush after intelligence gathering indicated that the kidnapping was not genuine, adding that they were not mobilized by Senator Ned Munir Nwoko, the Senator, representing Delta North Senatorial zone who had said in a press statement that the “father of the supposed victim, together with two members of the Idumuje Ugboko community, reached out to me, I also spoke with the victim's brothers, as well as the police in Issele-Uku and Asaba, in addition, I contacted and mobilized the Idumuje Ugboko Vigilante group and held discussions with my police contacts in Asaba, giving clear instructions to track the kidnappers and ensure the safe rescue of the victim, throughout the operation, I received tracking updates and was kept informed of the rescue movements from Asaba to Issele-Uku until the eventual arrests were made”, in an earlier post, Harrison Gwamnishu had said that; “for clarity, I do not know who he claims he mobilized for a rescue mission, I also do not know what he meant by saying he mobilized the Police and Local Vigilantes, I personally fueled three vehicles, paid other logistics for the operation he's claiming he mobilized”. #OsazuwaAkonedoSoludo Sacks 8 Vigilantes Over Corps Member Assaulted To Complete Nakednesshttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/soludo-sacks-8-vigilantes-over-corps-member-assaulted-to-complete-nakedness/20/08/2025/#Breaking News #Agunechemba #Anambra #NYSC #oba #Soludo ©August 20th, 2025 ®August 20, 2025 5:21 pm Anambra state Governor, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo has dismissed eight members of the state special vigilante group known as Agunechemba after the sacked security operatives were seen in a now viral video allegedly assaulting a female National Youth Service Corps, NYSC member, Jennifer Elobor to the level of complete nakedness after they torn her clothes and continued assaulting her even when they observed during the process nothing more was covering any part of her body, this, the dismissed vigilantes did after they allegedly chased some young men on motorcycles they claimed were members of a secret cult to the victim's compound at Oba community in Idemili South local government area of Anambra State on July 23, 2025. #OsazuwaAkonedoIbom Air Staff Injured My Private Part - Attacked Passenger Emmansonhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/ibom-air-staff-injured-my-private-part-attacked-passenger-emmanson/18/08/2025/#Issues #Emmanson #IbomAir #Lagos #Uyo ©August 18th, 2025 ®August 18, 2025 5:14 pm Comfort Emmanson Bob, the 26 years old female passenger that was recently seen on viral video allegedly attacked and provoked to action has said that she sustained injuries in her private part when  a yet to be identified Ibom Air Staff pulled off her shirt and exposed her nakedness at Lagos Airport, this, according to Comfort, the shirt torn while she was been carried out from the aircraft was her inner wear that was pinned together below her private part, saying, the Ibom Air hostess, had allegedly broke her phone, necklace and forcefully removed her wig hair from her head which caused her a severe sharp pain, and as a result of the pain, she hit the air hostess on the cheek, adding, she became more aggressive when she saw the airport staff video recording her nakedness while she was battling to cover her body as a result of her shirt that was torn with her chest sexual organs completely exposed. #OsazuwaAkonedoNigeria Captures US, UK, UN Wanted Terrorists' Leadershttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/nigeria-captures-us-uk-un-wanted-terrorists-leaders/17/08/2025/#Breaking News #AFN #BurkinaFaso #Mali #Niger #Nigeria #Ribadu #UK #UN #US ©August 17th, 2025 ®August 17, 2025 3:56 pm Leaders of the Nigeria affiliates of Al-Qaeda international terrorist group, known as Ansaru and Mahmuda have been captured by men of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, AFN, after two months of intelligence led special operations in Northern Nigeria, the West Africa nation National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu stated this at a press conference with the nation security chiefs, saying, the two arrested suspected terrorists leaders have cells across the country where they have been executing various crimes of armed robbery in addition to raise funds for their terrorist activities. #OsazuwaAkonedoWe Know, Coming Days, Russia May Increase Attacks - Zelenskyyhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/we-know-coming-days-russia-may-increase-attacks-zelenskyy/16/08/2025/#Breaking News #Putin #Russia #Trump #Ukraine #US #Zelenskyy ©August 16th, 2025 ®August 17, 2025 11:02 am Following the meeting of President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Donald Trump of the United States on Friday in Alaska, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he knows the treachery of President Putin, that, in the coming days, Russia soldiers may try to increase pressure and strikes against Ukrainian positions in order to create more favorable political circumstances for talks with global actors, Zelenskyy made this statement some hours ago while stating that Ukrainian soldiers have achieved some successes in Donetsk region, especially in the areas of Dobropillia and Pokrovsk, then, ordered the Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi to speak with combat commanders that Ukraine needs strong positions and truly tangible resistance to the enemy. #OsazuwaAkonedoNo Peace In Sight After Putin, Trump Nearly 3hrs Meeting In Alaskahttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/no-peace-in-sight-after-putin-trump-nearly-3hrs-meeting-in-alaska/16/08/2025/#Issues #Nawrocki #Poland #Putin #Russia #Trump #Ukraine #US #Zelenskyy ©August 16th, 2025 ®August 16, 2025 5:48 pm There is still no peace in sight after nearly three hours of meeting held in Anchorage city in Alaska, a state in the United States, US, between President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Donald Trump of the United States, over the war Russia launched since 2022 in Ukraine which has led to thousands of deaths mostly Ukrainians, which, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine who was not invited for the meeting on Friday in a statement said that it was time to end the war but Russia must take the necessary steps to a genuine peace deal, and while commenting on the statement made by the President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki on Friday via X social media platform to mark Poland Armed Forces Day which coincided with the day Putin and Trump met in Alaska, President Zelenskyy said that; “Ukraine's independence strengthens Poland's independence, And we must always remember that the Miracle on the Vistula was made possible through joint efforts, and it saved Europe”, and the Polish President, Karol Nawrocki had said that: “Today we celebrate the 105th anniversary of the great Polish victory at the Battle of Warsaw in 1920, The Polish Army, together with Ukrainian forces, successfully repelled the Red Army's westward march, safeguarding Europe from a communist revolution, For centuries, Russian imperialism has been a mortal threat to our freedom, Poland's political tradition teaches that Russian expansionism rests on a legacy of domestic despotism, in which the only free man is the ruler himself, But precisely because Russian despotism is the enemy of freedom, Russian imperialism can only be defeated through an alliance of free peoples, My nation halted Russian imperialism at Orsha (1514), Klushino (1610) and Warsaw (1920)”. #OsazuwaAkonedoPeter Obi Faults President Tinubu Trip To Brazil, Frequent Foreign Travelhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/peter-obi-faults-president-tinubu-trip-to-brazil-frequent-foreign-travel/15/08/2025/#Politics #Brazil #Lulu #Obi #Tinubu ©August 15th, 2025 ®August 15, 2025 1:47 pm Co-contestants in the last concluded general elections in Nigeria and former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi has faulted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu trip to Brazil and also condemned the President frequent travel abroad at any slightest invitation and abandoned  pressing issues of insecurity and other deplorable situations that make the Nation bleeds, specifically, Peter Obi said; “the situation we findBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/osazuwaakonedo--4980924/support.

IDF Confirms Massive Strikes In Yemen, Houthis Says Israel Soldiers Retreathttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/idf-confirms-massive-strikes-in-yemen-houthis-says-israel-soldiers-retreat/24/08/2025/#Breaking News #Israel #Sanaa #Yemen ©August 24th, 2025 ®August 24, 2025 8:12 pm Israel Defense Forces, IDF has confirmed that the Middle East country soldiers carried out massive air strikes on multiple locations in Yemen capital of Sanaa on Sunday, while Nasruddin Amer, the Chairman of Yemen's Saba News Agency and the Vice President of the Media authority of Ansar Allah Movement that has Houthis group as one of its organisations said the air defenses were able to thwart the majority of the Israeli attacks and confronted several of its combat formations, which he said forced Israeli soldiers to retreat, with the Houthis fighters using locally manufactured air defense systems. #OsazuwaAkonedoMan Conspires With Friend, Kidnap Self In Nigeriahttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/man-conspires-with-friend-kidnap-self-in-nigeria/24/08/2025/#Life #Aniocha #Asaba #Delta #Gwamnishu #IsseleUku #Nwoko #Ugboko ©August 24th, 2025 ®August 24, 2025 7:10 am A young man from Delta State in the oil rich Niger Delta region in Nigeria has been arrested after he conspired with his friend to fake a kidnapping to get money from his family in order to be able to travel abroad, the young man was seen in a video the alleged kidnapper sent to his family, threatened to be killed with a cutlass placed on his neck by the suspected fake kidnapper who is also a native and indigene of Delta State but faked his voice to sound like an Hausa Fulani man from Northern Nigeria, according to one of the popular human rights activists against insecurity in the West Africa country, Harrison Gwamnishu, the two suspects were arrested inside the bush after intelligence gathering indicated that the kidnapping was not genuine, adding that they were not mobilized by Senator Ned Munir Nwoko, the Senator, representing Delta North Senatorial zone who had said in a press statement that the “father of the supposed victim, together with two members of the Idumuje Ugboko community, reached out to me, I also spoke with the victim's brothers, as well as the police in Issele-Uku and Asaba, in addition, I contacted and mobilized the Idumuje Ugboko Vigilante group and held discussions with my police contacts in Asaba, giving clear instructions to track the kidnappers and ensure the safe rescue of the victim, throughout the operation, I received tracking updates and was kept informed of the rescue movements from Asaba to Issele-Uku until the eventual arrests were made”, in an earlier post, Harrison Gwamnishu had said that; “for clarity, I do not know who he claims he mobilized for a rescue mission, I also do not know what he meant by saying he mobilized the Police and Local Vigilantes, I personally fueled three vehicles, paid other logistics for the operation he's claiming he mobilized”. #OsazuwaAkonedoSoludo Sacks 8 Vigilantes Over Corps Member Assaulted To Complete Nakednesshttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/soludo-sacks-8-vigilantes-over-corps-member-assaulted-to-complete-nakedness/20/08/2025/#Breaking News #Agunechemba #Anambra #NYSC #oba #Soludo ©August 20th, 2025 ®August 20, 2025 5:21 pm Anambra state Governor, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo has dismissed eight members of the state special vigilante group known as Agunechemba after the sacked security operatives were seen in a now viral video allegedly assaulting a female National Youth Service Corps, NYSC member, Jennifer Elobor to the level of complete nakedness after they torn her clothes and continued assaulting her even when they observed during the process nothing more was covering any part of her body, this, the dismissed vigilantes did after they allegedly chased some young men on motorcycles they claimed were members of a secret cult to the victim's compound at Oba community in Idemili South local government area of Anambra State on July 23, 2025. #OsazuwaAkonedoIbom Air Staff Injured My Private Part - Attacked Passenger Emmansonhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/ibom-air-staff-injured-my-private-part-attacked-passenger-emmanson/18/08/2025/#Issues #Emmanson #IbomAir #Lagos #Uyo ©August 18th, 2025 ®August 18, 2025 5:14 pm Comfort Emmanson Bob, the 26 years old female passenger that was recently seen on viral video allegedly attacked and provoked to action has said that she sustained injuries in her private part when  a yet to be identified Ibom Air Staff pulled off her shirt and exposed her nakedness at Lagos Airport, this, according to Comfort, the shirt torn while she was been carried out from the aircraft was her inner wear that was pinned together below her private part, saying, the Ibom Air hostess, had allegedly broke her phone, necklace and forcefully removed her wig hair from her head which caused her a severe sharp pain, and as a result of the pain, she hit the air hostess on the cheek, adding, she became more aggressive when she saw the airport staff video recording her nakedness while she was battling to cover her body as a result of her shirt that was torn with her chest sexual organs completely exposed. #OsazuwaAkonedoNigeria Captures US, UK, UN Wanted Terrorists' Leadershttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/nigeria-captures-us-uk-un-wanted-terrorists-leaders/17/08/2025/#Breaking News #AFN #BurkinaFaso #Mali #Niger #Nigeria #Ribadu #UK #UN #US ©August 17th, 2025 ®August 17, 2025 3:56 pm Leaders of the Nigeria affiliates of Al-Qaeda international terrorist group, known as Ansaru and Mahmuda have been captured by men of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, AFN, after two months of intelligence led special operations in Northern Nigeria, the West Africa nation National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu stated this at a press conference with the nation security chiefs, saying, the two arrested suspected terrorists leaders have cells across the country where they have been executing various crimes of armed robbery in addition to raise funds for their terrorist activities. #OsazuwaAkonedoWe Know, Coming Days, Russia May Increase Attacks - Zelenskyyhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/we-know-coming-days-russia-may-increase-attacks-zelenskyy/16/08/2025/#Breaking News #Putin #Russia #Trump #Ukraine #US #Zelenskyy ©August 16th, 2025 ®August 17, 2025 11:02 am Following the meeting of President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Donald Trump of the United States on Friday in Alaska, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he knows the treachery of President Putin, that, in the coming days, Russia soldiers may try to increase pressure and strikes against Ukrainian positions in order to create more favorable political circumstances for talks with global actors, Zelenskyy made this statement some hours ago while stating that Ukrainian soldiers have achieved some successes in Donetsk region, especially in the areas of Dobropillia and Pokrovsk, then, ordered the Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi to speak with combat commanders that Ukraine needs strong positions and truly tangible resistance to the enemy. #OsazuwaAkonedoNo Peace In Sight After Putin, Trump Nearly 3hrs Meeting In Alaskahttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/no-peace-in-sight-after-putin-trump-nearly-3hrs-meeting-in-alaska/16/08/2025/#Issues #Nawrocki #Poland #Putin #Russia #Trump #Ukraine #US #Zelenskyy ©August 16th, 2025 ®August 16, 2025 5:48 pm There is still no peace in sight after nearly three hours of meeting held in Anchorage city in Alaska, a state in the United States, US, between President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Donald Trump of the United States, over the war Russia launched since 2022 in Ukraine which has led to thousands of deaths mostly Ukrainians, which, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine who was not invited for the meeting on Friday in a statement said that it was time to end the war but Russia must take the necessary steps to a genuine peace deal, and while commenting on the statement made by the President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki on Friday via X social media platform to mark Poland Armed Forces Day which coincided with the day Putin and Trump met in Alaska, President Zelenskyy said that; “Ukraine's independence strengthens Poland's independence, And we must always remember that the Miracle on the Vistula was made possible through joint efforts, and it saved Europe”, and the Polish President, Karol Nawrocki had said that: “Today we celebrate the 105th anniversary of the great Polish victory at the Battle of Warsaw in 1920, The Polish Army, together with Ukrainian forces, successfully repelled the Red Army's westward march, safeguarding Europe from a communist revolution, For centuries, Russian imperialism has been a mortal threat to our freedom, Poland's political tradition teaches that Russian expansionism rests on a legacy of domestic despotism, in which the only free man is the ruler himself, But precisely because Russian despotism is the enemy of freedom, Russian imperialism can only be defeated through an alliance of free peoples, My nation halted Russian imperialism at Orsha (1514), Klushino (1610) and Warsaw (1920)”. #OsazuwaAkonedoPeter Obi Faults President Tinubu Trip To Brazil, Frequent Foreign Travelhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/peter-obi-faults-president-tinubu-trip-to-brazil-frequent-foreign-travel/15/08/2025/#Politics #Brazil #Lulu #Obi #Tinubu ©August 15th, 2025 ®August 15, 2025 1:47 pm Co-contestants in the last concluded general elections in Nigeria and former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi has faulted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu trip to Brazil and also condemned the President frequent travel abroad at any slightest invitation and abandoned  pressing issues of insecurity and other deplorable situations that make the Nation bleeds, specifically, Peter Obi said; “the situation we findBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/osazuwaakonedo--4980924/support.

IDF Confirms Massive Strikes In Yemen, Houthis Says Israel Soldiers Retreathttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/idf-confirms-massive-strikes-in-yemen-houthis-says-israel-soldiers-retreat/24/08/2025/#Breaking News #Israel #Sanaa #Yemen ©August 24th, 2025 ®August 24, 2025 8:12 pm Israel Defense Forces, IDF has confirmed that the Middle East country soldiers carried out massive air strikes on multiple locations in Yemen capital of Sanaa on Sunday, while Nasruddin Amer, the Chairman of Yemen's Saba News Agency and the Vice President of the Media authority of Ansar Allah Movement that has Houthis group as one of its organisations said the air defenses were able to thwart the majority of the Israeli attacks and confronted several of its combat formations, which he said forced Israeli soldiers to retreat, with the Houthis fighters using locally manufactured air defense systems. #OsazuwaAkonedoMan Conspires With Friend, Kidnap Self In Nigeriahttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/man-conspires-with-friend-kidnap-self-in-nigeria/24/08/2025/#Life #Aniocha #Asaba #Delta #Gwamnishu #IsseleUku #Nwoko #Ugboko ©August 24th, 2025 ®August 24, 2025 7:10 am A young man from Delta State in the oil rich Niger Delta region in Nigeria has been arrested after he conspired with his friend to fake a kidnapping to get money from his family in order to be able to travel abroad, the young man was seen in a video the alleged kidnapper sent to his family, threatened to be killed with a cutlass placed on his neck by the suspected fake kidnapper who is also a native and indigene of Delta State but faked his voice to sound like an Hausa Fulani man from Northern Nigeria, according to one of the popular human rights activists against insecurity in the West Africa country, Harrison Gwamnishu, the two suspects were arrested inside the bush after intelligence gathering indicated that the kidnapping was not genuine, adding that they were not mobilized by Senator Ned Munir Nwoko, the Senator, representing Delta North Senatorial zone who had said in a press statement that the “father of the supposed victim, together with two members of the Idumuje Ugboko community, reached out to me, I also spoke with the victim's brothers, as well as the police in Issele-Uku and Asaba, in addition, I contacted and mobilized the Idumuje Ugboko Vigilante group and held discussions with my police contacts in Asaba, giving clear instructions to track the kidnappers and ensure the safe rescue of the victim, throughout the operation, I received tracking updates and was kept informed of the rescue movements from Asaba to Issele-Uku until the eventual arrests were made”, in an earlier post, Harrison Gwamnishu had said that; “for clarity, I do not know who he claims he mobilized for a rescue mission, I also do not know what he meant by saying he mobilized the Police and Local Vigilantes, I personally fueled three vehicles, paid other logistics for the operation he's claiming he mobilized”. #OsazuwaAkonedoSoludo Sacks 8 Vigilantes Over Corps Member Assaulted To Complete Nakednesshttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/soludo-sacks-8-vigilantes-over-corps-member-assaulted-to-complete-nakedness/20/08/2025/#Breaking News #Agunechemba #Anambra #NYSC #oba #Soludo ©August 20th, 2025 ®August 20, 2025 5:21 pm Anambra state Governor, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo has dismissed eight members of the state special vigilante group known as Agunechemba after the sacked security operatives were seen in a now viral video allegedly assaulting a female National Youth Service Corps, NYSC member, Jennifer Elobor to the level of complete nakedness after they torn her clothes and continued assaulting her even when they observed during the process nothing more was covering any part of her body, this, the dismissed vigilantes did after they allegedly chased some young men on motorcycles they claimed were members of a secret cult to the victim's compound at Oba community in Idemili South local government area of Anambra State on July 23, 2025. #OsazuwaAkonedoIbom Air Staff Injured My Private Part - Attacked Passenger Emmansonhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/ibom-air-staff-injured-my-private-part-attacked-passenger-emmanson/18/08/2025/#Issues #Emmanson #IbomAir #Lagos #Uyo ©August 18th, 2025 ®August 18, 2025 5:14 pm Comfort Emmanson Bob, the 26 years old female passenger that was recently seen on viral video allegedly attacked and provoked to action has said that she sustained injuries in her private part when  a yet to be identified Ibom Air Staff pulled off her shirt and exposed her nakedness at Lagos Airport, this, according to Comfort, the shirt torn while she was been carried out from the aircraft was her inner wear that was pinned together below her private part, saying, the Ibom Air hostess, had allegedly broke her phone, necklace and forcefully removed her wig hair from her head which caused her a severe sharp pain, and as a result of the pain, she hit the air hostess on the cheek, adding, she became more aggressive when she saw the airport staff video recording her nakedness while she was battling to cover her body as a result of her shirt that was torn with her chest sexual organs completely exposed. #OsazuwaAkonedoNigeria Captures US, UK, UN Wanted Terrorists' Leadershttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/nigeria-captures-us-uk-un-wanted-terrorists-leaders/17/08/2025/#Breaking News #AFN #BurkinaFaso #Mali #Niger #Nigeria #Ribadu #UK #UN #US ©August 17th, 2025 ®August 17, 2025 3:56 pm Leaders of the Nigeria affiliates of Al-Qaeda international terrorist group, known as Ansaru and Mahmuda have been captured by men of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, AFN, after two months of intelligence led special operations in Northern Nigeria, the West Africa nation National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu stated this at a press conference with the nation security chiefs, saying, the two arrested suspected terrorists leaders have cells across the country where they have been executing various crimes of armed robbery in addition to raise funds for their terrorist activities. #OsazuwaAkonedoWe Know, Coming Days, Russia May Increase Attacks - Zelenskyyhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/we-know-coming-days-russia-may-increase-attacks-zelenskyy/16/08/2025/#Breaking News #Putin #Russia #Trump #Ukraine #US #Zelenskyy ©August 16th, 2025 ®August 17, 2025 11:02 am Following the meeting of President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Donald Trump of the United States on Friday in Alaska, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he knows the treachery of President Putin, that, in the coming days, Russia soldiers may try to increase pressure and strikes against Ukrainian positions in order to create more favorable political circumstances for talks with global actors, Zelenskyy made this statement some hours ago while stating that Ukrainian soldiers have achieved some successes in Donetsk region, especially in the areas of Dobropillia and Pokrovsk, then, ordered the Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi to speak with combat commanders that Ukraine needs strong positions and truly tangible resistance to the enemy. #OsazuwaAkonedoNo Peace In Sight After Putin, Trump Nearly 3hrs Meeting In Alaskahttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/no-peace-in-sight-after-putin-trump-nearly-3hrs-meeting-in-alaska/16/08/2025/#Issues #Nawrocki #Poland #Putin #Russia #Trump #Ukraine #US #Zelenskyy ©August 16th, 2025 ®August 16, 2025 5:48 pm There is still no peace in sight after nearly three hours of meeting held in Anchorage city in Alaska, a state in the United States, US, between President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Donald Trump of the United States, over the war Russia launched since 2022 in Ukraine which has led to thousands of deaths mostly Ukrainians, which, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine who was not invited for the meeting on Friday in a statement said that it was time to end the war but Russia must take the necessary steps to a genuine peace deal, and while commenting on the statement made by the President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki on Friday via X social media platform to mark Poland Armed Forces Day which coincided with the day Putin and Trump met in Alaska, President Zelenskyy said that; “Ukraine's independence strengthens Poland's independence, And we must always remember that the Miracle on the Vistula was made possible through joint efforts, and it saved Europe”, and the Polish President, Karol Nawrocki had said that: “Today we celebrate the 105th anniversary of the great Polish victory at the Battle of Warsaw in 1920, The Polish Army, together with Ukrainian forces, successfully repelled the Red Army's westward march, safeguarding Europe from a communist revolution, For centuries, Russian imperialism has been a mortal threat to our freedom, Poland's political tradition teaches that Russian expansionism rests on a legacy of domestic despotism, in which the only free man is the ruler himself, But precisely because Russian despotism is the enemy of freedom, Russian imperialism can only be defeated through an alliance of free peoples, My nation halted Russian imperialism at Orsha (1514), Klushino (1610) and Warsaw (1920)”. #OsazuwaAkonedoPeter Obi Faults President Tinubu Trip To Brazil, Frequent Foreign Travelhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/peter-obi-faults-president-tinubu-trip-to-brazil-frequent-foreign-travel/15/08/2025/#Politics #Brazil #Lulu #Obi #Tinubu ©August 15th, 2025 ®August 15, 2025 1:47 pm Co-contestants in the last concluded general elections in Nigeria and former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi has faulted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu trip to Brazil and also condemned the President frequent travel abroad at any slightest invitation and abandoned  pressing issues of insecurity and other deplorable situations that make the Nation bleeds, specifically, Peter Obi said; “the situation we findBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/osazuwaakonedo--4980924/support.

The German Army continued to retreat westward over the winter of 1943-44, abandoning most of Ukraine. Red Army pressure was relentless, not giving the Germans any opportunity to establish a strong defensive line.

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the surprise invasion of the Soviet Union that opened the Eastern Front in World War II. With lightning speed and devastating success, the German army tore through Soviet territory and rolled over the Red Army, scoring some of the most dramatic victories in military history--until the blitzkrieg bogged down during the approach on Moscow. At the spearhead of the attack was General Heinz Guderian, one of the most celebrated and controversial commanders of the war, who commanded a tank group in the center of the German front that stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Guderian's Panzers reconstructs Barbarossa from the perspective of Generaloberst Guderian and his 2nd Panzer Group. With the German war machine at the height of its martial prowess in June 1941, Guderian's group of 250,000 men and 900 tanks rapidly broke through the Soviet frontier defenses and thrust some 600 kilometers into Soviet Russia in a matter of weeks--in doing so playing an integral part in the successful encirclement (cauldron) battles of Belostok-Minsk (June/July 1941) and Smolensk (July/August 1941); each of these battles resulting in the loss of several Soviet armies and hundreds of thousands of prisoners. Despite having sustained alarming losses of personal and equipment in these opening battles, Guderian pushed his men, and himself, to even greater achievements, culminating in the triumphant cauldron Battle of Kiev in the Ukraine (September 1941) that obliterated Soviet Southwestern Front and resulted in the capture of over 600,000 Red Army POWs. It was, perhaps, Germany's greatest victory in WWII, and Guderian had made it happen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Zbigniew Brzezinski was a key architect of the Soviet Union's demise, which ended the Cold War. A child of Warsaw—the heart of central Europe's bloodlands—Brzezinski turned his fierce resentment at his homeland's razing by Nazi Germany and the Red Army into a lifelong quest for liberty. Born the year that Joseph Stalin consolidated power, and dying a few months into Donald Trump's first presidency, Brzezinski was shaped by and in turn shaped the global power struggles of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. As counsel to US presidents from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, and chief foreign policy figure of the late 1970s under Jimmy Carter, Brzezinski converted his acclaim as a Sovietologist into Washington power. With Henry Kissinger, his lifelong rival with whom he had a fraught on-off relationship, he personified the new breed of foreign-born scholar who thrived in America's “Cold War University”—and who ousted Washington's gentlemanly class of WASPs who had run US foreign policy for so long.Brzezinski's impact, aided by his unusual friendship with the Polish-born John Paul II, sprang from his knowledge of Moscow's “Achilles heel”—the fact that its nationalities, such as the Ukrainians, and satellite states, including Poland, yearned to shake off Moscow's grip. Neither a hawk nor a dove, Brzezinski was a biting critic of George W. Bush's Iraq War and an early endorser of Obama. Because he went against the DC grain of joining factions, and was on occasion willing to drop Democrats for Republicans, Brzezinski is something of history's orphan. His historic role has been greatly underweighted. In the almost cinematic arc of his life can be found the grand narrative of the American century and great power struggle that followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

We recap the Kickers' 0-0 road draw against Portland Hearts of Pine, highlighting a gritty defensive effort and the Red Army's strong away-day presence. With just 10 games left, we discuss how Coach Darren can build on this point to spark a late-season push.

Zbigniew Brzezinski was a key architect of the Soviet Union's demise, which ended the Cold War. A child of Warsaw—the heart of central Europe's bloodlands—Brzezinski turned his fierce resentment at his homeland's razing by Nazi Germany and the Red Army into a lifelong quest for liberty. Born the year that Joseph Stalin consolidated power, and dying a few months into Donald Trump's first presidency, Brzezinski was shaped by and in turn shaped the global power struggles of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. As counsel to US presidents from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, and chief foreign policy figure of the late 1970s under Jimmy Carter, Brzezinski converted his acclaim as a Sovietologist into Washington power. With Henry Kissinger, his lifelong rival with whom he had a fraught on-off relationship, he personified the new breed of foreign-born scholar who thrived in America's “Cold War University”—and who ousted Washington's gentlemanly class of WASPs who had run US foreign policy for so long.Brzezinski's impact, aided by his unusual friendship with the Polish-born John Paul II, sprang from his knowledge of Moscow's “Achilles heel”—the fact that its nationalities, such as the Ukrainians, and satellite states, including Poland, yearned to shake off Moscow's grip. Neither a hawk nor a dove, Brzezinski was a biting critic of George W. Bush's Iraq War and an early endorser of Obama. Because he went against the DC grain of joining factions, and was on occasion willing to drop Democrats for Republicans, Brzezinski is something of history's orphan. His historic role has been greatly underweighted. In the almost cinematic arc of his life can be found the grand narrative of the American century and great power struggle that followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Zbigniew Brzezinski was a key architect of the Soviet Union's demise, which ended the Cold War. A child of Warsaw—the heart of central Europe's bloodlands—Brzezinski turned his fierce resentment at his homeland's razing by Nazi Germany and the Red Army into a lifelong quest for liberty. Born the year that Joseph Stalin consolidated power, and dying a few months into Donald Trump's first presidency, Brzezinski was shaped by and in turn shaped the global power struggles of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. As counsel to US presidents from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, and chief foreign policy figure of the late 1970s under Jimmy Carter, Brzezinski converted his acclaim as a Sovietologist into Washington power. With Henry Kissinger, his lifelong rival with whom he had a fraught on-off relationship, he personified the new breed of foreign-born scholar who thrived in America's “Cold War University”—and who ousted Washington's gentlemanly class of WASPs who had run US foreign policy for so long.Brzezinski's impact, aided by his unusual friendship with the Polish-born John Paul II, sprang from his knowledge of Moscow's “Achilles heel”—the fact that its nationalities, such as the Ukrainians, and satellite states, including Poland, yearned to shake off Moscow's grip. Neither a hawk nor a dove, Brzezinski was a biting critic of George W. Bush's Iraq War and an early endorser of Obama. Because he went against the DC grain of joining factions, and was on occasion willing to drop Democrats for Republicans, Brzezinski is something of history's orphan. His historic role has been greatly underweighted. In the almost cinematic arc of his life can be found the grand narrative of the American century and great power struggle that followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/world-affairs

Zbigniew Brzezinski was a key architect of the Soviet Union's demise, which ended the Cold War. A child of Warsaw—the heart of central Europe's bloodlands—Brzezinski turned his fierce resentment at his homeland's razing by Nazi Germany and the Red Army into a lifelong quest for liberty. Born the year that Joseph Stalin consolidated power, and dying a few months into Donald Trump's first presidency, Brzezinski was shaped by and in turn shaped the global power struggles of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. As counsel to US presidents from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, and chief foreign policy figure of the late 1970s under Jimmy Carter, Brzezinski converted his acclaim as a Sovietologist into Washington power. With Henry Kissinger, his lifelong rival with whom he had a fraught on-off relationship, he personified the new breed of foreign-born scholar who thrived in America's “Cold War University”—and who ousted Washington's gentlemanly class of WASPs who had run US foreign policy for so long.Brzezinski's impact, aided by his unusual friendship with the Polish-born John Paul II, sprang from his knowledge of Moscow's “Achilles heel”—the fact that its nationalities, such as the Ukrainians, and satellite states, including Poland, yearned to shake off Moscow's grip. Neither a hawk nor a dove, Brzezinski was a biting critic of George W. Bush's Iraq War and an early endorser of Obama. Because he went against the DC grain of joining factions, and was on occasion willing to drop Democrats for Republicans, Brzezinski is something of history's orphan. His historic role has been greatly underweighted. In the almost cinematic arc of his life can be found the grand narrative of the American century and great power struggle that followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

Zbigniew Brzezinski was a key architect of the Soviet Union's demise, which ended the Cold War. A child of Warsaw—the heart of central Europe's bloodlands—Brzezinski turned his fierce resentment at his homeland's razing by Nazi Germany and the Red Army into a lifelong quest for liberty. Born the year that Joseph Stalin consolidated power, and dying a few months into Donald Trump's first presidency, Brzezinski was shaped by and in turn shaped the global power struggles of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. As counsel to US presidents from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, and chief foreign policy figure of the late 1970s under Jimmy Carter, Brzezinski converted his acclaim as a Sovietologist into Washington power. With Henry Kissinger, his lifelong rival with whom he had a fraught on-off relationship, he personified the new breed of foreign-born scholar who thrived in America's “Cold War University”—and who ousted Washington's gentlemanly class of WASPs who had run US foreign policy for so long.Brzezinski's impact, aided by his unusual friendship with the Polish-born John Paul II, sprang from his knowledge of Moscow's “Achilles heel”—the fact that its nationalities, such as the Ukrainians, and satellite states, including Poland, yearned to shake off Moscow's grip. Neither a hawk nor a dove, Brzezinski was a biting critic of George W. Bush's Iraq War and an early endorser of Obama. Because he went against the DC grain of joining factions, and was on occasion willing to drop Democrats for Republicans, Brzezinski is something of history's orphan. His historic role has been greatly underweighted. In the almost cinematic arc of his life can be found the grand narrative of the American century and great power struggle that followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/national-security

Zbigniew Brzezinski was a key architect of the Soviet Union's demise, which ended the Cold War. A child of Warsaw—the heart of central Europe's bloodlands—Brzezinski turned his fierce resentment at his homeland's razing by Nazi Germany and the Red Army into a lifelong quest for liberty. Born the year that Joseph Stalin consolidated power, and dying a few months into Donald Trump's first presidency, Brzezinski was shaped by and in turn shaped the global power struggles of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. As counsel to US presidents from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, and chief foreign policy figure of the late 1970s under Jimmy Carter, Brzezinski converted his acclaim as a Sovietologist into Washington power. With Henry Kissinger, his lifelong rival with whom he had a fraught on-off relationship, he personified the new breed of foreign-born scholar who thrived in America's “Cold War University”—and who ousted Washington's gentlemanly class of WASPs who had run US foreign policy for so long.Brzezinski's impact, aided by his unusual friendship with the Polish-born John Paul II, sprang from his knowledge of Moscow's “Achilles heel”—the fact that its nationalities, such as the Ukrainians, and satellite states, including Poland, yearned to shake off Moscow's grip. Neither a hawk nor a dove, Brzezinski was a biting critic of George W. Bush's Iraq War and an early endorser of Obama. Because he went against the DC grain of joining factions, and was on occasion willing to drop Democrats for Republicans, Brzezinski is something of history's orphan. His historic role has been greatly underweighted. In the almost cinematic arc of his life can be found the grand narrative of the American century and great power struggle that followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zbigniew Brzezinski was a key architect of the Soviet Union's demise, which ended the Cold War. A child of Warsaw—the heart of central Europe's bloodlands—Brzezinski turned his fierce resentment at his homeland's razing by Nazi Germany and the Red Army into a lifelong quest for liberty. Born the year that Joseph Stalin consolidated power, and dying a few months into Donald Trump's first presidency, Brzezinski was shaped by and in turn shaped the global power struggles of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. As counsel to US presidents from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, and chief foreign policy figure of the late 1970s under Jimmy Carter, Brzezinski converted his acclaim as a Sovietologist into Washington power. With Henry Kissinger, his lifelong rival with whom he had a fraught on-off relationship, he personified the new breed of foreign-born scholar who thrived in America's “Cold War University”—and who ousted Washington's gentlemanly class of WASPs who had run US foreign policy for so long.Brzezinski's impact, aided by his unusual friendship with the Polish-born John Paul II, sprang from his knowledge of Moscow's “Achilles heel”—the fact that its nationalities, such as the Ukrainians, and satellite states, including Poland, yearned to shake off Moscow's grip. Neither a hawk nor a dove, Brzezinski was a biting critic of George W. Bush's Iraq War and an early endorser of Obama. Because he went against the DC grain of joining factions, and was on occasion willing to drop Democrats for Republicans, Brzezinski is something of history's orphan. His historic role has been greatly underweighted. In the almost cinematic arc of his life can be found the grand narrative of the American century and great power struggle that followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zbigniew Brzezinski was a key architect of the Soviet Union's demise, which ended the Cold War. A child of Warsaw—the heart of central Europe's bloodlands—Brzezinski turned his fierce resentment at his homeland's razing by Nazi Germany and the Red Army into a lifelong quest for liberty. Born the year that Joseph Stalin consolidated power, and dying a few months into Donald Trump's first presidency, Brzezinski was shaped by and in turn shaped the global power struggles of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. As counsel to US presidents from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, and chief foreign policy figure of the late 1970s under Jimmy Carter, Brzezinski converted his acclaim as a Sovietologist into Washington power. With Henry Kissinger, his lifelong rival with whom he had a fraught on-off relationship, he personified the new breed of foreign-born scholar who thrived in America's “Cold War University”—and who ousted Washington's gentlemanly class of WASPs who had run US foreign policy for so long.Brzezinski's impact, aided by his unusual friendship with the Polish-born John Paul II, sprang from his knowledge of Moscow's “Achilles heel”—the fact that its nationalities, such as the Ukrainians, and satellite states, including Poland, yearned to shake off Moscow's grip. Neither a hawk nor a dove, Brzezinski was a biting critic of George W. Bush's Iraq War and an early endorser of Obama. Because he went against the DC grain of joining factions, and was on occasion willing to drop Democrats for Republicans, Brzezinski is something of history's orphan. His historic role has been greatly underweighted. In the almost cinematic arc of his life can be found the grand narrative of the American century and great power struggle that followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zbigniew Brzezinski was a key architect of the Soviet Union's demise, which ended the Cold War. A child of Warsaw—the heart of central Europe's bloodlands—Brzezinski turned his fierce resentment at his homeland's razing by Nazi Germany and the Red Army into a lifelong quest for liberty. Born the year that Joseph Stalin consolidated power, and dying a few months into Donald Trump's first presidency, Brzezinski was shaped by and in turn shaped the global power struggles of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. As counsel to US presidents from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama, and chief foreign policy figure of the late 1970s under Jimmy Carter, Brzezinski converted his acclaim as a Sovietologist into Washington power. With Henry Kissinger, his lifelong rival with whom he had a fraught on-off relationship, he personified the new breed of foreign-born scholar who thrived in America's “Cold War University”—and who ousted Washington's gentlemanly class of WASPs who had run US foreign policy for so long.Brzezinski's impact, aided by his unusual friendship with the Polish-born John Paul II, sprang from his knowledge of Moscow's “Achilles heel”—the fact that its nationalities, such as the Ukrainians, and satellite states, including Poland, yearned to shake off Moscow's grip. Neither a hawk nor a dove, Brzezinski was a biting critic of George W. Bush's Iraq War and an early endorser of Obama. Because he went against the DC grain of joining factions, and was on occasion willing to drop Democrats for Republicans, Brzezinski is something of history's orphan. His historic role has been greatly underweighted. In the almost cinematic arc of his life can be found the grand narrative of the American century and great power struggle that followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the surprise invasion of the Soviet Union that opened the Eastern Front in World War II. With lightning speed and devastating success, the German army tore through Soviet territory and rolled over the Red Army, scoring some of the most dramatic victories in military history--until the blitzkrieg bogged down during the approach on Moscow. At the spearhead of the attack was General Heinz Guderian, one of the most celebrated and controversial commanders of the war, who commanded a tank group in the center of the German front that stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Guderian's Panzers reconstructs Barbarossa from the perspective of Generaloberst Guderian and his 2nd Panzer Group. With the German war machine at the height of its martial prowess in June 1941, Guderian's group of 250,000 men and 900 tanks rapidly broke through the Soviet frontier defenses and thrust some 600 kilometers into Soviet Russia in a matter of weeks--in doing so playing an integral part in the successful encirclement (cauldron) battles of Belostok-Minsk (June/July 1941) and Smolensk (July/August 1941); each of these battles resulting in the loss of several Soviet armies and hundreds of thousands of prisoners. Despite having sustained alarming losses of personal and equipment in these opening battles, Guderian pushed his men, and himself, to even greater achievements, culminating in the triumphant cauldron Battle of Kiev in the Ukraine (September 1941) that obliterated Soviet Southwestern Front and resulted in the capture of over 600,000 Red Army POWs. It was, perhaps, Germany's greatest victory in WWII, and Guderian had made it happen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the surprise invasion of the Soviet Union that opened the Eastern Front in World War II. With lightning speed and devastating success, the German army tore through Soviet territory and rolled over the Red Army, scoring some of the most dramatic victories in military history--until the blitzkrieg bogged down during the approach on Moscow. At the spearhead of the attack was General Heinz Guderian, one of the most celebrated and controversial commanders of the war, who commanded a tank group in the center of the German front that stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Guderian's Panzers reconstructs Barbarossa from the perspective of Generaloberst Guderian and his 2nd Panzer Group. With the German war machine at the height of its martial prowess in June 1941, Guderian's group of 250,000 men and 900 tanks rapidly broke through the Soviet frontier defenses and thrust some 600 kilometers into Soviet Russia in a matter of weeks--in doing so playing an integral part in the successful encirclement (cauldron) battles of Belostok-Minsk (June/July 1941) and Smolensk (July/August 1941); each of these battles resulting in the loss of several Soviet armies and hundreds of thousands of prisoners. Despite having sustained alarming losses of personal and equipment in these opening battles, Guderian pushed his men, and himself, to even greater achievements, culminating in the triumphant cauldron Battle of Kiev in the Ukraine (September 1941) that obliterated Soviet Southwestern Front and resulted in the capture of over 600,000 Red Army POWs. It was, perhaps, Germany's greatest victory in WWII, and Guderian had made it happen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the surprise invasion of the Soviet Union that opened the Eastern Front in World War II. With lightning speed and devastating success, the German army tore through Soviet territory and rolled over the Red Army, scoring some of the most dramatic victories in military history--until the blitzkrieg bogged down during the approach on Moscow. At the spearhead of the attack was General Heinz Guderian, one of the most celebrated and controversial commanders of the war, who commanded a tank group in the center of the German front that stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Guderian's Panzers reconstructs Barbarossa from the perspective of Generaloberst Guderian and his 2nd Panzer Group. With the German war machine at the height of its martial prowess in June 1941, Guderian's group of 250,000 men and 900 tanks rapidly broke through the Soviet frontier defenses and thrust some 600 kilometers into Soviet Russia in a matter of weeks--in doing so playing an integral part in the successful encirclement (cauldron) battles of Belostok-Minsk (June/July 1941) and Smolensk (July/August 1941); each of these battles resulting in the loss of several Soviet armies and hundreds of thousands of prisoners. Despite having sustained alarming losses of personal and equipment in these opening battles, Guderian pushed his men, and himself, to even greater achievements, culminating in the triumphant cauldron Battle of Kiev in the Ukraine (September 1941) that obliterated Soviet Southwestern Front and resulted in the capture of over 600,000 Red Army POWs. It was, perhaps, Germany's greatest victory in WWII, and Guderian had made it happen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/german-studies

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the surprise invasion of the Soviet Union that opened the Eastern Front in World War II. With lightning speed and devastating success, the German army tore through Soviet territory and rolled over the Red Army, scoring some of the most dramatic victories in military history--until the blitzkrieg bogged down during the approach on Moscow. At the spearhead of the attack was General Heinz Guderian, one of the most celebrated and controversial commanders of the war, who commanded a tank group in the center of the German front that stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Guderian's Panzers reconstructs Barbarossa from the perspective of Generaloberst Guderian and his 2nd Panzer Group. With the German war machine at the height of its martial prowess in June 1941, Guderian's group of 250,000 men and 900 tanks rapidly broke through the Soviet frontier defenses and thrust some 600 kilometers into Soviet Russia in a matter of weeks--in doing so playing an integral part in the successful encirclement (cauldron) battles of Belostok-Minsk (June/July 1941) and Smolensk (July/August 1941); each of these battles resulting in the loss of several Soviet armies and hundreds of thousands of prisoners. Despite having sustained alarming losses of personal and equipment in these opening battles, Guderian pushed his men, and himself, to even greater achievements, culminating in the triumphant cauldron Battle of Kiev in the Ukraine (September 1941) that obliterated Soviet Southwestern Front and resulted in the capture of over 600,000 Red Army POWs. It was, perhaps, Germany's greatest victory in WWII, and Guderian had made it happen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/russian-studies

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the surprise invasion of the Soviet Union that opened the Eastern Front in World War II. With lightning speed and devastating success, the German army tore through Soviet territory and rolled over the Red Army, scoring some of the most dramatic victories in military history--until the blitzkrieg bogged down during the approach on Moscow. At the spearhead of the attack was General Heinz Guderian, one of the most celebrated and controversial commanders of the war, who commanded a tank group in the center of the German front that stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Guderian's Panzers reconstructs Barbarossa from the perspective of Generaloberst Guderian and his 2nd Panzer Group. With the German war machine at the height of its martial prowess in June 1941, Guderian's group of 250,000 men and 900 tanks rapidly broke through the Soviet frontier defenses and thrust some 600 kilometers into Soviet Russia in a matter of weeks--in doing so playing an integral part in the successful encirclement (cauldron) battles of Belostok-Minsk (June/July 1941) and Smolensk (July/August 1941); each of these battles resulting in the loss of several Soviet armies and hundreds of thousands of prisoners. Despite having sustained alarming losses of personal and equipment in these opening battles, Guderian pushed his men, and himself, to even greater achievements, culminating in the triumphant cauldron Battle of Kiev in the Ukraine (September 1941) that obliterated Soviet Southwestern Front and resulted in the capture of over 600,000 Red Army POWs. It was, perhaps, Germany's greatest victory in WWII, and Guderian had made it happen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/eastern-european-studies

Richard W. Harrison's The Soviet Army's High Commands in War and Peace, 1941-1992 (Casemate Academic, 2022) is the first full treatment of the unique phenomenon of High Commands in the Soviet Army during World War II and the Cold War. The war on the Eastern Front during 1941–45 was an immense struggle, running from the Barents Sea to the Caucasus Mountains. The vast distances involved forced the Soviet political-military leadership to resort to new organizational expedients in order to control operations along the extended front. These were the high commands of the directions, which were responsible for two or more fronts (army groups) and, along maritime axes, one or more fleets. In all, five high commands were created along the northwestern, western, southwestern, and North Caucasus strategic directions during 1941–42. However, the highly unfavorable strategic situation during the first year of the war, as well as interference in day-to-day operations by Stalin, severely limited the high commands' effectiveness. As a consequence, the high commands were abolished in mid-1942 and replaced by the more flexible system of supreme command representatives at the front. A High Command of Soviet Forces in the Far East was established in 1945 and oversaw the Red Army's highly effective campaign against Japanese forces in Manchuria. The Far Eastern High Command was briefly resurrected in 1947 as a response to the tense situation along the Korean peninsula and the ongoing civil war in China, but was abolished in 1953, soon after Stalin's death. Growing tensions with China brought about the recreation of the Far Eastern High Command in 1979, followed a few years later by the appearance of new high commands in Europe and South Asia. However, these new high commands did not long survive the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and were abolished a year later. The book relies almost exclusively on Soviet and post-communist archival and other sources and is the first unclassified treatment of this subject in any country, East or West.Richard W. Harrison earned his Undergraduate and Master's degrees from Georgetown University, where he specialized in Russian Area Studies. He later earned his doctorate in War Studies from King's College London. He also was an exchange student in the former Soviet Union and spent several years living and working in post-communist Russia. He has taught Russian History and Military History at the US Military Academy at West Point. Dr. Harrison lives with his family near Carlisle, Pennsylvania.Stephen Satkiewicz is an independent scholar with research areas spanning Civilizational Sciences, Social Complexity, Big History, Historical Sociology, Military History, War Studies, International Relations, Geopolitics, and Russian and East European history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

One way to examine the thinking and ruling style of Chinese President Xi Jinping: his father's role in the rise and evolution of Chinese-brand communism. Hoover research fellow Joseph Torigian, author of the recently released The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping, discusses how the elder Xi's involvement in the Red Army, economic political reform, working alongside Zhou Enlai and dealing with ethnic minorities and organized religion – plus years of political exile after running afoul of Maoist sensibilities – all play into how his son runs the modern-day Chinese Communist Party.

Richard W. Harrison's The Soviet Army's High Commands in War and Peace, 1941-1992 (Casemate Academic, 2022) is the first full treatment of the unique phenomenon of High Commands in the Soviet Army during World War II and the Cold War. The war on the Eastern Front during 1941–45 was an immense struggle, running from the Barents Sea to the Caucasus Mountains. The vast distances involved forced the Soviet political-military leadership to resort to new organizational expedients in order to control operations along the extended front. These were the high commands of the directions, which were responsible for two or more fronts (army groups) and, along maritime axes, one or more fleets. In all, five high commands were created along the northwestern, western, southwestern, and North Caucasus strategic directions during 1941–42. However, the highly unfavorable strategic situation during the first year of the war, as well as interference in day-to-day operations by Stalin, severely limited the high commands' effectiveness. As a consequence, the high commands were abolished in mid-1942 and replaced by the more flexible system of supreme command representatives at the front. A High Command of Soviet Forces in the Far East was established in 1945 and oversaw the Red Army's highly effective campaign against Japanese forces in Manchuria. The Far Eastern High Command was briefly resurrected in 1947 as a response to the tense situation along the Korean peninsula and the ongoing civil war in China, but was abolished in 1953, soon after Stalin's death. Growing tensions with China brought about the recreation of the Far Eastern High Command in 1979, followed a few years later by the appearance of new high commands in Europe and South Asia. However, these new high commands did not long survive the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and were abolished a year later. The book relies almost exclusively on Soviet and post-communist archival and other sources and is the first unclassified treatment of this subject in any country, East or West.Richard W. Harrison earned his Undergraduate and Master's degrees from Georgetown University, where he specialized in Russian Area Studies. He later earned his doctorate in War Studies from King's College London. He also was an exchange student in the former Soviet Union and spent several years living and working in post-communist Russia. He has taught Russian History and Military History at the US Military Academy at West Point. Dr. Harrison lives with his family near Carlisle, Pennsylvania.Stephen Satkiewicz is an independent scholar with research areas spanning Civilizational Sciences, Social Complexity, Big History, Historical Sociology, Military History, War Studies, International Relations, Geopolitics, and Russian and East European history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Richard W. Harrison's The Soviet Army's High Commands in War and Peace, 1941-1992 (Casemate Academic, 2022) is the first full treatment of the unique phenomenon of High Commands in the Soviet Army during World War II and the Cold War. The war on the Eastern Front during 1941–45 was an immense struggle, running from the Barents Sea to the Caucasus Mountains. The vast distances involved forced the Soviet political-military leadership to resort to new organizational expedients in order to control operations along the extended front. These were the high commands of the directions, which were responsible for two or more fronts (army groups) and, along maritime axes, one or more fleets. In all, five high commands were created along the northwestern, western, southwestern, and North Caucasus strategic directions during 1941–42. However, the highly unfavorable strategic situation during the first year of the war, as well as interference in day-to-day operations by Stalin, severely limited the high commands' effectiveness. As a consequence, the high commands were abolished in mid-1942 and replaced by the more flexible system of supreme command representatives at the front. A High Command of Soviet Forces in the Far East was established in 1945 and oversaw the Red Army's highly effective campaign against Japanese forces in Manchuria. The Far Eastern High Command was briefly resurrected in 1947 as a response to the tense situation along the Korean peninsula and the ongoing civil war in China, but was abolished in 1953, soon after Stalin's death. Growing tensions with China brought about the recreation of the Far Eastern High Command in 1979, followed a few years later by the appearance of new high commands in Europe and South Asia. However, these new high commands did not long survive the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and were abolished a year later. The book relies almost exclusively on Soviet and post-communist archival and other sources and is the first unclassified treatment of this subject in any country, East or West.Richard W. Harrison earned his Undergraduate and Master's degrees from Georgetown University, where he specialized in Russian Area Studies. He later earned his doctorate in War Studies from King's College London. He also was an exchange student in the former Soviet Union and spent several years living and working in post-communist Russia. He has taught Russian History and Military History at the US Military Academy at West Point. Dr. Harrison lives with his family near Carlisle, Pennsylvania.Stephen Satkiewicz is an independent scholar with research areas spanning Civilizational Sciences, Social Complexity, Big History, Historical Sociology, Military History, War Studies, International Relations, Geopolitics, and Russian and East European history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/russian-studies

Richard W. Harrison's The Soviet Army's High Commands in War and Peace, 1941-1992 (Casemate Academic, 2022) is the first full treatment of the unique phenomenon of High Commands in the Soviet Army during World War II and the Cold War. The war on the Eastern Front during 1941–45 was an immense struggle, running from the Barents Sea to the Caucasus Mountains. The vast distances involved forced the Soviet political-military leadership to resort to new organizational expedients in order to control operations along the extended front. These were the high commands of the directions, which were responsible for two or more fronts (army groups) and, along maritime axes, one or more fleets. In all, five high commands were created along the northwestern, western, southwestern, and North Caucasus strategic directions during 1941–42. However, the highly unfavorable strategic situation during the first year of the war, as well as interference in day-to-day operations by Stalin, severely limited the high commands' effectiveness. As a consequence, the high commands were abolished in mid-1942 and replaced by the more flexible system of supreme command representatives at the front. A High Command of Soviet Forces in the Far East was established in 1945 and oversaw the Red Army's highly effective campaign against Japanese forces in Manchuria. The Far Eastern High Command was briefly resurrected in 1947 as a response to the tense situation along the Korean peninsula and the ongoing civil war in China, but was abolished in 1953, soon after Stalin's death. Growing tensions with China brought about the recreation of the Far Eastern High Command in 1979, followed a few years later by the appearance of new high commands in Europe and South Asia. However, these new high commands did not long survive the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and were abolished a year later. The book relies almost exclusively on Soviet and post-communist archival and other sources and is the first unclassified treatment of this subject in any country, East or West.Richard W. Harrison earned his Undergraduate and Master's degrees from Georgetown University, where he specialized in Russian Area Studies. He later earned his doctorate in War Studies from King's College London. He also was an exchange student in the former Soviet Union and spent several years living and working in post-communist Russia. He has taught Russian History and Military History at the US Military Academy at West Point. Dr. Harrison lives with his family near Carlisle, Pennsylvania.Stephen Satkiewicz is an independent scholar with research areas spanning Civilizational Sciences, Social Complexity, Big History, Historical Sociology, Military History, War Studies, International Relations, Geopolitics, and Russian and East European history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/eastern-european-studies

The National Security Hour with Al Johnson – Today, we have many oligarch groups that are doing similar with the CCP. From selling NVIDIA chips to the Red Army, to the very land of our nation, to SCO axis members like Iran, Russia, and the CCP.  Land that is connected to OR WITHIN DRONE DISTANCE of critical infrastructure of almost every state in the US has been sold...

World War II endures in the popular imagination as a heroic struggle between good and evil, with villainous Hitler driving its events. But Hitler was not in power when the conflict erupted in Asia—and he was certainly dead before it ended. His armies did not fight in multiple theaters, his empire did not span the Eurasian continent, and he did not inherit any of the spoils of war. That central role belonged to Joseph Stalin. The Second World War was not Hitler's war; it was Stalin's war. Drawing on ambitious new research in Soviet, European, and US archives, Stalin's War: A New History of World War II (Basic Books, 2021) by award winning historian, Sean McMeekin, Professor of History at Bard College, revolutionizes our understanding of this global conflict by moving its epicenter to the east. Hitler's genocidal ambition may have helped unleash Armageddon, but as McMeekin shows, the war which emerged in Europe in September 1939 was the one Stalin wanted, not Hitler. So, too, did the Pacific war of 1941–1945 fulfill Stalin's goal of unleashing a devastating war of attrition between Japan and the “Anglo-Saxon” capitalist powers he viewed as his ultimate adversary. McMeekin also reveals the extent to which Soviet Communism was rescued by the US and Britain's self-defeating strategic moves, beginning with Lend-Lease aid, as American and British supply boards agreed almost blindly to every Soviet demand. Stalin's war machine, McMeekin shows, was substantially reliant on American materiél from warplanes, tanks, trucks, jeeps, motorcycles, fuel, ammunition, and explosives, to industrial inputs and technology transfer, to the foodstuffs which fed the Red Army. This unreciprocated American generosity gave Stalin's armies the mobile striking power to conquer most of Eurasia, from Berlin to Beijing, for Communism. A groundbreaking reassessment of the Second World War, Stalin's War is revisionist history at its very best: breaking down old paradigms and narratives and bringing to the fore new understandings of the historical process. All from a historian who has the best claim to be the closest, modern-day American equivalent of A. J. P. Taylor. Charles Coutinho Ph. D. of the Royal Historical Society, received his doctorate from New York University. His area of specialization is 19th and 20th-century European, American diplomatic and political history. He has written for Chatham House's International Affairs, the Institute of Historical Research's Reviews in History and the University of Rouen's online periodical Cercles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

World War II endures in the popular imagination as a heroic struggle between good and evil, with villainous Hitler driving its events. But Hitler was not in power when the conflict erupted in Asia—and he was certainly dead before it ended. His armies did not fight in multiple theaters, his empire did not span the Eurasian continent, and he did not inherit any of the spoils of war. That central role belonged to Joseph Stalin. The Second World War was not Hitler's war; it was Stalin's war. Drawing on ambitious new research in Soviet, European, and US archives, Stalin's War: A New History of World War II (Basic Books, 2021) by award winning historian, Sean McMeekin, Professor of History at Bard College, revolutionizes our understanding of this global conflict by moving its epicenter to the east. Hitler's genocidal ambition may have helped unleash Armageddon, but as McMeekin shows, the war which emerged in Europe in September 1939 was the one Stalin wanted, not Hitler. So, too, did the Pacific war of 1941–1945 fulfill Stalin's goal of unleashing a devastating war of attrition between Japan and the “Anglo-Saxon” capitalist powers he viewed as his ultimate adversary. McMeekin also reveals the extent to which Soviet Communism was rescued by the US and Britain's self-defeating strategic moves, beginning with Lend-Lease aid, as American and British supply boards agreed almost blindly to every Soviet demand. Stalin's war machine, McMeekin shows, was substantially reliant on American materiél from warplanes, tanks, trucks, jeeps, motorcycles, fuel, ammunition, and explosives, to industrial inputs and technology transfer, to the foodstuffs which fed the Red Army. This unreciprocated American generosity gave Stalin's armies the mobile striking power to conquer most of Eurasia, from Berlin to Beijing, for Communism. A groundbreaking reassessment of the Second World War, Stalin's War is revisionist history at its very best: breaking down old paradigms and narratives and bringing to the fore new understandings of the historical process. All from a historian who has the best claim to be the closest, modern-day American equivalent of A. J. P. Taylor. Charles Coutinho Ph. D. of the Royal Historical Society, received his doctorate from New York University. His area of specialization is 19th and 20th-century European, American diplomatic and political history. He has written for Chatham House's International Affairs, the Institute of Historical Research's Reviews in History and the University of Rouen's online periodical Cercles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

World War II endures in the popular imagination as a heroic struggle between good and evil, with villainous Hitler driving its events. But Hitler was not in power when the conflict erupted in Asia—and he was certainly dead before it ended. His armies did not fight in multiple theaters, his empire did not span the Eurasian continent, and he did not inherit any of the spoils of war. That central role belonged to Joseph Stalin. The Second World War was not Hitler's war; it was Stalin's war. Drawing on ambitious new research in Soviet, European, and US archives, Stalin's War: A New History of World War II (Basic Books, 2021) by award winning historian, Sean McMeekin, Professor of History at Bard College, revolutionizes our understanding of this global conflict by moving its epicenter to the east. Hitler's genocidal ambition may have helped unleash Armageddon, but as McMeekin shows, the war which emerged in Europe in September 1939 was the one Stalin wanted, not Hitler. So, too, did the Pacific war of 1941–1945 fulfill Stalin's goal of unleashing a devastating war of attrition between Japan and the “Anglo-Saxon” capitalist powers he viewed as his ultimate adversary. McMeekin also reveals the extent to which Soviet Communism was rescued by the US and Britain's self-defeating strategic moves, beginning with Lend-Lease aid, as American and British supply boards agreed almost blindly to every Soviet demand. Stalin's war machine, McMeekin shows, was substantially reliant on American materiél from warplanes, tanks, trucks, jeeps, motorcycles, fuel, ammunition, and explosives, to industrial inputs and technology transfer, to the foodstuffs which fed the Red Army. This unreciprocated American generosity gave Stalin's armies the mobile striking power to conquer most of Eurasia, from Berlin to Beijing, for Communism. A groundbreaking reassessment of the Second World War, Stalin's War is revisionist history at its very best: breaking down old paradigms and narratives and bringing to the fore new understandings of the historical process. All from a historian who has the best claim to be the closest, modern-day American equivalent of A. J. P. Taylor. Charles Coutinho Ph. D. of the Royal Historical Society, received his doctorate from New York University. His area of specialization is 19th and 20th-century European, American diplomatic and political history. He has written for Chatham House's International Affairs, the Institute of Historical Research's Reviews in History and the University of Rouen's online periodical Cercles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/german-studies

The National Security Hour with Al Johnson – Today, we have many oligarch groups that are doing similar with the CCP. From selling NVIDIA chips to the Red Army, to the very land of our nation, to SCO axis members like Iran, Russia, and the CCP.  Land that is connected to OR WITHIN DRONE DISTANCE of critical infrastructure of almost every state in the US has been sold...

World War II endures in the popular imagination as a heroic struggle between good and evil, with villainous Hitler driving its events. But Hitler was not in power when the conflict erupted in Asia—and he was certainly dead before it ended. His armies did not fight in multiple theaters, his empire did not span the Eurasian continent, and he did not inherit any of the spoils of war. That central role belonged to Joseph Stalin. The Second World War was not Hitler's war; it was Stalin's war. Drawing on ambitious new research in Soviet, European, and US archives, Stalin's War: A New History of World War II (Basic Books, 2021) by award winning historian, Sean McMeekin, Professor of History at Bard College, revolutionizes our understanding of this global conflict by moving its epicenter to the east. Hitler's genocidal ambition may have helped unleash Armageddon, but as McMeekin shows, the war which emerged in Europe in September 1939 was the one Stalin wanted, not Hitler. So, too, did the Pacific war of 1941–1945 fulfill Stalin's goal of unleashing a devastating war of attrition between Japan and the “Anglo-Saxon” capitalist powers he viewed as his ultimate adversary. McMeekin also reveals the extent to which Soviet Communism was rescued by the US and Britain's self-defeating strategic moves, beginning with Lend-Lease aid, as American and British supply boards agreed almost blindly to every Soviet demand. Stalin's war machine, McMeekin shows, was substantially reliant on American materiél from warplanes, tanks, trucks, jeeps, motorcycles, fuel, ammunition, and explosives, to industrial inputs and technology transfer, to the foodstuffs which fed the Red Army. This unreciprocated American generosity gave Stalin's armies the mobile striking power to conquer most of Eurasia, from Berlin to Beijing, for Communism. A groundbreaking reassessment of the Second World War, Stalin's War is revisionist history at its very best: breaking down old paradigms and narratives and bringing to the fore new understandings of the historical process. All from a historian who has the best claim to be the closest, modern-day American equivalent of A. J. P. Taylor. Charles Coutinho Ph. D. of the Royal Historical Society, received his doctorate from New York University. His area of specialization is 19th and 20th-century European, American diplomatic and political history. He has written for Chatham House's International Affairs, the Institute of Historical Research's Reviews in History and the University of Rouen's online periodical Cercles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/russian-studies

World War II endures in the popular imagination as a heroic struggle between good and evil, with villainous Hitler driving its events. But Hitler was not in power when the conflict erupted in Asia—and he was certainly dead before it ended. His armies did not fight in multiple theaters, his empire did not span the Eurasian continent, and he did not inherit any of the spoils of war. That central role belonged to Joseph Stalin. The Second World War was not Hitler's war; it was Stalin's war. Drawing on ambitious new research in Soviet, European, and US archives, Stalin's War: A New History of World War II (Basic Books, 2021) by award winning historian, Sean McMeekin, Professor of History at Bard College, revolutionizes our understanding of this global conflict by moving its epicenter to the east. Hitler's genocidal ambition may have helped unleash Armageddon, but as McMeekin shows, the war which emerged in Europe in September 1939 was the one Stalin wanted, not Hitler. So, too, did the Pacific war of 1941–1945 fulfill Stalin's goal of unleashing a devastating war of attrition between Japan and the “Anglo-Saxon” capitalist powers he viewed as his ultimate adversary. McMeekin also reveals the extent to which Soviet Communism was rescued by the US and Britain's self-defeating strategic moves, beginning with Lend-Lease aid, as American and British supply boards agreed almost blindly to every Soviet demand. Stalin's war machine, McMeekin shows, was substantially reliant on American materiél from warplanes, tanks, trucks, jeeps, motorcycles, fuel, ammunition, and explosives, to industrial inputs and technology transfer, to the foodstuffs which fed the Red Army. This unreciprocated American generosity gave Stalin's armies the mobile striking power to conquer most of Eurasia, from Berlin to Beijing, for Communism. A groundbreaking reassessment of the Second World War, Stalin's War is revisionist history at its very best: breaking down old paradigms and narratives and bringing to the fore new understandings of the historical process. All from a historian who has the best claim to be the closest, modern-day American equivalent of A. J. P. Taylor. Charles Coutinho Ph. D. of the Royal Historical Society, received his doctorate from New York University. His area of specialization is 19th and 20th-century European, American diplomatic and political history. He has written for Chatham House's International Affairs, the Institute of Historical Research's Reviews in History and the University of Rouen's online periodical Cercles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/eastern-european-studies

World War II endures in the popular imagination as a heroic struggle between good and evil, with villainous Hitler driving its events. But Hitler was not in power when the conflict erupted in Asia—and he was certainly dead before it ended. His armies did not fight in multiple theaters, his empire did not span the Eurasian continent, and he did not inherit any of the spoils of war. That central role belonged to Joseph Stalin. The Second World War was not Hitler's war; it was Stalin's war. Drawing on ambitious new research in Soviet, European, and US archives, Stalin's War: A New History of World War II (Basic Books, 2021) by award winning historian, Sean McMeekin, Professor of History at Bard College, revolutionizes our understanding of this global conflict by moving its epicenter to the east. Hitler's genocidal ambition may have helped unleash Armageddon, but as McMeekin shows, the war which emerged in Europe in September 1939 was the one Stalin wanted, not Hitler. So, too, did the Pacific war of 1941–1945 fulfill Stalin's goal of unleashing a devastating war of attrition between Japan and the “Anglo-Saxon” capitalist powers he viewed as his ultimate adversary. McMeekin also reveals the extent to which Soviet Communism was rescued by the US and Britain's self-defeating strategic moves, beginning with Lend-Lease aid, as American and British supply boards agreed almost blindly to every Soviet demand. Stalin's war machine, McMeekin shows, was substantially reliant on American materiél from warplanes, tanks, trucks, jeeps, motorcycles, fuel, ammunition, and explosives, to industrial inputs and technology transfer, to the foodstuffs which fed the Red Army. This unreciprocated American generosity gave Stalin's armies the mobile striking power to conquer most of Eurasia, from Berlin to Beijing, for Communism. A groundbreaking reassessment of the Second World War, Stalin's War is revisionist history at its very best: breaking down old paradigms and narratives and bringing to the fore new understandings of the historical process. All from a historian who has the best claim to be the closest, modern-day American equivalent of A. J. P. Taylor. Charles Coutinho Ph. D. of the Royal Historical Society, received his doctorate from New York University. His area of specialization is 19th and 20th-century European, American diplomatic and political history. He has written for Chatham House's International Affairs, the Institute of Historical Research's Reviews in History and the University of Rouen's online periodical Cercles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here are the 3 Big things you need to know this hour—   Number One— In Russia – Bad news as the Red Army unleashed it's biggest attacks on Ukraine yet—bombarding the nation with missiles, rockets and drones—the war there is dragging on—   Number Two— Good News—While you were looking the other way—President Trump delivered another peace deal—this one ending a 30 year war between Rwanda and the Congo—that's right a peace deal with benefits for America too—   Number Three— We must take a deep dive into the rise of a Ugandan Communist to be on track to become Mayor of New York City—

Dr. Antonio J. Muñoz's Hitler's War Against the Partisans During The Stalingrad Offensive: Spring 1942 to the Spring of 1943 (Frontline Books, 2025) explores the brutal and widespread partisan warfare on the Eastern Front during 1942-1943, detailing the Axis forces' anti-partisan efforts and the impact on the Soviet war effort. From the start of the war on the Eastern Front, Hitler's Ostheer, his Eastern Army, and its associated forces would wage a vernichtungskrieg, or war of annihilation, in the East. Never before had such a wide-reaching campaign been fought. The preparations for the war against the partisans began before the launch of Operation Barbarossa, during which the Axis forces immediately put their plans into effect. The effects upon the newly conquered territories were soon being felt. The end of the initial phase of the German invasion of the Soviet Union was met by a Red Army winter offensive which began on 5 December 1941. As the author shows, this had repercussions behind the German lines, where the nascent Soviet partisan movement was attempting to grow and gain a foothold. By the spring of 1942 those early Soviet partisan units were ready to expand. The Germans, aware of the military situation both on the frontlines and in the rear of their armies, also prepared to counter the growing partisan threat. The partisans undoubtedly made a significant contribution to Stalin's war effort by countering Axis plans to exploit occupied Soviet territories economically, as well as providing valuable assistance to the Red Army by conducting systematic attacks against Hitler's rear communication network. As the German military planned to continue the Russian campaign into the summer of 1942, new security forces were gathered together and sent to the Soviet Union, and a new headquarters specifically organized to fight the guerrilla menace, was established. In this follow-up study, author Antonio Muñoz picks up the partisan and anti-partisan struggle in the East, where Hitler's War Against the Partisans During Operation Barbarossa left off. The struggle behind the frontlines in Russia proved to be as grand and epic as the fight along the front lines. Dr. Muñoz describes this war of attrition along the entire breath of the USSR. In 1942 the Ostheer, acting on Adolf Hitler's orders, launched their 1942 summer offensive which was aimed at capturing the Caucasus Mountains and the Russian oil fields that lay there. Dr. Muñoz not only covers the war behind the lines in every region of the occupied USSR, but also describes the German anti-partisan effort behind the lines of Army Group South, as its forces drove into the Caucasus Mountains, the Volga River bend and Stalingrad. No other work has included the guerrilla and anti-partisan struggle specific to the Stalingrad campaign. Muñoz manages to accomplish this, but also to convey the story of the rest of the partisan and anti-guerrilla war in the rest of the USSR from the spring of 1942 to the spring of 1943.Dr. Antonio J. Muñoz lives in New York City. He is a professor of history at Farmingdale State College in Long Island, New York. He is married, has two daughters and two grandchildren. His last work, published in 2018, covered the history of the German Secret Field Police in Greece, 1941-1944.Stephen Satkiewicz is an independent scholar with research areas spanning Civilizational Sciences, Social Complexity, Big History, Historical Sociology, Military History, War Studies, International Relations, Geopolitics, and Russian and East European history.Please check out my earlier interview with Dr. Antonio J. Muñoz on the previous volume in this series Hitler's War Against the Partisans During Operation Barbarossa June 1941 to the Spring of 1942 (Frontline Books, 2025) for the New Books Network.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Dr. Antonio J. Muñoz's Hitler's War Against the Partisans During The Stalingrad Offensive: Spring 1942 to the Spring of 1943 (Frontline Books, 2025) explores the brutal and widespread partisan warfare on the Eastern Front during 1942-1943, detailing the Axis forces' anti-partisan efforts and the impact on the Soviet war effort. From the start of the war on the Eastern Front, Hitler's Ostheer, his Eastern Army, and its associated forces would wage a vernichtungskrieg, or war of annihilation, in the East. Never before had such a wide-reaching campaign been fought. The preparations for the war against the partisans began before the launch of Operation Barbarossa, during which the Axis forces immediately put their plans into effect. The effects upon the newly conquered territories were soon being felt. The end of the initial phase of the German invasion of the Soviet Union was met by a Red Army winter offensive which began on 5 December 1941. As the author shows, this had repercussions behind the German lines, where the nascent Soviet partisan movement was attempting to grow and gain a foothold. By the spring of 1942 those early Soviet partisan units were ready to expand. The Germans, aware of the military situation both on the frontlines and in the rear of their armies, also prepared to counter the growing partisan threat. The partisans undoubtedly made a significant contribution to Stalin's war effort by countering Axis plans to exploit occupied Soviet territories economically, as well as providing valuable assistance to the Red Army by conducting systematic attacks against Hitler's rear communication network. As the German military planned to continue the Russian campaign into the summer of 1942, new security forces were gathered together and sent to the Soviet Union, and a new headquarters specifically organized to fight the guerrilla menace, was established. In this follow-up study, author Antonio Muñoz picks up the partisan and anti-partisan struggle in the East, where Hitler's War Against the Partisans During Operation Barbarossa left off. The struggle behind the frontlines in Russia proved to be as grand and epic as the fight along the front lines. Dr. Muñoz describes this war of attrition along the entire breath of the USSR. In 1942 the Ostheer, acting on Adolf Hitler's orders, launched their 1942 summer offensive which was aimed at capturing the Caucasus Mountains and the Russian oil fields that lay there. Dr. Muñoz not only covers the war behind the lines in every region of the occupied USSR, but also describes the German anti-partisan effort behind the lines of Army Group South, as its forces drove into the Caucasus Mountains, the Volga River bend and Stalingrad. No other work has included the guerrilla and anti-partisan struggle specific to the Stalingrad campaign. Muñoz manages to accomplish this, but also to convey the story of the rest of the partisan and anti-guerrilla war in the rest of the USSR from the spring of 1942 to the spring of 1943.Dr. Antonio J. Muñoz lives in New York City. He is a professor of history at Farmingdale State College in Long Island, New York. He is married, has two daughters and two grandchildren. His last work, published in 2018, covered the history of the German Secret Field Police in Greece, 1941-1944.Stephen Satkiewicz is an independent scholar with research areas spanning Civilizational Sciences, Social Complexity, Big History, Historical Sociology, Military History, War Studies, International Relations, Geopolitics, and Russian and East European history.Please check out my earlier interview with Dr. Antonio J. Muñoz on the previous volume in this series Hitler's War Against the Partisans During Operation Barbarossa June 1941 to the Spring of 1942 (Frontline Books, 2025) for the New Books Network.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

Dr. Antonio J. Muñoz's Hitler's War Against the Partisans During The Stalingrad Offensive: Spring 1942 to the Spring of 1943 (Frontline Books, 2025) explores the brutal and widespread partisan warfare on the Eastern Front during 1942-1943, detailing the Axis forces' anti-partisan efforts and the impact on the Soviet war effort. From the start of the war on the Eastern Front, Hitler's Ostheer, his Eastern Army, and its associated forces would wage a vernichtungskrieg, or war of annihilation, in the East. Never before had such a wide-reaching campaign been fought. The preparations for the war against the partisans began before the launch of Operation Barbarossa, during which the Axis forces immediately put their plans into effect. The effects upon the newly conquered territories were soon being felt. The end of the initial phase of the German invasion of the Soviet Union was met by a Red Army winter offensive which began on 5 December 1941. As the author shows, this had repercussions behind the German lines, where the nascent Soviet partisan movement was attempting to grow and gain a foothold. By the spring of 1942 those early Soviet partisan units were ready to expand. The Germans, aware of the military situation both on the frontlines and in the rear of their armies, also prepared to counter the growing partisan threat. The partisans undoubtedly made a significant contribution to Stalin's war effort by countering Axis plans to exploit occupied Soviet territories economically, as well as providing valuable assistance to the Red Army by conducting systematic attacks against Hitler's rear communication network. As the German military planned to continue the Russian campaign into the summer of 1942, new security forces were gathered together and sent to the Soviet Union, and a new headquarters specifically organized to fight the guerrilla menace, was established. In this follow-up study, author Antonio Muñoz picks up the partisan and anti-partisan struggle in the East, where Hitler's War Against the Partisans During Operation Barbarossa left off. The struggle behind the frontlines in Russia proved to be as grand and epic as the fight along the front lines. Dr. Muñoz describes this war of attrition along the entire breath of the USSR. In 1942 the Ostheer, acting on Adolf Hitler's orders, launched their 1942 summer offensive which was aimed at capturing the Caucasus Mountains and the Russian oil fields that lay there. Dr. Muñoz not only covers the war behind the lines in every region of the occupied USSR, but also describes the German anti-partisan effort behind the lines of Army Group South, as its forces drove into the Caucasus Mountains, the Volga River bend and Stalingrad. No other work has included the guerrilla and anti-partisan struggle specific to the Stalingrad campaign. Muñoz manages to accomplish this, but also to convey the story of the rest of the partisan and anti-guerrilla war in the rest of the USSR from the spring of 1942 to the spring of 1943.Dr. Antonio J. Muñoz lives in New York City. He is a professor of history at Farmingdale State College in Long Island, New York. He is married, has two daughters and two grandchildren. His last work, published in 2018, covered the history of the German Secret Field Police in Greece, 1941-1944.Stephen Satkiewicz is an independent scholar with research areas spanning Civilizational Sciences, Social Complexity, Big History, Historical Sociology, Military History, War Studies, International Relations, Geopolitics, and Russian and East European history.Please check out my earlier interview with Dr. Antonio J. Muñoz on the previous volume in this series Hitler's War Against the Partisans During Operation Barbarossa June 1941 to the Spring of 1942 (Frontline Books, 2025) for the New Books Network.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/german-studies

Dr. Antonio J. Muñoz's Hitler's War Against the Partisans During The Stalingrad Offensive: Spring 1942 to the Spring of 1943 (Frontline Books, 2025) explores the brutal and widespread partisan warfare on the Eastern Front during 1942-1943, detailing the Axis forces' anti-partisan efforts and the impact on the Soviet war effort. From the start of the war on the Eastern Front, Hitler's Ostheer, his Eastern Army, and its associated forces would wage a vernichtungskrieg, or war of annihilation, in the East. Never before had such a wide-reaching campaign been fought. The preparations for the war against the partisans began before the launch of Operation Barbarossa, during which the Axis forces immediately put their plans into effect. The effects upon the newly conquered territories were soon being felt. The end of the initial phase of the German invasion of the Soviet Union was met by a Red Army winter offensive which began on 5 December 1941. As the author shows, this had repercussions behind the German lines, where the nascent Soviet partisan movement was attempting to grow and gain a foothold. By the spring of 1942 those early Soviet partisan units were ready to expand. The Germans, aware of the military situation both on the frontlines and in the rear of their armies, also prepared to counter the growing partisan threat. The partisans undoubtedly made a significant contribution to Stalin's war effort by countering Axis plans to exploit occupied Soviet territories economically, as well as providing valuable assistance to the Red Army by conducting systematic attacks against Hitler's rear communication network. As the German military planned to continue the Russian campaign into the summer of 1942, new security forces were gathered together and sent to the Soviet Union, and a new headquarters specifically organized to fight the guerrilla menace, was established. In this follow-up study, author Antonio Muñoz picks up the partisan and anti-partisan struggle in the East, where Hitler's War Against the Partisans During Operation Barbarossa left off. The struggle behind the frontlines in Russia proved to be as grand and epic as the fight along the front lines. Dr. Muñoz describes this war of attrition along the entire breath of the USSR. In 1942 the Ostheer, acting on Adolf Hitler's orders, launched their 1942 summer offensive which was aimed at capturing the Caucasus Mountains and the Russian oil fields that lay there. Dr. Muñoz not only covers the war behind the lines in every region of the occupied USSR, but also describes the German anti-partisan effort behind the lines of Army Group South, as its forces drove into the Caucasus Mountains, the Volga River bend and Stalingrad. No other work has included the guerrilla and anti-partisan struggle specific to the Stalingrad campaign. Muñoz manages to accomplish this, but also to convey the story of the rest of the partisan and anti-guerrilla war in the rest of the USSR from the spring of 1942 to the spring of 1943.Dr. Antonio J. Muñoz lives in New York City. He is a professor of history at Farmingdale State College in Long Island, New York. He is married, has two daughters and two grandchildren. His last work, published in 2018, covered the history of the German Secret Field Police in Greece, 1941-1944.Stephen Satkiewicz is an independent scholar with research areas spanning Civilizational Sciences, Social Complexity, Big History, Historical Sociology, Military History, War Studies, International Relations, Geopolitics, and Russian and East European history.Please check out my earlier interview with Dr. Antonio J. Muñoz on the previous volume in this series Hitler's War Against the Partisans During Operation Barbarossa June 1941 to the Spring of 1942 (Frontline Books, 2025) for the New Books Network.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/genocide-studies

The end of the Battle of Kursk did not mean the end of the Red Army advance. The Germans withdrew, but the Red Army just kept coming.

Last time we spoke about Japan's preparations for War. In late 1936, tensions soared in China as Nationalist General Chiang Kai-shek was detained by dissenting commanders who were frustrated with his focus on communism instead of the growing Japanese threat. Faced with escalating Japanese aggression, these leaders forced Chiang into a reluctant alliance with the Chinese Communist Party, marking a pivotal shift in China's strategy. Despite this union, China remained unprepared, lacking sufficient military supplies and modern equipment. Conversely, Japan, wary of Chinese modernization efforts, pushed for a preemptive strike to dismantle Chiang's regime before it could pose a serious threat. As aggressive military exercises intensified, Japan underestimated Chinese resilience. By spring 1937, both nations found themselves on the brink of war, with Japan's divided military leadership struggling to formulate a coherent strategy. Ultimately, these miscalculations would lead to the full-scale Sino-Japanese War, altering the course of history in East Asia.   #154 The Marco Polo Bridge Incident  Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Here we are at last, the beginning of the absolute cataclysm between China and Japan. Now as many of you know I run the Pacific War week by week podcast, which technically covers the second sino-japanese war, nearly to a T. So for this podcast I want to try and portray the event from the Chinese and Japanese point of view, but not in the rather dry manner of the other podcast. In the other podcast I am hampered by the week by week format and can never dig deep into the nitty gritty as they say. On the same hand I don't want to simply regurgitate every single battle of this conflict, it would be absolutely nuts. So bear with me friends as we fall down in the rabbit hole of madness together, who knows how long it will take to get out. On the night of July 7, 1937, at approximately 19:30, the 8th Squadron of the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the Hebian Brigade of the Japanese Army, stationed in Fengtai and led by Squadron Leader Shimizu Seiro, conducted a military exercise, heading toward Lungwangmiao, approximately just under a mile northwest of the Marco Polo Bridge The exercise simulated an operation to capture the bridge. As you may have guessed it was named after the Italian explorer Marco Polo, who described it in his travels, the bridge is renowned for its intricate carvings of lions and other sculptures. However after 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge would be far less known for its history dealing with the venetian explorer and more so with an event that many would contend to be the start of WW2. At that time, troops from Japan, Britain, France, and Italy were stationed near Peiping in accordance with the Boxer Protocol of 1901. The Japanese China Garrison Army, comprising around 4,000 soldiers and commanded by Lieutenant-General Tashiro Kan'ichirō, was based in Tientsin. Its mission was to "maintain communication lines between Peiping and the seaports in the Gulf of Chihli and to protect Japanese citizens living in key areas of North China." The protocol also permitted the garrison forces of the signatory nations to conduct field drills and rifle practice without notifying the Chinese authorities, with the exception of cases involving live fire. During this period, Japanese troops were conducting nightly exercises in anticipation of a scheduled review on July 9. The night maneuver was within the army's rights under the Boxer Protocol and was not an illegal act, as later claimed by the Chinese. However, the Japanese army had courteously informed the Chinese authorities about its training plans in advance. Despite this, the atmosphere was charged with tension, and the Japanese decision to use blank ammunition during their night exercise further escalated the already volatile situation. Earlier that evening, Captain Shimizu Setsurö, a company commander, arrived at the banks of the Yungting River, where the maneuver was to take place. He noticed that the site looked different since the last exercise had occurred; Chinese troops had recently constructed new trenches and parapets from the embankment to the Lungwangmiao shelter. While eating his dinner and surveying the area, Shimizu felt a sense of unease, harboring a premonition that “something might happen that night.” After completing the first stage of the maneuver around 10:30 PM, several live rounds were fired into the assembled company from the direction of the riverbank. Shimizu immediately conducted a roll call and found one soldier missing. He promptly sent a messenger to inform the battalion commander. The exercise was then called off, and the company moved eastward to await further orders at Hsiwulitien. Battalion Commander Itsuki Kiyonaho, upon receiving the report, deemed the situation serious. Aside from the gunfire heard in the darkness from an unknown source, he expressed concern over the soldier's disappearance and sought permission from Regiment Commander Mutaguchi Renya, an absolute moron, if you listen to the pacific war podcast, well you know. Anyways to relocate the battalion to the area where the shots had been fired and to establish surveillance. As dawn approached, the troops heard several more gunshots. Within twenty minutes of the soldier's disappearance, he returned to his ranks, but Shimizu did not report this update until four hours later. Meanwhile, midnight negotiations included a Japanese request for permission to search the city of Wanping, leading both sides to believe the incident was significant. Around 11:00 PM, the Japanese forces falsely reported that one of their soldiers had gone missing during the drill and demanded permission to enter the city for a search. This request was firmly denied by Ji Xingwen, the commander of the 219th Regiment of the 37th Division of the Chinese Army. In response, Japanese troops swiftly surrounded Wanping County. To prevent further escalation, at 2:00 AM the following morning, Qin Dechun, deputy commander of the 29th Army and mayor of Beiping, agreed with the Japanese to allow both sides to send personnel for an investigation. While Matsui, the head of the Japanese secret service in Peiping, was negotiating with North Chinese authorities based on unverified reports from Japanese troops in Fengtai, Ikki Kiyonao, the battalion commander of the Japanese garrison in Fengtai, had already reported to his regiment commander, Mutaguchi Lianya. The latter approved orders for the Japanese troops in Fengtai to “immediately move out” to the Marco Polo Bridge.  On July 8, a large contingent of Japanese troops appeared at Lugou Bridge. Shen Zhongming, the platoon leader of the 10th Company of the Reserve Force of the 3rd Battalion of the 219th Regiment of the 37th Division of the 29th Army, was assisting in guarding the bridgehead. He jumped out of the trench, stood in front of the bunker, and raised his right hand to halt the advancing Japanese troops. However, the Japanese military threatened to search for their missing soldiers, pushed forward, and opened fire. Shen Zhongming was shot and died on the spot. At 4:50 AM, the Japanese army launched a fierce assault on Wanping County, capturing Shagang in the northeast of Wanping and firing the first shot of the siege. Unable to withstand the aggression, the Chinese defenders mounted a counterattack. That day, the Japanese army assaulted Wanping City three times, targeting the Pinghan Railway Bridge and the Chinese defenders at the Huilong Temple position on the left. He Jifeng, the commander of the 110th Brigade of the Chinese defenders, issued a resolute order to “live and die with the bridge” and personally commanded the front-line battle. The Chinese defenders engaged in fierce combat, fighting valiantly despite exhausting their ammunition and resorting to hand-to-hand combat with swords against the Japanese soldiers. Tragically, over 80 Chinese defenders from two platoons were killed at the bridgehead. On the same day, the Beijing authorities instructed the garrison to hold firm at the Marco Polo Bridge. Song Queyuan sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek to report the true events of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. The National Government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs lodged a verbal protest with the Japanese ambassador regarding the incident. Additionally, the CPC Central Committee issued a telegram urging all Chinese soldiers and civilians to unite and resist Japanese aggression. The Japanese cabinet, in a bid to mislead global public opinion, proposed a so-called policy of “resolving the incident locally without escalating it,” aiming to paralyze the KMT authorities and buy time to mobilize additional forces. In the wake of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, generals of the 29th Army, including Qin Dechun, Feng Zhian, and Zhang Zizhong, convened an emergency meeting. Following their discussions, they issued a statement demanding that their troops withdraw from the Marco Polo Bridge to de-escalate tensions. However, they expressed deep concerns about national sovereignty, stating, “We cannot simply back down. If they continue to oppress us, we will do our utmost to defend ourselves.” Concurrently, the 29th Army commanded the troops defending the Marco Polo Bridge: “The Marco Polo Bridge is your grave. You must live and die with the bridge and must not retreat.” Brigade Commander He Jifeng reinforced three directives for the defenders:  1. Do not allow the Japanese army to enter the city;  2. Firmly counterattack if the Japanese invade;  3. You are responsible for defending the territory and will never yield. If you abandon your position, you will face military law. On July 9, the 29th Army successfully eliminated a Japanese squadron and reclaimed control of the railway bridge and Longwang Temple. A temporary lull settled over the Marco Polo Bridge battlefield, during which the Japanese military made false claims that "missing Japanese soldiers had returned to their units" and described the situation as a misunderstanding that could be resolved peacefully. Subsequently, Chinese and Japanese representatives in Beijing and Tianjin engaged in negotiations. The Beijing authorities reached an agreement with the Japanese forces, which included:  (1) an immediate cessation of hostilities by both parties;  (2) the Japanese army withdrawing to the left bank of the Yongding River while the Chinese army retreated to the right bank; and  (3) the defense of Lugou Bridge being assigned to Shi Yousan's unit of the Hebei Security Team. However, the following day, while the Chinese army withdrew as agreed, the Japanese army not only failed to uphold its commitments but also dispatched a significant number of troops to launch an offensive against the Chinese forces. Reports on July 10 indicated that the Japanese army had arrived from Tianjin, Gubeikou, Yuguan, and other locations, advancing toward the Lugou Bridge with artillery and tanks, and had occupied Dajing Village and Wulidian, signaling that another outbreak of conflict was imminent. On July 11, the Japanese Cabinet decided to deploy seven divisions from the Kwantung Army, the Korean Army, and Japan to North China. On the same day, the Beiping-Tianjin authorities reached a localized agreement with the Japanese army, which entailed:  (1) a formal apology from a representative of the 29th Army to the Japanese forces, along with assurances that those responsible for the initial conflict would be held accountable;  (2) a ban on anti-Japanese activities conducted by the Communist Party, the Blue Shirts Society, and other resistance groups; and  (3) an agreement ensuring that no Chinese troops would be stationed east of the Yongding River. Concurrently, the Japanese army positioned their forces at strategic points in Wuqing, Fengtai, Wanping, and Changping, effectively encircling the city of Beijing and continuing to advance troops into its surrounding suburbs. Starting on July 11, the Japanese army began bombarding Wanping City and its surrounding areas with artillery, resulting in numerous casualties among the local population. Following the injury of regiment commander Ji Xingwen, residents were evacuated to safer locations outside the city. The conflict then spread to Babaoshan, Changxindian, Langfang, Yangcun, and other areas, with the 29th Army being deployed to various locations to confront the enemy. The Japanese military also dispatched aircraft for reconnaissance and strafing missions, leading to intermittent fighting. On July 13, Mao Zedong urged "every Communist Party member and anti-Japanese revolutionary to be prepared to mobilize to the frontline of the anti-Japanese war at any time" from Yan'an. By July 15, a CPC representative presented the "Communist Party Declaration on Cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party" to Chiang Kai-shek, proposing that this declaration serve as the political foundation for cooperation between the two parties and be publicly issued by the Kuomintang. Zhou Enlai, Qin Bangxian, and Lin Boqu continued negotiations with Chiang Kai-shek, Shao Lizi, and Zhang Chong in Lushan. Although Chiang Kai-shek recognized the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, disagreements remained regarding the reorganization of the Red Army. On July 16, the Five Ministers Conference in Tokyo resolved to mobilize 400,000 Japanese troops to invade China and to enforce a policy aimed at rapidly destroying the entire country. The following day, more than 100 Japanese soldiers arrived in Shunyi and Changping, where they reinforced fortifications on the city wall of Changping. On July 18, the Japanese army invaded Changping, Tongzhou, and other counties in the pseudo-border areas by maneuvering through various passes of the Great Wall. Japanese plainclothes teams were reported to be active in the Xiaotangshan area of Changping, raising alert levels within the Chinese army. On July 20, the Kuomintang Military and Political Department became aware that the Japanese army intended to first occupy strategic locations such as the Indigo Factory, Wanshou Mountain, and Balizhuang in the Pingxi area, before cutting off the Pingsui Road and controlling the route from Beiping to Changping. On July 21, the Japanese army violated the agreement by bombarding Wanping County and the garrison at Changxindian.  On the night of July 25, a confrontation took place at the railway station in Langfang, located between Peiping and Tientsin. The clash involved Chinese troops and a Japanese company dispatched to repair telegraph lines. General Kazuki promptly sought Tokyo's permission to respond with military force, believing that the situation required immediate action. Without waiting for authorization, he ordered a regiment from Tientsin to engage the Chinese forces and issued an ultimatum to Sung Che-yuan, stating that if the 37th Division did not completely withdraw from Peiping by noon on July 28, the Garrison Army would take unilateral action. The 77th Infantry Regiment of the 20th Division was dispatched with the Gonoi Squadron to escort a repair team to Langfang Station. Stationed near Langfang were the headquarters of the 113th Brigade of the 38th Division, along with the main force of the 226th Regiment, led by Brigade Commander Liu Zhensan and Regiment Commander Cui Zhenlun. Although the leadership of the 29th Army adopted a passive stance in the war of resistance, the forces in Langfang prepared for conflict in an organized manner. They not only evacuated the families of servicemen and relocated the regiment headquarters, but also built fortifications and deployed plainclothes teams at Wanzhuang Station, Luofa Station, and Langfang Station to swiftly destroy the railway if necessary. Despite their preparations, the commanders of the 38th Division adhered to Song Queyuan's directives. When the 5th Company, stationed at Yangcun, observed Japanese supply units continually moving toward Lugou Bridge, they sought permission to engage the enemy. However, the 38th Division later reassigned this company. The Bac Ninh Line, established after the Boxer Protocol, had granted the Japanese the right to station troops, placing the 38th Division in a vulnerable position and preventing them from stopping the Japanese before they reached Langfang. Upon the arrival of Japanese forces at Langfang Station, Chinese guards initiated negotiations, requesting the Japanese to withdraw quickly after completing their mission. The Japanese, however, insisted on establishing camps outside the station, leading to repeated arguments. As tensions mounted, the Japanese began constructing positions near the station, ultimately forcing Chinese troops to retreat and escalating the conflict. The situation reached a boiling point around 11:10 pm, when fierce gunfire and explosions erupted near Langfang Station. The Japanese army claimed they were defending the station from an attack by Chinese forces armed with rifles, machine guns, and mortars throughout the night. According to Cui Zhenlun, the head of the 226th Regiment, it was the 9th and 10th companies that could no longer tolerate the Japanese provocation and fired first, catching the enemy off guard. As the battle intensified, reinforcements from the main force of the 77th Infantry Regiment “Li Deng Unit” arrived at the scene after receiving reports of the skirmish and gradually joined the fight after 6:30 am on July 26. When dawn broke, Japanese troops stationed at Langfang began to rush out to counterattack, seeing their reinforcements arrive. Recognizing they could not eliminate the Japanese presence at the station quickly, the 226th Regiment faced heavy bombardment from the Japanese Air Force later that morning. Consequently, the headquarters of the 113th Brigade and the primary forces of the 226th Regiment hastily retreated to Tongbai Town, suffering significant losses in equipment during their withdrawal. That night, Kazuki made the unilateral decision to abandon the policy of restraint and decided to use force on July 28 "to punish the Chinese troops in the Peiping-Tientsin area." On the morning of July 27, the army high command endorsed his decision and submitted a plan to the cabinet for mobilizing divisions in Japan. The cabinet agreed, and imperial approval was sought. At that time, the Chinese army was gathering in significant numbers in Baoding and Shijiazhuang in southern Hebei, as well as in Datong, Shanxi. They had effectively surrounded the Japanese army on all sides in the Fengtai District. Meanwhile, newly mobilized units of the Kwantung Army and the Japanese Korean Army were en route to the Tianjin and Beiping areas. The 2nd Battalion of the 2nd China Garrison Infantry Regiment, commanded by Major Hirobe, was dispatched with 26 trucks to the Japanese barracks within the walls of Beiping to ensure the protection of Japanese residents. Prior discussions had taken place between Takuro Matsui, head of the Special Service Agency, and officials from the Hebei–Chahar Political Council regarding the passage of troops through the Guang'anmen gate just outside Beiping. The mayor, Qin Dechun, had granted approval for this movement. However, when Major Tokutaro Sakurai, a military and political advisor to the Council, arrived at Guang'anmen, a famous gate to Beiping, around 6:00 pm to establish contact, he found that the Chinese troops on guard had closed the gate. After further negotiations, the gates were opened at approximately 7:30 pm, allowing the Japanese units to begin passing through. Unfortunately, as the first three trucks crossed, the Chinese opened fire on them. Two-thirds of the units managed to get through before the gate was abruptly shut, leaving a portion of Hirobe's troops trapped both inside and outside. As they faced unexpectedly heavy fire from machine guns and grenades, efforts by Japanese and Chinese advisors to pacify the Chinese troops proved futile. By 8:00 pm, the Japanese launched a counterattack from both sides of the gate. The Chinese received reinforcements and encircled the Japanese forces. Despite a relief column being dispatched by Brigadier Masakazu Kawabe, commander of the brigade in the Fengtai District, by 9:30 pm, negotiations with the Chinese yielded a proposal for de-escalation: the Chinese army would maintain a distance while the Japanese inside the gate would relocate to the grounds of their legation, and those outside would return to Fengtai. Fighting ceased shortly after 10:00 pm, and at approximately 2:00 am the following day, Hirobe's unit successfully entered the barracks in the legation. The total casualties reported for the Japanese army during these confrontations were 2 dead and 17 wounded. Both fatalities were superior privates. The wounded included one major, one captain, one sergeant, two superior privates, one private first class, seven privates second class, two attached civilians, and one news reporter. Additionally, the interpreter accompanying Tokutaro Sakurai was also killed in action. On July 27, the Japanese army launched attacks on the 29th Army garrisons in Tongxian, Tuanhe, Xiaotangshan, and other locations, forcing the defenders to retreat to Nanyuan and Beiyuan. At 8:00 am on July 28, under the command of Army Commander Kiyoshi Kozuki, the Japanese army initiated a general assault on the 29th Army in the Beiping area. The primary attacking force, the 20th Division, supported by aircraft and artillery, targeted the 29th Army Special Brigade, the 114th Brigade of the 38th Division, and the 9th Cavalry Division stationed in Nanyuan. Overwhelmed by the Japanese assault, Nanyuan's defenders struggled to maintain command, leading to chaotic individual combat. Meanwhile, the main Japanese garrison brigade in Fengtai advanced to Dahongmen, effectively cutting off the Nanyuan troops' route to the city and blocking their retreat. The battle for Nanyuan concluded at 1:00 pm, resulting in the deaths of Tong Lingge, deputy commander of the 29th Army, and Zhao Dengyu, commander of the 132nd Division. As this unfolded, elements of the 37th Division of the 29th Army launched an attack on the Japanese forces in Fengtai but were repulsed by Japanese reinforcements. On that day, the Japanese Army's 1st Independent Mixed Brigade captured Qinghe Town, prompting the 2nd Brigade of the Hebei-Northern Security Force, stationed there, to retreat to Huangsi. The Japanese also occupied Shahe. In the afternoon of July 28, Song Qeyuan appointed Zhang Zizhong as the acting chairman of the Hebei-Chahar Political Affairs Committee and director of the Hebei-Chahar Pacification Office, as well as the mayor of Beiping, before leaving the city for Baoding that evening. The 37th Division was ordered to retreat to Baoding. On July 29th, a significant mutiny broke out at Tongzhou. If you remember our episode covering the Tanggu truce, Tongzhou had become the capital of the East Hubei Anti-Communist Autonomous Government headed by Yin Jukeng. In response Chiang Kai-Shek had established the East Hebei Administrative Affairs Committee, chaired by Song Queyuan. In Tongzhou, Japanese troops were stationed under the pretext of protecting Japanese residents, as stipulated by the Boxer Protocol. Initially, a unit was intended to be stationed in Tongzhou; however, Vice Minister of the Army Umezu Yoshijiro strongly opposed this plan, arguing that placing forces in Tongzhou, far from the Beiping-Tianjin Line was inconsistent with the spirit of the Boxer Protocol. Consequently, this unit was stationed in Fengtai, located southwest of Beiping. At the time of the Tongzhou Incident, the main force of the Japanese Second Regiment, which was responsible for defending Tongzhou, had been deployed to Nanyuan, south of Beijing. Consequently, only non-combat personnel remained in Tongzhou. Japan regarded the Jidong Anti-Communist Autonomous Government Security Force as a friendly ally. Back on July 27, the primary forces of the Japanese Army stationed in Tongzhou, comprising the Kayashima Unit and the Koyama Artillery Unit, received orders to advance toward Nanyuan, Beiping, leaving Tongzhou significantly under-defended. The following day, the Japanese launched a substantial attack on Nanyuan, employing aircraft to bomb Beiping. Sensing a critical opportunity, Zhang Qingyu conferred with Zhang Yantian and Shen Weigan to initiate an uprising that very night. The insurgent force included elements from the first and second corps and the teaching corps, totaling approximately 4,000 personnel. Zhang Qingyu orchestrated the uprising with a focused strategy: the first corps was divided into three groups targeting Japanese forces in Xicang, the puppet government, and various establishments such as opium dens, casinos, and brothels operated by Japanese ronin. Meanwhile, the second corps secured key intersections and facilities in Chengguan, and the teaching corps managed defenses against potential reinforcements at vital stations. At dawn on July 29, the gunfire signaling the uprising erupted. The second unit of the first corps launched an assault on the Xicang Barracks, which housed 120 troops and non-combat personnel, including the Tongzhou Guard, Yamada Motor Vehicle Unit, a Military Police Detachment, and a host of military and police units, totaling about 500 individuals. At around 3 a.m. on July 29, the sound of gunfire filled the air as the insurgents engaged the Japanese forces. Although equipped with only four field guns, several mortars, and a few heavy machine guns, the uprising's numerical superiority enabled simultaneous attacks from the east, south, and northwest. Despite their well-fortified positions and rigorous defense, the Japanese troops struggled against the relentless onslaught. For over six hours, fierce fighting ensued. The uprising troops escalated their firepower but failed to breach the Xicang Barracks initially. More than 200 members of the Japanese security forces lost their lives in the conflict. Concerned that reinforcements might arrive and flank the uprising, Zhang Qingyu ordered artillery assaults around 11 a.m., prompting a shift in the battle's dynamics. The artillery targeted a Japanese motor vehicle convoy transporting supplies and munitions, leading to the destruction of all 17 vehicles, triggering explosions that scattered bullets and shrapnel across the area. Subsequently, nearby fuel depots ignited, engulfing the surroundings in flames and creating chaos among Japanese ranks. The insurgent infantry capitalized on this confusion, wiping out most of the remaining Japanese forces, with only a handful managing to escape. As the uprising signal rang out, another faction of insurgents swiftly blocked access to Tongzhou, disrupting traffic and occupying the telecommunications bureau and radio station. They encircled the offices of the Jidong puppet government, capturing traitor Yin Rugeng, who was taken to the Beiguan Lu Zu Temple. Despite being urged to resist the Japanese, Yin hesitated and was subsequently imprisoned. The third group then targeted the Japanese secret service agency in Nishicang. Hosoki Shigeru, residing a mere lane away from the pseudo-office, responded to the gunfire by mobilizing a contingent of secret agents to confront the uprising. However, the insurgents swiftly overtook the secret service agency, resulting in Shigeru's death and the annihilation of all secret personnel. At 4:00 p.m. on July 29, the Japanese command dispatched reinforcements, compelling the insurgents to retreat from Tongzhou. The Japanese Chinese Garrison ordered air attacks on the uprising forces, with over ten bombers targeting Tongzhou. Concurrently, the Japanese Fengtai Infantry Brigade and the Second Regiment were mobilized for a rescue operation, arriving on the morning of July 30. The Japanese headquarters issued a night defense order requiring all units to be on high alert. By 5:30 p.m., commanding officers assembled to devise a strategy. With the uprising forces still positioned around the eastern, southern, and northern walls of the barracks, Tsujimura's troops implemented strict measures: all units were instructed to fortify defenses throughout the night, with the Tongzhou Guard directly protecting the barracks and the Yamada unit securing the warehouse and supply areas. They enforced silence, prohibiting any lights at night, coordinating operations under the code name "plum cherry." As the Japanese planes repeatedly bombed the area, the insurgents, lacking anti-aircraft defenses, could only mount futile counterattacks with machine guns, leading to disorder among their ranks. Many insurgents abandoned their uniforms and weapons and fled, prompting Zhang Qingyu to make the difficult decision to evacuate Tongzhou before Japanese reinforcements arrived, regrouping in Beiping with the remnants of the 29th Army. In the late hours of July 29, the security team retreated to Beiping in two groups. Upon arrival, they discovered the 29th Army had already evacuated, forcing them to retreat to Changxindian and Baoding. En route, they encountered part of the Suzuki Brigade of the Japanese Kwantung Army near Beiyuan and Xizhimen, where they faced concentrated attacks. Officers Shen Weigan and Zhang Hanming were both killed in the subsequent battles as they led their teams in desperate fights for survival. Amid the confusion, Yin Rugeng managed to escape when the convoy escorting him was broken up by Japanese forces. In a last-ditch effort, Zhang Qingyu ordered the army to split into small groups of 50 to 60, navigating through Mentougou to regroup with the 29th Army. By the time they reached Baoding, only about 4,000 personnel remained. On the morning of July 30, over a thousand troops from the Sakai Army entered Tongzhou City. They rounded up all men they encountered, searching residences for insurgents, and exhibited intentions of massacring the local population. By 4 p.m., the Kayashima Army arrived and sealed all city gates, deploying surveillance units to oversee the city and "restore public order." The Tsujimura Army removed perimeter defenses and concentrated their forces in barracks and storage facilities. Japanese troops combed through residences based on household registries, detaining those they deemed suspicious, with many later executed. As reported by the puppet county magistrate Wang Jizhang, roughly 700 to 800 individuals were executed within a few days. This brutal retaliation instilled terror throughout Tongzhou City, leading many to flee and seek refuge, often in American churches. The pervasive atmosphere of fear lasted for two to three months. The Japanese authorities framed their violent suppression as "restoring stability to East Asia" and derided the legitimate resistance of Chinese citizens as "communist harassment" and "treason." In response to the uprising, the Japanese embassy, concerned that it could trigger a repeat of the Temple Street Incident and instigate political upheaval at home, acted without government instructions. They appointed Morishima Morito to oversee negotiations with Chi Zongmo, who had replaced Yin Rugeng as the head of the "Hebei Anti-Communist Autonomous Government." On December 24, 1937, Chi submitted a formal apology to the Japanese embassy, committing to pay a total of 1.2 million yuan in reparations, with an immediate payment of 400,000 yuan, while the remaining 800,000 yuan would be disbursed by the "Provisional Government of the Republic of China." Furthermore, the Japanese demanded that the "Hebei Anti-Communist Autonomous Government" relinquish the territories where Japanese nationals had been killed and take responsibility for constructing "comfort towers." They compelled Chinese laborers to build these structures at the former site of the Governor's Office of Canal Transport in Shuiyueyuan Hutong, Nanmenli, and the northeastern corner of Xicang Square to commemorate Japanese casualties from the uprising. Additionally, they forcibly uprooted ancient trees from the Temple of Heaven, transplanting them around the "comfort towers." The Japanese military also demolished white marble guardrails at the Confucian Temple to erect a monument honoring their soldiers, resulting in the destruction of centuries-old cultural artifacts. On the morning of July 29, the Japanese Army's 11th Independent Mixed Brigade attacked Beiyuan and Huangsi. The Hebei-Northern Security Force, stationed in Huangsi, engaged the Japanese forces until 6:00 PM before retreating. Meanwhile, the 39th Independent Brigade, garrisoned in Beiyuan, fought the Japanese before withdrawing to Gucheng, eventually returning to Beiyuan. On July 31, this brigade was disarmed by the Japanese army, while the Independent 27th Brigade in the city was reorganized into a security team to maintain public order, later breaking through to Chahar Province a few days later and being assigned to the 143rd Division. Meanwhile, the 38th Division of the 29th Army, stationed in Tianjin, proactively attacked Japanese troops in Tianjin early on July 29, capturing the Japanese garrison at Tianjin General Station and launching an assault on the Japanese headquarters at Haiguang Temple and the Dongjuzi Airport. Initially, the battle progressed favorably; however, due to counterattacks from Japanese aircraft and artillery, the Chinese forces began to retreat around 3:00 PM, leading to the fall of Tianjin. Later that afternoon, the rebel forces evacuated Tong County and advanced toward Beiping. En route, they were attacked by the Japanese army north of the city and subsequently retreated to Baoding. As the 37th Division of the 29th Army received orders to retreat southward, the 110th Brigade covered the army headquarters and the Beiping troops from Wanping to Babaoshan, eventually retreating southward through Mentougou. After completing their task, they withdrew to Baoding on July 30. By the end of the 30th, the Japanese army had occupied both Beiping and Tianjin. The Japanese Independent Mixed Brigade No. 1 and the garrison brigade occupied high ground west of Changxindian and the area near Dahuichang on the evenings of the 30th and 31st, respectively. With this, the battles in Beiping and Tianjin effectively came to a close. China and Japan were at war. 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. It has finally happened, China and Japan are officially at war. From 1931 until now, it had been an unofficial war between the two, yet another incident had finally broke the camel's back. There was no turning back as Japan would unleash horror upon the Chinese people. The fight for China's survival had begun. China was completely alone against a fierce enemy, how would she manage? 

What was life like in Berlin in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War? Why did the Red Army steal taps from Berlin houses when they reached the city? Was the famous photo of the red flag on the Reichstag staged or authentic? Anita and William are joined by Giles Milton, author of Checkmate in Berlin: The Cold War Showdown That Shaped the Modern World, to discuss the division and destitution of the capital city after the Second World War.  ----------------- Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, our exclusive newsletter, and access to our members' chatroom on Discord! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.  ----------------- Email: empire@goalhanger.com Instagram: @empirepoduk  Blue Sky: @empirepoduk  X: @empirepoduk Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Senior Producer: Callum Hill Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, we are exploring a topic that doesn't get talked about much — the British tanks that ended up serving with the Red Army during the Second World War. We often think about the Soviet Union producing huge numbers of its own tanks like the T-34, but in the early years of the war—and even before it—the Soviets were looking abroad for armoured vehicles to strengthen their forces. Britain, with its long history of tank development stretching back to the First World War, was one of the countries they turned to. Joining me is Peter Samsonov, who's spent a lot of time researching Soviet armoured warfare and is the author of 'British Tanks of the Red Army'.   patreon.com/ww2podcast