Podcasts about russells

Send us a textBourbon groups, societies, and clubs across the globe have become the driving force behind whiskey's surging popularity, creating communities that offer education, camaraderie, and exclusive experiences. From Facebook groups with thousands of members to elite membership clubs offering barrel picks, these organizations have transformed whiskey appreciation from a solitary pursuit into a vibrant social experience.• Facebook groups help connect whiskey enthusiasts worldwide and have tripled in number since the bourbon boom began• Local clubs offer regular meetups, tastings, educational events with distillery representatives, and charity fundraisers• Premium membership clubs like Old Carter Social Club and Crystal Glen Cairn Club provide exclusive bottles and experiences• Groups often organize barrel picks, giving members access to unique expressions not available to the general public• Whiskey communities are notably more welcoming and accessible than many other hobbyist groups• International whiskey societies in places like India demonstrate the global reach of the phenomenon• The Scotchy Bourbon Boys community has grown to 2,000 vetted members across all 50 states and 135+ countries• For newcomers to whiskey, joining a local group is the best way to learn and build connectionsJoin us tomorrow night at the Blue Wolf Tavern where the Steel Valley Bourbon Association is hosting a special Smoke Wagon tasting for charity, benefiting "One Time for the Kids." Tickets are $55, and a few seats are still available.The whiskey revolution isn't happening in distilleries—it's happening in Facebook groups, local meetups, and exclusive clubs around the world. As bourbon's popularity has exploded, the communities surrounding it have become the true catalyst for its unprecedented growth and cultural significance.Across the globe, from Cincinnati to Bangalore, whiskey enthusiasts are forming tight-knit communities centered around their shared passion. Some exist purely in the digital realm, with thousands of members exchanging knowledge and experiences online. Others maintain strong local identities with regular tastings, educational events, and charitable fundraisers. The most exclusive clubs offer members rare bottles, private lockers, and even opportunities to participate in the distillation process.What makes these whiskey communities truly special is their remarkable openness and accessibility. Unlike many hobby groups plagued by gatekeeping, bourbon enthusiasts have cultivated a welcoming culture where newcomers find mentors, friendships form quickly, and experiences are shared generously. As one enthusiast put it, "When it came to the bourbon industry, the doors are open. The people are fantastic."The impact of these communities extends beyond social connections—they're transforming how whiskey is produced, marketed, and consumed. Many groups coordinate barrel picks, giving members access to unique expressions and providing valuable feedback to distilleries. Brands increasingly partner with these clubs for special releases and educational sessions, creating a symbiotic relationship that benefits everyone involved.Whether you're a seasoned collector or just beginning your whiskey journey, finding your tribe is perhaps the most valuable step you can take. These communities offer education, camaraderie, and opportunities to sample expressi If You Have Gohsts Add for SOFLSupport the showhttps://www.scotchybourbonboys.com The Scotchy bourbon Boys are #3 in Feedspots Top 60 whiskey podcasts in the world https://podcast.feedspot.com/whiskey_podcasts/

Russell Howard over zijn slechtste optredens, zijn vreemdste heckles en alle gekke dingen die letterlijk naar hem zijn gegooid.Lees hier meer over Russell en zijn tourJe kunt hier tickets vinden voor Russells show in RotterdamJe kunt hier tickets vinden voor Russells shows in AmsterdamJe kunt deze aflevering ook bekijken op Youtube, er zijn Nederlandse ondertitels. Klik hierVind je Elektra leuk, steun dan de podcast eenmalig of doe een maandelijkse donatie voor afleveringen zonder onderbreking via elektrapodcast.nl/steun-elektraWil je meer weten over Wouter, de host en maker van Elektra? Kijk dan op woutermonden.nlKom kijken bij mijn voorstelling! Tickets en info vind je hier https://www.woutermonden.nl/speellijstMeld je aan voor de nieuwsbrief en krijg één keer per maand de laatste updates. https://www.woutermonden.nl/nieuwsbrief/Podimo gratis proberen? Gebruik deze link https://share.podimo.com/s/jbWL0Ujy

De mediadag voor de Grand Prix van Abu Dhabi is uitgedraaid op een stevige woordenstrijd tussen Max Verstappen en George Russell. De Red Bull-coureur liet in de persconferentie weten geen spijt te hebben van zijn uitspraken in Qatar en dat hij met de kennis van nu 'misschien nog meer had moeten zeggen'. Russell reageerde vervolgens in een afgeladen Mercedes-hospitality zeer fel, onder meer door te laten weten dat Verstappen voor de race zou hebben gedreigd Russell zijn 'fucking hoofd in de muur te drukken' en dat de Limburger al liep te 'vloeken en schelden' toen hij binnenkwam bij de stewards. Nadien reageerde Verstappen weer in de Nederlandse mediasessie, waar hij stelde dat het voorgaande niet waar is. "George is een matennaaier", klonk het. Marije Dijkstra en Ronald Vording bespreken de zeer bewogen mediadag uitgebreid in een nieuwe aflevering van de F1-update, net als Toto Wolff die mee besloot te doen aan Russells mediasessie en de toekomst voor Sergio Pérez. Tot slot aandacht voor de titelstrijd bij de constructeurs tussen McLaren en Ferrari en het vervangen van Esteban Ocon door Jack Doohan.

De mediadag voor de Grand Prix van Abu Dhabi is uitgedraaid op een stevige woordenstrijd tussen Max Verstappen en George Russell. De Red Bull-coureur liet in de persconferentie weten geen spijt te hebben van zijn uitspraken in Qatar en dat hij met de kennis van nu 'misschien nog meer had moeten zeggen'. Russell reageerde vervolgens in een afgeladen Mercedes-hospitality zeer fel, onder meer door te laten weten dat Verstappen voor de race zou hebben gedreigd Russell zijn 'fucking hoofd in de muur te drukken' en dat de Limburger al liep te 'vloeken en schelden' toen hij binnenkwam bij de stewards. Nadien reageerde Verstappen weer in de Nederlandse mediasessie, waar hij stelde dat het voorgaande niet waar is. "George is een matennaaier", klonk het. Marije Dijkstra en Ronald Vording bespreken de zeer bewogen mediadag uitgebreid in een nieuwe aflevering van de F1-update, net als Toto Wolff die mee besloot te doen aan Russells mediasessie en de toekomst voor Sergio Pérez. Tot slot aandacht voor de titelstrijd bij de constructeurs tussen McLaren en Ferrari en het vervangen van Esteban Ocon door Jack Doohan.

EPISODE 17 - RUSSELL HOWARD Al describes this week's dream guest, comedian Russell Howard, as his best mate - hilarious, likable and punchable at the same time. Russell describes Al as a paranoid, low-esteemed old lady in need of a body pillow. As the two comedians go down the memory lane and reminisce about the quirky events at Al's wedding, we find out what Russell thinks of the great Swedish warship Vasa. On this week's  Al's Advice, an audience member wonders if Al and his guest ever run out of inspiration. Russell digs deep and quotes Bob Dylan. Find Russell Howard here: https://www.instagram.com/russellhoward/ https://www.youtube.com/@russellhoward https://www.russell-howard.co.uk/ Perhaps Sweden's most celebrated international comic Al Pitcher, continues to make us ponder and laugh at all things funny and Swedish with his third season of Dream Guest Podcast. Recorded from his studios in Skärholmen, Stockholm, Al's ambition is to spread his love of Sweden abroad, while bringing in stars and topics of a global scale. The season premiers the day before the American presidential elections on November 4th, 2024. Between a giant ficus tree and a neon sign, Al invites an impressive line-up of guests to sit down with him for a laugh. The celebrated satirist and program host, John Oliver, kicks off the season by sharing with the audience his pre-election jitters. This season, joining Al in discussing topics that range from childhood pranks to identity crises, are comedians Russell Howard and Evelyn Mok, as well as musicians Jill Johnson, Chris Kläfford, and James Bay. Co-hosts: Soma Manuchar / https://www.youtube.com/@UCAfzYIR4n4ko30xip8PUK-g / https://www.instagram.com/homeofsoma Simon Larsson / https://www.instagram.com/simonwithdrums Buy tickets to Al's new tour "Tid för skratt" here: https://www.alpitcher.com Find out more about Al here: official webpage: https://www.alpitcher.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alpitcher TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@alpitcher Management/sponsorship inquiries: Anna Gauffin / anna@annamgmt.se This podcast is produced by SOSI Studios - soma@sosistudios.com (00:00:00) Intro (00:02:56) At school - is your dad funny(00:03:18) Frank makes a prank call(00:05:59) My name is luca prank call(00:06:30) The frank prank call(00:09:33) Best friends(00:10:15) Confidence(00:12:22) Chiaua(00:12:56) Travel pillow(00:15:09) Setlist(00:17:28) 60 cm(00:18:06) Russell is comming to Uppsala(00:18:54) Wedding(00:20:48) Wedding rice(00:22:56) The guy with a rainbow beard(00:24:29) VASA(00:26:10) Finding porrige bars(00:27:14) Al's advice(00:29:37) Al answers question(00:30:53) Russell on creativity and comedy writing(00:32:38) Finding comedy on tour(00:33:12) Ai pitcher answers(00:34:54) Al on his friendship to russell(00:35:29) Al on laughing(00:35:47) Asshole joke(00:36:01) Pranking(00:36:56) Russells brother stealing bits(00:37:54) Shorts like Saddam(00:38:55) Bath during zoom(00:39:14) Als and russells chat(00:40:17) Russell hitting brother in wheelchair

Episode Synopsis:Is the Russell family just a common name that pops up in history, or has the Russell bloodline actually been complicit in contributing to every sector of the Satanic Control Matrix?We talk about this and much more, including:What is former President Bill Clinton's connection to the Russells?In what ways did Bill Clinton's first 100 days of presidency fulfill the occult rituals to “Force the Spring?” How have the Russells impacted the secret fraternity of the Order of the Skull and Bones?What are some dark secrets of the founding of the Jehovah's Witnesses?How did Bertrand Russell assist the Illuminati agenda?To what purpose did the Russells found the Pilgrim Society?Original Air DateNovember 27th, 2024Show HostsJason Spears & Christopher DeanOur PatreonConsider joining our Patreon Squad and becoming a Tier Operator to help support the show and get access to exclusive content like:Links and ResourcesStudio NotesA monthly Zoom call with Jason and Christopher And More…ORP ApparelMerch StoreConnect With UsLetsTalk@ORPpodcast.comFacebookInstagram

Ep. 141 – Bloodlines of the Illuminati – Part 11: The Russells by Episode Synopsis: Is the Russell family just a common name that pops up in history, or has the Russell bloodline actually been complicit in contributing to every sector of the Satanic Control Matrix? We talk about this and much more, including: What is former President Bill Clinton's connection to the Russells? In what ways did Bill Clinton's first 100 days of presidency fulfill the occult rituals to “Force the Spring” How have the Russells impacted the secret fraternity of the Order of the Skull and Bones? What are some dark secrets of the founding of the Jehovah's Witnesses? How did Bertrand Russell assist the Illuminati agenda? To what purpose did the Russells found the Pilgrim Society?  Dan Duval's Freedom From Illuminati Bloodlines Prayer Original Air Date November 27th, 2024 Show Hosts Jason Spears & Christopher Dean Our Patreon Consider joining our Patreon Squad and becoming a Tier Operator to help support the show and get access to exclusive content like: Links and Resources Studio Notes A monthly Zoom call with Jason and Christopher  And More… ORP Apparel Merch Store Connect With Us LetsTalk@ORPpodcast.com Facebook Instagram

The Fabelmans (2022)! Russell McFarlane of People Who Are Good at What They Do Being Good at What They Do (available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify) joins us for a sporadic trip down Steven Spielberg's personal memory lane. As is customary on Russells show, we get a little bit lost in the sauce talking about life. Join us as Mr. Speilberg's existential journey turns into an intrepid voyage of our own!

Welcome to the Mexico City GP or, what we like to call the Sergio Perez Swan Song Party. This week we discuss Verstappens tactics and penalties, how unpredictable each race has become and Russells bear shaped sandwiches with raisins for eyes. We hope you enjoy. Warning: this podcast occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable...

Welcome to the Mexico City GP or, what we like to call the Sergio Perez Swan Song Party. This week we discuss Verstappens tactics and penalties, how unpredictable each race has become and Russells bear shaped sandwiches with raisins for eyes. We hope you enjoy. Warning: this podcast occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable...

COTA är verkligen beviset på att Hermann Tilke kan när han vill. Vilken fantastisk helg det var nu i Texas och vad mycket det finns att prata om! Liam Lawson gjorde en otrolig debut igen, Red bull håller på att tappa en till plats i konstruktören, Lewis Hamilton vill inget annat än att sluta köra Mercedes och så mycket mer. Sen rantar vi om vad vi tycker om fias beslut gällande poängen för snabbast varv, skrattar åt Russells enorma ego och självklart avslutar vi med att tagga upp inför det kommande lufttunna men maxade racet i Mexiko.Support the showSveriges Snabbaste Podcast!

On this episode, Dude, Brett, and JD travel over to Jason's to drink some of the best Russell's Reserves Wild Turkey has to offer.  Find out what we drank and what we thought… on this episode of, The Bourbon Hunters. Also, kill two birds with one stone by supporting our podcast and keeping those testes nice and clean.  Go to www.manscaped.com and get 20% off your order plus free shipping using the promo code BOURBONHUNTERS.  We are pretty excited about this partnership and cannot wait for you to start thinking about us as your are naked and manscaping.  Do you like buying bourbon gear?  Check out our website at https://www.bourbonhunters.com where you can do both with our latest bourbon shirts and our Bourbon Hunter Kenzie Drams. --Tags-- #punkrockandcocktails #thebourbonenthusiast #bourbonhunters #bourbonlover #breakingbourbon #bourbondrinkers #bourbonporn #kentuckystraightbourbon #kentuckybourbon #thebourbonalliance #bourbon #bourbonlife #bourbonlifestyle #bourbonenthusiast #bourbonwhiskey  #bourboncountry #deckpour #bourbongram #instabourbon #yourbourbonyourway #yourbourbonroad #blantons #pappyvanwinkle #vodkasucks #bourbonpodcast #columbuspodcast #bourbonneat #smokewagonbourbon #woodinvillewhiskey   -- Tags -- the bourbon enthusiast  bourbon hunters  bourbon lover  breaking bourbon  bourbon drinkers  bourbon porn  kentucky straight bourbon  kentucky bourbon  the bourbon alliance  bourbon  bourbon life  bourbon lifestyle  bourbon enthusiast

Does budgeting feel like a dirty word to you? Or, maybe just…boring? Uncomfy? Generally UN-fun? The Russells are here to help! Sarah (from Team THRIVE!) is hopping *behind* the mic today with her husband, Ryan, to share the practical tips they use in their everyday life to make budgeting easier than ever before…and yes, actually FUN. They went from being newlyweds making about $20,000 all year TOGETHER to thriving as a family of four with dreams and goals - so yes, it's possible! No matter where you're at income-wise, Sarah and Ryan are sharing how + why to make budgeting happen. They break down their practical 3-prong approach, how to talk dollars as a couple, and some of their favorite resources + tools to both make budgeting easier AND family-friendly at age-appropriate levels, too (without letting any past “junk” from your own past money mindset in the picture). THANKYOU to Cozy Earth for sponsoring today's episode of THRIVE! Get 30% off sitewide at  cozyearth.com with code COZYTHRIVE (and get FREE socks added to your order if you tell them the THRIVE podcast sent you in your post-purchase survey!). CONNECT WITH RYAN RUSSELL LINKEDIN MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE RACHEL CRUZE BOOK ANDY STANLEY BOOK BUDGETING FOR KIDS BOOK IF YOU MADE A MILLION BOOK   THANKYOU to City Beauty for sponsoring THRIVE! Get 15% off sitewide at citybeauty.com with code THRIVE (and you'll get a 60-day money-back guarantee!). THANKYOU to Babbel for sponsoring THRIVE! Get up to 60% off your Babbel subscription at Babbel.com/THRIVE - rules and restrictions may apply. THANKYOU to Dreamland Baby for sponsoring today's episode of THRIVE! Head to dreamlandbabyco.com and enter code THRIVE at checkout to receive 30% off sitewide + free shipping. MORE EPISODES YOU'LL LOVELOVELOVE "HOLD EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE"...AND THEN WHAT? - WITH LAURA SMITH GOSPEL-CENTERED GOAL-SETTING + DOING THE THING YOU WERE MADE TO DO - WITH REBECCA GEORGE KICKING IMPOSTER SYNDROME TO THE CURB - WITH LYDIA FENET   SHOP THE THRIVING COLLECTION HERE   FOLLOW ALONG Text CUROWD to 55444 to join the email list!  THRIVE Podcast Instagram Instagram Facebook Coming Up Roses

The Guys are definitely a certain age, thought not quite a gilded age.  But that didn't stop them from going a little bit off-genre in this week's episode as they discuss both seasons of The Gilded Age streaming series on Max.  Jokes were attempted about whether or not Art actually knew any of the characters portrayed, but even he is a youngster compared to the fine folks of society in 1880's New York City.   In this episode, listeners will hear about the battle between new money (the Russells) and old money (the Astors) discussed by “no money” (the Guys).  They do, as usual, find a link to geekdom in at least one of the cast members (we see you, Proxima Midnight, in your fancy opera dress).  Overall, it's just a good series about a fascinating period in American History - kinda' like this podcast.   It's a pretty exciting week for Geeks of the Week, too, with spaceships landing on the moon and all - unfortunately, the video was better in 1969.  Jay invites all the the Borderlands, and Robbie makes another Superman Legacy casting announcement.  And is a Thor by any other name just as strong?  Jay's Regrettable Segment tells of a Thor you may not have heard of before.  Or care to ever again.  Put on your top hat and listen.  

The Broncos released Russell Wilson who makes this list. How man?

Thank you for tuning in to Episode 270 of the Down Cellar Studio Podcast. Full show notes with photos can be found on my website.    This week's segments included:   On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins Brainstorming From the Armchair KAL News Events Contest, News & Notes Life in Focus Ask Me Anything On a Happy Note Quote of the Week   On the Needles, Hook or Bobbins   Calendula Christmas Quilt Pattern: Calendula Quilt by Elena Fedotova available on Ravelry for $7.50 US. Yarn: Big Twist Value Solids in Ivory, Deep Red, Varsity Green, Aqua, Medium Rose Hook:  G (4.0 mm) Ravelry Project Page I used Canva to help me figure out color placement to extend out the quilt pattern. I am extending what is written as a square into a rectangle. 64 squares now. about 24 totally seamed   Let the Mystery Unravel 2023 Blanket of Calm Pattern: Blanket of Calm by Casapinka (free crochet pattern) Yarn: Woolen Women Fibers- Let the Mystery Unravel subscription + Cascade Heritage Sock yarn in the Forged Iron Colorway Hook: 3.25 mm (D) Ravelry Project Page You can find my Let the Mystery Unravel Unboxing Video on YouTube in this Playlist This subscription is not available to new subscribers but I hope you'll watch each month and see how my blanket comes along. Stay tuned to Woolen Women for all of the fun kits they have! Don't forget, they're Pro Shop Sponsors. Progress Notes- first 3 sets of squares seamed & border added. December squares- all 9 done. not seamed.   Jen/Riley's Matching Hexi Blankets Pattern: Using this photo tutorial & this video tutorial. Hook: D (3.25 mm) We are making 4 round hexagons. As Riley finishes one, she texts me and I work up my corresponding mini. We've done 14 so far. I'm making collages in Canva for each.   Same as It Ever Was Hat Pattern: Same as It Ever Was by Sarah Jordan ($6 knitting pattern available on Ravelry) Yarn: Knit Picks Felici in the Beatnik colorway Needles: US 2 (2.75 mm) Ravelry Project Page Knit Wit Sesigns is a Pigskin Snack Shack Sponsor. Progress: around 75% done. I think this pattern is a great use for Felici which I've found doesn't hold up as well to hard wearing things like socks.   Nimbus Vest Pattern: Nimbus by Berrocco Design Team (free knitting pattern on the Berrocco website) Yarn: Worsted Weight 100% Wool (from Rhinebeck 2022) held double Needles:  US 10 (6.0mm) Ravelry Project Page Progress: I'm currently working on the back and am almost done with the 13 inches I need before I decrease for the armholes.   Declan's 2nd Socks Yarn: Patons Kroy in the Greener Pastures Colorway Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Pattern: OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams ($5 knitting pattern available on Ravelry) Ravelry Project Page Green, black, gray, cream, mustard stripes + gray/green/white self patterning stripe. Progress- the first sock probably about ready for the toe. Second sock- cuff is done, about 3 inches into the leg. I also did some darning on his first pair of handknit socks.   Brainstorming   Bought yarn for 3 blanket projects huge sale at Joann Conor & Carly Baby using this crochet pattern on Ravelry. Colleen & Patrick Baby Blanket using this crochet pattern on Ravelry. Jenny & Manny Baby Blanket  using the Modified Sedge Stitch Baby Blanket- a $2 crochet pattern available on Ravelry.   From the Armchair The Bodyguard by Katherine Center. Bookshop Affiliate Link. Amazon Affiliate Link. Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center. Bookshop Affiliate Link. Amazon Affiliate Link.   Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases.     KAL News Pigskin Party '23 #DCSPigskinParty23 Official Rules Find everything you need on my website or in the Start Here Thread in the Ravelry Group Register using this Google Form (you must be Registered to be eligible for prizes) Enter your projects using the Point Tally Form Find the full list of Sponsors in this Google Doc. Coupon Codes are listed in this Google Doc & in this Ravelry Thread Exclusive Items from our Pro Shop Sponsors are listed in this Ravelry Thread Questions-  ask them in this Ravelry Thread or email Jen at downcellarstudio @ gmail.com Quarter 4 Challenge: Cable It Up brought to you by our Official Sponsor of the 4th Quarter Lolodidit. Full details can be found in this Google Doc and in this Ravelry Thread. Tune in to see if you're one of our Quarter 3 Challenge Winners or a December Participation Prize Winners The last day to register for Pigskin is 1/31. Reminder- the event ends on Monday 2/12/24! Get those projects finished. Updates from Commentator Mary Lots of chatter on the ravelry boards about the Q4 challenge! First to submit was player Audioann--who knit a really cool beanie with a large diagonal cable.  It has a super interesting construction--you knit a flat parallelogram shaped piece and then seam it up. Check it out: https://www.ravelry.com/projects/audioann/viviani-beanie-2 In the endzone dance thread, there are so many great projects!  In particular, a lot of stuffies caught my eye. It should come as no surprise that a bunch of people knit imaginedlandscapes' mystery gnomes last month since she is a sponsor.  Here are a few examples:  stillstranding: https://www.ravelry.com/discuss/down-cellar-studio-podcast/4272642/476-500#498 nellsknitting: https://www.ravelry.com/discuss/down-cellar-studio-podcast/4272642/476-500#491 supercraftygirl: https://www.ravelry.com/projects/Supercraftygirl/snow-matter-what esalaza: https://www.ravelry.com/discuss/down-cellar-studio-podcast/4272642/501-525#516 In other stuffie news, stitchr made pill bug stuffed animal that is truly awesome! It has rainbow legs and a bright orange and red body but it still rolls up into a gray ball.  Super cool! https://www.ravelry.com/discuss/down-cellar-studio-podcast/4272642/501-525#508 She also made a grizzly bear that is so lifelike--really cool! https://www.ravelry.com/discuss/down-cellar-studio-podcast/4272642/501-525#520   Events Vogue Knitting Live, New York: January 25-28th, 2024 I'm taking classes on Friday & then planning to go to the market 5-8p Friday. I'm teaching a class on the OMG Sock Pattern at Staci's Stitches in Scituate, MA on Sundays starting February 18th (4 classes)- the class is SOLD OUT   Contest, News & Notes Yarnable Unboxing January 2024 Video posted- this kit came with stitch markers with numbers on them, 25, 50, 75, 100 intended for use when casting on a large amount of stitch. Hawkeygirl3 on YouTube suggested it would also be great for counting rows/rounds like on the leg of a sock if you want to do matching ones! Great idea December 2023 Let the Mystery Unravel Unboxing + Blanket Update   Life in Focus 2023 Review: Knitting/Crochet/Spinning 61 Finished Projects 32 knitting - 2 sweaters (1 for me, 1 for Mom). Lots of hats & socks. 29 crochet (same as last year)- 9 toys 43 are gifts (+ 3 charity items) Spinning- 3 finished projects. 880 meters of yarn. (3 Spinning WIPs) Favorite projects Jean Marie shawl for Mom's birthday- Ravelry Project Page (fingering held double) Crochet Ice Cream Cone for Hattie's Birthday- Ravelry Project Page Domingo the Easter Goat for Millie for Christmas- Ravelry Project Page   2023 Numbers: 50 Books read 24 Podcast Episodes 66 Videos on YouTube (some only available for Patrons) YouTube Subscribers- 461 new subscribers, 2,578 subscribers total 5 times- Donated Blood 14 Massages Book Signings- 1 Plays/Musicals/drag Shows- 12 Concerts- 5 (night time only in Nashville) + 1 (Kane Brown) + 1 (Lainey Wilson ) + 1 (Old Dominion)= 8 Birthday Sleepovers- 3 Fiber Events- 6 (Russells, CT sheep & Wool, Maryland, Rhinebeck, C&SSYH, Fiber Fest of NE) Trips: Nashville, Maryland, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Rhinebeck. 23 for 2023 list Read 23 books (35 as of August) Try at least one pair of fake eyelashes Print and hang at least 1 of our new family photos  (ordered 8/9 from Walgreens- 8x10 for $12!) Kayak in one new place Did not complete Hike in one new place See 4 plays/musicals (Hamilton 2/9, Shrek in March twice. Secret Garden at Company in April, Matilda [Millie] in May) Give blood at least 3 times (March, May, August, October & December done) Knit myself a pair of mittens Knit/crochet at least one project with handspun (Strathcona sweater "aka my Rhinebeck sweater" Watch 3 movies in one day (1/22 w/ Mom, Terri, Megg- Everything. Everywhere, All At Once. Women Talk. Armageddon Time) See a movie in the theater (A Man Called Otto w/ Laura) Go to a museum (Liz and I went in December) Finish 1 punch needle project- Did not complete Ski at least 1 day (ideally 2-4)- Did not complete Try at least 1 new gym/in person fitness option 4/8- consult at Big Day Fitness. First class on 4/10. Signed up for a month.  Make at least 1 new financial investment (CD started in February) Purge at least 23 items from the house. Ideally 46. After a smaller clean out earlier in the year, I took a full car load to Savers in October- lots of clothes. Publish 1 knitting pattern Send 5 cards to friends/family just because- Did not complete Go Camping- Did not complete Participate in the Fiberuary Challenge on Instagram Take a class (in person or virtual)- Zumba twice. Create a new music playlist. Riley's. Plus CMA fest artists.   2024 Word of the Year- Heart Definitions: The central or innermost part of something To like very much, love courage, determination, hope or enthusiasm (don't lose heart) the vital part or essence one's real nature (at heart)   What I want to focus on in 2024: Stay close to my family- which is the heart and life blood of my life. Be true to my heart- what I value, what's most important to me. I won't lose heart even when times are hard. I will be true to my heart, my real nature, the heart of me.   2024-  Goals: Use my podcast/YouTube/Instagram following to raise money for the FearLESS Living Fund (details in the Ravelry group- and email if you're one of our regular sponsors) Make & assess goals every month in 2024 Monthly review of number of workouts + weigh on at least twice a month. Stretch/Theragun 2-4 times a week [][][][]   24 for 2024 list Get 2 massages beyond the one per month at Massage Envy End the year with more money in the bank than when I started in January. Make & assess goals each month of the year Read more books than you did in 2023 (50) Organize a fundraiser for the FearLESS Living Fund Come up with better temporary & more permanent storage for memory items. Visit 1 new (to me) museum or historical site Add one new indoor plant to my collection Buy/make/work with Dan/Oisin on at least 1 plant stand for the living or dining room Publish at least one new pattern Knit at least 1 finished project with handspun Knit/crochet myself a new sweater Make a Christmas afghan for the living room Take a class Purge at least 20 items from my wardrobe Go skiing Watch at least 5 of the movies on the Jen/Liz movie list Do something special for our Anniversary in May Do a regular (ideally monthly) review of Dropbox Camera Uploads to delete unnecessary items Buy a new quilt and/or duvet cover for our bed Buy a new blow dryer. Get my car detailed Buy new curtains for living room Try a new local restaurant   Health update on my Mom, Diane: She was hospitalized for several days because of issues with heart palpitation and then we learned her cancer is back in brain, lymph nodes, pleura (lining of lungs) and ribs. She will start with the same chemo she had last time (Oct '22- March '23). It's likely she'll also need radiation for the brain, but will do an MRI 4 weeks after chemo starts to know for sure & decide what's best… Health update video coming soon. Keep those prayers and good wishes coming. Diane starts chemo Monday 1/22.   On a Happy Note We had a great visit with my friend Laura who was here for New Year's. We struck a great balance of lazily watching tv (The Gilded Age & Slow Horses) and getting out and about. We also went to see Boys in the Boat the movie theater. My parents' annual open house the Saturday after Christmas. Mom gave the girls needle felting kits for Christmas; Millie Facetimed me several times with questions and showing me her progress! Getting sick has not been fun, but the fact that it didn't ruin my holidays and the fact that work is also still relatively quiet is a huge happy note. Dan has been taking great care of me, and we're rewatching Hell On Wheels. I spent Sunday of MLK weekend at my parents'. We played Wordle board game (Amazon affiliate link) with Mom, Riley, Millie and Aila. We visited my cousin Jenny's new house, got our nails done, went out for Mexican, played more games! Fun impromptu sleepover. Millie- All of the Jokers have been Joked! and telling Grammy to "be her best self" adorable.   Quote of the Week   Everything and everyone at their own pace. Flow with not against yourself. -Akiroq Brost   ------ Thank you for tuning in. Remember show notes for this episode can be found at www.downcellarstudio.com/# If you have a moment to leave a review on Apple Podcasts, I'd greatly appreciate it. I can be found on Ravelry as BostonJen and I'd love it if you came over to join our lively and engaged Down Cellar Studio Ravelry Group. Check me out on Instagram at BostonJen1 if you want to see what I'm up to between episodes. Check out my Down Cellar Studio YouTube Channel Email me at downcellarstudio@gmail.com   For website: Thank you for tuning in!   Contact Information: Check out the Down Cellar Studio Patreon! Ravelry: BostonJen & Down Cellar Studio Podcast Ravelry Group Instagram: BostonJen1 YouTube: Down Cellar Studio Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/downcellarstudio Sign up for my email newsletter to get the latest on everything happening in the Down Cellar Studio Check out my Down Cellar Studio YouTube Channel Knit Picks Affiliate Link Bookshop Affiliate Link Yarnable Subscription Box Affiliate Link Music -"Soft Orange Glow" by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/ Note: Some links are listed as Amazon Affiliate Links. If you click those, please know that I am an Amazon Associate and I earn money from qualifying purchases.  

Hosted By Rosh & JJ Like & subscribe Drop a comment below Check out the guys weigh in on Playoff predictions. Last game of the season for the silver and black, what is next ? RUSSELL VS PAYTON GLOVES ARE OFF, wonder why the hate each other so much. Where is the next RUSS STOP?CFB CHAMPIONSHIP is here who you got, are you even excited. Will this be John's last college game. Next years predictions for all sports. VIRUAL VIDEO of the week. Don't Forget to like Comment and Subscribe Follow us On Social Media X : @Nomoretimeoutss IG: @NO_more_timeouts Tiktok- @nomoretimeouts

WFR Radio Bob Russells 5 Tips to a Joyful Retirement by Tony Walker Financial

How Is It The Godzilla TV Spinoff is Better Than Kong vs. Godzilla? This week on the podcast, Brian and Darryl are talking about our favorite most recent box office flops, wonder how Michael Waldron keeps failing up in the MCU, gush over the Furiosa trailer, and review the first two episodes of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Episode Index Intro: 0:07 The Marvels/Songbirds and Snakes: 2:06 Michael Waldron: 9:30 Furiosa: 18:29 Monarch: 23:57 News Bites The Marvels Box Office https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl247366145/?ref_=bo_hm_RECENT_WEEKEND_WIDGET_4 The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes Box Office https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1262387969/?ref_=bo_hm_rd Avengers: The Kang Dynasty' Enlists ‘Loki' Creator Michael Waldron https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/avengers-the-kang-dynasty-michael-waldron-1235606691/ FURIOSA : A MAD MAX SAGA | OFFICIAL TRAILER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJMuhwVlca4 Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (AppleTV) Out of 10 Why are the Russells Such Good Actors Darryl: 7.75/10 Brian: 7/10 Episode 1: Aftermath Summary In 2015, one year after Godzilla's emergence in San Francisco, traumatized schoolteacher Cate Randa travels to Tokyo to settle the affairs of her missing father, Hiroshi. She discovers that he had a second wife and a son, Kentaro, in Japan. Kentaro leads Cate to Hiroshi's office, where she discovers a safe containing files belonging to their grandfather, Monarch researcher Bill Randa. Seeking answers about Monarch's presence in San Francisco and Hiroshi's connection to them, Cate and Kentaro recruit Kentaro's ex-girlfriend May Olowe-Hewitt to decode the files. Monarch employee Tim is notified of their attempt. In 1959, Cate and Kentaro's grandparents, Bill Randa and Keiko Miura, follow radiation in Kazakhstan with fellow Monarch official Col. Lee Shaw. A local boy claims that the radiation is a cover story for the government drilling a hole through the earth. Randa and Miura discover that radiation levels drop to zero around a power plant, and that hollow caverns exist in the bedrock beneath it. Venturing inside, they discover eggs belonging to insectoid Endoswarmers. Miura and Shaw rappel down to collect genetic material from the eggs, but the Endoswarmers awaken and drag Miura into the caverns below. Episode 2: Departure Summary In 2015, Kentaro discovers Monarch files in Hiroshi's office indicating that Shaw, his great-uncle, moved to an assisted living facility in Japan. Tim and Monarch field operative Duvall track down Cate, Kentaro, and May in an attempt to find the decoded files, but they escape. Cate, Kentaro, and May go on the run and find Shaw, who reveals that the facility is a pretense for Monarch to keep him under house arrest. Shaw convinces them to escape from the facility and follow Hiroshi to his last known location in Alaska. In 1952, Shaw is assigned as Miura's escort on an expedition following unusual radiation in the Philippines. They meet Randa in the jungle, who claims to be following folk tales of a fire-breathing dragon. Miura recruits Randa against a skeptical Shaw's advice, and Shaw departs. Continuing alone, Miura and Randa discover the wreckage of the USS Lawton, a Navy ship that sank in 1943 from which Randa was the sole survivor. They discover corpses in the ship and are attacked by an Ion Dragon. Having seen the Ion Dragon's radiation-based fire, Shaw returns to rescue them from the ship. Infamous Shirts for Naked Bodies... You'll feel "shirty" when you buy our gear from the Flying Pork Apparel Co. Contact Us The Infamous Podcast can be found wherever podcasts are found on the Interwebs, feel free to subscribe and follow along on social media. And don't be shy about helping out the show with a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts to help us move up in the ratings. @infamouspodcast facebook/infamouspodcast instagram/infamouspodcast stitcher Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Play iHeart Radio contact@infamouspodcast.com Our theme music is 'Skate Beat' provided by Michael Henry, with additional music provided by Michael Henry. Find more at MeetMichaelHenry.com. The Infamous Podcast is hosted by Brian Tudor and Darryl Jasper, is recorded in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show is produced and edited by Brian Tudor. Subscribe today!

On this episode, Dude, Brett, and Tyler get together to drink some Single Barrels and discuss Tyler's latest travels to Kentucky and Michigan.  Find out what they think and how we ranked them on this episode of… The Bourbon Hunters. Have you thought about supporting our podcast? Do you like buying bourbon gear?  Check out our website at https://www.bourbonhunters.com where you can do both with our latest bourbon shirts and our Bourbon Hunter Kenzie Drams. --Tags-- #punkrockandcocktails #thebourbonenthusiast #bourbonhunters #bourbonlover #breakingbourbon #bourbondrinkers #bourbonporn #kentuckystraightbourbon #kentuckybourbon #thebourbonalliance #bourbon #bourbonlife #bourbonlifestyle #bourbonenthusiast #bourbonwhiskey  #bourboncountry #deckpour #bourbongram #instabourbon #yourbourbonyourway #yourbourbonroad #blantons #pappyvanwinkle #vodkasucks #bourbonpodcast #columbuspodcast #bourbonneat #smokewagonbourbon #woodinvillewhiskey   -- Tags -- the bourbon enthusiast  bourbon hunters  bourbon lover  breaking bourbon  bourbon drinkers  bourbon porn  kentucky straight bourbon  kentucky bourbon  the bourbon alliance  bourbon  bourbon life  bourbon lifestyle  bourbon enthusiast

Last time we spoke about the defense of Finschhafen. Finschhafen was a enormous staging camp for the allies now. The Japanese could not sit idly by allowing such a strategic location to be in allied hands. General Katagiri launched a major counter offensive, kicked off with signal fires from Sattelberg. He sent a force of raiders to try and neutralise some heavy allied artillery, but it ended in failure. Having not neutralised their big guns, the rest of the counter offensive fell to pieces.  The Japanese would officially report 422 killed, 662 wounded. For the Australians they had 228 casualties of which 49 were dead. With the counter offensive done with, the allies now would go back on the offensive. The next large target was going to be the stronghold of sattelberg, but the Japanese were not going to make it easy on the allies. But today we are going to be jumping into some new places. This episode is the invasion of the treasury islands Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800's until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.  For quite some time now we have been focusing on the New Guinea campaign, such as the offensives against Finschhafen and the Ramu valley. Today we are going to enter a new phase of the Pacific War. With the incoming invasions of the Gilbert and Marshall islands, the Northern Solomons and Western New Britain, General Douglas MacArthur and Admirals Hasley and Nimitz were going to turn up the heat. Admiral Halsey had just seized Vila, Barakoma, Munda and Rendova, gaining their valuable airfields for the forces of General Twinings AirSols to utilise. Within the central Solomons, Bougainville was finally within range of allied land-based aircraft. Lae, Salamaua and Finschhafen were taken, thus Operation Cartwheel would begin a new phase. Back in July, plans were formed for General Vandegrifts 1st Marine Amphibious corps to seize airfields sites at Buin and Kahili, the important Japanese anchorage at Tonolei Harbor, and the Faisi and Ballale islands in the neighboring Shortlands. That same month, the 43rd and 37th divisions were involved in the New Georgia campaign. Of the 5 divisions remaining under his control, Admiral Halsey planned to use the fresh and unblooded 3rd Marine division and the Army's 25th division for the invasion. He sought to keep the 2nd marine division and 3rd new zealand division in training for the conquest of Rabaul. Yet things had changed. Because of the intense resistance on New Georgia, the 25th division had to be committed. Then the decision to strike Makin and Tarawa in the Gilbert islands removed the 2nd marine division from Hasley's south pacific area. These changes ultimately dictated he would need a substitution, and it was to be the 37th division, whom had suffered 1100 casualties on New Georgia already. Nevertheless the 37th was in better condition than the 25th. The 3rd marine divisions task went unchanged. Major General Allen Turnage's 3rd Marine division was going to spearhead the invasion of Bougainville, with a launch date set for September. On top of this Halsey had received some reports indicating the Japanese were heavily reinforcing the Shortland Islands. He decided to bypass them and hit the Treasury island and Choiseul. It is also possible Halsey sought to perform these actions hoping to lure out the Japanese fleet into a major engagement. The treasury islands and Choiseul were lightly garrisoned, but held airfields that could be turned against Bougainville. Meanwhile , General MacArthur was planning the next stepping stone towards the Philippines. His overall plan was to break the Bismarcks Barrier through a series of aggressive leaps along the New Guinea-Mindanao axis. New Guinea as we are all quite familiar with by now, is a logistical nightmare. Lush jungles, raging rivers, cold mountains, every time of geographical nightmare was present. Thus to traverse the western landmass of it only on land was not exactly desired. What MacArthur's logistical team sought was to secure the 50 mile expanse of sea lying between New Guinea and New Britain. With that in hand Admiral Barbey's 7th Amphibious force would be able to transport troops along the coast, a significantly easier method than having the poor boys battle through the jungle. Rooke Island split the sea into the Vitiaz Strait and the narrower Dampier Strait. General Wootten's 9th Australian division were currently fighting for control of Vitiaz, but there had been no effort to date to hit the Dampier. MacArthur decided to capture Kavieng and the Admiralty Islands, because they represented enemy aerial threats against his westwards push through New Guinea. Closing in on the end of the year he also planned to amphibious assault Cape Gloucester, the northwestern point of New Britain which commanded the Dampier Strait. In hindsight the wisdom of landing at Cape Gloucester seems rather dubious. It was not necessary to seize the point in order to make use of the Vitiaz or Dampier strait. The Japanese did not have big artillery on the western end of New Britain to command the channel, the islands infrastructure was largely undeveloped. The only way the Japanese could interfere with the allied use of either strait was by torpedo boats, something they did not have many of. There of course was aircraft based on New Britain as well, but that would be neutralised by Kenney's AirSols.  MacArthur planned to have the AirSols hit Rabaul continuously; to seize the Green Islands, the Admiralty Islands and Kavieng. The Western New Britain operation was codenamed Operation Dexterity which would be sub divided into Operations Lazaretto and Backhander. There would be a staggered attack first hitting Gasmata performed by the 2nd battalion, 228th regiment. They would establish an air base in the southern coast of the island, this was operation Lazaretto. Operation Backhander would be the invasion of Cape Gloucester. Some of the landings could be carried out in November, but MacArthur chose to wait until the new airfields were established in the Markham and Ramu valleys as they would provide close air support for the amphibious operations.  On September the 10th, Admiral Hasley sent staff to present his plan for the invasion to Bougainville to MacArthur's staff. Halsey would be surprised to find MacArthur opposed using all their aircraft to strike Rabaul before the invasion of western New Britain. MacArthur proposed instead to continue heavy airstrikes against all Japanese airfields on Bougainville throughout October. Then in late October, Halsey's forces could occupy the Treasury islands and possibly northern Choiseul. Northern Choiseul could provide radar coverage and PT boat bases. On the 1st of November, Halsey's forces could then begin landing on Bougainville to form a beachhead before constructing a new airfield to host the AirSols so they could hit Rabaul just in time to take some pressure off MacArthur's troops advancing in New Guinea and New Britain. Thus MacArthur was determined to make the main goal of the operation not the securance over the entirety of Bougainville, but just a portion of it where an aerodrome could be established then used to batter Rabaul. Halsey was presented two options for his landing site: there was Kieta Harbor sitting on the northeast coast and Empress Augusta Bay on the southwest coast. Kieta seemed the better location from which to launch air strikes against Rabaul. Kieta also held a protected harbor, requiring Halsey's forces to move up the longer outside passage to secure Choiseul first. Empress Augusta Bay was on an exposed side of the island during an approaching monsoon season. It was closer to Rabaul and would only require the securing of the Treasury islands first. After further reconnaissance there was indications airfields could be constructed midway up the west coast of Bougainville at Cape Torokina on Empress Augusta Bay. Halsey chose it for the landing site stating on September 22nd “it's Torokina. Now get on your horses!”  The operation against Cape Torokina was codenamed Cherryblossom and its task was handed to the hero of Guadalcanal, General Vandegrift who formed the plans but it would not be he who lead the operation. Vandegrit was promoted to commandant of the Marines, the first serving marine to become a four star general, he had to depart for Washington. His replacement was Major General Charles Barrett the former commander of the 3rd Marine division. Barret was given command of the 1st Marine Amphibious corps and the responsibility over operation Cherryblossom. His mission statement read “land in the vicinity of Cape Torokina, seize and occupy and defend a beachhead including Torata Island and adjacent island— 3,750 yards west of Cape Torokina—allowing approximately 2,250 yards inland from the beach and 3,600 yards east of Cape Torokina. To prepare and continue the attack in coordination with the 37th Infantry on arrival.” However the mission statement was to be his last major contribution to the war.  On October 8th Barrett accidentally fell from the third floor of the officers quarters at Noumea and suffered a cerebral haemorrhage. He soon died afterwards and was recorded as an accidental death, but there was heavy speculation it was in fact a suicide. Thus the job fell to Major General Roy Geiger, the director of the marine aviation corp in washington. For the naval aspect of the mission Hasley had to do with what he had on hand. He would not be receiving any significant naval reinforcements, because Admiral Nimitz feared that any vessels lent to the 3rd fleet would not be able to come back in time to help with the invasion of the Gilberts. What Halsey could count on was task force 38 commanded by Rear Admiral Frederick Sherman built around carrier Saratoga and later joined by the Princeton; Admiral Merrills task for 39 comprised of cruiser division 12 and destroyer division 23; and Task force 31 commanded by Admiral Wilkinson consisting of three destroyer squadrons, transports and covering ships. It would be Admiral Wilkinson who would bring over the 3rd marine division, the 1st brigade and 3rd New Zealand division to invade the Treasury islands. Rear Admiral George Fort would take the reigns of the first offensive and Wilkinson would looked over the Torokina landings. Wilkinson would have 12 Attack transports and Amphibious cargo ships for the landings, just enough to get every echelon with their equipment over. The 3rd Marine division was reinforced with the 3rd marine defence battalion, the 198th coast artillery, the 2nd provisional marine raider regiment and the 1st marine parachute regiment. After landing at Cape Torokina they would later be reinforced by General Beightlers 37th division. The 29th, 34th and 36th New Zealander battalions of the 8th brigade group led by Brigadier Robert Row would hit the Treasury islands and help establish long range radar stations and a landing craft staging area. There was a final last minute change to the overall plan made by Halsey. They decided not to attempt seizing northern Choiseul but to instead send a marine raiding party around 656-725 men of the US 2nd Parachute battalion led by Lt Colonel Victor Krulak there to persuade the Japanese to divert forces to Choiseul from southern Bougainville.   To support the operation General Kenny's 5th air force would smash the airfields in Rabaul while the AirSols 489 aircraft would hit airfields in and around Bougainville. General Twinning tactics were to harass the Japanese every day, so he launched a total of 158 flights in October, comprising 3259 sorties and land and naval targets in Hahili, Kara, Ballale, Buka, Bonis and Choiseul. The result of this incredible air campaign was 5 Japanese airfields pulverized, 136 enemy aircraft claimed destroyed at the cost of 26 allied aircraft shot down. Meanwhile on October 12th, Kenney launched a raid using 349 aircraft smashing airstrips, shipping and supply dumps. The 6000-ton IJN transport Keisho Maru was sunk alongside two smaller craft. On the 18th 54 B-25's took off from Dobodura, but only caused minor damage. On October the 23rd, 24th and 25th daylight raids consisting of 45 B-242's, 62 B-25's and 61 B-24's respectively managed to shoot down 9 enemy planes, destroyed 25 aircraft on the ground and damaged another 27. On October 29th, he tossed a raid at Vunakanau's airdrome using 41 liberators covered by 75 P-38's and managed to destroy around 10 aircraft. The enemies attention was certainly diverted away from Rabaul. Now the Japanese knew an invasion of Bougainville was coming. They believed the main target of such an offensive would be first against the Shortlands or Kahili. General Kanda's 6th division was deployed to reinforce these places. His 1st battalion, 45th regiment was placed at Kieta, the rd battalion and 4th south sea garrison was sent to reinforce Bougainville while the rest were sent to the Shortland islands. Bougainville was given north/south/east/west sectors garrisoned by numerous forces under Kanda. Admiral Koga also launched Operation RO, a plan devised to strengthen Rabaul. Koga's intelligence indicated the Pacific Fleet was on a warpath, so he decided to take the entire combined fleet from Truk to Eniwetok, which Koga considered a good advance position where he could sortie and annihilate the enemy in a decisive naval battle. The combined fleet stayed a week in the uncomfortable and lonely lagoon until they departed having not found the allied pacific fleet. By October 24th the combined fleet travelled back to Truk while the aircrews of carriers Zuikaku, Shokaku and Zuiho reinforced Rabaul.  82 Zeros, 45 D3As, 40 B5Ns and 6 Yokosuka D4Y reconnaissance planes. 192 trained air crews in total would be in Rabaul by November 1st. They were just in time to intercept one of Kenney's raids consisting of 75 b-25's and 80 p-38s. The Japanese airmen claimed to have downed 9 B-25s, 10 P-38s at the cost of 20 aircraft and 3 small vessels. Koga alerted the 12th air fleet who were in Japan to prepare to head over to Rabaul, but instead of also sending the 8th fleet, he kept them back, still thinking a decisive naval battle would be on the menu soon in the central pacific.  General Sakai's 17th division were transported to New Britain in late september. Their first echelon comprising of the 53rd regiment arrived on october 5th and immediately began to move west to reinforce Cape Gloucester and the 3rd battalion went to northern Bougainville. The remainder of the 17th division would arrive between November 5th and 12th, though the auxiliary cruiser Kurita Maru caring the 1st battalion, 81st regiment was sunk by the USS Grayson. 1087 men, most of the battalion, were lost.  The invasion of the Treasuries codenamed Operation Goodtime. They would establish a staging area, an advanced naval base at Blanche Harbor and a radar station on the north coast of Mono Island. It was hoped the assault on the Treasuries would confused the Japanese as to where the major effort would actually be. At this time there was a short supply of assault forces throughout the Pacific and the Bougainville invasion was mere days away. Thus it was difficult to comprehend why an entire brigade would be used to subdue a tiny enemy garrison on one small island. It has been theorised that Halsey and Vandegrift were reluctant to use some untried New Zealand troops in the more ambitious undertaking, but were also under pressure from their Anzac allies to see some action. For whatever reason the Treasury island operation would be one of the few examples of Allied overkill during the mid Pacific War.  The 8th Brigade had limited shipping available to them. They would have eight destroyer transports, eight LCIs, two LSTs, eight LCMs, three LCTs and two APCs, under the command of Admiral Fort who was using the USS Raton as his flagship. The 34th battalion was going to land on the north side of Stirling Island to secure a nearby airfield; the 29th and 36th battalions would land abreast near Falami Point on southern Mono and Major George Logan D company of the 34th, designated Logan force would land at the mouth of the Soanotalu River to establish a radar station with the help of 20 seabees. The USS Pringle and Philip would perform a bombardment to help. The operation was set into motion on October 27th when the convoy departed guadalcanal and the Russells. George Fort's destroyers approached Blanche Harbor during a storm and began their bombardment. The assault waves raced through the harbor in two columns. As was suspected the 34th met zero resistance, they immediately went to work sending out patrols to make certain if there were any Japanese on the island they would not get to surprise them. Mortars were set up on the nearby Watson island, cool theres an island bearing my name to support the landings on Mono. The landings on Mono met very little resistance, basically just a bunch of surprised Japanese naval troops who offered some half hearted gunfire before withdrawing. The New Zealanders went to work establishing a perimeter as the Japanese began opening fire using mortars which managed to knock out two LST's killing 2 and wounding 30 men. Interesting to note this was the first amphibious assault launched by Kiwi's since the horrible Gallipoli campaign of 1916 and it was the second combat operation undertaken by Kiwi's during the Pacific War. The real resistance would come in the form of a air raid consisting of 25 vals who bombed the beachhead and support ships. The destroyers Cony  took two hits; eight crewmen were killed and ten wounded. An allied fighter patrol managed to shoot down 12 vals during the raid. To their north, the Logan force faced no difficult landing at the mouth of the Soanotalu river. They quickly formed a 150 yard perimeter and began working on the radar station. By the end of the day, all but one LST had successfully unloaded and cleared Blanche harbor, however during the night the New Zealanders tossed back numerous counter attacks, particular around the Saveke river. By the 28th the Japanese survivors were retreating north in the hope of escaping to Bougainville, but along the way they ran into the Logan Force. On October 29th during the late afternoon, 20 Japanese attacked the western part of the Logan Forces perimeter. They were easily beaten off with mortars and rifle fire, leaving 5 dead Japanese behind. The next day saw some intermittent firing against concealed Japanese. Scouts eventually figured out there was a larger number of Japanese to the west of the perimeter, but the area between Soanotalu and Malasi was clear of the enemy.  November began with the rest of the brigade coming over. The radar station was already up and running and the Logan Force had built themselves a small blockhouse near the landing barge. That said blockhouse immediately became the objective of the Japanese, since it represented the only hope of them escaping the island. As Brigadier Row's men began to occupy the central and northern parts of Mono, the Japanese began to infiltrate the Logan Forces perimeter. On the night of November 1st, the main breech was made across the News Zealanders line. A ton of Japanese had infiltrated the lines and managed to cut telephone wires from the blockhouse to the company HQ. Soon after this was accomplished a concerted attack was made against the blockhouse. 6 New Zealanders and 3 Americans defended it. They had automatic weapons, some 50 and 30 cal machine guns, but they were soon put out of action by the attacking Japanese who could have numbered between 70-100 men. The fight for the blockhouse would continue until dawn, with the surviving defenders beating off numerous attacks, mainly by tossing grenades. Captain Kirk, Sergeant DD Hannafin were both killed during the fight. Command of the blockhouse then fell to a cook of D Company, Private J.E Smith. By daybreak the Japanese finally were beaten off as the 3 remaining survivors were all wounded. 26 Japanese had been killed trying to overrun the blockhouse and seize the landing craft. Elsewhere across the perimeter the Japanese attacked throughout the night seeing another 15 dead Japanese in the western section and 9 in the east. It was to be there best chance at taking the blockhouse, for the next few days their attacks were much smaller and by November 4th, New Zealander patrols were fanning out and killing or capturing stragglers. The last significant action on Mono would be on November 6th when a dozen Japanese were routed from a cave during a two hour firefight east of Soanatalu. Operation Goodtime resulted in the annihilation of a Japanese garrison roughly 200 men strong, but it came at a cost. 40 New Zealanders and 12 Americans were killed with 174 wounded. The allies got their supply bases and radar station. Over on Choiseul, Operation Blissful was about to kick off. In an attempt to make the Japanese believe the Shortland islands were the target for their offensive, General Vandegrift tossed Lt Colonel Victor Krulaks 2nd Parachute battalion, roughly 656 men at a beach near the village of Voza. On October 27th the men and their equipment were loaded onto 8 LCMS and during the night the paratroopers were transferred over to four destroyer transports, the Kilty, Ward, Crosby and McKean, the same ships that had just been used to transport the New Zealanders for Operation Goodtime. Forts destroyers provided escort as the Paramarine landed at Voza shortly after midnight without any resistance. During the morning of the 28th they began unloading supplies from landing crafts that had been concealed on a smaller island offshore. Once landed they carried them up a narrow trail leading from the beach a mile northwest of Voza upon some high ground which would be their first base camp. Nearly a hundred friendly natives helped the marines carry the equipment up the beach and they also helped guide the men. Allied radio broadcasting finally alerted the Japanese to the imminent danger to southern Bougainville as Krulaks men began establishing their perimeter. The morning of the 29th brought an enemy strafing attack upon them and the native guides reported to Krulak that there was a barge staging base at Sangigai, the main Japanese position on Choiseul bay, garrisoned by around 150 men. Krulak decided that was to be the first objective, he sent out patrols going north and south. In the north Lt Averill with the help of native guides discover considerable evidence of the Japanese presence, abandoned equipment and rations, but no Japanese. In the south two patrols scouted the Japanese base near Sangigai. Krulak led one of the patrols personally and managed to surprise some Japanese who were unloading a barge. They killed 7 Japanese and sunk the barge before pulling out. The other patrol group ran into a Japanese platoon and got into a skirmish seeing another 7 dead Japanese. Thus Krulak got his confirmation there indeed was a Japanese base at Sangigai.  Early on the 30th, Krulak requested an air strike at it arrived at 6am. 12 Avengers with 26 fighter escorts hit Sangigai. Unfortunately some of the planes mistook the marines at Voza for the enemy and strafed them as well. No marines were killed but one of their boats was sunk, that Krulak had planned to use. As a result of the boat getting sunk, Companies E and 5 departed Voza overland to hit Sangigai. A Japanese outpost along the Vagara river opened fire on the paratroopers, but was easily overwhelmed. Krulak then divided his forces to perform a two pronged assault. Company E led by Captain Robert Manchester would advance along the coastline to hit the Japanese from the north, while Krulak with Company F would move inland to hit them from the rear.  Company E quickly advanced along the coast and began shelling the town with mortars and rockets during the afternoon, only to find out it was abandoned. The Japanese had taken up a new position on some high grounder in the interior. So the paramarines began destroying and looting the village. Meanwhile company F were advancing through rough terrain to try and secure some high ground near Sangigai where the retreating Japanese were just passing through. The Japanese literally walked right into F company and a hour long fight broke out. The Japanese outnumbered F company and as Krulak would later report “the outcome appeared to be in question, until the Japs destroyed their chances by an uncoordinated banzai charge which was badly cut up by our machine guns. Seventy-two Japs were killed and an undetermined number wounded. Marine losses were 6 killed, 1 missing and 12 wounded." The marines had 6 deaths, 12 wounded and one man missing. Krulak was wounded as well as F companies commander Spencer Pratt. The Japanese suffered a devastating 72 casualties Back over at E company after plundering the village they came across some documents  and Krulak reported "The one that fascinated me, it was a chart that portrayed the minefields around southern Bougainville. When I reported this, the night after the Sangigai attack, I saw my first flash message. I had never seen one before. It came back and said, "Transmit at once the coordinates of the limits of the minefields and all channels as shown going through it." So we laboriously encoded the critical locations and sent them off. To an armada going into that area this is not incidental information. This is necessary information. Halsey in true Halsey fashion was not satisfied to know where the minefields were; he, before the Torokina landings, sent in a minelayer there and dropped mines in the entrance ways to those channels and they got two Japanese ships.” E company then retired to the Vagara river and was later evacuated by boat back to the Voza area. F company followed suite but was delayed by the heavy engagement they had. The men stayed to bury their dead. The friendly natives reported a Japanese concentration to the north near the Warrior River, so Krulak sent a strong patrol up by boat to check it out. On November 1, the large patrol of 87 paratroopers from Company G,  led by Major Warner Bigger, headed north by landing craft towards Nukiki with orders "destroy the southern outposts of CHOISEUL BAY, and if possible to shell the Jap supply depot on GUPPY ISLAND." Major Bigger began an overland march along the eastern bank of the river and after crossing the warrior, their native guides became lost so they all had to bivouac for the night. In the early morning of November 2nd, Biggers men found themselves surrounded by Japanese who began infiltrating their perimeter from the rear. Bigger had the men continue north along the beach where the surprise attacked a small enemy outpost of 4 men. They managed to kill 3 of 4, but the last man ran away, thus the element of surprise was gone. Bigger knew the jig was up he could not hope to attack the main objective so instead he ordered the men to go shell Guppy island.  G Company setup some 60mm mortars in the water and fired 143 rounds at the island setting up two large fires, one looked to have hit a fuel dump. The Japanese were taken by surprise there and only offered resistance in the form of some poorly directed machine gun bursts. On the way back G company had to fight their way through because of the infiltrators. Krulak was notified of the situation and alerted a PT boat base at Vella Lavella. Lt Arthur Berndtson had 5 PT boats under his command there, 2 were already assigned to other missions, another was under repair. PT 59 only had ⅓ tanks worth of fuel, but her commander, Lt John F Kennedy, yes he is back in action, agreed to rescue the boys. Kennedy believed he had enough fuel to get to Choiseul and another boat could tow them back to base. Despite overheating the engines, at around 9:30 PT 59 escorted a small convoy to Voza and Bigger's men were off loaded. The PT-59 ran out of fuel on the return trip down the slot and was towed back to Lambu Lambu Cove. By this point the landings at Cape Torokina had been carried out, so a diversion was not really needed anymore. Furthermore the Japanese were moving in on the base camp from all directions. On the night of November 3rd, just in the nick of time, 3 LCIs from Vella Lavella arrived to successfully load Krulaks paratroopers and got them out of there before dawn of the 4th. The Paratroopers had been outnumbered 6-1. They managed to kill an estimated 143 Japanese, destroyed a major staging base at Sangigai, sunk two barges and destroyed a considerable amount of enemy fuel and supplies on Guppy island. The cost was 13 dead and 13 wounded. Krulaks after action report mentioned evidence that the Japanese had sent reinforcements from the Shortland islands to counter the Choiseul operation. On November 1st, the day of the Cape Torokina landings, the Japanese had sent a large bomer force south to Choiseul hunting a reported Task Force. The Japanese found nothing, and by the time they diverted back to Empress Augusta Bay, the landings were done, American fighters were ready to deal with them. It seems the Japanese had been greatly confused from all the activity around Bougainville, particularly from many intercepted messages. Its hard to say how successful the Choiseul raid actually was. It's possible the Japanese fell for the diversion, but no one really knows. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The diversionary raids may or may not have had an effect on the landings at Cape Torokina. Regardless the multiple operations were all successful and the Japanese seemed none the wiser. Now the stranglehold over Bougainville would begin.

Nelson's Green Brier Distillery was once Tennessee's largest distillery in pre-Prohibition times. The great-great-great grandsons of Charles Nelson revived the family business in downtown Nashville, and have been making Tennessee whiskey along with sourced Bourbons and now, a Rye Whiskey. The distillery underwent a major expansion recently, and we'll talk with co-founder Andy Nelson on this week's WhiskyCast In-Depth. In the news, time is running short to avoid a return to Europe's import tariffs on American whiskies, while a new Wild Turkey Bourbon features something different…three generations of Russells on the label. 

Last time we spoke about operation Se-Go and the continued drive on Finschhafen. The evacuation of Kolombangara, designated operation Se-Go showcased how the Japanese were becoming experts at large scale evacuations. Nearly 10,000 men were safely evacuated from Kolombangara at the cost of some barges. Then in New Guinea, the Allies became aware the taking of Finschhafen was not going to be a cake walk. In fact Wootten sent word to the other commanders that he believed he was facing the full 20th division at Finschhafen. The other commanders were sending their men through the Ramu and Markham valleys finding rearguards everywhere they looked. Rivers and ridges were being taken at a quick pace and Finschhafen was technically seized, but certainly not secured. Now the allies would have to attack the stronghold of Sattelberg. And Today we are going to see some action upon land and sea. This episode is the naval battle of Vella Lavella 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 Japanese had accomplished another astounding evacuation, managing to pull out nearly 10,000 men from the marooned and isolated Kolombangara. They managed this with limited craft and boldly under the nose of the enemy who enjoyed superiority over land, air and sea. Yet as you can imagine this certainly showcases how the tide of the war in the south pacific had decisively turned. Japanese naval operations were becoming increasingly concerned with evacuating troops as their positions grew hopeless. The campaign for the central solomons was falling apart for Japan, the invasion of Bougainville was imminent. However because of the evacuation of Kolombangara, one of its results would be the establishment of a staging base for barges and landing craft over at Horaniu, the northeast shore of Vella Lavella.  Now in  last episode we spoke about the actions of the Tsuruya unit who were busy delaying Brigadier Potter's New Zealander forces. The Japanese had their backs against the wall at Marquana Bay, holding by just a threat. They had little food or ammunition left with no possibility of re-supply or reinforcements. Despite insufficient resources, Admiral Samejima was determined to rescue the doomed Tsuruya unit. Samejima managed to convince Admiral Kusaka to carry out yet another evacuation, this time of Vella Lavella, slated for the night of October 6th. Before dawn on the 6th, Admiral Ijuin departed Rabaul with 9 destroyers divided into three groups. The first group led by Admiral Ijuin consisted of the Akigumo, Isokaze, Kazagumo and Yugumo. The 2nd group led by Captain Kanaoka Kunizo was aboard Fumizuki accompanied by Yunagi and Matsukaze and a transport unit of 6 barges, 30 folding boats and the transport Usaka Maru. The third group was led by Captain Hara Tameichi aboard the Shigure with Samidare as backup. A fourth group led by Commander Nakayama Shigoroku consisting of 5 subchasers, 3 vedettes and a barge would also depart Buin to help. Ijuin was to be the strike unit, Kanaoka the transport unit and Hara the Guard unit. Ijuin planned to have Kanaoka and Hara standing off Marquana Bay supported by the incoming 4th unit led by Shigoroku. Further support would be given in the form of 8 floatplanes that would try to bomb Potter's men with 20 zeros providing air cover.  During the morning of the 6th, Admiral Wilkinson received reports the Japanese might be attempting an evacuation of Choiseul. At that time his 10th echelon was underway transporting the IMAC advance base to Vella Lavella, leaving the only available force Captain Frank Walker with destroyers Selfridge, Chevalier and O'Bannon. Walker was just returning from a run up the slot passing by the Russells on his way home. Wilkinson sent word to Walker to pay specific attention to the coast of Choiseul as he passed around. During that afternoon, Admiral Halsey sent an alert to Wilkinson that the Tokyo Express was definitely about to make a run, but it was not to Choisuel, instead it was to Marquana bay. Wilkinson dispatched 3 destroyers from the 10th echelon, Ralph Talbot, Taylor and LaVallete with Commander Harold Larson to reinforce Walker around Sauka point to try and intercept the Japanese. Shortly after sending the orders, Walk received further intelligence. At 7:30pm he learnt that an unknown number of destroyers, 3 torpedo boats and 6 subchasers were enroute, expected to be in the area by 10:30 with an embarkation time of 11:30. At 9:02 he was told that possibly 9 destroyers were coming. A few minutes later another report passed on by some B-25's attacking buin stated they spotted 4 IJN destroyers or possibly Jintsu-class cruisers. Thus pretty uncertain of what was actually out there, Walker's crews were warned to expect the worse and they would sound General Quarters by 7pm. 40 minutes later the 938th seaplanes began harassing them. At 9:50 Walker announced over the TBS “When we round the corner close the gap and be ready for anything. I want to get the fish off without guns if possible.” Wilkinson's reinforcements only made it to the rendezvous point by 11:40, leading Walker to have to start the battle alone. Since the days of John Paul Jones, American naval lore had honored and applauded commanders who unleashed bold attacks on superior enemy forces, but in this case Walker would prove to be too rash.  Walker took his force around the north coast of Vella Lavella that night and began scouting the area finding no sign of the enemy. Meanwhile Ijuins strike force followed by Hara and Kanaoka proceeded to their staging point arrived at 10pm. Minutes later a scout plan reported 4 cruisers and 3 destroyers northeast of Vella Lavella on a western course. The plane most certainly saw the Selfridge, Chevalier and O'Bannon coming up the slot but mistook them as cruisers. Ijuin ordered Konaoka to take his group west towards the Shortlands while he and Hara turned back to meet the enemy. However Hara's force were a bit further west and having difficulty due to mist causing lack of visibility. at 10:30 the Americans made their first radar contact of the enemy and 5 minutes later lookouts aboard the Kazagumo sighted the Americans to their south. Consequently, Ijuin had just turned to port heading southwest to cross Walker's bows, but he misjudged the distance and instead opened the range. Walker responded by increasing his forces speed to 30 knots to try and head off the enemy. Upon seeing this, Ijuin changed his course at 10:45 to south-southeast to close the range, then at 10:48 ordered a 45 degree turn south. These maneuvers actually worked to the Americans advantage, and upon seeing he was presenting an easier target, Ijuin ordered another simultaneous turn to port which staggered his ships in line abreast on a course opposite and nearly parallel to Walker with their range rapidly closing. The maneuvering blunder allowed the Americans to pull up to the nearest group of 4 IJN destroyers and launch a half salvo of torpedoes. Most of the torpedoes were fired at the Yagumo which was being mistaken as a possible cruiser. Commander Osako Higashi aboard the Yagumo ordered 8 torpedoes to be launched before the guns began to fire. The Americans opened fire with their guns after the torpedoes turning Yagumo into a burning wreck quickly. Ijuin tried to course correct again going south then west.  But by this point, Hara had just made it to the battle at 11:01 the Americans saw his forces to their southwest and closed in to engage. This put Hara ahead and parallel to Walker giving the Americans the perfect position to launch another salvo of torpedoes. At the same time one of Yagumo's torpedoes hit Chevalier detonating her No 2 Gun Magazine, blowing the ship in two. Her brigade and aft section swung across O'Bannon's path forcing O'Bannon to ram into her starboard engine room. The force of the collision was mitigated by Commander Donald MacDonald who ordered an emergency full speed astern when he saw the explosion on Chevalier. Two minutes later a torpedo, most likely fired from Chevalier, hit Yagumo. At 11:06, one of Hara's destroyers landed a torpedo hit on the Selfridge, shearing off her bow and wrecking everything from the bridge forward. In just 5 minutes, 104 American sailors were dead and 66 were wounded. Both sides continued the brawl, at 11:17 Ijuin still taking a westward course, ordered torpedoes to be fired at what he thought were cruisers, probably the O'Bannon and Chevalier. He received a claim that one was sunk, so he decided to break off the battle and head for home. Meanwhile Geoerge Peckham aboard the Selfridge believed he had been hit by torpedo boats and wildly ordered men to track where they might be. It was an age old naval case of both sides fighting ghosts ships basically. Meanwhile Commander Nakayama's group began to approach Marquana bay from the north and Wilkinsons reinforcements group led by Larson were arriving from the south as well. At 10:55 Larson had received ordered from Walker to execute “William” which was the codename for torpedoes and “dog” was naval gunfire. Larsons group passed Yagumo who was undergoing her death throes and by 11:40 the group was in the battle area. Larson could not make out a contact on enemy ships and by midnight simply headed for Marquana bay, seeing nothing but crippled ships. Chevalier was beyond saving so she was scuttled, Selfridge was able to be repaired by 3:15am and would make a slow but safe journey home. Walker notified COMAIRSOLS they needed air cover as Nakayama's group passed east of the battle area but did not engage. Japanese barges began to load men as the 938ht floatplane harassed the New Zealanders artillery. Many New Zealanders reported hearing naval gunfire and what sounded like barges scraping against reefs. By 3:10am, Nakayama left for Buin with all 589 men of the Tsuruya unit. The Americans captured 74 survivors of the Yagumo who were marooned at Biloa, while 27 others would make their way to Buin using motorized whaleboats. Ijuin had lost 179 men dead with 74 captured. On October 8th, Potter's men determined the Japanese were indeed gone so they began occupying Marquana bay. Thus ended the battle of Vella Lavella.  The 1st battalion, 27th regiment landed at Ringi Cover on southern Kolombangara on October 6th finding 49 abandoned artillery pieces and some scattered Japanese who had been left behind. By October 15th Admiral Hasley declared operation Toenails terminated. Two days prior the Japanese had likewise terminated operation Se-go. Admiral Samejima would be forced to carry the blame for the loss of the central solomons. He went on the record to say this “The relations between the Army and Navy units in this area were extremely harmonious and satisfactory, and the foregoing is due to the character and judgment of Maj-Gen. Sasaki and Rear Admiral Ōta. However, because of my inexperience in commanding land operations, there were times when I failed to dispatch appropriate orders to Maj-Gen. Sasaki in conducting our operations. And the fact that there is evidence that I left the operations up to the arbitrary decisions of Maj-Gen. Sasaki to some degree clearly reveals the folly of placing a Naval Commander like me in charge of land operations involving Army and Navy units.” In the end his forces managed to hold back the enemy for nearly two months and he had pulled off a pretty incredible evacuation. Operation Toenails was a success for the allies managing to secure 4 new airbases at Munda, Segi, Ondonga and Barakoma. These acquisitions would have a huge impact on future campaigns against Bougainville and Rabaul. Admiral Halsey would receive some criticism for underestimating both the terrain and enemy during operation Toenails. Major General Harmon went on the record to say “Munda is a tough nut –much tougher in terrain, organization of the ground and determination of the Jap than we had thought,.  The Japanese agreed; an intelligence report dated 11 August stated that the “reasons for the slow advance of the enemy in Munda, etc, are due to the courage of our forces and the difficult fighting in the jungle.” The allies learned some important lessons such as the necessity of adequate medial support; the implementation of effective evacuation procedures; close air support for ground troops; the effectiveness of naval gunfire support or lack thereof it; and the 3 most effective weapons against the Japanese; the 155mm gun, tanks and dive bombers. These 3 weapons would be put into effect on Bougainville. The central solomons campaign saw 995 US Army, 192 marine and 500 US navy death with 4407 wounded. The New Zealanders and Fijians received 200 casualties. For the Japanese it was estimated 4000 died with 4500 wounded. Now we need to head over to New Guinea. General Vasey's men were preparing for an assault against Dumpu, while being harassed by the infilitration specialists of the Saito Unit. The Saito units had performed infilitrations against Dakisaria and Marawasa. On October 2nd, while the bulk of the 21st and 25th brigades were establishing bridgeheads to cross the Gusap and Tunkaat river. The 2/7th independent company at this time were trying to cross the Ramu into Kaigulin where a Japanese outpost was. The outpost was guarded by the Saito unit, 80 men of the 10th company, 78th regiment supported by the 3rd company. The Saito unit gave them hell, forcing the commandos to cross the Ramu elsewhere trying to hook around their right flank. They managed to pull the flanking maneuver and in the battle killed 6 Japanese. Interestingly Lt R.D Watts decapitated a Japanese using a katana he had acquired in a previous battle, a case of the turntables. I am now realizing when I make this dumb joke many of you might not have watched the office, I must sound even dumber than I am. The following day, Brigadier Dougherty ordered his men to only patrol as he was waiting for Brigadier Eather's forces to assemble in the Bumbum area. Yes, there is a place called Bumbum, I thought Nuk Nuk would be my favorite New Guinea area, I was wrong.  On the morning of October 4th, Dougherty ordered the 2/14th towards Wampun and the 2/16th to capture Dumpu. By 2pm, Captain C.L McInnes lead a company of the 2/14th to find Wampun deserted which was expected. However the men had marched all day in the heat, without any water. McInnes company was sent to Karam to search for water. Another company followed McInnes company soon after and a mile or so out they came across a banana plantation. They saw some troops cutting down banana leaves and assumed it was McInnes men, however these were actually Japanese of the Saito Unit. The forward patrol were carelessly advancing towards the banana plantation when bursts of machine gun and rifle fire hit Colonel Honner and Sergeant Pryor. Pyror wounded in his chin and chest tried to drag his commanding officer back, but Honnor had taken a shot to the leg and could only crawl. Honnor began screaming to his men to figure out the position of the enemy and this led Private Bennet to lead a small party to do so. The Japanese continued to fire upon them and Honnor was hit in his hand to add to his misery. Luckily for them the 2/14th sent a rescue party to extricate Honnor. Honnor was moved to safety by 5pm as Colonel O'Day prepared to attack the Japanese at the banana planation. At 6pm O'day led two platoons to rush their position where they killed 11 troops and a Japanese officers, driving the rest to flee into the jungle. The next morning they would also kill a few stragglers, the action cost 7 australian lives of the 2/14th while killing an estimated 26 Japanese and taking a single prisoner. Meanwhile the 2/16th had successfully crossed the Surinam River without facing any opposition. They sent a platoon ahead led by Lt Scott to check out Dumpu. At 4:40pm he reported back that it seemed Dumpu was still occupied. Major Symington led forward a company to prepare to attack Dumpu, but when they reached its outskirts they could visibly see Japanese fleeing the area. Thus Dougherty's men grabbed Dumpu without a fight. General Vasey believed 78th regiment had failed to relieve pressure on the retreating 51st division, but unbeknownst to him, General Nakano's men were already marching through the formidable Saruwaged range. The range had an altitude of 3000 meters where temperatures fell below 10 degrees. Anyone who tried to start a fire from the moss-covered wood would find it unbelievably difficult. Many men reported heating gunpowder from rifles to start fires. A lot of rifles were burnt away because of this. Their rations ran out quickly, leading to starving men turning upon the dead….and even the living. Private Kitamoto Masamich recalled “seeing three soldiers had pinned a trooper to the ground while one of them stabbed him in the heart with his bayonet. I watched shocked as the remaining three soldiers cut slices of the dead trooper's thigh and began to devour the human flesh. I shouted at them as flies swarmed about their faces… They had become mad with hunger and fatigue.' Kitamoto covered the corpse and moved on. Cannibalism reared its ugly head often for the Japanese, particularly in some parts of Burma by late 1945.  Until now the 7th division was enjoying a pretty uninterrupted advance to Dumpu. The Benabena was pretty secure as well, but General Nakai was establishing strong defensive positions along the Kankirei saddle. This would soon turn the campaign in the Ramu valley and Finisterre range into a gritty holding operation. In the meantime, the allies were being directed towards the FInschhafen campaign, with General Herring ordering Vasey to hold the Dumpu-Marawasa area. There he was to establish a new landing strip at Dumpu and to not make any large advances. Only the 2/27th battalion of Lt Colonel John Bishop would be allowed to advance into the Finisterre foothills. Dougherty hoped the 2/27th might reach Kumbarum within the Finisterre foothills and during a torrential rainstorm they overran the area with no opposition. Bishops men patrolled around and found the enemy was occupying the key feature guarding the exists of the Faria and Uria rivers from some mountains northwest of Kumbarum. Under the cover of rain, Lt King took 8 men to scramble up the feature which panicked the Japanese there causing them to flee without a fight. Thus it was named King's Hill and would become an important tactical position and observation post. Apparently Kings men had come up just when two battalions were changing their troops dispositions, and a platoon guarding King's Hill had retired before even seeing the allied forces. Regardless a company was sent to the Boganon mountain area, that rose some 41000 feet. The torrential rain caused a ton of delays for the construction of the new landing strip. In the meantime the 21st brigade patrolled as much as they could. The 2/16th and 2/14th patrolled west of the Mosia river finding no enemy. On the 6th, the 25th brigade sent patrols in all directions north of the Ramu Valley. They found signs of the enemy recently leaving the Boparimpum area; the same at Koram. Just a bit north of Koram, it looked like there was a Japanese outpost on some high ground. Patrols took care near this outpost as it was expected Japanese snipers were there, but when further prodded it seemed abandoned. The 2/2nd independent company patrolled the area of Sepu towards the Waimeriba crossing of the Ramu finding only signs the enemy had recently vacated the area. A small patrol skirmished with the enemy between Saus and Usini. Kesawai would be found unoccupied on the 5th. Overall it was concluded the Japanese had abandoned the Ramu Valley entirely.  On the 6th, Generals Vasey and Wootten received a signal that the 2/2nd, 2/4th, 2/6th and 2/7th independent companies would become cavalry commando squadrons which did not sit well with the experienced commandos. Since the beginning of 1943, the term “commando” had been increasingly used to describe a member of an independent company. The term was quite alien to the Australian Army, and the tasks undertaken by independent companies since the beginning of the pacific war were not at all like that of what British commandos did. In the short space of two years, the independent companies had built up a proud tradition  and the men regarded the term “independent company” as a much better description of what they did than the terms “cavalry” or “commando” and thus resented the change of title. The next day, Dougherty's 2/16th battalion occupied Bebei and the 2/27th battalion cautiously investigated the upper reaches of the Uria and Faria river valleys. When the men went past the Faria river towards some high ground they suddenly came across a party of 8 Japanese. A fight broke out as they killed 3 of the 8 Japanese receiving no casualties themselves. The Japanese looked to be withdrawing and the Australians dug in for the night in a place designated Guy's Post atop Buff's Knoll. These prodding actions prompted Nakai to order the 2nd battalion, 78th regiment to launch a counterattack against Buff's Knoll. An hour after midnight during a particularly rainy night, a Japanese platoon charged up the knoll. The first attack lasted about half and hour before petering out. The Australian company consolidated around Guy's Post established a defensive perimeter through out the night. However the night attack ultimately failed for the Japanese as they were not familiar with the terrain and the heavy rain made a mess of their advance. On the morning of October 8th, the Japanese tried to push again while the 2/27th consolidated their position in the Faria area. The Japanese barely budged the Australians and on October 9th, Colonel Bishop ordered the company to advance forward astride the main Japanese route going east towards the Kankiryo saddle. The man at Guy's Post followed them an hour or so behind as they skirmished with Japanese towards Trevors ridge and John's knoll. They would kill roughly 11 Japanese as they occupied both Trevors ridge and Johns knoll. Yet this is all for today on New Guinea as we are going to travel back to the CBI theater who we have not talked about in some time. Going way back to 1942, the Japanese empire had been at its zenith forcing the allies to come up with some special operations such as the Chindits. Our old onion necklace wearing friend Brigadier Wingate was running that show, but General Blamey also created his “inter-allied Services Department” known as the ISD. They were a military intelligence unit formed around several British special operations officers who had escaped Singapore before it hell. Inside the ISD later named the Services Reconnaissance Department, a raiding/commando unit was formed called the Z special unit. They were primarily Australian, but also held some British, Dutch, New Zealander, Timorese and Indonesian members. After escaping places like Singapore, and Sumatra, British Captain Ivan Lyon joined the units and became one of their leaders. He devised a plan to attack Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbor. His plan designated Operation Jaywick, called for traversing to the harbor in a vessel disguised as an Asian fishing boat. Then they were to use folboats or folding canoes to get over to enemy ships and attach limpet mines to them. Lyon was promoted to Major and began rigorous training 17th volunteers at Camp X,  a clifftop overlooking Refuge Bay to the north of Sydney. The men worked for weeks digging, breaking rock and clearing scrub around the campsite and parade ground, which worked as prelude to the long, and progressively longer days they would spent canoeing. There were plenty of route marches across rocky hills which Lyon said “consisted of point-to-point walking or scrambling, compass work, stalking and attacks'. The men were tested on elementary navigation, chart reading, tide tables, visual signaling with semaphore and morse and the use of prismatic compasses on land and sea. They trained using a variety of weapons such as Owen sub machine guns, Brens, Lewis guns, all with the view to shoot down enemy aircraft. The practiced unarmed combat, grenade tossing, limpet mining and gelignite. They also received numerous lectures on ship engines. By early 1943, the 17 men had been reduced to 10. They were then given a captured Japanese coastal fish carrier named the Krait which was powered by a Deutz four cylinder engine, had a beam of 11 feet and a range of 8000 miles with a max speed of 6.5 knots. They modified  the vessel to increase her storage capacity. On August 4th, the Krait departed Cairns en route to the submarine base at Exmouth Gulf on the northwest corner of Australia. On September 2nd, Lyon's commandos began their long and dangerous voyage sailing through the Lombok strait to Singapore. None of the men knew about the plan prior to the attack nor their destination.  It was on the third day that Lyon gathered the men to disclose the truth. ‘He said, “Righto, do you know where we're going?”'Some of the men said they believed it was Surabaya in East Java. After Lyon revealed their destination, Moss Berryman recalled ‘They couldn't believe it when they were told they were going to Singapore “to blow up a few ships”'Lyon could see one or two of the men were stunned at the thought of going so deep inside enemy territory. Jones recalled ‘Nobody expected to be going that far and there was sort of talk about how dangerous it was,'. Lyon reassured the men that wasn't the case. ‘This is not a dangerous trip, it's an experience.' But for anyone who didn't fancy it, Lyon said he understood and he would ‘drop you off at the first island we come to and if you're there when we come back we'll pick you up'. It was a smart psychological play as he knew on one would dare lose face in front of his mates. Lyon stared at their faces and they returned his gaze. No one moved. They were all fully committed. Their safety depending on maintaining the disguise of a local fishing boat, so the raiders stained their skin brown with dye to appear more Asiatic, I guess its sort of like the prime minister of my country on Halloween. Cramped on the Krait, the commandos reached the Java sea and passed the south west corner or Borneo getting 50 miles off her coast by September 14th. The enemy's high activity in the area forced Lyon to detour towards Panjang island with the intention of making their way to Durian island. Yet when they approached Durian island they spotted a observation post so they turned back to Panjang which lies approximately 25 miles south of Singapore.  On september 20th, 6 men on 3 canoes carrying 9 limpet mines each departed the Krait enroute to Singapore harbor. The raiders passed through Bulan and the Batam islands on september 22nd, reaching Donas island the next day. On the 24th Lyon sighted 13 sizable ships in the harbor, so he told the men they would be hitting them that night. Lyon distributed cyanide pills to all the men and told them ‘I leave it up to yourselves to decide what you want to do. But I can tell you now that if you get caught you won't have a very good time of it. They're not known for being gentlemen, the Japanese. Don't delude yourselves in thinking you are tough enough to resist interrogation. You could be tortured enough to give away the whole story. You may not be able to do anything about it. Above all, they had to think of their mates on the Krait. If they fell into enemy hands, the Japanese would want to know how we arrived in Singapore' The men rowed through the capricious tide, but it soon forced them back towards Dongas, instead they moved to Suber island the next day. On the night of september 26th, Lyon's raiders departed again, Canoe 1 held Lyon and Huston; Canoe 2 Davidson and falls and Canoe 3 Page and jones. Canoe 2 would hit the north shipping in Keppel Harbor while 1 and 3 would hit examination anchorage and the wharf at Pulau Bukon. Canoe 2 had the strongest men and was given the additional task of returning to Pompong to rendezvous with the Krait  Canoe 2 steered through an anchored ketch on the edge of the main channel, continuing between the islands of Biakang Mati and Tekukor. They arrived to Keppel Harbor and set their sights on a 6000 ton cargo ship sitting low in the water, indicating she had a full load. The found a second target, also a 6000 ton cargo vessel and a third ship of similar proportions, though the last looked not fully loaded. At 1:15am they attached the last of their 9 limpet mines, 3 per ship and made their escape towards Panjang.  The other two canoes had a much easier paddle from Subar. The tide was running east to west, allowing them to go with ease to their target. The paddled together until 9:30 when they separated. At Pulau Bukom an older freighter was mined amidship and around the engine rooms. Then they spotted a modern freighter with engines after and 3 sets of goalpost masts and another 6000 ton old freighter. Over in Examination Anchorage nothing suitable was found, so the raiders mined a tanker even though it was probably impossible to sink with mines. All 4 ships were mined, the men ate some chocolate rations and made their escape towards Dongas. The ships combined comprised around 39000 tons between them. On the way back, the exhausted commandos heard the distant explosions and the chaos that erupted in Singapore. When dawn broke, in Examination anchorage one ship was partially submerged, while two more would sink and 3 were heavily damaged including the tanker Shosei Mary. Canoe 2 and 3 waited until the commotion died down before returning to Panjang, reuniting with everyone aboard the Krait by October 2nd. Their return back to Australia was relatively uneventful, except for one tense incident in the Lombok strait when a IJN minesweeper approached their ship. The commandos remained cool and the minesweeper simply carried on.   The Japanese would retaliate for what happened during Operation Jaywick. On October 10th, the Kempeitai, those are military police of the IJA for those of you who dont know, you can sort of picture the Gestapo, but not quite the same. They went to Changi Prison in Singapore and began reading out a list of civilian names. These named men were taken away for interrogation, torture and in many cases execution. Over the course of 6 months, 50 Europeans and Australians suffered a brutal inquisition. They were beaten with knotted ropes, electrically shocked, had nails driven into the feet, the old cigarettes burnt onto their hands, arms and on their genitals ouch. They were waterboarded and in total 16 men would die. But no credible information was taken from any of them. The Japanese were far more brutal to the Malays and Chinese. Countless were tortured, interrogated and many executed with their severed heads put on posts around the city. After it was all said and done the Kempeitai filled a report speculating the raid had been carried out by two chinese and one Malay. They didn't believe it and their superiors did not either. The 6 months of horror is known as the Double Tenth Massacre.   There was another unit formed known as the M special Unit, which was a joint Australian, New Zealand, Dutch and British reconnaissance unit formed as a successor to the Coastwatchers. Their role was to gather intelligence on Japanese shipping and troop movements. To do this, small teams were landed behind enemy lines by sea, air and land. One of their first operations was Locust led by Lt Jack Fryer. A group of 4 men departed Benabena overland on January 21st and advance to Lumi airstrip. They formed a base camp thee and began observing the Japanese. In conjunction to Locust was operation Whiting, which was a team of 5 Dutchmen led by Sergeant Huibert Staverman who also departed Benabena to establish a coast-watching station in the hills above Hollandia, reaching Aitape by mid september. Unfortunately the operation would be a catastrophe as the Dutch were ambushed around Aitape. Sergeant Staverman, Corporal D.J Topman, privates H Pattiwal, M Reharing and radio operator Sergeant Len Siffleet were publicly executed at Eitape beach on October 24th of 1943.   Another important development was the Japanese seizure of Macau. Unlike the case of Portuguese held Timor taken in 1942, the Japanese has respected Portuguese neutrality in Macau. However there was a huge influx of Chinese, American and European refugees coming from Guangdong and Hong Kong and this aroused Japanese suspicions. After the fall of Hong Kong, the British had established a clandestine support organization inside Macau trying to gain intelligence on the Japanese in an effort rescue the prisoners from Hong Kong. British army aid group known as BAAG, was under the command of Lt Colonel Lindsay Tasman Ride. They operated out of Hong Kong, Waichow, Guilin, Sanbu, Kaiping, Kunming and other places. They had planned out escape routes from Macau for local Chinese using the route through Shekki or via the sea to a place called To Fuk. Guangzhouwan was another escape route that wealthy Chinese and other nationalities with resources could buy passage through. Another route used a heavily armed motor junk that went to the north west point of Macau, Kong CHung and took them as far as Sam Fau. From there with aid, they could get to Guilin and then Chongqing.    But then a blockade was imposed on the Chinese mainland. Macau's survival depended upon receiving rice and fuel from places like Vichy controlled Indochina and Guangzhouwan, but after the Japanese occupied them Macau suffered critical food shortages. Macau's ships were not allowed to be used by Portuguese to carry food and thus were dependent on foreign ships. On the night of August 18th, the British ship Sian, under Portuguese protection was commandeered by a combined fleet of Japanese and pro-Japanese Chinese run ships, which illegally entered Macau's inner harbor. There was a shootout leading to 20 dead British sailors and the Japanese allegedly discovered that the ship was transporting a shipment of illegal weapons to be sold to the NRA. The next morning Lt General Tanaka Hisakzu of the 23rd army ordered troops across the border who clashed briefly with Macau police forces before Lisbon ordered them to not resist.    Governor Mauricio Teixeira was forced to collaborate with the Japanese who starting in September demanded the installation of Japanese advisors or full blown military occupation. The result was Macau becoming a protectorate. The isolated port city became a center for smuggling and black market activities…which it kinda still is today haha.   I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The battle for Vella Lavella was over, the Japanese yet again proved themselves experts at the art of evacuation. The battle for Finschhafen was not over by any means and now the allies were cautiously proceeding forward lest they repeat any mistakes learnt in Buna-Gona, Lae and Salamaua.   

Tommo & Niran talk the weird way Verstappen can win the Championship. How George Russell is making a BIG mistake and more. To watch & listen to the FULL podcast here: Listen on Spotify -  https://open.spotify.com/show/1H9KOhG8cBmI0WbL3ZQNdJ?si=d697634073a742c0 Tommo: https://youtube.com/c/TommoOnYoutube https://twitter.com/TwommoF1 Niran: https://www.youtube.com/user/FlyingNirangatang https://twitter.com/theofficialfng

Our guest for this episode is Eugene Lambe, musician and Uilleann Pipes maker with strong ties to Doolin and now based in Kinvara. Eugene knew all the Russells and other local musicians and did amazing work recording them. On this episode we talk about Eugene's background growing up in Dublin, how he got into pipe making, discovering Doolin in the late 60s, moving to the West of Ireland, meeting local characters and much, much more.The tunes played by Eugene Lambe on this episode are :The Rose In The Heather / The Maho Snaps (Jigs)The Priest In His Boots (Jig)An Páistín Fionn (Air)Micho's Mason's Apron / The Monaghan Twig (Reels)**Duet with Charles Monod--------If you would like to help and support this podcast and the Tunes From Doolin project in general, you can become one of our Angels on Patreon for as little as a coffee (or a pint) per month. As patron you can have access to a whole bunch of extras, but most importantly you have my eternal gratitude for helping me create more podcast episodes, videos and content.

In this episode of B Movies and Beyond, Peter and Ryan discuss if red band trailers make a movie look better. Plus, they discuss all of the new trailers they have missed like John Wick: The Continental, Gen V, Freelance, Rebel Moon, Totally Killer, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (two Russells!!), Thanksgiving, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines and more. Good thing there were a lot of trailers because there is no news. Movies reviewed are A24's new horror film Talk to Me (2023) and the creature feature The Relic (1997). Enjoy!

Tommo and Niran for the F1 Summer Break to talk Russells recent performances, which out of contract drivers could leave F1 & More! Watch the full podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLastLapShow Tommo: https://youtube.com/c/TommoOnYoutube https://twitter.com/TwommoF1 Niran: https://www.youtube.com/user/FlyingNirangatang https://twitter.com/TheOfficialFNG

Payton has Russells back, Did we miss this MJ Interview, 10 QB battles, Nicky Lopez trade rumors, a great coach speech, and 41 days until football

On this milestone episode of the What are We Doing podcast, hosts Levi and his charming fiancée, Megs, get real about love, life, and the wild world of podcasting!

7.18.2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: LA Angola Youth Heat Conditions, Trump Presidential Power Plan, Rep. Hosford schools GOP MAGA Agenda A shocking lawsuit against Louisiana's Angola prison reveals horrendous conditions in which nearly 80 Black boys have been forced into solitary confinement in extreme heat and abusive treatment. We'll dive into the details of the emergency filing, which seeks to protect the rights of these children and prevent them from being placed in adult facilities. Former President Donald Trump has plans to expand executive powers if he were to reclaim the White House in 2024. We will speak with Tamia D. Booker, Founder & Managing Director of T. Booker Strategies, to find out how these plans could reshape the structure of the executive branch, concentrating authority directly in Trump's hands. The parents of Carlethia "Carlee" Russell, the Alabama woman who miraculously returned home after a frightening abduction, sat for an exclusive interview with NBC News. We will play the interview and hear why the Russells believe their daughter's abductor remains at large. Rep. Steven Horsford takes a bold stance against MAGA Republicans, shining a light on their agenda focused on fighting against "wokism." Stay tuned to hear him call out MAGA. In our marketplace segment, we'll speak with the CEO of Mylegkini, a groundbreaking bikini brand that empowers people of all shapes and sizes to feel confident on the beach. Discover this inclusive brand's inspirational story. Download the Black Star Network app at http://www.blackstarnetwork.com! We're on iOS, AppleTV, Android, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, XBox and SamsungTV. The #BlackStarNetwork is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. "See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last time we spoke about the aftermath of the battle for Attu. The American victory over Attu meant the end of the Aleutian campaign for the Japanese, Tokyo decided to pull everyone out. Over 6000 Japanese needed evacuation from Kiska and it would be very tricky for the Japanese to get past Admiral Kinkaids blockade. Then we finished up the West Hubei offensive, with a part of it being known colloquially as the Rice Bowl Campaign. The Japanese had brutalized the Chinese, but we're stopped short of invading Chongqing or Sichuan. Thus for the Chinese it was a victory, but at the same time the Japanese had secured exactly what they wanted, stealing vast amounts of property, notably rice. Vessels left Yichang and sailed further west through the riverways acquiring large sums of goods to help the China war cause. Today we are diving back into the south Pacific. This episode is Operation Cartwheel starts rolling 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.  So honestly for awhile now we have been hitting the North Pacific and China theaters, which certainly was a change of pace, but as you can imagine these events do not simply move along in a vacuum. Yes a lot was going on in the other theaters and this episode is going to be tackling a lot of different events so buckle up buckos. First we are going to talk about Operation Cartwheel. The ULTRA intelligence that brought Yamamoto's death was not the only information the Americans received in April. A lifeboat bearing a list of the names of 40,000 active Japanese officers washed ashore after the battle of the Bismarck Sea. Using this Cryptographers were able to match each name to radio signals from Japanese army units, ensuring General MacArthurs intelligence remained as operationally up to date as it could be. At the same time William Bull Hasley showed to on April 15th to Brisbane to meet with MacArthur and the two hit it off. Halsey would later write this about their first encounter. “Five minutes after I reported, I felt as if we were lifelong friends. I have seldom seen a man who makes a quicker, stronger, more favorable impression. He was then sixty-three, but he could have passed as fifty. His hair was jet black; his eyes were clear; his carriage erect….My mental picture poses him against the background of these discussions; he is pacing his office, almost wearing a groove between his large, bare desk and the portrait of George Washington that faced it; his corncob pipe is in his hand (I rarely saw him smoke it): and he is making his points in a diction I have never heard surpassed. “ Both men would hammer out a plan on April 26th, it was a revision to MacArthur's Elkton plan, this one would be known as Elkton III, but it was soon to be coded as Operation Cartwheel.  The plan consisted of 13 amphibious landings in just 6 months with MacArthur and Halsey providing maximum support to each others efforts. The first phase of the plan would see MacArthur seizing Woodlark and the Kirwina islands while Hasley invaded New Georgia. Phase 2 would commence 2 months after the start of the offensive where MacArthur would capture Lae, Salamaua and Finschhafen. Phase 3 would be the seizure of the Shortland islands and Bougainville in the south pacific. In December MacArthur would seize Cape Gloucester in Western New Britain and shortly after that they would seize Rabaul. Halsey's forces would knock out Japanese air bases on Buka, allowing MacArthurs men to clear the northwestern half of New Guinea. By January of 1944, MacArthur and Halsey figured they would be ready for the final assault on Rabaul which was their ultimate objective for victory. MacArthur resisted sending details of their joint plan to Washington, probably fearing the Europe first obsessed chiefs of staff would veto their ambitious thrust. He told them only that he anticipated that the first move toward Woodlark and Kirwina would start in June. However this was too slow for Admiral King. King wanted his protege Admiral Nimitz to begin a thrust into the central pacific, heading through the Marshalls in November and proposed shifting the Marine 1st and 2nd divisions, the ones that fell under MacArthurs and Halsey's command to help with the Marshalls offensive, this alongside two bomber groups promised to General Kenney. MacArthur was very pissed off and he sent a distressed message to George Marshall damning the entire central Pacific strategy as a quote “unnecessary and even wasteful diversion from what should be the main pacific strategy”,  that being MacArthur's own.”. He added in “from a broad strategic viewpoint, I am convinced that the best course of offensive action in the Pacific is a movement from Australia through New Guinea to Mindanao. Air supremacy is essential to success, for the southwestern strategy where large numbers of land-based aircraft are utterly essential and will immediately cut the enemy lines from japan to his conquered territory to the southward. Pulling any additional heavy bombers groups would in my opinion, collapse the offensive effort in the southwest pacific area…in my judgment the offensive against Rabaul should be considered the main effort, and it should not be nullified or weakened ”. But King was adamant. There would indeed be a thrust through the central pacific led by the navy with its main axis passing through the Marshalls and Marianas towards Japan,which might I remind you listening, bypasses the Philippines. It of course was a strategy completely at odds with MacArthurs. Marshall supported King, as did the other Joint Chiefs. But in the end MacArthurs whining forced King to relent on the transfer of the two marine divisions and the bomber groups, thus MacArthur revealed his timetable for operation Cartwheel. He told them he planned to take Kiriwna and Woodlark in the Trobriand Island around June 30th. The advance on New Georgia would start on the same date, and in September the First Cavalry and 3 Australian divisions would begin operations against the Madang-Salamaua area. Meanwhile MacArthur's 43rd division would invade southern Bougainville on October 15th, while the 1st Marines and 32nd division would invade Cape Gloucester on December 1st.  For all of these amphibious landings, there were no serious problems when it came to shipping and landing craft….that is for Nimitz designated areas. However at the beginning of 1943, MacArthur had practically no amphibious equipment nor experts in these types of operations. The only units available to him were the Army's engineering special boat brigade which had very few small craft. The man who would be responsible for the amphibious assaults during much of the coming campaigns was to be Rear Admiral Daniel Barbey. On January 10th, 1943 he took command of the forces that would later be designated the 7th Amphibious force. Barbey from the offset established good relations with MacArthur…because well anyone who worked with MacArthur had to. He had nearly nothing to work with in the beginning, but started with establishing bases at Toobul Bay, near the mouth of the Brisbane river and Point Stephens. MacArthur had requested more small craft and transports as early as mid 1942, but because of the European and central pacific being a priority, little had come his way. Before the equipment came, MacArthur was receiving American and Australian troops, so he got Barbey's team to improvise. They began training the troops in debarking from larger ships down cargo nets to smaller landing craft. However Barbey had no attack transports (APA), which was the key to this kind of operation. To solve this they rigged nets from cliffs, boy that must have been fun. The first Landing ship tanks LSTs and Landing craft tanks LCTs would not arrive until mid january, and on Easter Sunday 13 Landing craft infantry's LCI's were delivered, giving them very little time before the first operations were to begin to train the crews on how to use them.  Now on the other side Halsey had his own three phase operation. Part 1 saw the invasion of New Georgia, part 2 was the seizure of Buin and Rekata Bay if possible and last 3 was the seizure of Kieta and the neutralization of Buka. Phase 1 was codenamed Operation Toenails. Halsey described the operation to Nimitz as “a infiltration and staging operation”. The operation would see simultaneous landings at Wickham Anchorage to hit its landing craft base; Segi point for its airfield site; Viru Harbor for its small craft base and Rendova Harbor which would serve as a new base to stage troops for a future attack upon Munda. This would all occur on June 30th. The main force assigned to Operation Toenails was General Hester's 43rd division. Admiral Turner and his Task Force 31 were in charge of the amphibious landings while Admiral Fitch would toss 1182 aircraft to give them aircower and Admiral's Ainsworth and Merrill's Task force 36 would provide further naval support. On the other side, interservice coordination between the Japanese Generals and Admirals remained intermittent and largely ad hoc, when it was not hostile. General Imamura's 8th area army HQ at Rabaul stood above Hyakutake's 17th Army, comprising 3 divisions spread over the SOlomons and New Britain, and General Hatazo Adachi's 8th Army had 3 divisions on New Guinea. Troop reinforcements were arriving in Rabaul bolstering the garrison at one point to 90,000 men. Vice Admiral Jinichi Kusaka remained in command of navy forces at Rabaul and held responsibility for the defense of the central solomons. Admiral Mineichi Koga had succeeded the slain Yamamoto as commander in chief of the combined fleet, based at Truk. Nowhere in the theater was there a blended command, the army and navy had to coordinate their operations through a meticulous process of “nemawashi / digging around the roots” for a consensus. The Japanese moved new air units into the theater, including more of the elite carrier aircrews that had trained and honed their skills prior to the war, but the loss ratios in air combat was ruining them.  As a result of the devastating loss during the battle of the Bismarck Sea, the Japanese were forced to change plans. USAAF and RAAF aircraft based at Port Moresby and Milne Bay had slaughtered an entire convoy of Japanese transports attempting to land troops in the Lae-Slaamaua area using a new technique called “skip bombing”. Imperial General HQ set up a joint Army/Navy investigation board to study the disaster, seeing the IJA accused the IJN of being too focused on the Solomons rather than on New Guinea. The Army argued New Guinea was vital for the national defenses and proposed that if a retreat became necessary, it would be as a direct result of the navy's lack of support. If this were to happen they would have to pull back and create a defensive line from northwest New Guinea to Timor. The Navy's representatives argued that the Huon Peninsula must be held or its loss would swing open the western gate to Rabaul, forcing the combined fleet to withdraw from Truk. Well the fighting eventually resulted in an ultimatum with both sides agreeing the army/navy operations should focus on eastern New Guinea. It was decided that both the army and navy would literally operate as one unit, because that would go well. The Central solomons were still under the overall responsibility of the 8th fleet, now commanded by Vice Admiral Baron Samejima Tomoshige with some IJA units placed under naval command according to agreements made between General Imamura and Admiral Kusaka. It seems the Japanese could get along once and awhile, as just like Halsey and MacArthur, Imamura and Kusaka developed a deep friendship. Both of their staffs ate lunch together once or twice a week, where southeast area affairs were discussed informally and their respective staffs got to know another personally. Kusaka went on the record to say Imamura was a very great person. Many army units would be sent to reinforce the New Georgia defenses and by late May the bulk of the 229th regiment arrived to Munda, and the 13th regiment went to Vila by late June. Imamura placed both regiments under the command of Major General Sasaki Noboru's southeast detachment who responded directly to Samejima. Samejima's first orders were to arrange the responsibilities between General Sasaki's southeast detachment and Admiral Ota's 8th combined SNLF, seeing Sasaki in charge of Munda and Ota in charge of the Enogai and Bairoko area's. If the situation arose, command would be unified under the senior officer on New Georgia, General Sasaki. Ota would also have responsibility for coastal artillery defense, radio communications, and barge operations. Admiral Koga in his new role as commander of the combined fleet, preemptively sent move of his forces back to the home islands in preparation to reinforce Attu. But as the fate of the Aleutians became sealed by late May, Koga decided to concentrate the combined Fleet at Truk, so it would be primed and ready for a decisive naval battle with the Americans. Without the aid of Koga's carriers, Kusaka had launched another air counteroffensive after I-Go, this one taking place in June. The aim was yet again to prevent the Americans from invading the central solomons . Kusaka began tossing waves of Bety's against American shipping east of San Cristobal and night raids over guadalcanal. Simultaneously he also unleashed Operation SO; a major offensive to smash allied air power in the Solomon islands; and operation SE: which targeted airfields and shipping. He sent 105 Zeros to sweep and bomb the enemy airfields with a new type of gasoline bomb. Operation SE began with 25 Val dive bombers attacking US shipping in the Guadalcanal-Tulagi area and Operation SO began on June 7th with 81 Zeros led by Lt Commander Shindo Saburo assaulting the Russels. However the Russel group ran right into 104 allied fighters who shot down 9 Zeros. A follow up attack was made on the 12th with 74 Zeros led by Lt Miyano Zenjiro, this time the Japanese lost 7 fighters but took down 6 American. As usual the Japanese pilots made wild claims, stating the first attack saw 41 American fights shot down and the second attack 24.  Kusaka launched the main attack of Operation SE on June 16th led by Lt commander Saburo consisting of 24 Vals and 70 Zero escorts who swung south of the Russells, turning at Beaufort Bay. Yet again they were intercepted, this time by 74 allied fighters over BEaufort Bay and the ensuing ari battle rolled over the mountainous spine of guadalcanal. This time the Japanese lost 15 Zeros and 13 Vals while only shooting down 6 allied fighters. The Japanese lost first rate pilots such as Lt Miyano who had scored a total of 16 kills during the war. Again Japanese veteran pilots were being bled dry severely affecting the nation's airpower. Despite their waves being intercepted nearly every time, the Vals were able to press through with their attacks and managed to hit the cargo ships Caleno and LST-340. But such results were hardly worth the cost, so Kusaka began to urgently request reinforcements. The carrier Ryhuo would lend her bombers to replace the lost ones, arriving on the 2nd of July. The losses taught the Japanese pilots some bitter lessons and never again would the fly over guadalcanal during daylight as the American CAP was far to powerful. Over in New Guinea, General Blamey was laying out his plan for the capture of Lae, codenamed Operation Postern which was approved by MacArthurs headquarters. Before the allies would invade Woodlark and Kiriwana, MacArthur proscribed the seizure of Lae and the Markham and Ramu valley. The Markham operations were to be based on Port Moresby while the north coast operations would be staged from Buna and Milne Bay. The invasion of Woodlark and Kiriwana islands codenamed Operation Chronicle would be entrusted to Lt General Walter Kruegers 6th army. The islands northeast of the Papuan coast would allow the allies to have air bases closer to Japanese targets in the Solomons and around Rabaul, thus Blamey had devised his plan to secure the northeastern part of New Guinea. The first phase of his plan was Lae and the Markham and Ramu Valleys; the 2nd phase was to seize a shore base within 60 miles of Lae, he chose Nassau Bay. Nassau Bay would help with the supply problems in the Wau-Mubo-Bobdubi area, as all the supplies were being flown in from Port Moresby. The mountains were serious obstacles for transport aircraft, not to mention the Japanese fighters that could spring out of nearby Lae. Taking Nassau Bay would greatly shorting supply lines for allied troops fighting in the Salamaua region and also allow a junction to be made with General Saviges forces operating at Mubo The 162nd American Regiment led by Colonel Archibald MacKechnie would help hit Nassau Bay, they would be known as the MacKechnie force. They would seize the high ground around Goodiew Junction and Mount Tambu and the ridges running down therefrom to the sea, allowing the Australians to link up with the 15th brigade at Bobdubi and the American landing force at Nassau. D-day for the Nassau Landing was set for June 30th and it was all going to act as a feint, hoping to lure Japanese forces from Lae to Salamaua.  Now the last time we left off in New Guinea, General Savige had launched a limited offensive against the Japanese at Mubo and Bobdubi ridge. General Nakano was certain Salamaua was the main allied target and this prompting him on the 29th to order Major General Chuichi Muroya to lead the 51st division to fortify it. In the process Muroya's men expelled Warfe's commandos from the northern ridge. To the east of Mubo, Brigadier Moten was trying to take the Pimple, but his 17th brigade would be performing more patrolling than actual attacks throughout the later half of May. Eventually Savige would relieve the exhausted 2/7th battalion with the 2/6th battalion led by Lt Colonel Frederick Wood who would begin an advance on May the 27th. Meanwhile Nakano had brought more reinforcements to defend Mubo and launched a strong counterattack in early May, nearly breaking through towards the main Australian camp at Lababia ridge. On May 23rd Nakano received two battalions of the 66th regiment and began to work out a plan for assembling supplies and ammunition in the Mubo area to prepare for an offensive. Men would move at night in a single file along the narrow jungle trails carrying the materials by hand, through mud and rain. The main train was a slope on Komiatum ridge known to the Japanese as Regret Hill as the hard working soldiers became more exhausted with each passing day marching along it. The Japanese sought to clear out Lababia ridge as far as Guadagasal, thus securing Mubo. On June 3rd, allied patrols discovered Nakano had reoccupied Markham point which forced Savige to keep the bulk of the 24th away from the action at Bobdubi and Mubo. From their camp at the bank of the Markham Savige ordered patrols to investigate the Nadzab area. On June 14th, a 3 man patrol came across friendly natives at the village of Gabsonkek who informed them of the Japanese activity in the area. They said "that the Japs come to the village every day between 10:00 and 12:00 hours taking everything in sight—pigs, fowls, fruit, etc., without paying; they take native girls back to Lae if they can catch them. The guides would not proceed farther to Ngasawapum because Japan man come up Big Road, cut us off", and they would not go to Narakapor because they claimed there were too many Japs and two big guns". The patrol went back to camp by the 18th informing command. A second patrol was made, led by Lt Dave Burke who forded the Tabali River to get to Nassau Bay. Their report indicated the area was suitable for landing and road construction. To further prepare for the American landings, the Australians began building a footbridge over the Bitoi River and blazed a track up to Bitoi Ridge. On Lababia Ridge the main defensive position withdrew to a junction on the Jap Tracks where it would be easier to counter enemy encirclement attempts. Reports came in from forward platoons that there was considerable enemy activity along the Komiatum-Mubo track. This was Nakano's 66th regiment carrying the food and ammunition in preparation for the upcoming offensive. In response to this, Savige ordered Brigadier Frank Hosking of the 15th brigade to assume command of the Bobdubi ridge area and to begin harassing the Japanese supply route. Meanwhile the 58th/59th battalion relieved the 2/3rd independent company at Hote and a party of Warfe's commando's were sent to attack the Komiatum-Mubo track. However disaster struck as the Australians ran into their own booby-traps on June 16th suffering a number of casualties. By June 20th, the commando's established ambush positions along a ridge near the junction of Stephens Track and the Komiatum Track. They successfully ambushed some Japanese later that day, killing a few men and capturing valuable documents about the arrival of Nakano's 66th regiment. However by this point Nakano's units were already assembling in front of Lababia ridge and the offensive was about to begin. Now we gotta finish up the episode talking about some developments in India. After the disastrous first Arakan Campaign, Marshal Wavell was to receive a promotion, and by promotion I mean he was kicked upstairs as they say, succeeded Lord Linlithgow as the new Viceroy of India. But until then he began looking into training his forces in jungle warfare as the bitter lessons learned at Arakan proved the men were very unprepared. Wavell also wanted to investigate what the hell had happened during the disaster, so he sent Major General Roland Richardson in late May to head a infantry committee at New Delhi for the task. The committee's report about the Arakan campaign found the troops fighting spirit was fundamentally sound, but the major problems that affected their combat performance were more about the over expansion of the army in India. The army mobilization had been rushed, they barely met basic training and the supplying of their sheer numbers was a catastrophe. There were also issues regarding their low status, inferior pay for the infantry, which further deprived them of skilled and well educated recruits.  Yet above all else the Infantry committee found their lack of jungle training to be the most egregious issue. As observed “This is the most urgent problem facing us, and one which requires prompt and energetic action if results are to be produced in time for the winter campaigning season.” The lack of jungle training severely undermined their ability to fight efficiently and ultimately led to the breakdown of infantry battalions in the Arakan. And of course there was the ever present unseen enemy, that of malaria, alongside an assortment of other ailments that were wreaking havoc on the men. But many of these problems could not be tackled until June 20th, when General Claude Auchinleck was officially appointed as the new Commander in Chief in India. For General Slim this was excellent news and certainly worked in his favor alongside the sacking of Irwin. The “Auk” as he was called, had always been a Slim supporter and was the one who recommended him to Wavell for advancement when Wavell was Commander in Chief of the middle east back in 1941. The Auk had wanted to retain Slim in the middle east and fought hard to dissuade Wavell from taking him over to Burma. Churchill never held Wavell ever in high regard and was tired of his quasi-academic effusions and preferred a “fighting general” in Burma. Alongside the Auk, Irwin was replaced with General George Giffard, and Slim had this to say of the replacement.  “The new Army Commander had a great effect on me. A tall, goodlooking man in the late fifties, who had obviously kept himself physically and mentally in first-class condition, there was nothing dramatic about him in either appearance or speech. He abhorred the theatrical, and was one of the very few generals, indeed men in any position, I have known who really disliked publicity . . . But there was much more to General Giffard than good taste, good manners and unselfishness. He understood the fundamentals of war – that soldiers must be trained before they can fight, fed before they can march, and relieved before they are worn out. He understood that front-line commanders should be spared responsibilities in the rear, and that soundness of organization and administration is worth more than specious short-cuts to victory” Auckinleck went to work from the offset of his new command by improving the welfare, health and feeding of the Indian army to foster improved morale. General Giffard as the new commander of the Eastern Army had Major General Temple Gurdon to oversee some reforms for training and the development of new doctrines. A lot of effort was made to conduct intensive collective training under jungle conditions. The men would train near Nasik, Ranchi, Dehradun and in the Jhansi-Nowgong-lalitpur region. Commanders low to high were given a chance at handling units to improve standards of staff work, practice combined army tactics and build team spirit. Auchinleck also initiated a policy of active patrolling at Assam and Arakan to gather intelligence and maintain touch with the Japanese as to destroy the feeling that they were super soldiers.    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. A lot of chess pieces were moved around the board this week. Bitter lessons had been learnt in multiple theaters of the war and now it came time to reorganize and try new things to ultimately bring the war against Japan to a closer end. 

Dani, Russell, and Russell talk about their love of Star Trek, how it started and where it is going. Join them as they discuss Picard, Strange New Worlds and their excitement for what comes next

BEST OF HMS PODCASTS - MONDAY May 29, 2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chef Ian Russell and his wife, Juliana Peña, could not agree on whether to open a donut shop or a barbecue restaurant. So, like in any good relationship, they compromised and decided to try both, creating Smoke & Donuts. “We had no idea that the response was going to be what it was,' Russell said. “It was a donut and barbecue concept and when we google donut and barbecue back then — you punched into Google and nothing came up. It didn't Google. There was nothing when you punch donuts and barbecue, barbecue and doughnuts into Google. And so that's either — well it could be terrifying because you have a really bad idea or it's a good idea right and nobody else's was doing it.” The pair first took their idea on the road as a pop-up “in the back alley of a Winter Springs brewery.” "We sold out fast — that's what happened,” Russells said. “That's kind of why we — that's how it continued forward. That's how the inertia of the concept of the two ideas going together moved forward because at our first event, we sold out and really fast.” The pair's success continued and they kept moving forward, despite juggling full-time jobs on top of their pop-ups. “It's tiring, but the response from the Orlando community was so encouraging, so exciting, so invigorating, that it kept pushing us forward,” Russell said. Even with continued success over the last six year — recently opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Orlando's trendy Milk District — Peña still works in a regular job. “My wife still has her day job. You know, we're not to a point yet where we're, able to just roll without any kind of standard income,” Russell said. Despite that, Russell said his goal is to make his customers happy. “We want people to eat barbecue and doughnuts and when they visit us have fun for a little bit and have a good time. And that's it. That's the goal. A little bit of joy in the middle of your day,” he said. While the concept is barbecue and donuts, Russell said their goal is not to force people to indulge in both together, unless they want to — in which case, there is are barbecue and donut sandwiches on the menu. “Often at a restaurant, the donuts will be ready first. And so 50% of the time at least, we start with dessert at our restaurant,” he said. Russell himself is a classically trained chef, getting his education at the Culinary Institute of America. When the business was starting out, he was also making all of the donuts but eventually decided to hire someone more qualified in that department. “I kind of BS my way through it a little bit,” he said. Then at one point, this classically trained pastry chef reached out to me and sent me an email that said, ‘Hey, I'm interested in working with you on the donut side,' and I kind of didn't pay attention to her in the beginning. She sent me another email and this one had pictures in it. She even put pictures of a donut that she made that had flames on it. So I hired her.” On the latest Florida Foodie, Russell shares more about his early years with the business and his culinary journey before striking out on his own. He also talks about all of the specialty donuts he has available and his favorite barbecue item on the menu. Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children's book, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

https://jbbibleandbourbon.com/social Thanks for joining us on Episode #35 of JB's Bible and Bourbon Talk. Today we kick off a new series “The Supplier” by talking about the Supplier in Scarcity. We also dive into an OHLQ pick of Russel's Reserve single barrel. Link to “Supplier in Scarcity” Pours this episode: Speyburn Bourbon Cask – OHLQ Pick (JB) Woodford Reserve Double Oak – Total Wine & More FL Pick (Rob) New Riff Single Barrel – OHLQ Pick(JB) Heaven Hill BiB (Rob) Russel's Reserve Single Barrel (Featured Pour) Support us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/JBbibleandbourbon   Support us!

Get your collars ready - a rush of Jack Russells are about to race through Wānaka. The annual K9 Natural Jack Russell Race is an undisputed highlight of the Central Otago town's two-day A&P show and this year over 60 dogs are expected to attend.

Last time we spoke about the battle of the Bismarck Sea. Though it was called a battle, what occurred at the Bismarck Sea was more of a catastrophic slaughter and a showcase of how the Japanese were no longer capable of performing offensives. The allies performed skip bombing and mast head bombing techniques against a convoy heading for Lae to deadly effect. 4 destroyers, 8 transports, 20 fighters were destroyed and nearly 3000 Japanese were killed. The allied pilots were ordered to give no mercy to the enemy and many reluctantly attacked the survivors of the shipwreck carnage. Their commanders justified the actions stating the men would have been landed and put right onto the front lines in New Guinea causing even more suffering. Yet as magnificent a victory as it was for the allies, it certainly was not the only one at this time for another major naval battle was occurring in the solomons This episode is the Battle of Blackett Strait  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.    Yet before we can jump back into the turbulent seas of the south Pacific we will talk a bit more about the theater of the Pacific War that goes far, often too forgotten, that of China.  Its been quite sometime since we were last in China. Now stating the Second sino-Japanese war is complicated is an overstatement. To simplify it somewhat know this, there were 22 major engagements between the NRA and IJA during the war. One of these engagements is known as the Battle of West Hubei, which was one of four major battles that took place in Hubei. Now in July of 1938 the IJA Dai-Jyu-ichi gun “11th army” was formed under the Japanese central China area army. The purpose of such a formation was to conquer and occupy central provinces in China, specifically those between the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. The 11th army had played a crucial role during the battle of Wuhan and had seen quite a list of differing commanders. In December of 1942 Lt General Isamu Yokoyama took control of the 11th army and he set his sights on various targets. But before he could unleash his forces, Yokoyama was dealing with major sabotage operations against his main base. And these sabotage operations were not being performed by the NRA, no they were being performed by the CCP's New Fourth Army. Now the CCP had limited actions against the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese war. Although the press, such as the New York times had parroted some CCP propaganda insisting Mao and his forces were tying down 80 percent of Japanese forces in China, this is not at all true. The CCP did not have the means to do this, nor did they even want to. Mao Zedong himself was not an all-powerful leader at the offset of the Pacific War. The USSR favored his colleague, Wang Ming who was known as one of the 28 Bolsheviks, ie: moscow educated leaders. Mao referred to these people as “ the dogmatist faction”. Mao also had to deal with empiricist faction members such as the former party leader Zhou Enlai and other CCP military commanders such as Peng Dehuai and Chen Yi. In February of 1942 the CCP began the “rectification Movement” known as (Zhengfeng) and on February 1st Mao Zedong have a speech in Yanan calling for a study of the CCP's history and suggesting “the party not only needs democracy but needs centralization even more”. The roots of Zhengfeng indicate a Confucian philosophy emphasized the importance of ethical education “The cultivation of the person depends on rectifying the mind,” Confucius had instructed his followers”. Mao organized the Rectification Meetings expecting CCP members to indulge in self-criticism and confession. As you can imagine there were nefarious reasons for this. Mao alongside his close allie Kang SHen, the CCP's ruthless head of intelligence took charge of the Central General Study committee and began to get false confessions using psychological torture. Kang's methodology would define Mao's growing grip over the CCP and the future of it. Residents of Yanan would recount “the valleys and cave outside the town held victims of psychological bullying who produced screams and howls like wolves every night. Suicides occured often, one victim who survived swallowing glass was immediately forced to write self-criticism”. By 1943 the Rectification campaign had become a system of mass arrest, torture and execution. In essence it was a purge that carried on well into 1944 using false confessions from prisoners who were trying to save their own lives. It is estimated 10,000 CCP members, many of which were former inhabitants of KMT held areas were executed. Wang Ming, Mao's primary target at the time was spared, but he alongside the 28 Bolsheviks were forever sidelined, but hell better then being dead I guess? Meanwhile Zhou Enlai and the empiricists swung firmly behind Mao fearing for their lives. The Rectification movement was to be one of many themes played out by Mao Zedong. There was a cycle throughout his reign where intellectuals were invited to be open, then the party turned against them, they were destroyed by self-criticism, paraded as criminals, tortured until they revealed traitors real or not and executed. As Mao put it in August of 1943 “It is not good to correct too early or too late, Too early … the campaign cannot unfold properly; and too late … the damage [to torture victims] will be too profound.” One of the 28 Bolsheviks, Wang Shiwei who worked as a journalist for Liberation Daily wrote an article titled “Wild Lilies” in 1942, which criticized Mao Zedong for womanizing and enjoying too many luxuries. He spoke about how Mao took an ambulance sent as a gift by the Chinese New York Laundry workers to the CCP to carry wounded troops and instead used it as a private transport for himself as his 23 year old mistress, actress Jiang Qing. Mao would later marry her after leaving his third wife He Zizhen who he had 5 children with. Well Wang Shiwei was expelled from the CCP on Mao's orders in October 1942 having been found guilty of treason and would be executed in 1947 on Mao's orders. Anyways, enough sidelining about Mao, closer to the story at hand Mao had unleashed a propaganda campaign promoting the false image of the CCP's war effort against the Japanese. The KMT actually captured documents with orders from Mao which explained his thoughts on the war “The Sino-Japanese War affords our party an excellent opportunity for expansion. Our fixed policy should be 70 percent expansion, 20 percent dealing with the Kuomintang and 10 percent resisting Japan.” Between 1937-1940 the CCP grew its 8th army from 45,000 to 400,000. Meanwhile the 4th army increased from 15,000 to 100,000. The CCP's lionshare of war effort was aimed at the KMT but they did perform considerable actions against Japan. The Fourth Army was led by Commander Chen Yi and he had an irregular force known as the 15th brigade of the 5th division led by Commander Li Xiannian. Their arms and ammunition were self manufactured and though they had enough of them, the quality suffered heavily. Their main base was in Northern Jiangsu, but they also operated in central Jiangsu, northern and southern ANhui, northern Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces. They were all over the place specifically to thwart any efforts of the NRA from encircling and destroying them. They also clashed with the NRA much more than they did with the Japanese. Despite that, the 5th division of Li Xiannians forces had fought tenaciously during the 1942 battle of the Dwarf Mountain. The CCP forces defeated the forces of Wang Jinwei and captured Mienyang in the process. This success however drew the 11th army in who carried out attacks from the north to drive the CCP out, but the CCP troops dug in and would not budge. Yokoyama sought to surprise the CCP menace by attacking their positions rear from Yueyang and Jingzhou. The idea was to grab the CCP's attention while his 58th division launched an attack against Mienyang. In early february the 40th and 13th divisions began to raise their activity at Yeuyang and Jingzhou to deceive the CCP into believing a major offensive was about to be made against Changsha, which had been the crux of the IJA for a long time. On February 15th the 40th crossed the Yangtze river and began to attack Zhuhezhen, Jianli County and Hubei. Meanwhile the 13th division advanced east sneaking over the Yangtze river from Shashi and marched through a gap between the CCP positions in Jiangnan. The Chinese defenders were taken by complete surprise and it would be the 87th army garrison who would be first hit. The defenders were taking heavy losses and had to pull back to Mienyang. Soon the 40th and 13th divisions were closing in on Fengkow and Fuchang as the CCP resisted their advances killing 354 and wounded 890 Japanese. The final phase of the operation saw the 58th division begin a march south upon Mienyang, enjoying aerial support in the form of the 44th air regiment. The CCP's fortified positions were obliterating and the defenders were forced to disperse and escape before encirclements could be made. Many would manage to avoid capture by disguising themselves as civilians, but this only prompted Yokoyama to enact intense search and pursuit actions lasting into late march. The CCP leader Wang Haishan along with countless CCP troops were captured by these means. What was the battle of west hubei resulted in a mixed victory for either side. Many in the allied camp reported the Chinese had achieved a major strategic victory. However they paid a heavier price than the Japanese, it is estimated the CHinese had nearly 24,000 dead and 18,000 wounded while the Japanese had 25,000 casualties. Alongside this Historian Barbara Tuchmen states “the Japanese withdrew without pursuit from what appeared to have been a training and foraging offensive to collect rice and river shipping”. Thus it perhaps should be better called a tactical draw between the two forces.   Japan had just lost 4 destroyers, 8 transports and the lives of 3000 or so men. These figures did not even count the numerous sailors and irreplaceable pilots lost. The battle of the Bismarck Sea was strategically a defeat for Japan, second only to that of Coral Sea and it confirmed their inability to control the air in the region and ensured the continued isolation of their forces in New Guinea. In many ways New Guinea was facing the same fate that had befallen Guadalcanal. The Japanese logistics simply could not stretch that far and the allies were strangling their enemy the same way siege warfare had been done since ancient times. Japanese commanders would never again send transports or capital ships into the waters off Papua. From this point on the garrisons on New Guinea would only receive meager supplies brought via submarine or barges, completely inadequate to the task. Thousands of Japanese troops manning the defenses at Lae and Salamaua would basically be left on their own to face a growing allied advance. General Douglas MacArthur went on the recond to say “the battle of the Bismarck Sea was a decisive aerial engagement of the war and marked the end of the Japanese offensive in the Southwest Pacific”. For those Japanese survivors who did manage to land on friendly territory after the slaughter, they were finished as combatants. Lieutenant Masamichi Kitamoto observed survivors coming ashore at Tuluvu on the west of New Britain and had this to say “Their eyes were glassy and deeply sunk into their faces. All were jittery … as if they were seeing a horrible dream … a pitiful scene of a vanquished and defeated army.” Despite the amazing victory, MacArthur's forces could not capitalize on the success and perform a major offensive against Lae. The major reason for this was MacArthur lacked amphibious forces to support the overland march through New Guinea. Since mid 1943 MacArthur's forces had been advancing up the northern coast of New Guinea while a amphibious force was in the making. Rear Admiral Daniel Barbey took command of what would become the 7th amphibious force on january 10th of 1943. Barbey had immediately hit it off with MacArthur in a similar fashion to how General Kenney had hit it off with MacArthur. However Barbey had pretty much nothing to work with. There were no amphibious training facilities, therefore one of his first actions was to establish some at Toobul Bay near the mouth of the Brisbane river and point Stephens. Meanwhile MacArthur requested small craft and transports, as aside from his command everyone else was receiving such equipment en masse, obviously because Europe and the central pacific had been priorities. As Australian and American troops began to arrive to MacArthurs command he began to demand they train to debark from larger ships down cargo nets onto smaller craft. But Barbey did not have any attack transports (APA), which were key for these types of operations. The first Landing ship tanks (LST)s and Landing craft Tanks (LCT)s would not arrive until mid January. Until he received these he began training up the Landing craft infantry (LCI) by tossing nets over cliffs to replicate the debarkation from large ships. By march 15th of 1943 Admiral King signed off that the Southwest Pacific force was to be the 7th fleet, under the command of Admiral Arthur Carpender. This did not go over well with MacArthur who believed quote “much like his predecessor, Vice Admiral Leary, Carpenter seemed to be working more for the Navy rather than MacArthur”. All was not well in the court of camelot. PT Boats of the MacArthur fleet would once in awhile engage an enemy submarine, but they usually got away with ease. Bad weather, large coral reefs made it sort of a nightmare for the smaller ships and PT boats were very fragile, striking just a log could knock them out. But they were enough to scare the Japanese from using too many barges and thus were sort of a fleet in being. The PT boats would have something of a surface monopoly in the Solomon sea for 6 months, constantly looking for action and finding none. Admiral Carpender encouraged their use in his command as they had shown their effectiveness during the battle of the Bismarck Sea.  Now back over in Rabaul, Vice Admiral Jinichi Kusaka remained in command of naval forces at Rabaul and had the responsibility for the defense of the central solomons. He knew he could not expect much help from the combined fleet and definitely nothing from the Army so he set about strengthening the air defenses at Rabaul and rapidly tried to develop airfields at Munda and Vila-Stanmore. Alongside this he performed a survey of Santa Isabel island incase it could also provide an additional strip. With over 200 fighters and bombers under his thumb he hoped to hold the Central Solomons with air power alone, but he would be horribly overwhelmed. Against his command, Admiral Fitch had some 316 aircraft of various types on Guadalcanal and the Cactus air force could easily be reinforced from a pool of 200 more aircraft from Espiritu Santo and New Caledonia. And here we have another decisive advantage coming to the allies, that in technology. New aircraft were coming to the Pacific such as the Grumman F6F Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair which were significantly more advanced than the Zero fighter in terms of speed, armament, ceiling and rate of climb, the key parameters for a good fighter. The Hellcat was the next generation for carrier fighters and the Corsair was a gull-winged fighter bomber issued to marine fighters on Guadalcanal. Just for you tech geeks, the Hellcat was a very large aircraft for its type, weighing 1200 pounds unloaded, powered by a 2000 horsepower Pratt & Whitney engine that could climb 3500ft per minute. It held a flying range of 1000 miles, had a cockpit slickly faired into the fuselage and heavily armored. It carried 6 electrically charged .50 caliber guns and twice the ammunition to its predecessor the Wildcat. While the Wildcat lagged behind the Zero, the Hellcat outdid her in speed and dive. As Bill Davis said upon first encountering a Hellcat “the plan was a monster. From the moment I started the engine I was thrilled and amazed, there was a thunderous backfire as flames shot out of the exhaust pipe. A sailor with a fire extinguisher moved toward the plane, but the engine quickly caught and the flames disappeared as the engine started to purr with a mighty roar. I could feel the power through the throttle as well as my ears and every quaking fiber of my body”. In contrast, the Japanese continued to employ the same types of aircraft knowing full well their weaknesses and knowing full well the Americans were developing new models to counter them. The only advantage the Japanese still enjoyed was their airstrips laid out all over the South Pacific, with Munda base being a particularly important one to allow bombers from Rabaul or Bougainville to stop and refuel for striking missions.  Munda's airfield was attacked countless times by naval and aerial bombardment which filled her up with holes, but just as fast as they were maid her Japanese construction crews filled the craters with crushed coral and in a matter of minutes or hours the strip was made operational again. As Admiral Ainsworth said “The fact is inescapable that the Japs have gone right ahead and built two airfields in spite of constant bombing by aircraft and two bombardments by surface vessels. We may destroy large quantities of gasoline and stores, and we may render these fields unusable at critical times, but the only real answer is to take the fields away from them.” Regardless of the lack of success neutralizing the airstrip for good, Admiral Halsey had his eye on Munda from the offset of finding out the Japanese had begun constructing an airfield upon it. Halsey saw it as a very valuable new site offering terrain suitable for a large bomber field. In order to invade it simply needed to be pounded to dust and if Aerial bombarding was not enough to do the job he was willing to navally bombard it to hell if he must. The Japanese had become emboldened by the increasing failures of the allies to hit their airfields at Munda and Vila-Stanmore and allowed cargo and troopships to make runs between them and Rabaul more frequently. Thus far only piecemeal attacks had been made against either outpost, but Hasley was planning to send a larger force with considerably larger firepower. On february 27th, Halsey appointed Rear Admiral Aaron Merrill's Task Force 68 to smash Munda and Vila-Stanmore. Task force 68 consisted of 3 light cruisers: Montpelier, Cleveland and Denver and 7 destroyers: Waller, Cony, Conway, Fletcher, Radford, Nicholas and O'Bannon. Merrill divided his force into two groups, the first group of 4 destroyers led by Captain Robert Briscoe would hit Munda, while the rest led by Merrill himself would hit Vila-Stanmore. On March 4th Merrill departed Espíritu Santo heading for the new allied base at the Russell islands. Merrill intended to use the same tactics employed during the last two bombardment attempts back in January. Navigation was to be by SG Radar, gunfire to be continuous after the first ranging salvos were fired and he would use all ships in a column formation to fire simultaneously to limit the time period of time they had to stay in the enemy waters. By the afternoon of March 5th, Merrills force left the Russells en route to their departure point just 7 miles north of Daisen island. During the night the 4 destroyers detached to go hit Munda while Merrills group continued en course towards the Kula Gulf, believing they would manage to do so undetected. However that night the IJN destroyers Murasame and Minegumo were bringing supplies from their base at Vila to Kolombangara. These 2 ships were part of the 2nd fleets Destroyer squadron 4 under the command of Captain Masao Tachibana. They had taken their route through the Vella Gulf and Blackett Strait and were going to return to the Shortland Islands via the shorter route through the Kula Gulf. The Japanese destroyers were discovered by American aerial reconnaissance prompting Admiral Merrill to engage. The Americans estimated the Japanese destroyers were going to reach Blackett strait at about 11:30, while Merrill's schedule called for him to make a course change to enter Kula Gulf by 12:17. The distance from the mouth of Kula Gulf to the eastern entrance of Blackett strait was around 20 miles thus it seemed to Merrill to be senseless to change his plans and increase their speed, he did not think they could catch them in time. Thus he opted to simply carry out his original bombardment plan before the Munda group did their which would raise the alarm for the nearby Japanese vessels in the strait. But After Captain Tachibana delivered his supplies he had chosen to take the shorter route back through the Kula Gulf which would fatefully shove him into Merrills position. Just after midnight, Merrills 3 light cruisers were swinging into Kula Gulf while his destroyers detached to perform an advance sweep of the Gulf. Meanwhile the two Japanese destroyers were coming in from the opposite direction along the east coast of Kolombangara when at 12:53, the radar aboard Montpelier detached them northeast of Sasamboki Island. The ships all began to converge on the contact as they tracked the enemy, training their guns on the enemy. Now Radar controlled gunnery was still new to the US Navy and thus the first barrage tended to target the nearest and same target. This was actually a tactical deficiency that had given the IJN an advantage on multiple occasions. At a minute after 1am, the Montpelier broke the silence of the night and opened fire with her main batteries, followed by the Cleveland and Denver. The cruisers 6 inch guns were firing at a round of 11,000 yards battering her. Their fire was concentrated upon the Murasame and their radar controlled gunnery successfully straddled the destroyer. In just 5 minutes a salvo hit caused a large explosion on the Murasame with large fires erupting across her deck.  While this was going on the Waller launched a volley of 5 torpedoes and scored a hit on the Murasame causing a tremendous explosion breaking her in two as she quickly sank. Apparently the explosion from the torpedo hit was heard by Briscoes force around 25 miles away over at Munda. Merrill then directed fire upon the Minegumo as it tried to keep a northerly course while returning fire. After charging north for 4 miles under intense fire the Minegumo came to a stop suffering from heavy damage. The American destroyers tried to get into position to fire torpedoes, but by the time they did the Minegumo was sinking. Merrills cruisers likewise had begun firing starshells over the Blackett Strait and the illumination indicating there were no more enemy vessels. Merrill force began their bombardment of Vila-Stanmore at 1:25 targeting supply dumps, runways, bivouacs and the various aircraft they could see on the ground. Using aid from their aerial reconnaissance they were able to score many hits on emplacements such as shelter tents, barracks, ammunition dumps, grounded planes and such. It was very successful causing a lot of damage and they knocked out the shore batteries that tried to respond. By 1:40 Merrill ordered a withdrawal through the North Georgia Sound. 174 IJN personnel had been killed, of which 128 were aboard the Murasame. There was two submarines the USS Grayback and Grampus that had been assigned to support Merrills force and the Grampus would never return from her voyage. It is possible during the battle one of the IJN destroyers sunk her, but her wreckage has never been found. At the same time the battle was occurring, Captain Robert Briscoe's group proceeded unmolested to to their bombardment point. At 1:04 they group began to hear and saw the firing flashes from the battle and alongside this unidentified aircraft were coming over Rendova island prompting their caution. Nonetheless by 1:39 they began their bombardment striking the center of the landing strip. By 1:50 the bombardment ceased and they made their withdrawal. Although the airstrips were repaired quite easily, the loss of 2 destroyers in a fast fashion was a bad omen for the Japanese. During March of 1943 allied bombers would make sporadic attacks on the Japanese airfields over Ballalae, Kahili, Shortland Island and Munda. Alongside this allied photo reconnaissance got a good picture of Japanese movements between all their bases and this soon revealed a new Seaplane base being built off southern Bougainville prompted a dawn fighter attack on the 28th. Led by Captain Lanphier of the 70th fighter squadron, 6 P-38's destroyed 8 Japanese seaplanes. Every month brought the Japanese more losses, whether it be shipping, men or materials they simply could not afford, while the American production capabilities were only growing bigger. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The Japanese had a mixed success in central China and a rather small, but terribly loss in the Solomons. They simply could not afford any more losses, for each one was drawing them ever closer to losing the war. 

Last time we spoke about the landing at Amchitka and the invasion of the Russell Islands. The Aleutian island campaign saw a lot of action when the allies decided to investigate whether Amchitka island would be suitable for a new airfield and what the Japanese intentions were with it. A race began between the two, but it would be the Americans who would seize the island and begin the process of building up an airfield upon it. Then over in the south Pacific, the Japanese had finished up Operation KE and with it had used and abandoned the Russell Islands. The allies quickly launched an invasion of the islands prompting the Japanese to send some air raids, but all for naught. Now with the Russells in hand, the Americans had a launching point to attack New Georgia. Yet today we are going to jump into one of the major naval battles of 1943. This episode is the battle of the Bismarck Sea. 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.  Last time we were in New Guinea the forces of Brigadier Moten had arrived in the nick of time to save Wau from the main Japanese thrust.The Australians were pouring reinforcements and supplies via transport aircraft daily. On January 31st 35 aircraft had made 71 trips, the next day 40 aircraft made 53 trips. This allowed the Kanga force to increase to 3000 men and receive heavy equipment necessary to smash the Japanese. Facing larger numbers and possible encirclement, Major General Toru Okabe had to order his men to withdraw. With that order came the lost hope of capturing Wau it seemed. By February the 1st, Moten had 201 officers and 2965 soldiers of all ranks at his disposal. He began sending patrols across the Black Cat trail and the Jap trail. He quickly surmised the Japanese threat was strongest in the Crystal Creek area where they had established a headquarters The Australians neutralized the crystal Creek area and began pushing the Japanese towards Mubo. By late February the Australians controlled the area from Waipali to Buibaining and a large part of the Mubo valley. Nerve wrecking patrols set off multiple ambushes and skirmishes for countless days. The Australian high command could only authorize such limited activity as they did not yet possess sufficient numbers to undertake further major offensive operations. Moten was awarded a bar to his distinguished service order for “his high order of leadership and control at Wau”. While the Australians were tossing all they could via aerial transport, the Japanese attempted to thwart this. Aerial strikes were sent to hit the airstrip at Wau, but the typically terrible New Guinea weather hampered the Japanese. Aircraft dispatch from Rabaul were unable to locate Wau through the torrential weather and would return back without any success. Then on February 6th, 8 P-39's of the 40th fighter Squadron were escorting 5 Dakota transports incoming to Wau when they sighted 24 Japanese aircraft. Captain Thomas Winburn led the P-39s to engage the enemy claiming to have downed 11 Zeros and a Sally. Simultaneously 8 P-40's of the 7th fighter squadron were escorts other Dakota's inbound for Wau when they sighed 12 Japanese bombers attempted to bomb the airstrip. The Dakota's were turned back at the last second as the P-40's engaged the bombers claiming to have downed 7 aircraft. On the ground at the airstrip in Wau were 4 Dakota's while 5 circled its skies hoping to land after the combat was over. Second Lt Robert Schwensen was circling around in his Dakota and was shot down by a Japanese bomber, he alongside 4 other crew died. Another grounded Dakota was damaged and a CAC Wirraway was destroyed by a bomber. The increased aerial pressure prompted Major General Ennis Whitehead over in Port Moresby to order 3 squadrons to join the battle for Wau's skies. P-38's of the 39th and 9th fighter squadrons and P-40's of the 41st fighter Squadron intercepted a Japanese fighters and bombers claiming to have shot down over 23 aircraft. The Japanese were decisively losing the war of the skies, showcasing the limitations of their offensive capabilities in the area. Now while the Japanese surprise attack against Wau had failed and they had been pushed back heavily, all was not lost for the Japanese. They still held some high ground around Waipali and Guadagasal. Yet in order to turn things around, Major General Toru Okabe would require significant reinforcements to defeat Moten's 17th Brigade. Things were extremely chaotic at this time for the Japanese high command. The battle for guadalcanal collapsed, leading to Operation KE which involved a major shuffling of troops all over the place. They first ordered Lt General Jusei Aoki's 20th division to depart Korea for Guadalcanal and for Lt General Heisuke Abe's 41st division to depart China for Rabaul. Lt General Hitoshi Imamura commander of the Japanese 8th area army at Rabaul ordered Lt General Hatazo Adachi's 18th army to secure Wewak, Tuluvu and Madang in New Guinea. Adachi was the one who ordered Major General Toru Okabe, commander of the 51st division and the 102nd infantry regiment to capture Wau in order to further secure Lae and Salamaua. However with the conclusion of Operation KE, the focus was reshifted from the Solomons to New Guinea. General Imamura and Vice admiral Gunichi Mikawa, the commander of the south east area fleet developed a plan to move the 18th army HQ and the rest of the main body of the 51st division from Rabaul to Lae. They would also follow this up by moving the remaining forces of the 20th division to Madang. The first movement was set for the 3rd of march and the second for march 10th. It was to be a very risky plan, as the allies held aerial supremacy. The 18th army held some war games indicated the operation would lose around 4 out of 10 transports and upto 40 aircraft. They believed the operation stood a 50/50 chance of success and there were limited alternatives. If they tried to land all the forces simply at Madang, the men would have to march over 230 km's over swamplands, mountains and jungle terrain. It seems the Japanese were beginning to acknowledge their lack of success at logistics as this course of action was deemed impossible.  Over on the Australian side, General MacKay sent word to Blamey that he feared the Japanese would make a second attempt to capture Wau. He reasoned that even with the projected arrival of reinforcements in the form of the 4th and 15th brigades, they would still be outnumbered by the Japanese. MacKay estimated the Japanese held around 7500 men in the Lae-Salamaua area while they held onto their position in the Mubo region. Because of this, he had restricted activity to patrolling to not allow for any gaps allowing an opening against Wau so that more men could be brought over for its defense. Despite the enormous success in transporting men to the area, supply continued to be a major issue. There was a major increase in the number of aircraft at the Dobodura airfields thanks to the capture of Buna allowing for men and materials to be tossed to Wau, but in early February General Whiteheads confided to MacKay that 2 of his squadrons of 18 aircraft were pressed to their limits and the bad weather was greatly reducing their ability to deliver the men and supplies. Whitehead predicted, correctly that the bad weather would continue for the next 6 weeks, which left typically 2 hour windows for the deliveries per day. Attempting to improve the situation General Blamey had begun the construction of a Jeep trail all the way back in January from Bulldog to Way. But during the process the surveyors quickly discovered the terrain was extremely formidable and the job would take many months. Native carriers performed the lionshare of work as the 68 mile trail would end up taking 4 months to complete. Now during the campaign for Buna-Gona, the allies owed much of their success largely due to their control of the air, and this as we can see at Wau continued to be a vital factor. The Japanese of course held their large air and naval base at Rabaul and since the early days of the war remained an ongoing threat to air and sea supremacy in the region. Blanche Bay in Rabaul provided the Japanese with one of the best natural harbors in the south pacific. It is encircled by hills, is around 6 miles long and 2 and one half miles wide. It alongside 3 other harbors provided an anchorage for a large body of ships, as many as 60 by some accounts. The Japanese had built up the harbors and their defenses to more than 300 antiaircraft guns. By the fall of 1943 the Japanese had almost 100,000 men stationed at Rabaul, the vast majority being army troopers. The Southern fleet force had around 21,000 men under the command of Vice admiral Jinichi Kusaka. Air strength at Rabaul depending on reinforcements provided by the combined fleet, but in early 1943 they held a significant enough number to pose a major threat to the allied operations, if utilized properly. General MacArthur was deeply concerned about Rabaul, despite having the number in theory to negate its threat. MacArthur consistently pushed for an invasion of eastern New Britain in early 1943 and disagreed on using airpower to negate Rebaul. Then during the bloody campaign against Buna-Gona he declared the decision to bypass Rabaul would “go down in history as one of times greatest military mistakes”. THEN later on he would agree that bypassing Rabaul was a good strategy and that it had largely been done because of his advisement. Basically what I am saying is MacArthur is full of shit and more worried about his autobiographies that actual decisions. Regardless of that, MacArthurs early suggestions indicated Rabaul was vitally important and needed to be neutralized. This is sort of a no brainer as you can imagine, it was one of Japan's largest naval air force bases covering all major operations in the eastern and central solomons. Fortunately for the allies there was no unified command at Rabaul. As we all know the IJA and IJN did not get along very well and Rabaul's operations is a great example of it. The IJA had fewer aircraft based regularly at Rabaul although its responsibility was to cover New Guinea. Throughout 1943 the IJN's air forces were primarily concerning themselves with the Solomons, which would eventually see them losing nearly 400 aircraft and irreplaceable pilots for all their efforts. Because of the catastrophe of the Guadalcanal campaign, Rabaul was largely neutralized by US bombers from the solomons. By mid February Imamura and Kusaka recognized the need to reinforce Lae. They had sent a 3 ship convoy on the 19th which went unmolested to Wewak and this emboldened them to brave the allied aerial supremacy. Thus on February 28th a convoy of 16 ships commanded by Rear Admiral Masatomi Kamura departed Rabaul. 6 transports, a oil tanker and their destroyer escorts would be combat loaded so that supplies and the men could be off loaded quickly to minimize turnaround time. Almost 7000 men, mostly from the 115th regiment of the 51st division and some SNLF were crowded onto the transports guarded by an escort force of 8 destroyers. Lt General Hatazo Adachi and his staff were on board accompanied by Lt General Hidemitsu Nakano and his staff. The planned route was to go along the northern coast of New Britain through the Bismarck Sea, to Cape Gloucester and then through the Vitiaz strait to the Huon Gulf. The Japanese commanders believed their movement would be masked by the terrible weather.  Allied command began detecting signs of a major convoy operation in early february. On february 14th aerial photographs taken over Rabaul indicating over 79 vessels at port, including 45 merchant ships and 6 transports. It was clear to allied command a convoy was going to be dispatched, but its destination was unknown. Two days later naval codebreakers at FRUMEL in Melbourne and Washington DC decyphered some coded messages revealing the Japanese were going to send the convoy to Wewak, Madany and Lae. Other intercepted coded messages from the Japanese 11th air fleet to the convoy indicated they would reach Lae by March the 5th or by latest 12th. Another aerial reconnaissance over Rabaul on the 22nd indicated 59 merchant vessels were at harbor. Kenney read the Ultra intelligence to General MacArthur on the 25th and the prospect of 7000 Japanese being landed at Lae certainly disturbed him. Kenney then sent word to Whitehead of the proposed convoy date and warned him the Japanese would most likely perform a pre-convoy aerial strike. Kenney urged he cut back on the transport hours so the aircraft could be made ready the moment the convoy appeared. Kenney would fly over to Port Moresby on the 26th to speak to Whitehead personally and the two generals concluded the Japanese convoy was going to go through the Vitiaz strait.  Now in the south west pacific conventional strategic bombing was not really on the menu as industrial targets in Japan were obviously too far away. Thus since the early days of the way, the primary mission of the allied bomber force in the region was to intercept Japanese supply lines, particularly their sea lanes. Some 416 sorties were flown in January of 1943, resulting in only 2 ships sunk and 3 ships damaged, clearly the allied tactics needed revamping. Captain Bill Garing of the RAAF, part of Kenney's staff, held considerable experience in air to sea operations and he began to recommend that Japanese convoys should be met with simultaneous attacks from different altitudes and directions. This led allied air force brains to come up with some innovative tactics. In February of 1942 the RAAF began experimenting with “skip bombing”. Skip bombing was an anti-ship technique used primarily by the British and Germans in the atlantic. It involved flying ones aircraft just a dozen feet above the sea level towards a target whereupon bombers would release their bombs, which ideally would ricochet across the surface of the water to hit the sides of the ships or explode overhead, IE “skipping”. If you play world of warships, you know exactly what I am talking about, nasty stuff. Another similar technique involved bombs taking a low altitude between 200-500 feet and dropping around mast height, approximately 10-15 feet and 600 yards from their target, IE “Mast height bombing”. This when performed well would see the bombs smash into the sides of a ship. These two techniques paired with slow fuse bombs would see considerable use in an event we are about to jump into. Now Kimura envisioned, by taking the route along the northern coast, that this would put enough distance between the convoy and allied reconnaissance aircraft until they reached Vitiaz strait. Kimura took the destroyer Shirayuki as his flagship to command the operation. Destroyer Tokitsukaze would carry General Adachi and destroyer Yukikaze would carry General Nakano. The idea was that upon arrival at Lae the ships would anchor 600 or so meters apart along the shoreline due west of the airfield around the mouth of the Busu river. They would use a smoke screen to cover the anchorage to make their unloading activity to hinder aerial attacks as well. A escort of 40 IJN and 6 IJA aircraft would provide aerial protection for the convoy from 5am to 6pm each day it operated.  General Blamey wrote “every effort will be made by our own air force to deal with the enemy as he approaches”. Thus Generals Blamey and MacArthur tossed the job to General Kenney, the commander of allied air forces. Kenney had at his disposal the RAAF under air vice marshall William Bostock and the 5th air force led by Brigadier general Ennis Whitehead. In total 154 fighters, 34 light bombers, 41 medium bombers and 39 heavy bombers available for combat operations in New Guinea. The 5th air force was subdivided into two commands: the V fighter command  led by Brigadier General Paul Wurtsmith consisting of 95 fighters, some P-39's, P-38's and P-40s. Then there was V bomber command led by Brigadier General Howard Ramey which had 28 worn out B-26's, 27 B-25's, 55 B-17's and 60 B-24's. Alongside this Kenney and Whitehead had at their disposal the 3rd attack groups of light bombers, nicknamed the Grim Reapers which included a squadron of A-20 Bostons equipped with 4 .50 caliber guns and long range fuel tanks. You see the A-20 Bostons usually were equipped with .30 caliber machine guns and could not fly across the Owen stanley range from Port Moresby, but Kenney was very keen on the “attack aviation” concept which focused on using low-level strafing and bombing methods. Alongside the grim reapers was 2 squadrons of B-25's that had been modified by Major Paul Pappy Gunn, the same man who had altered the Grim reapers. The B-25's had their lower turrets and tail guns removed and instead had 4 .50 caliber machine guns installed in the nose and another 4 in the forward firing chin blisters. With the top turret firing its guns forward, the aircraft boasted an extraordinary strafing firepower and on top of that still carried 6 100 pound bombs and 60 23 pound fragmentation bombs. The fragmentation bombs were outfitted with small parachutes so they could be used for low-level bombing of airfield without damaging the aircraft trying to drop them. Honestly try to imagine this goliath beast firing those .50 cals, would have been like torrential rain of lead.  All of these modifications would allow aircraft like the B-25 to be much more capable of pulling off the masthead bombing technique without the need for a bombardier, which ironically was in opposition to their original role of carrying out bombardier assisted missions from altitude. The Australians could also count on the support of the No. 9 Group led by Captain William Garing consisting of 59 fighters, 26 light medium bombers and 2 heavy bombers; the no 73 wing of Hudson bombers, P-40 Kittyhawks and Beaufort bombers operating at Port Moresby and the no 71 Wing of Wirraways, A-20's and Beaufighters operating out of Milne Bay. So needless to say a lot of allied airpower was on hand. Now as I had mentioned prior, allied attempts to hit Japanese shipping, particularly that coming out of Rabaul had not shown much results in the past. So in order to increase the success of hitting this convoy, Garing persuaded Whitehead to rehearse a plan for the attacks, integrating all available aircraft. This specifically included performing the bomb skipping a masthead bombing techniques. Garing's idea was to get all the aircraft to gather over Cape Ward Hunt at 9:30am so they could get themselves over the enemy convoy by 10am all at once to completely overwhelm the enemy escorting aircraft and anti-aircraft defenses. Two rehearsals were carried out, with the 2nd one turning out to be “damn good”.   On March the first at 2am the Convoy departed Rabaul. The convoy slowly made its way across the Bismarck Sea undetected as for the past two days major tropical storms had been occurring since February the 27th. However on March the 1st there was a clearing and a crew of patrolling B-24 Liberators managed to spot the convoy. They reported the sighting, prompting a dispatch of 8 B-17 to be sent to the location, but they failed to relocate the convoy. The Destroyer Tokitsukaze then intercepted an allied message stating their convoy had been spotted. This prompted Kimura to put the forces on full alert. General Adachi who was onboard the Tokitsukaze was uncensored by the report stating it was all part of the plan. His reasoning was that the allies were always going to find them, but with the terrible weather it would be unlikely they could manage to perform a decent attack.   At dawn on march the 2nd, a force of 6 RAAF A-20 Bostons coming out of Ward's Strip at Port Moresby performed an air strike against Lae to hinder its use to the fighter escorts for the convoy. At 10am another B-24 liberator found the convoy, prompting another order for 8 B-17's to be sent to attack. They would soon be followed up an hour later by a group of 20 B-17's. The B-17's planned to rendezvous with some P-38's of the 9th fighter squadron, but they arrived too early to the convoy's location and thus had to face the Japanese escort fighters on their own until the P-38's eventually arrived to the scene. The first group of 8 B-17's made their runs at the convoys through anti-aircraft fire and Zero fighters. They dropped 1000 lb bombs from 5000 feet claiming 5 critical bomb hits and sinking 3 merchant ships. The Kyokusei Maru was hit and sunk carrying 1200 IJA troops. The second group of B-17's then showed up and luckily for them, 12 P-38's had managed to haul it quickly enough to escort them in the nick of time to make their bombing runs. The B-17's claimed to have sunk 4 enemy ships, but in reality only damaged two transports, the Teiyo Maru and Nojima. 8 Japanese fighters were shot down with 13 others damaged at the cost of 9 B-17's damaged in return. While the Kyokusei Maru was sinking, the destroyers Asagumo and Yukikaze managed to rescue 950 troops out of the water alongside 2 mountain guns. Because destroyers are fast, the two ships opted detach from the convoy and haul it over to Lae to drop off the survivors before trying to regroup to reperform their escort duties. The survivors and General Nakano would be brought to Lae by the end of the day and the two destroyers turned around to rejoin the convoy by daybreak. Throughout the rest of the day the convoy would be subjected to multiple heavy bomber attacks. 11 B-18s made an evening strike inflicting minor damage to another transport. The days efforts saw the convoy zigzagging to save its life from high level bombing and this led it to be stretched out for 20km. Rather bizarrely, the Japanese fighter escorts showed little aggression towards the American heavy bombers and departed rather early from the days action. During the night PBY Catalina's from the No 11 RAAF squadron began shadowing the convoy. One PBY flown by Flight Lt Terry Duigan received a message from HQ to shadow the convoy in order to guide a strike of torpedo bombers, which did not make sense, so he discarded it. However the message as he would later find out, was not necessarily for him, but rather to trick the enemy. The allied intelligence officers back at HQ were certain the Japanese were listening in on their radio traffic so they began sending false messages. Early the next day, Admiral Kimura made what would be a disastrous decision, ordering his ships to mark the time and circle in the dark. This process cost the convoy 2 hours of night cover and the reasons behind the decision are quite unknown. It is theorized Kimura was trying to make sure his convoy would appear to the destination at the same time their fighter escort would show up for the daily activity. In any case, Kimura's convoy would not see their escort nor stormy weather at sunrise to their dismay. Sunrise on march the 3rd saw a beautiful sunny day, a terrible omen. The convoy was now within striking distance of Milne Bay and 8 Bristol Beaufort Torpedo bombers of the No 100 RAAF squadron took off at 4am. Only 2 Beauforts would make it to the convoy and fail to cause any damage. The Japanese commanders however were now alerted by the presence of torpedo bombers, so they began maneuvers, turning the beam of their ships to the enemy aircraft, exposing the full length of their ships to strafing.    At 5:10am, 4 Australian A-20's performed an airstrike against Lae, catching several grounded planes that were needed to escort the convoy. At 8:30am, a striking force of 90 aircraft consisting of a squadron of B-17's, 4 squadrons of B-25's including some grim reapers, a squadron of Beaufighters, a squadron of A-20's and 2 squadrons of P-38 lightnings. The striking group departed Port Moresby and headed for Cape Ward Hunt while 22 A-20 Bostons of No 22 RAAF squadron attacked Lae to reduce the convoys air cover. The striking group took up their practiced formation with the B-17's leading the echelon at 7000 feet, the B-25's behind them at 4000 feet, the Beaufighters at 500 feet, some other B-25's designated to perform low level bombing at around 700 feet and the P-38 lightings hanging above at 12,000 feet.   At 10am, 13 B-17s reached the convoy first and began bombing them from 7000 feet causing the convoy to zigzag, dispersing their formation and reducing the concentration of their anti-aircraft fire considerably. The B-17's attracted the Zero fighter escort, but were quickly pounced upon by the P-38 lightnings. One B-17 was shot apart by a Zero and its crew took to parachuting. The parachuting men were fired upon by Zero fighters and when they hit the water some Zero's continued to strafe them. Although the B-17's inflicted no damage, 7 Zero's would be shot down by the P-38s reducing the convoy's protection.   Meanwhile the Beaufighters were coming in just above the waves making it look like they were Beaufort torpedo bombers. Admiral Kimura ordered his ships to maneuver so their beams were towards the enemy expecting torpedo runs and this exposed his ships to the Beaufighters strafing runs. The Australian pilots began to open up with their 6 .303 machine guns and 4 20mm Hispano cannons. The combination unleashed a carnage seeing rivers of fire erupt across the lengths of the ships. Some vessels were stopped dead in the water as a result of their officers being cut down to pieces across their bridges. Much of the convoys anti-aircraft positions were destroyed by the strafing. After the first strafing run, B-17's and B-25s began to make their bombing runs rather unexpectedly, leaving the BEaufighters scrambling to flying as the bombs were literally falling down around them. Out of 37 bombs dropped by the 90th attack Squadron Grim reapers, 17 were claimed as direct hits. 12 A-20 bostons from the 89th bomb squadron claim while performing low level bombing that 11 out of 20 bombs made hits. The B-25's of the 405th bomb squadron dropped 35 500 lb bombs from low level and claimed 4 direct hits, these bombs had 5 second delay fuses. The bombing runs caused massive chaos amongst the convoy, so much so that pilots claimed to have seen 2 japanese vessel collide into another. The modified grim reappears strafed the convoy during all of the runs. A squadron leader named Brian Blackjack Waler recalled this “I was observing it from the side and all these ships - honestly, I've never seen anything like it. Dozens of planes all going in at zero feet. In fact, I could see a Beaufighter and a B-25 both going in at the same target and I thought, get out one of you!” The assortment of differing aircraft were coming in at all sorts of angles and all sorts of altitudes, many low.    Garrett Middlebrook, a co-pilot in one of the B-25s, described the ferocity of the strafing attacks: “They went in and hit this troop ship. What I saw looked like little sticks, maybe a foot long or something like that, or splinters flying up off the deck of ship; they'd fly all around ... and twist crazily in the air and fall out in the water. Then I realized what I was watching were human beings. I was watching hundreds of those Japanese just blown off the deck by those machine guns. They just splintered around the air like sticks in a whirlwind and they'd fall in the water.” The Shirayuki was the first ship to be hit, by a combination of strafing and bombing attacks. Just about all of the men on her bridge were strafed, including Kimura who was wounded. She received a bomb hit that stated a magazine explosion breaking her stern off and causing her to sink. Her crew transferred to the Shikinami as the Shirayuki was scuttled. The Tokitsukaze was hit fatally and her crew had to abandon her. The Arashio was strafed violently causing her to collide with the transport Nojima disabling both ships. Both ships would be abandoned as the allies strafed and bombed them sinking Nojima eventually. The remaining destroyers struggled to save survivors in the water.   By 10:15, all 7 of the transports had been hit and we're sinking 100km's southeast of Finschhafen. After midway a second series of attacks were made by B-17's and A-20's who strafed and bombed the Asashio while she was trying to rescue survivors. The 4 remaining destroyers withdrew up the Vitiaz strait and were joined by the destroyer Hatsuyuki coming from Long Island. The Hatsuyuki and Uranami brought 2700 survivors back to Rabaul while the 3 other destroyers continued picking up survivors and would eventually bring them to Kavieng by march 5th. During the night of march 3rd, a force of 10 PT boats led by Lt Commander Barry Atkins made an attempt to finish off the convoy alongside some B-17's and Beaufighters. 2 of the PT boats hit submerged debris and were turned back, but the other 8 continued and arrived off Lae in the early hours of March 4th. Atkins spotted a fire that turned out to be the transport Oigawa Maru. Pt-143 and PT-150 fired torpedoes at it, further crippling and eventually sinking the transport. The Asashio was hit by a B-17 with a 500 bomb bomb as she was grabbing survivors and sunk. Amongst the 4 surviving destroyers it would only be the Yikikaze that went undamaged. The PT boats and allied aircraft attacked the Japanese rescue vessels and survivors clinging to rafts or floating in the sea. The decision to attack the survivors was highly unpopular amongst the pilots and sailors but was deemed necessary on the grounds the rescued Japanese were most likely going to be landed for military duty if not attacked.  One Japanese survivor wrote in his diary of the ordeal “The Boeing B-17 is most terrifying. We are repeating the failure of Guadalcanal. Most regrettable!” Many allied pilots were sicked by these actions.   One pilot recalled "as per instructions, we flew around to see if some ships were still afloat. Some were sinking and burning--we san a lifeboat with about 20 people. I thought these poor guys. But we had a job to do because if they got to shore, they were going to kill our guys. So I came around and strafed them. One of the cruel things of war which had to be done"   Another pilot recounted this “At the briefing, Australian officer had told us we must not permit a single enemy to reach the shores of New Guinea. They explained the suffering, agony, and loss by our troops in having to hunt down and kill a suicidal Jap”. It is estimated around 352 Japanese troops were killed during these attacks adding to the 2890 casualties suffered during the battle. Another 224 survivors in the water would be rescued by the I-17 and I-26 shuffled over to various nearby islands such as Goodenough island. Of the 116 Japanese that would be landed on Goodenough island, 72 would be killed with 42 captured and 2 missing.   Officials at the Advanced air echelon at Port Moresby went through the claims of their pilots and sailors and believed a great number of ships had been destroyed. Their conclusion was that 12 transports, 3 cruisers and 7 destroyers had been sunk, which MacArthur readily believed, although a report would later come out to claim the number was actually 4 destroyers and 8 transports. Later the Japanese would admit that 3000 soldiers had been killed during the battle, but this did not count the hundreds of sailors lost on the ships, nor the pilots in the aircraft. MacArthur would make a commendation on march the 4th for all the air force units in New Guinea stating “it cannot fail to go down in history as one of the most complete and annihilating combats of all time. My pride and satisfaction in you is boundless” Kenney added to it stating “tell the whole gang that I am so proud of them I am about to blow a fuse”. MacArthur would also at the offset claim they had caused 15,000 enemy casualties describing the battle as a decisive aerial engagement for the southwest pacific theater. And it certainly was a decisive victory, it was a devastating loss for Japan that showcased Japan was no longer capable of being on the offensive. I will finish off the tale of the battle of the Bismarck sea with a account from Reiji Masuda, a crewman aboard the destroyer Arashio, as it leaves a vivid and harrowing account of the attack.   They would come in on you at low altitude, and they'd skip bombs across the water like you'd throw a stone. That's how they bombed us. All seven of the remaining transports were enveloped in flames. Their masts tumbled down, their bridges flew to pieces, the ammunition they were carrying was hit, and whole ships blew up. . . . They hit us amidships. B-17s, fighters, skip-bombers, and torpedo bombers. On our side, we were madly firing, but we had no chance to beat them off. Our bridge was hit by two five-hundred-pound bombs. Nobody could have survived. The captain, the chief navigator, the gunnery and torpedo chiefs, and the chief medical officer were all killed in action. The chief navigator's blackened body was hanging there, all alone. Then a second air attack came in. We were hit by thirty shells from port to starboard. The ship shook violently. Bullet fragments and shrapnel made it look like a beehive. All the steam pipes burst. The ship became boiling hot. We tried to abandon ship, but planes flying almost as low as the masts sprayed us with machine-guns. Hands were shot off, stomachs blown open. Most of the crew were murdered or wounded there. Hundreds were swimming in the ocean. Nobody was there to rescue them. They were wiped out, carried away by a strong current running at roughly four or five knots. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The battle of the Bismarck sea proved the Japanese were indeed incapable of being on the offensive, the allies were now in the driving seat. It also showcased war produces wild innovations that can prove quite deadly. 

Last time we spoke about the first adventure of the Chindits. Eccentric and quite literally madman Wingate was championed by Wavell to create a guerrilla unit to perform operations in Burma. Wingate soon readjusted the group to be a long range penetration group known as the Chindits. Their purpose was to disrupt the Japanese behind their front lines. The eccentric Wingate proved to be capable of turning men into onion wearing jungle warriors and they marched into the jungle to sabotage railway lines to hinder the Japanese. Their first mission was met with tremendous disaster after disaster, but surprisingly by the end they had achieved their goal of blowing up some railway. We finished off by talking about a lesser known allied partner during the Pacific War, Free France. The Japanese had ignored them for a long time, but eventually enough was enough and they seized Guangzhouwan from Free France thus ending their position in China. But today we are venturing back to the Aleutians. This episode is Landing at Amchitka and Invasion of the Russels Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800's until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.  Now the last time we were in the Aleutians, the Americans had taken Adak back on August 30th of 1942. There they began building a new airfield from which they could continue to reclaim the Aleutian island chain. However the Japanese did not give up on their northern possessions and reoccupied Attu Island by late October. The Japanese acted so boldly because they believed the Amerians were not able to construct an airtstip yet on the neighboring island of Amchitka. Also during October, Kiska was reinforced by massive amounts of anti-aircraft weapons and an impressive underground network of bunkers. Now initially the plan for the Aleutians for the Japanese was simply a large feint that would see them gradually withdrawing to the northern Kuriles while bleeding the americans of lives and resources. However all the American activity in the north was surprising Japanese high command and they now were beginning to believe the Americans sought to hop along the Aleutian island chain all the way to the home islands to potentially invade Japan from the north, a rather insane war strategy to be sure. As a result, the Japanese high command decided not to abandon the Aleutians for the winter and on November 1st, the formulated a joint plan to strengthen the defenses of Kiska and Attu by February of 1943. They also sought to create a seaplane base at the unoccupied island of Shemya. Now on the other side, the US army planned to occupy Tanaga along with Atka after the Adak base was established, but for the time being this was not a pressing issue. What was a pressing issue was a concern that the Japanese might seize Amchitka, 60 miles east of Kiska. Admiral Nimitz directed Theobald to preempt any such occupation and for Colonel Talley to go with a party of Alaskan scouts to go to the island to see if it was possible to build an airfield there. The Alaskan scouts landed on the island having to hid, while Japanese reconnaissance aircraft flew overhead. They found test holes all over the island that had been made by Japanese patrols. Contrary to the Japanese reports, the Alaskan scouts determined Amchitka was long, narrow and flat, except of course for a volcano at one end, but this indicated it could operate an airfield. Given the viability of the island and the presence of the Japanese holes testing its viability likewise, the race was on. Thus Admiral Nimitz approved the invasion of Amchitka codenamed Operation Longview. General Marshall approved the plan to advance upon Amchitka and agreed to assign troops for an invasion. While planning for the Amchitka occupation was underway, major changes in command structure also were going on. On January 4th of 1943, Theobald was transferred out of his command assumed by Rear Admiral Thomas Kincaid. Likewise Theobalds second in command, rear admiral W.W Smith was also replaced by rear admiral Charles McMorris. Kincaid was a combat veteran who liked action and was more to Buckner's liking as he immediately went on the offensive, arranging for a task force to deliver the Army's Amchitka occupation forces of 2000 men led by Brigadier General Lloyd Jones. Beginning in early November upon discovering the Japanese reoccupation of Attu, General Butler sent missions against the island. Colonel William Eric Eareckson led the airforce to hit Attu, successfully destroying several beach installations, sank a cargo ship and took out 9 Zero fighters at Holtz Bay. During the first 6 months of 1943, Attu and Kiska would be attacked by the 11th air force who would hit the islands with over 3,000,000 pounds of bombs. In July Kiska alone would be hit by 900,000 pounds of bombs. Liberators, mitchells, dauntless, lightnings and warhawks took part in the aerial attacks making the islands untenable. This is quite a lesser known aspect of the Pacific War. The American airfield on Adak was little more than 200 miles away from the Japanese on Kiska and nearly twice that distance from Attu. Any day weather permitted it, American aircraft departed from Adak to strike at the Japanese, it was grueling work fighting the Japanese and mother nature.  Over on the Japanese side on November 23rd the first Shemya convoy departed from Paramushiro, carrying 1100 troops of the 303rd independent battalion escorted by the light cruisers Abukuma, Kiso, Tama and the destroyers Hacuoshimo, Wakaba and Usugumo led by Admiral Hosogaya. But before the convoy was able to get to the island, the Americans sent a wave of B-24's on November 27th which managed to sink the transport Cherrybourne Maru just off Attu waters. Hosogaya began receiving reports indicating a North Pacific task force was in the vicinity as well. This prompted Hosogaya to postpone the Shemya landings and return back to Paramushiro. Ironically there was no American task force in the north pacific as Admiral Theobald had literally taken the majority of warships with him for the invasion of North Africa.  Eareckson's constant aerial attacks forced Hosogaya to consolidate his vessels at all times and prompted him to take the entire convoy to Kiska landing the troops there on December 2nd. On December 18th, Earecksons aerial forces smashed Amchitka, destroying every building on the island. Mere hours after the report of the damage, General Buckner decided to send the Alaska scouts in. The Alaska Scouts, were also known as Castner's Cutthroats, led by Colonel Lawrence Castner. The scouting expedition showed further signs the Japanese had been on the island recently doing the same type of work as them. Thus operation longview's timetable had to be increased. The scouts reported a fighter strip could be built up in 2 to possibly 3 weeks and a main airfield in 3-4 months time. By the end of the year the 11th air force had managed to take down 50 enemy planes in combat and lost around a dozen in the combat. However, over 80 other aircraft had been lost to a multitude of other causes, such as good old mother nature. Operating in the far reaches of the north was extremely dangerous, and the weather seemed to be taking a heavier toll than the Japanese. In spite of mother nature, Eareckson's bombers continued their work using rather innovative means. Eareckson pioneering a low-level bombing technique to raid the enemy and thwart the effects of the unpredictable Aleutian weather. To overcome the shortness of the daylight cycle, he was forced to bomb at night and to do so he would use a single plane that preceded the main force by a minute to drop incendiary bombs to illuminate the area. It was a very Japanese type of strategy, perhaps he was learning from his enemy. As I had mentioned the 11th air force would literally drop more than a million pounds of bombs over Attu, Kiska and other islands under Earecksons command. Earecksons personally was in the air ever flyable day of the campaign excluding one brief October mission to the States. On January 4th, Admiral Kinkaid, an American admiral who had seen action in more big naval battles than anyone else, finally arrived at Kodiak to replace Theobald. The day after, Kinkaid ordered the full troop landings on Amchitka to be executed. Butler was very pleased to have a “fighting admiral”. Heavy cruiser Indianapolis, light cruisers Detroit, Raleigh and 7 destroyers led by Admiral McMorris were to do the job. Yet mother nature did not comply, the weather became severe forcing the americans to postpone the operation for a few days. Meanwhile Butler sent a reconnaissance over Amchitka and more air strikes against Attu and Kiska. These runs led to the sinking of the freighter Montreal Maru off the Komandorski islands, hey I am from Montreal and the Kotohiro Maru off Attu.  Because of the nonstop pressure from the 11th air fleet, the Japanese were only able to pull off 8 resupply runs for Kiska and 4 for Attu between December 17th to January 30th. Basically it was similar to the situation on Guadalcanal, trying to stop the Japanese from receiving provisions. By the night of January 11th the weather continued to look bad, but as the storms slacked just a bit, Admiral McMorris decided to depart with the 2100 Engineer and army troops led by Brigadier General Lloyd Jones. It was a risk to be sure, you could not trust any windows of decent weather to be open for very long. McMorris also ordered the destroyer Worden to take a detachment of Alaska Scouts led by Lt COlonel William Verback to hit Constantine harbor. The destroyer blasted through the surf at the harbor mouth shortly before dawn, successfully landing Verbeck's scouts. But as the Worden made her departure from the harbor mouth a brutal current smashed her onto a pinnacle rock, leaving her powerless. The destroyer Dewey was sent racing off to assist her, but the Worden would capsize and kill 14 of her crew before the rescue could be made. Like I said, mother nature was taking a heavier toll than the Japanese. Verbecks scouts did a full reconnaissance of the island finding no Japanese forces, so the rest of the convoy came in. They came ashore the same way they had come ashore at Adak, wading through icy surf. They were soaked with ice water and oil. It was miserable, but Amchitka was quickly secured. The American engineers went to work immediately to construct the new airfield. They would have 12 days before a Japanese aircraft emerged to the scene, it was a floatplane which reported their presence back to Kiska. The men made good use of the 12 days and it was the same story as what occurred on Adak before. Men toiling without rest in winter rain and wind, in the bitter cold surf of Constantine harbor, wading through black Aleutian mud, climbing over rocks and heavy tundra. They unloaded, carried ashore, stored and protected their arms, ammunition, food, fuel and other equipment, even the smallest of kindling. Her in the Aleutians, the soldiers bodily needs were more than that in a place like the south pacific, I can assure you I live in a place where we get the nasty combination of ice rain and snow, its not fun to be out in that. The Japanese commanders were shocked by the unexpected occupation of Amchitka which lay only 50 miles from their main base at Kiska. The Japanese began their own series of air strikes against Amchitka hoping to hinder the construction of the airfield. They knew if the American completed an airfield the already relentiles air attacks would increase. The Japanese air raids caused considerable damage over the course of the following days, but the american engineers performed miracles and managed to complete the Amchitka runway by the end of January, allowing a P-40 squadron to be landed on January 28th. After this the Japanese bombing missions became more sporadic until February 18th when they ceased. Just like the Americans, mother nature was just as cruel to the Japanese and they simply could not spare anymore aircraft bombing Amchitka, they had to have a reserve to defend themselves. Now additional air forces were joining the daily raids against Kiska using Amchitka as a launch pad. The Japanese were being whittled down slowly but surely in the north. Yet we need to leave the north and head back south to the Solomons. After the epic conclusion of the Guadalcanal campaign, culminating with the success of Operation KE, the Japanese Empire now had to switch to the defensive. During Operation KE, on February the 1st, the Americans received a cascade of sighting reports from coastwatchers and scouting aircraft. Some 20 Japanese destroyers had headed down the slot and a small Japanese infantry force was landed in the Russell Islands. Likewise allied flights over the Japanese held anchorage off Buin noted a sharp increase in the number of ships. Now the third run of Operation KE took place on the night of February 7th and lifted 1796 men off Guadalcanal and the Russell Islands. This prompted Admirals Nimitz and Halsey to commence their campaign to move up the solomons and thwart any Japanese incursions moving down them. In January they wanted to hit the Japanese base at Munda, but lacked the necessary forces for such an operation. One place in the solomons they could perform an operation against was the Russell Islands to the southeast. Admiral Halsey decided it would be advantageous to seize the Russell Islands and develop them while preventing their use to the Japanese. Thus operation Cleanslate was born. The idea behind it was simple, take the island away from Japanese use, further limited the Japanese operational capacity in the solomons and the Russell Islands could be used as a launching pad to hit other places like New Georgia. As Air Force historian Kramer Rohfleisch put it “for allied operations worked in such a way, that each fresh base became a successive cancer in the structure of the enemy's defense lines, sending out its tentacles and relentlessly destroying the equipment and personnel opposing it”. Operation Cleanslate was to be the first step in the conquest of the central and northern solomon islands, all to culminate with the final drive against the stronghold of Rabaul. By the end of January Halsey received permission from Nimitz to proceed with the invasion. The americans would dispatch an infantry battalion and anti-aircraft units from Guadalcanal into 2 destroyers to occupy the Russell Islands. Likewise the Japanese quickly beat them to the punch by landing around 400 troops as indicated by their aerial reconnaissance. As we know however, this was not a reinforcement of the island, but a part of Operation KE. The 17th army sought to use the Russell islands as a backup extraction point if the destroyers failed to get the men off Guadalcanal. Halsey was forced to postpone Operation Cleanslate, believing the Japanese were going to put up a large fight for the Russell Islands. In early february the Americans still were unaware the Japanese had evacuated Guadalcanal, but Hasley finally kicked off Operation Cleanslate regardless on the 7th. The 103rd and 169th regiments of Major General John Hester along with the 3rd marine raider battalion, anti aircraft units from the 10th and 11th marine defense battalions and ACORN 3: a naval engineering force of the 35th naval construction battalion.  Admiral Turner was given command of the operations with his task force 64 consisting of 8 destroyers, 5 minesweepers, 12 tank landing craft and a number of barges and torpedo boats. He was going to receive assistance from Admiral Fitch's land based aircraft to cover the transports and 2 other task forces. Task force 18 led by Admiral Giffen consisting of heavy cruisers Wichita, Louisville and 3 destroyers and Task force 68 led by Rear Admiral Aaron Merrill consisting of light cruisers Montpelier, Cleveland, Denver, Columbia and 4 destroyers. The other task forces would be in close proximity just in case things got dicey. Of course unbeknownst to the Americans the Japanese had evacuated the Russell Islands by the 10th closing off Operation KE. Australians and New Zealand coastwatcher alongside US army, marine and naval air reconnaissance saw a ton of abandoned equipment on the Russell Islands, which Halsey ignored as he was deadset to carry out Operation Cleanslate as planned, fearing the enemy might try to reinforce the islands still. On February the 20th the first echelon of the Russells Occupation force departed Guadalcanal under strict radio silence. It was an uneventful trip and the transports were divided into 3 groups to hit their landing sites. The 10rd regiment landed on Banika easily taking control over the island. The 3rd marine raider battalion did the same at Pavuvu. The landings went unopposed, but the Marines quickly found out that the 10 man rubber rafts used for their landings had motor issues. Alongside this the 169th field artillery battalion somehow managed to get lost and took over 19 hours to land instead of 2, but by the end of the day the islands were firmly in American hands. The men began digging themselves into defensive positions. As soon as reports came in that the islands were secure, Halsey began pouring Seabees into the islands and supplied their 2 new fighter strips with lavish amounts of ammunition and aviation fuel in anticipation of expanding the air operations in the central solomons. But the Russell Islands were at the absolute limit of Hasleys designated border, technically they were over that border. No more westward progress could occur without good old General MacArthurs blessing. So the men simply set to work, and by the end of hte month over 9000 soldiers were in the Russells and the construction of a new airbase was occurring in Banika and a torpedo boat base at Wernham Cove. Upon learning of the American seizure of the Russells, the Japanese launched a surprise air strike. 12 Vals and 25 zeros struck the unfinished airfield and torpedo boat base on March 6th without any warning. They caused little damage, but would just be the beginning of a 3 month long campaign of night air attacks. By late may the airfield at Banika alongside the torpedo boat base, a training center and staging area for the future operation against new georgia. Operation Cleanslate may have been lackluster when it came to combat, but acted as a great practice run for what was to be the future of island hoping warfare in the solomons. The landing craft tank veterans of operation cleanslate would help teach others, increasing Americans amphibious capabilities. The American also learned a very valuable lesson when it came to loading and landing operations. They had certainly come a long way from the earlier experience of operation Watchtower. Now back to the issue of Hasley's operation stepping on the toes of MacArthur's area. Upon taking the Russell Islands, Halsey had his eyes on Munda Point, where there was a new Japanese fighter strip in New Georgia, around 120 miles to the west. The terrain looked suitable for a large bomber field, something highly desired. But MacArthur stood in the way, so they were going to have to talk. A face to face summit was made in early april, forcing Halsey to cross the Coral sea to present himself to the general at the AMP building in Brisbane. There was no reason to believe this was going to be a warm meeting. Halsey to this point had certainly not appreciated MacArthur's credit snatching communiques. In fact one aide to Halsey had referred to General MacArthur as quote “a self-advertising son of a bitch”. MacArthur had also declined an invitation from Admiral Nimitz to attend a command conference in Noumea in September of 1942, a slight insult if you were. He instead sent Sutherland and Kenney in his place to which one of Nimitz staff officers remarked “MacArthur found himself unable to be present”. When Halsey met MacArthur face to face, believe or not they instantly took a liking to another. Within just 5 minutes Halsey wrote “I felt as if we were lifelong friends. I have seldom seen a man who makes a quicker, stronger, more favorable impression. He was then 63 years old, but he could have passed as 50. His hair was jet black; his eyes were clear; his carriage was erect. If he had been wearing civilian clothes, I still would have known at once that he was a soldier”. MacArthur was equally impressed writing about Halsey  “He was of the same aggressive type as John Paul Jones, David Farragut, and George Dewey. His one thought was to close with the enemy and fight him to the death. . . . I liked him from the moment we met, and my respect and admiration increased with time.” In the year that followed the admiral and general would effectively coordinate their operations in the south pacific. As Kenney and Kinkaid had learned, and as Halsey was in turn, MacArthur was accustomed to deference but did not bristle at well reasoned opposition. MacArthur could yield to sound arguments. Of course heated arguments occurred between the two men. Halsey's long term chief of staff, Robert Carney witnessed one in 1943 where he said “The admiral, with his “chin sticking out a foot,” told MacArthur that he was placing his “personal honor . . . before the security of the United States and the outcome of the war!” MacArthur responded “Bull, that's a terrible indictment. That's a terrible thing to say. But, I think in my preoccupation, I've forgotten some things. . . . You can go on back now. The commitment will be met.” Imagine that, MacArthur almost admitting a mistake, that goes to show the character of Halsey. What they were arguing about was Hasley proposing to attack New Georgia and it turned out to be inline with MacArthurs thinking. MacArthur approved the operation on the spot and it would intersect with his own plans for an offensive up the north coast of New Guinea.  Because of the seizure of the Russell Island's, D-Day for the invasion of New Georgia would be originally set for May 15th, but would get postponed to June 30th. However that is far into the future for us!   I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Amchitka and the Russell Islands were taken unopposed and with relative ease. The Americans were being cautious in their actions, but little by little they were breaking down Japan's new defensive posture, a few islands down and many more to come.

Last time we spoke about General Patchs campaign to finally rid Guadalcanal of the Japanese menace. The Sea Horse, Galloping Horse and Gifu were neutralized and now the hybrid force of US Soldiers and Marines were marching west. The newly created CAM division seized Kokumbona in astonishing speed, greatly hindering the future Operation KE. At the same time, all of the Japanese activity related to preparing Operation KE was prompting responses from the Americans. One of those responses was sending Rear Admiral Richard Giffen  to Cape Chunter to rendezvous with Captain Robert Briscoe. Giffen was stubborn about making his rendezvous and this led him to make some very poor tactical decisions leading to the sinking of the USS Chicago during the battle of Rennell Island. Despite the sinking of the cruisers, the Japanese now had to push back Operation KE until February the 1st, would this setback ruin everything? This episode is Operation KE: the Evacuation of Guadalcanal 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.    Last week we spoke about the rather small battle of Rennell Island. Perhaps small in scale, but the consequences of the battle were far reaching. Operation KE had to be postponed until February 1st. Alongside this there was some shuffling about for who was to command the Reinforcement unit, and eventually it landed in the hands of Admiral Shintaro Hashimoto, with Rear Admiral Koyanagi in a reserve capacity. The 11th air fleet and the 6th air division were tasked with maintaining the CAP over the reinforcement unit during the day, while the R Area air force would cover them during the night. Now the skirmish at Rennell Islands gave the IJA and IJN a dose of anxiety, because the islands had a critical role in Operation KE. Basically if the destroyers failed to evacuate the 17th army on Guadalcanal, the backup was to be landing crafts via Russell Island. Many staff officers also sought to create a temporary garrison and base in the Russells to be a feint. Thus on January 28th, 6 destroyers bearing 328 men went to the Russells and were attacked by 33 aircraft from the cactus airforce, leading to 17 casualties, but no warship damage. The day for Operation KE to commence had finally come and it was to begin with a short battle over the air. 9 B-17's with their fighter escort bombed Shortland at 8:45. They were unable to damage or delay Operation KE very much and lost 3 B-17's for their efforts. Likewise the Cactus air force lost 2 dauntless attacking Munda while the 6th air division tossed 23 Oscars and 6 Lilies at Guadalcanal. On February 2nd, General Patch concluded that with the seizure of Kokumbona, this must mean the Japanese were all but finished on guadalcanal, unless more reinforcements came. He presumed they would prolong the struggle by making a fighting withdrawal to the southern coast, so to thwart this possibility he decided to land a battalion in a blocking position. Lt Colonel George commanding the 132nd infantry assembled a task force at Lunga using his 2nd battalion with various other units, one of which was a howitzer company of the 10th marines. The men loading up in some Landing Craft Tanks aboard the destroyer transport Stringham. Captain Briscoe's Cactus striking force escorted the group as they traveled to Nugu point, but when they were unloading they received news of nearby enemy activity, thus an emergency unloading was made 1.5 miles north at Verahue. An IJA reconnaissance pilot saw this and misidentified the destroyers as cruisers and reported this giving the Japanese the idea the Americans were about to challenge their first Reinforcement Unit run. Thus to clear a path for Operation KE's first run, a group of 13 vals and 40 zeros was launched from Buin to take out the threat. At 2:43, guadalcanal issued a condition red alert, and this led to a grievous mistake. The destroyers DeHaen and Nicholas had shepherded the remaining landing craft tanks 2 miles southeast of Savo, but the fighter director scrambled all the wildcats to go protect the other destroyers of the Cactus striking force. Thus DeHaven and Nicholas were dangerously exposed without aircover when some of the Vals found them. 6 vals attacked DeHaven, with the first bomb hitting her at 2:53 amidships on her port side. An eye witness said it “caused tremendous burst of flame to envelop the central part of the ship.” A second bomb hit just aft of her bridge and a third exploded her forward magazine. The Dehaven jackknifed and disappeared under the waves claiming 167 men and officers with her. Over on the Nicholas, Lt commander Andrew Hill barely managed to evade the bombs taking his ship 32 knots. One bomb exploded near his ships hull killing 2 men and injurying 7, but the Nicholas returned the favor by taking down 3 aircraft while some Wildcats came to the scene eventually claiming a dozen kills. The actual Japanese losses would be 5 vals and 3 zeros. As this was going down, Admiral Hashimoto left Shortland with his Cruisers and 21 destroyers sprinting down the slot. A coast watch saw Hashimoto's reinforcement unit just due north of Vella LaVella around 1pm, prompting the Cactus air force to toss up 92 aircraft in 2 waves. The first wave consisted of 17 avengers, 17 dauntless, 4 P-39's, 4 P-38s, 4 p-40s and 5 Wildcats. The second wave consisted of 11 avengers, 10 dauntless, and 20 wildcats. The first group claimed the sunk a destroyer and 7 zeros while the second claimed they landed 2 bomb hits on destroyers and took down 10 zeros. During the actual attack, Hashimoto's flagship the Makinami received a near miss, while Koyanagi took charge of the flotilla. Hashimoto was forced to move his flag to Shirayuki and gradually reigned back command. The shuffling set back the force 30 minutes and at 8pm the screening ships began peeling off to conduct a sweep ahead. While this was happening 11 PT boats from Tulagi came in groups of 2 and 3 from Savo, Cape Esperance and Doma Cove to hit the reinforcement unit.  Meanwhile on Guadalcanal, Generals Miyazaki and Sano had reached their boarding point at Cape Esperance around 8pm. Thousands of their men were making the grueling trek up muddy trails through the night. Miyazaki was frustrated by the man wandering from the designated area and making too much noise, then both he and Sano heard a single rifle shot. A staff officer was sent to investigate and he came back reporting a soldier of the 229th infantry had reached the area supported on the shoulders by 2 comrades. He was unable to move any further, and his comrades were exhausted, thus he received his comrades assistance to commit suicide. The reinforcement unit was set to arrive for 9pm, but minutes were passing by 9pm without a ship in sight. Then the Japanese began hearing gunfire and saw fires emerge seward. The reinforcement unit were pulling 30knots when PT boat 48 and 111 found them around 10:10pm launching 4 torpedoes. Lt Lester Gamble, the most successful PT skipper of the Guadalcanal Campaign managed to scurry his PT 48 away, fleeing to Savo, while Lt John Clagett aboard PT 111 took a direct hit from the Kawakaze at 10:54 killing 2 men. Off of cape esperance, Japanese float planes strafed PT 59, 115 and 37. PT 115 launched 4 torpedoes at the destroyers. PT 37 also fired 4 torpedoes, but was fired upon killing all but a single man aboard. PT 124 and 123 moved in to attack south of Savo. A Pete of the R Area air force managed to plant a bomb on PT 123 killing 4 and sinking the boat, an amazing hit. PT 124 fired 3 torpedoes claiming hit, bringing the American loses at 3 PT boats and 15 dead sailors.  The R Area air force Petes began to drop flares over the Cactus striking force which now was just 3 destroyers trying to harass 18 IJN destroyers. The Pete flares thwarted any chance of surprise. 6 transport destroyors reached Cape Esperance at 10:40 and at 12am, Kamimbo began to launch their boats. Admiral Koyanagi described the sight of the evacuees as such; “[They] wore only the remains of clothes [that were] so soiled their physical deterioration was extreme. Probably they were happy but [they] showed no expression. All had dengue or malaria [and their] diarrhea sent them to the heads. Their digestive organs were so completely destroyed, [we] couldn't give them good food, only porridge.  A report informed Admiral Yamamoto that the evacuees . . . were so undernourished that their beards, nails and hair had all stopped growing, their joints looked pitifully large. Their buttocks were so emaciated that their anuses were completely exposed, and on the destroyers that picked them up they suffered from constant and uncontrolled diarrhea.” By 1:53am the last man board at Kamimbo and 5 minutes later over at Esperance. Because of all the delays, 1270 men were stuck on the beach at Cape Esperance and 300 over at Kamimbo. The Destroyer Makikumo was chasing away one of the PT boats when she was ordered to help at Cape Esperance. When she was heading over a large explosion suddenly occurred in her hull at 1:45am. It could have been a mine, or perhaps one of the PT torpedoes had finally hit its mark. Regardless, the Makikumo was dead in the water and forced to be scuttled by a sister destroyer, the Yugumo. The 11th air fleet launched 8 Betty's over Guadalcanal during the night to keep the Cactus air force grounded, but 6 Dauntless managed to get up around midnight. Despite the enemy being illuminated well, the dauntless did not manage to score any hits. At 8am the Cactus air force made another go trying to hit the enemy destroyers, but failed to score any hits. By noon the reinforcement unit successfully landed 4935 men at Bougainville, including General Sano.  The first run was a large success and helped boost morale for the 17th army HQ, as they were quite frankly fearing the worst. As a deception, they had the soldiers over at Cape Esperance ignite campfires and move them gradually south towards Tassafaronga over the course of 2 nights. Meanwhile the 2nd division began to march in the opposite direction towards their own disembarkment points. On February 3rd, the 8th area army ordered the next run to have soldiers and sailors wait offshore in boats rather than on the beach. Despite the success of the first run, the 17th Army was still skeptical about the IJN making 3 runs. This led them to dispatch orders to Colonel Matsuda incharge of the rear guard, warning him it may be likely that he would have to make his own way out with a landing craft.  The Japanese high command was also gravely concerned with a growing situation at Marovovo. Lt Colonel Georges battalion had successfully departed from Verahue and around 9:10am one of their patrols ran into a pair of Japanese staff officers and 140 soldiers near Titi. There was a brief skirmish and the Japanese captured 2 of Georges men who were interrogated, revealing that around 600 of their comrades were marching around Marovovo. On the morning of February the 3rd, Matsuda's rear guard of 350 troops of the Yano battalion were holding a position about half a mile west of Bonegi, alongside 60 survivors of the 124th infantry. His main force consisting of the remnants of the Ichiki detachment, which is simply incredible that any of them still exist at all at this point, alongside the 124th regiment were holding the right bank of the Segilau river. Fortunately for Matsuda the Americans were limiting their actions mostly patrolling for the day and he used the time to plan out the evacuation of his rear guard. His general plan was to lead his forces to Kamimbo and disembark to the Russells by boat.  The next day General Patch ordered his 161st infantry to relieve the 147th infantry, taking their job of advancing to Cape Esperance. The 147th would head west to an area between Bonegi and the Umasani rivers to clear out the area. 128 men under first Lt Miyano were ordered to hold the eastern bank of the Segilau river and Major Yano was ordered to leave a rear guard of 70 men to the west of Bonegi before he took the rest of his command to advance on Marovovo. Major Yano strongly objected to performing actions at Marovovo and that his units would be better served remaining with the rear guard. Basically Matsuda was ordering Yano to leave men to die at Bonego and Yano began to argue all his men should make a stand if so. So Matsuda caved in a bit and allowed Yano to leave only those unable to walk at Bonegi while he took everyone else to Segilau at 3pm. For those poor men left at Bonegi, each was given 2 tablets of mercury bichloride. From February 2-4th around 15 Bettys hunted the sea around guadalcanal and they reported very strong American naval presence, including carriers. Each day saw more bettys failing to return home, one of which carried Lt Commander Genichi Mihara the leader of the 705th air group. Despite the presence of many american naval units, on February 3rd the second run of Operation KE was approved to go. Admiral Yamamoto ordered the Asagumo and Samidare to replace the lost Makikumo and Makinami and on february the 4th, Hashimoto readied his cruisers and 20 destroyers to dare another run. His reinforcement unit left Shortland at 11:30 and at 3:50 his CAP of 29 Zeros clashed with 33 dauntless and avenger alongside 41 assorted fighters in two waves trying to take out his destroyer. The Americans lost 11 aircraft while the Japanese lost 2. A near miss crippled the Maikaze, forcing the Nagatsuki to tow her back to shortland and yet again Hashimoto was forced to change flag as the Shirayuki's engines failed and thus he jumped onto the Kawakaze. Over on Guadalcanal 7 Bettys emerged at night dropped flares and bombs over Henderson field while IJN reconnaissance planes hunting PT boats. The embarkations proceeded smoothly, in 2 hours 3921 men were loaded off. General Hyakutake and his staff boarded the Isokaze, Maruyama and his staff got aboard the Hamakaze and both transport groups left with their screens completely unmolested up the slot, reaching Bougainville by 12:50 on february 5th. Miyazaki recounted seeing countless soldiers aboard the Isokaze sun bathing, as they had been long denied such a pleasure. There was nowhere to walk about the destroyers decks. He also found a soldier holding a corpse of a friend aboard, insisting the man was still alive. On Bougainville, Lt General Moritake Tanabe, the deputy chief of stuff of the IJA's section of the Imperial General HQ met the evacuees. Miyazaki exchanged a wordless salute with the man, then as Tanabe approached him, he blurted out with tears, his desire for an appointment that would give him a death in battle. Tanabe was quite overcome by this and stated “Everything about this is the responsibility of Imperial Headquarters.” As Operation KE was whisked away men, the Yano unit withdrew from Bonegi to the Segilau river. Colonel Matsuda now took charge of the forces left on Guadalcanal as he took his men from Segilau over to Kamimbo. He ordered the Oneda Unit, consisting of the remnants of the 3rd battalion, 230th infantry to head west of Cape Esperance to block any american advances from Marovovo. Now Matsuda pondered how he was going to evacuate his rear guard. Lt Colonel Sakuji Matsuyama gave his very pessimistic view, the American air forces would whittle down the amount of boats available to them to most likely just a handful. They also received word from a tapped signal to the IJN on Rabaul that they were looking to use at minimum 3 or 4 destroyers with an adequate number of boats to be detailed for the final run. Thus Matsuda figured any attempt to evacuate the rear guard to the russells by boat would be suicidal. Matsuda wrote in his diary that night he doubted any destroyers would come, from his perspective, the sacrifice of 2000 men would be less than that of a single destroyer. Over on the American side, Colonel George's men reached Titi on the 4th and would remain there for 2 days. Because of the smaller size of his command and not fully knowing the Japanese composition forced George to act cautiously. All of the Japanese activity had really confused the American's and they presumed there was a major offensive afoot, there was of course just not what the Americans were thinking. Over on the west coast the 161st infantry advanced to the Umasani river by February 6th. Despite the apparent American inactivity, Matsuda feared that if they decided to make a thrust from the southern coast this would cut him off from Kamimbo and thus an embarkation spot. To keep this option open, he sent 100 men to move down the west coast to hold a position about 3.5 miles due east of Cape Esperance. He ordered them to march during daylight and to light cooking fires as a deception. Later that afternoon he received the demoralizing report that the IJN might only be able to pick up men already waiting in boats, those on the land would have to find their own way to new Georgia. The 17th army estimated that Matsuda had a 50% chance of getting the men out. On the 6th, senior IJA and IJN commanders met over the issue. The chief of staff of the 8th fleet said he doubted the third run of operation KE would be possible because there were reports of American carriers near guadalcanal. Admiral Mikawa assured the IJA, the IJN would do its best to meet the enemy. Colonel Konuma went to see Admiral Hashimoto to fish out his views, and Hashimoto asserted regardless of the orders or desires of the chief of staff of the 8th fleet, he would personally see to it that they evacuated all the men. Konuma requested to accompany the 3rd run personally. Hashimoto said to this it would be a stain on the IJN's record if it was said they only made a run because an Army officers presence aboard their ships was the causation.  On the 7th, General Patch reported his belief that the Tokyo Express had made to successful runs, landing another regiment with supplies. Though in the same report he also acknowledged they may have extracted the HQ of some depleted units as well. Over on the west coast, 161st tossed patrols near the Tambalego river, 9 miles away from Cape Esperance. That day Colonel George had to hand command of his task force over to Lt Colonel Ferry after injuring his leg. Upon taking command, it was Ferry's judgment that the Japanese were withdrawing to Cape Esperance or perhaps evacuating guadalcanal. Their native guides began reporting to them that the Japanese had just abandoned Marovovo, so the task force marched upon it. At 12:40, the units assigned to guard Marovovo did abandon it stating they had been subjected to severe artillery bombardment, earning anger from Matsuda who demanded they go back to prolong the american advance. They rushed back just in time to fire their machineguns at the Americans who were advancing 2000 yards north of Marovovo by 3:30pm. Meeting resistance, Ferry told the men to dig in for the night.  February 7th was a day of decision making for Matsuda. Ever hour brought him more stress, the severe shelling that was reported to him at Marovovo could be heard alongside American machine gun fire at Kamimbo. Then at sundown, 26 land craft still remained operational, it was a miracle american air forces had not destroyed them all! Compared to the experiences of the entire guadalcanal campaign, it really did seem a miracle. Matsuda set to work organizing his boarding plan to provide for 4 units of 500 men each. In a very tense 45 minutes starting at 9:30pm, the remaining movable Japanese survivors of guadalcanal got onto the boats as American artillery could be heard smashing Segilau. On the boats many Japanese prayed, the rendezvous time of 11pm passed, greatly demoralizing them. Then they saw the blue recognition lights of approaching destroyers.  The second run of operation KE went off very well compared to the first. But Admiral Yamamoto suspected the third would see major american naval forces that were lurked around just outside their search plan range waiting to pounce. The submarine forces combed the area without success as the Advance force was ordered to come within 550 miles of Guadalcanal to be ready to support the Reinforcement unit. Hashimoto would have 18 destroyers this time, grabbing men from two points, Kamimbo and the Russells. Despite reported sighting of American carriers and other naval units just due south of San Cristobal, Hashimoto departed Shortland and made one last sprint to save the men of starvation island. 15 Dauntless, 20 wildcats and a single F5A bore down upon the reinforcement unit after a search plane tipped them off. 17 out of 49 zeros sent by the 11th air fleet intercepted them. At 5:55 the Isokaze was hit by 2 bombs to her deck and around her forward gun mount killing 10 men and starting fires. She limped away with the help of the Kawakaze as the Urakaze took a near miss doing slight damage. One zero and the F5A failed to return home.  Over on Guadalcanal, the men in their boats climbed aboard the destroyers. By 12:04am, on the 8th, Matsuda received word that the boarding was complete. To honor Hashimoto's pledge, the sailors had even rowed boats along the shore waters calling out again to make sure no one was left behind on the beaches. By 1:32am, the boats returned and the destroyers began to depart. It was to be the last time the Rising Sun fluttered from a surface ship near the blood soaked shores of Guadalcanal. On the way Matsuda signaled the 17th army  “With the help of 20,000 souls the recovery of 1,972 men from Guadalcanal is reported complete.” When Matsuda reached Bougainville at 10am, he reported to General Hyakutake the end of his special mission, adding thanks for the 17th army's efforts to guarantee the last run made it. Hyakutake praised Matsuda's command as the rear guard. As Matsuda and Hyakutake pointed out and so will I here, the first unit to fight on Guadalcanal was the Ichiki detachment and they were amongst the last to leave on the third run of Operation KE, simply incredible. Operation KE was an enormous feat, over 10652 men were evacuated with 4935 on the first run, 3921 on the second and 1796 on the third. For naval units they had lost the Makikumo and major damage was dealt to the Makinami, Maikaze and Isokaze. They sank the Chicago, DeHaven and 3 PT boats, while also heavily damaging the LaVallette. For the air war, between January 25th to February the 9th the Japanese lost around 56 aircraft while taking down 53 American. Needless to say, Operation KE was a major success from a figures point of view. The Japanese attributed the success of Operation KE to the careful planning by the combined fleet and to those men who sacrificed their lives prolonging the American pursuers on the ground. After receiving word that the Reinforcement unit returned on the morning of the 8th, Admiral Yamamoto commanded all units involved.  The American forces at Marovovo after observing the sea littered with small boats and debris from the nights activities set off in hot pursuit, reaching Kamimbo at 5pm. During these hours over on the western coast the 161st pushed towards Cape Esperance where they ran into sporadic skirmishes with the Japanese, but the enemy they skirmished with were in extremely poor condition, mostly wounded men unable to walk. Based on the condition of the enemy, Colonel Dalton of the 161st sent a report that he believed the enemy was not defending nor delaying, but actually fleeing. General Patch concurred with this and advised Hasley that be believed the last Tokyo Express runs were not reinforcements but rather evacuations. On the morning of the 9th, the 1st battalion, 161st infantry met up with the 2nd battalion of the 132nd at the village of Tenaro. Colonel Dalton shooks hands with Major Butler of the 132nd at 4:50, then General Patch announced to the men “Total and complete defeat of Japanese forces on Guadalcanal effected 1625 today. . . . [the] Tokyo Express no longer has a terminus on Guadalcanal.” Now there were of course Japanese left behind on Guadalcanal, but organized resistance was all but over by the 9th. Encountered with some isolated pockets and stragglers occurred for the next few days. Some stragglers would go on to live within the interior with the last known survivor surrendering in October of 1947. Given the vast disparity in fire power between the two sides on guadalcanal and likewise the severity of how debilitated the 17th army was compared to General Patchs soldiers and marines, the failure of the Americans to annihilate Hyakutakes men was strange. Hyakutake believed that if the Americans had focused on marching towards Cape Esperance, they would have completely destroyed his army. The failure to do so was because of 2 major reasons. The first was the relatively small size of the forces engaged in the pincer attack against Cape Esperance. After January 25th, the American forces typically involved no more than a regiment on the western coast. After February 1st this was supplemented by an additional battalion on the southern coast. The second reason was the pace of the advance of those forces which was hindered by a combination of logistical factors, rough terrain and the Americans thinking an offensive was about to kick off any moment. The logical way the Americans could have foiled operation KE would have been something Vandegrift repeatedly had done, amphibious hooks. General Patch considered this often in mid January, but again, all the indications from the Japanese activity was a major offensive was about to occur, and you simply don't toss units into the abyss. Admiral Nimitz confessed in his report  “Until the last moment it appeared that the Japanese were attempting a major reinforcement effort. Only skill in keeping their plans disguised and bold celerity in carrying them out enabled the Japanese to withdraw the remnants of the Guadalcanal garrison. Not until all organized forces had been evacuated on 8 February did we realize the purpose of their air and naval dispositions. “ It has been 6 months of blood sweat and tears over 2500 square miles of jungle that was called Guadalcanal. She was in American hands, the great prize being her airfield capabilities. Both the Japanese and Americans knew her worth and both sides evaluated the costs and returns of trying to hold her. Now I have said it quite a few times, when it comes to turning points or quote en quote “the turning point” of the pacific war, a lot of people generally fall victim to the allure of the battle of midway. Sure thing the battle of midway was a turning point, but in comparisons to Guadalcanal it is arguably not as important. Midway halted the Japanese from further major operations in the Central Pacific. It thwarted Yamamoto's attempt to create more favorable conditions militarily and diplomatically to bring American to the negotiating table. Midway also caused severe losses to the IJN, but did the Japanese go on the defensive? No they did not, in fact they immediately tossed a large scale operation against Port Moresby. Given the Japanese took Port Moresby, the course of the war would have dramatically changed, it was a pivotal place to hold. The Japanese were not simply on the defensive footing awaiting counter attacks from the enemy after midway, they still held the initiative. If you look at what the Japanese military high command was thinking directly after Midway, you find they all believed, falsely mind you, that the allied counterattack would commence no earlier than 1943, probably even later. This was not a stupid conclusion by the way, if we look at the situation in Europe, it did not seem possibly a nation like America could allocate that many resources to the pacific at the time. General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral King aggressively pushed for offensives in the south pacific, albeit for differing reasons. MacArthur wanted to leap to Rabaul, which was obviously insane and the Navy rightfully pushed back against this. Kings proposal was much more realistic and won the day in the end. Its incredible given hindsight, that the American offensive in the south pacific began when it did. They had little in land based or carrier based aircraft, not to mention limited amphibious shipping. Yet Kings insistence produced great reward, they achieved tactic surprise and a strategic surprise of great magnitude. The Marines on guadalcanal reaped the benefits of the surprise for a long time. Given what the Japanese were capable of doing, their response to the landings on Guadalcanal was a terrible miscalculation. It took the Japanese far too long to figure out Guadalcanal was potentially the decisive battle they sought. Operation WatchTower held countless flaws that could have been exploited by the Japanese to produce a major victory. The American navy in the pacific could not hope to challenge the Japanese even after Midway, so much of their strength lay in the battle over the Atlantic, but Guadcanal offered them a unique chance to boost their ground and aerial forces in the Pacific, dramatically compensating for the lack of carriers. With the victory over Guadalcanal, the Americans would develop it and Tulagi in major bases to support the allied offensive up the Solomons. Extensive airfields, naval ports and other logistical facilities would be built up. The Japanese had lost the initiative for the Pacific War, now they were on the defensive in the Pacific. The fall of Guadalcanal went hand in hand with the campaign in New Guinea, Japan kept juggling both campaigns and each suffered because of the other. The IJA and IJN were not beaten of course, but now the allies were in the driving seat for once. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The allies had finally seized guadalcanal and now the Japanese were on a defensive footing, they had lost the initiative for the pacific war. Things were going to dramatically change for the empire of the rising sun who now would look to a new strategy, that of bleeding the allies dry.  

Last time we spoke about the offensive against the Gifu. The estimation of the Gifu defenses proved to be greatly underestimated and it was only after the Sea Horse was taken and the Gifu was severely isolated that its defenders began to crumble. At the last minute 100 Japanese came out screaming, tossing grenades and bullets, but ultimately the Gifu was taken and now the American forces on Guadalcanal could focus on pursuing the Japanese fleeing west. We also finished up the Buna-Gona campaign with the fall of Sanananda. The Japanese fought bitterly tooth and nail to retain their last toehold from their failed Port Moresby campaign. The evacuation was a disaster leading countless wounded and ill Japanese to commit suicide while their comrades fled for their lives trying to break through the allied lines. Those lucky enough to get past the gauntlet of fire went to Salamaua and Lae, where they would have to continue the fight over New Guinea. This episode is the battle of Rennell Island 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.  Last time we saw the conclusion to one of the bloodiest battles fought in New Guinea, let alone the Pacific War. The battle of Buna-Gona took the lives of countless Americans, Australians, Japanese and native Papuans whose misery almost never gets spoken about. We also saw a ton of action over on Starvation Island. The Sea Horse was captured, thus greatly isolating the fortified Gifu. When the Gifu's defenders realized they were cut off from the rest of the army, they made one last hurray into oblivion. 100 or so screaming Japanese stormed out of the Gifu with rifles, pistols, swords and grenades in hand to hurt the Americans as much as they could. After their suicidal charge, the Gifu had finally fallen and now the Americans could focus their attention west.  By January 17th the first phase of the 14th corps western offensive had ended. The 25th division reduced 3 pockets of Japanese that emerged 2 days prior and the 2nd marine division smashed the Japanese around Hill's 83/84. On the 12th, the 27th infantry had captured the Horse's Head, cutting off Major Nishiyama's units then numbering 200 survivors out of an original 600. He was forced to make a last stand. He smoked his last cigarette with tears in his eyes as he had to look his men in the eyes and tell them all to prepare to die, he wrote in his diary that their calm acceptance to this moved him greatly. For the next 2 days he and the men looked for an area they could best serve to give up their lives, to make it meaningful. While Nishiyama kept a strong face for the men, following the orders to make a final stand, privately in his diary he debated with himself if he should try to withdraw the men on his own authority and as he wrote it “even at the expense of my honor”. He knew very well he could make a cover story to save face, some sort of false pretext to save the men from annihilation. But to do so did not only mean dishonoring himself, it meant to dishonor the whole unit. Over the course of those 2 days he sent a runner to the division HQ and General Ito sanctioned a withdrawal and thus Nishiyama and his 200 men escaped annihilation with their honor intact. It was very fortunate for them as General Patchs next phase of the offensive was set to begin on January 16th. The 14th corps next objective was a line from Hill 87 going northeast to the beach. This would contain Hills 87, 88 and 89. The 6th marines of the 2nd marine division and the 182 infantry would secure the right side and the 25th division would advance in the southern portion seizing hills 87, 88 and 89. 4 infantry regiments of the 147th infantry would be held back to guard the airfields. The 27th infantry of the 25th division would advance astride a narrow ridge called the snake to assault Hill 87 from the east, which the Americans assumed would be heavily fortified. The 161st infantry would perform a deep envelopment from the Galloping Horse to the southwest capturing Hills X,Y and Z then perform a flanking maneuver to seize Hills 88 and 89. The 25th infantry would protect the southern flank of the 161st and would continue to exterminate pockets of Japanese in the area.  Exterminate by the way is a very cruel and fitting term for the way they were going about the business, for many of these so-called pockets were nothing more than abandoned, starving Japanese. By the 21st, Hills X and Y were taken by the 161st with relatively minor resistance. Then the 161st planned to deploy the 1st battalion to guard the southern flank while the 2nd and 3rd battalions got off Hill 7 to march towards Hill 87 when circumstances changed.  On January the 21st, the 27th infantry was advancing on the narrow front with the 1st battalion as their spearhead, and behind them were the 3rd and 2nd battalions. The next morning at 6:30am, the 25th divisions artillery began tossing over 3654 shells upon Hills 87,88 and 89. At that point the 1st battalion advanced down the “snake's back” where they took out 3 Japanese machine gun nests trying to block their advance to the snakes tail. By 9:10am the 1st battalion was on its way to assault Hill 87. It looked from afar that Hill 87 held light opposition. After the 1st battalion seized the hill at 9:40, the 161st infantry was ordered to cross Hill Y to Z while the rest of the regiment turned north to follow along the snake behind the 27th infantry. Now while this was occurring, Brigadier General Robert Spragins was sent by General Patch to give General Collins leading the 25th authority to have them advance upon Kokumbona as rapidly as possible. The 25th's boundaries were extended to Hills 91, 98 and 99 which were like stepping stones towards Kokumbona. Without pause the 1st battalion took Hill 88 and then 89 by 11am. Then at 2pm it received the orders to seize Hill 90. By the time night was coming on, Hills 90 and 91 would be seized and this all tossed the Japanese defensive plans into chaos. During the night of January 22nd, the 17th Army HQ marched to Cape Esperance and the 38th division began to extract all the units it still was in contact with. But the huge thrusts made by the 27th infantry were pinching off the 2nd divisions flank and the Yano battalion. The 2nd division had orders to hold its position until sundown of january 23rd, but with the enemy advancing so much, Maruyama had ordered his men to pull back at 5am. Most of the 2nd division succeeded to pull back, but the Nitto Battalion of about 50 men all died holding their position. When the 17th army found out they were very angered by Maruyama. However unbeknownst to them, Maruyama pretty much saved countless Japanese lives as on January 23rd, the 27th infantry performed a 2 pronged. The 3rd battalion hit Hills 98 and 99 while the 1st battalion marched for Kokumbona. By 3:30 Kokumbona was captured, this was all done in astonishingly quick time, they could have overrun and annihilated Maruyama's men had he not pulled out. Overall between January 10th to the 27th, the 27th infantry had suffered 66 deaths including 7 officers. Now taking Kokumbona caused major changes for both the Americans and Japanese. For the Japanese the obvious change was many units were withdrawing while others who did not receive the orders to pull out would be smashed by the americans now thrust along the coast. The 6th marines were assaulting Japanese forces who had failed to withdraw and by January 24th the remnants of the 27th regiment were annihilated just a bit due east of Kokumbona. Now the 25th had made it to the area, joining CAM divisions consisting of the 147th, 182nd and 6th marines to advance further west. From the American perspective it looked like the Japanese might be aiming to perform a counteroffensive, so General Patch retained at least one division at the Lunga airfield incase. This of course was not the case as the 17th army was now hyper mobilizing its withdrawal and to do so it organized new coast defense units, made up of the ill and wounded. Men of the 38th and 2nd divisions were sent to Cape Esperance and Kamimbo, while the Yano battalion was deployed along the Marmura river by the 25th. Colonel Konuma in charge of rear guard duty took his men to the Bonegi river where he hoped to make a stand on its eastern bank to regain time lost because of 27th's incredible advances. On January 24th and 25th his men scattered into independent groups hindering the enemy's advance short of the Poha river.  The CAM division ran into the Yano Battalion at around 1pm on January 26th which the marines said gave them heavy resistance. Major Yano's forces were gradually pushed back half a mile west of the Maruma by the 28th and the next day they had to withdraw across the Bonegi leaving the battered 2nd infantry group to face the American advance. On the 30th the 147th infantry got hit by the American vanguard. 1000 men crossed the Bonegi, but were quickly chased back to the east bank. The next day the 147th performed an envelopment maneuver using 2 companies which crossed the Bonegi. This resulted in what the Japanese called “considerable losses”, leading them to extract their forces away from Bonegi. By February the 1st the 147th fled for their lives as the Destroyer Wilson began bombarding the Bonegi area.  Now we have to take a pause about the ground offensive going on to talk a bit about the air and sea. American intelligence found the Vila-Stanmore area on Kolombangara to be associated with radio traffic directing aviation units on Ballale. They sent reconnaissance to go look and found a nascent air base and began to suspect it was a staging area for barges and other small vessels trying to smuggle supplies to Munda. This prompted Admiral Halsey to plan an attack upon Vila-Stanmore to destroy the Munda air strength. Halsey gave Admiral Aisnworth the assignment of bombarding, he would come from the Kula Gulf while Munda would be hit by aerial bombardment. Ainsworth had task force 67 consisting of 4 light cruisers and 7 destroyers.  Japanese search planes located Ainsworth on the afternoon of January 23rd, prompting them to launch Betty's from the 701st and 705st air groups. Ainsworth managed to slip by them during the night, and at 2am his cruisers and destroyers fire over 2000 6 inch shells and 1500 4 inch shells in 30 minutes. According to the Japanese over in Kolombangara, they sustained heavy material damage that delayed construction efforts, killed 5 men and wounded 20. Meanwhile the 30 Betty's hunting down Ainsworth finally caught a glimpse of his force because of the muzzle flashes. Before the Betty's could toss torpedoes, Ainsworth pulled the ships into rain squalls and used radar directed 5 inch antiaircraft fire to hit the enemy. Around 8am 24 dauntless, 17 avengers and 18 Wildcats from Saratoga delivered 23 tons of bombs upon Munda. Neither Munda nor Vila-Stanmore played a crucial role in Operation KE fortunately for the Japanese.  On January 25th, 54 Zeros and 18 Betty's left Rabaul to perform a live-bait role. Another 24 Zeros left Buin to join this but weather prevented 18 of them. The air force reached Guadalcanal at 1:40pm as the Cactus airforce tossed 18 Wildcats and 6 P-38's to meet them. 4 zeros were shot down with another 6 heavily damaged. A second raid was made by the IJA's 6th air division. 9 Kawasaki KI-48 Lily bombers, 74 Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar fighters and 2 Mitsubishi Ki-46 Dinah's departed Buka and Shortland at around 9am on January 27th. The Cactus airforce tossed up a dozen wildcats, 6 P-38s and 10 P-40s over Lunga to battle them all the way towards the Russels. 6 Oscars were downed as the Lily's bombed the Matanikau for little effect. A third raid set for January 29th had to be postponed because something big was cooking up around Rennell Island. The campaign to claim air superiority had fallen short of its goals, prompting the southeast area fleet to request Operation KE be postponed, but the 8th area army adamantly insisted the evacuation must proceed as fast as possible. Now the IJN had sent some submarine supply missions to the 17th army in late december and on January 8th, American intelligence began to look closely at their radio traffic. They managed to decipher some signals predicting  submarine transport runs set for January 26, 27 and 29. On the 29th the Kiwi and Moa, 2 out of 4 new zealand corvettes operating from Tulagi were hunting off the coast of Kamimbo when Lt Commander Bridson of Kiwi sighted the I-1 at 9:05. He dropped 2 depth charges forcing the submarine to surface and an eruption of 4 inch gunfire began. The skipper of the Kiwi ordered full speed and to ran the submarine drawing protest from Kiwi's chief engineer, but Lt Commander Bridson said “shut up! There's a weekend's leave in Auckland dead ahead of us”. Thus Kiwi smashed into the submarines port side, causing a breach in her and send troops aboard her to start jumping overboard. As Kiwi backed away she began firing upon the landing barges strapped to the submarine. Then Brison yelled “hit her again! It'll be a weeks leave! Once more for a fortnight!”. The Kiwi smashed into her again causing diesel oil to spout everywhere. After this rather hilarious battle that went on for 90 minutes, Bridson withdraw allowing the Moa to hold the fight. Aboard the I-1, captain Lt Commander Eichi Sakamoto had been operating the periscope when the depth charges hit the submarine. He scrambled her to the surface and her gun crew managed to fire 2 salvos at the Kiwi before fusillade fire from Kiwi cut the gunners and Sakamoto down. This prompted the submarines navigator to rush down the ladder screaming “swords!swords!”. The navigator, apparently a famous swordsman remerged topside, sword in hand and tried to jump aboard the Kiwi during her ramming venture. He grabbed onto one of her rails as riflemen on top I-1 tried firing at her. After being rammed for the third time, 47 soldiers jumped overboard swimming to shore as the Moa captured the navigator, that must have been a funny sight. The I-1 lay twisted in the water as the Japanese desperately tried to scuttle her. Later in february, Australian divers would manage to loot the submarine finding 200,000 pages of secret documents providing cryptographic materials and valuable JN-25 code information. In mid to late January, Admiral Nimitz and Halsey both regarded the dramatic accumulation of IJN shipping, vigorous air activity and all the radio chatter to be pointing towards some sort of new offensive in the southern solomons. They were looking at this anxiously because the projected withdrawal of the 2nd marine division was coming up. They had procrastinated the last removal of the marines for quite some time. So, in order to shield the movement of troop transports and counter possible IJN surface ship threats, Halsey deployed the kitchen sink in the south pacific. On January 29th, a carrier group built around Enterprise rendevouzed with Saratoga's task force. Task force 67 consisting of 4 cruisers and 4 destroyers joined up with Admiral Lee's task force 64 consisting of 3 battleships and 4 destroyers. They escorted Task force 62.8 consisting of 4 transports and 4 destroyers maintaining a course 100 miles to Lunga Point through the Lengo Channel. Close by the cover this was also task force 18 consisting of 6 cruisers and 6 destroyers sailing due south of Guadalcanal. Yes there are going to be a lot of task forces, growing exponentially henceforth. Rear Admiral Richard Giffen commanded task force 18, a new face to the pacific, he had spent the war thus far in the atlantic and mediterranean sea and was a favorite of Admiral King's. He was tasked by Halsey to rendezvous with Captain Robert Briscoe who was commanding the Cactus striking force consisting of 4 destroyers off Cape Chunter. Once they met up, Giffen was to lead them on a daylight sweep up the Slot as the transports unloaded at Lunga on the 30th. Now Giffen needed to meet up with Briscoe for 9pm and in order to make the deadline he detached his escort carriers Suewanna and Chenango with 2 destroyers so the rest of his force could pull up to 24knots. During the afternoon, unidentified aircraft began lighting up his task force 18's radar. His escort carriers began tossing up groups of wildcats and radar equipped avengers to get a clearer picture, but poor weather was hindering their efforts and Giffen refused to break radio silence as were his orders. In the mid afternoon 32 Betty's of the 701st and 705st air groups took off from Rabaul with the intent to perform night aerial torpedo attacks. Around twilight, task force 18 was set up in a column formation spaced out around 2500 yard apart arranged perfectly to face off against another surface fleet, but in quite a terrible position for anti-aircraft maneuvers. By 7:00 his flagship Cruiser Wichita's radar began showing what looked like a Japanese hornet nest of bombers. The Japanese airwave came from the west circling around the task force to gain the darker backdrop of the eastern sky for their approach. At 7:19 16 Betty's from the 705th commenced their attack. Anti-aircraft fire began to spurt, but Giffen remained hell-bent on making his rendezvous so the kept the speed going and ceased having his formation perform zigzagging maneuvers. This obviously aided the Japanese pilots who began dropping white flares along each side of the task force column to help guide the bombers torpedo runs. At 7:38 Lt Commander Joji Higai took his force of 15 Betty's from the 701sy and began their runs. At 9:40 a torpedo hit Chicago on her starboard side, followed 2 minutes later by another, halting Chicago. Another torpedo hit Witchita, but it was a dud. Still Giffen did not feel the need to change course nor lower speed. To decrease their visibility from the enemy he ordered the gunners to cease any firing unless they had an absolute target. Chicago's crews had stopped her flooding, leaving her listing 11 degrees. Chicago's engineers were trying to crank her engines to keep her up to speed, but it simply was not in the cards, so Giffen deployed the Louisville to tow the injured Chicago to safety.  On January 30th, Chicago was limping behind Louisville at 3knots while Giffens task force 18 continued. Halsey dispatched the destroyer transports Sands and tug Navajo to relieve Louisville so she could rejoin the task force. From the early morning to 2pm, task force 18's radar screens displaying multiple Japanese reconnaissance aircraft coming from Rabaul. Admiral Kusaka was greatly relieved to find out Task force 18 was dealt an injury thus preventing it from threatening the first run of Operation KE. Kusaka predicted the Chicago would slip beyond the radius of her fighter cover from guadalcanal so he sent another air strike to attack the vulnerable ship. However unbeknownst to him, the escort carriers Suwannee, Chenango and Enterprise were shuttling wildcats to protect Chicago.  Another group of 11 Bettys from the 751st air group lifted off at 12:05. A coast watcher warned Chicago and Enterprise of the threat around 3:05 allowing the carrier to launch fighters to intercept shortly after 4pm. Admiral Nimitz advised Giffen alongside the Japanese aircraft there were also 10 enemy submarines deployed south and southeast of guadalcanal. But Halsey ordered Giffen to change course for Efate with the battle worthy cruisers at 3pm, thus task force 18 divided, leaving the Chicago stripped of her shield of anti-aircraft batteries as the fighters were heading off with the rest of the force. Chicago would have only 4 wildcats running cap over her and at 3:40 the Betty's began to emerge. When enterprise understood the plight of the Chicago she sent force 6 more Wildcats to intercept, prompting the Betty's to rush for Chicago. Only 2 Wildcats managed to attack the Betty's before they released their loads. In all but a minute the Japanese desperately tried to toss their fish into the sea as the American pilots downed 3 Betty's likewise into the sea. Chicago tried its best to put up anti-aircraft fire, with her gunners claiming to down 4 Bettys as they attacked. 5 torpedo wakes emerged all converging upon Chicago. At 4:24 one torpedo hit her forward, followed seconds later by 3 others which ripped open Chicago's midship. The catastrophic damage prompted Captain Davis to immediately order abandon ship. As Davis recounted “Chicago rolled slowly over her starboard side and settled by the stern, with colors flying”. 56 men, including 6 officers died aboard Chicago leaving 1069 survivors. The Japanese pilots also came across the destroyer LaVallette which had valiantly turned back at the last minute to help chicago. 3 Betty's surged at her with one dropping a torpedo at just 300 yards away. The torpedo hit LaVallette's port side abreast her forward engine room. 21 of her crew were killed, but her engineers managed to get her back to fighting condition quickly and she pulled away. 12 Betty's had been lost that day, including Lt Commander Higai, one of their best Betty pilots for the IJN. The sinking of Chicago greatly frustrated Admiral Nimitz. In his official report of the event to King he wrote “especially regrettable because it might have been prevented.” Yeah Nimitz was frankly pretty pissed off. There was a long list of errors that led to the Chicago's fate. For one, Giffen was obsessed with keeping his rendezvous time and this led him to not consider the formation of his force, the amount of aerial support and to be blunt it was a tactical disaster. To make matters worse, some of his warships were carrying the super secret at the time VT proximity fuze. Nimitz vented his anger at his staff threatening to shoot anyone who announced the loss of the Chicago.  During the afternoon of January 31st, american intelligence decyphered a dispatch stating Kondo's advance force had departed Truk 2 days early and this triggered Nimitz to alert his subordinates in the south pacific to expect a major Japanese operation was about to begin. The little battle of Rennell island had taken out the Chicago, but it also postponed the beginning of Operation KE now being slated for February 1st. The reinforcement Unit which was responsible for the evacuation was gathering its cruisers and over 21 destroyers at Shortland. Army officers were assured that the nominated commander of the Reinforcement unit for operation KE, Rear Admiral Satsuma Kimura led the finest flotilla in the IJN, destroyer squadron 10. But on January 19th, Kimura was injured when the submarine Nautilus damaged his flagship Akizuki near Shortland, prompting his replacement for Rear Admiral Koyanagi. At the same time, Admiral Kusaka secured the appointment of Rear Admiral Shintaro Hashimoto as commander of the Reinforcement Unit, prompting Koyanami to be held in reserve capacity. The 11th air fleet and 6th air division were responsible for maintaining the daylight CAP over the reinforcement units runs, but at night it would be the R Area air force. the 60 float planes of the R Area air force would sweep ahead of the reinforcement unit trying to shield them from the troublesome american PT boats.  Operation KE relied heavily on some plans revolving around the Russell islands, if the destroyers failed to extract the 17th army it would fall upon landing craft from the Russell islands. Many army officers also hoped to install a temporary garrison and base in the Russells to work as a feint. Thus on January 28th, 6 destroyers bearing 328 men went to the Russells. And so soon, the grand operation would be unleashed. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. The hybrid force of US soldiers and Marines seized Kokumbona, greatly hindering Operation KE's timetable. Alongside this the battle of Rennell Island also added to hinder Operation KE's, to add further misery to its future success. Could the IJA/IJN work together to pull it all off, time will tell!   

Founders of the Jehovah Witness Organization, Skull and Bones and Russell Investments along with many other ventures, the Russell family is our focus in this weeks episode. Are the Russells an Illuminati family? Dive in and let's explore together!Email us at: downtherh@protonmail.comSend in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/nwczradios-dtrh/message

Founders of the Jehovah Witness Organization, Skull and Bones and Russell Investments along with many other ventures, the Russell family is our focus in this weeks episode. Are the Russells an Illuminati family? Dive in and let's explore together! Email us at: downtherh@protonmail.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/nwczradios-dtrh/message

Many may find it surprising that a brand as historic as Wild Turkey that is so largely distributed would only have a couple mashbills. But the question is, do ALL of the bourbons that Wild Turkey and Russell's offer really come from just one bourbon mashbill? If you like this content, or even the discussion of this subject, we would like to personally invite you to join our free member community. www.facebook.com/groups/bourbonrealtalkcommunity

We’re coming in hot with a discussion of one of society’s greatest taboos: Inbreeding! Plus, we share some cultural exchange, our watches this week cause us to think some deep thoughts about humanity, and we discuss a few cases of extremely long term kidnapping. Highlights: [0:00] CoRri explains the science of human inbreeding… and why it might be less of a problem than we think? Hey, don’t shoot the messenger.[29:16] We discuss Montell Jordan, pop music, an unusual brotherly Christmas tradition in the Lewis household, a ranking of Russells and other such pressing business[53:00] What we watched![81:13] We talk about a few cases of kidnapping that went on a really long time Stuff we referenced: Why inbreeding really isn’t as bad as you think it is Genetics of eye color The Science Behind the Damage of Inbreeding What are the effects of inbreeding? Parole agent central to Jaycee Lee Dugard kidnapping case breaks 13-year silence Jaycee Dugard – Crime Museum Arrest of kidnap suspect Phillip Garrido hinged on instincts and diligence of two members of UC Berkeley police force

In this episode of Cannabis Unlocked, Russell Stanley (Managing Director of Equity Research at Beacon Securities Limited) and Tiby Erdely (KEY Founding Partner) discuss the evolution of cannabis from early Canadian LP's to today's US based MSO's, the future of cannabis legalization in the US, and the impact of Biden's recent cannabis announcements on the state of the industry. This conversation starts with Russells experience in equity research and he's shift in focus towards cannabis in 2016. From there, Russell and Tiby speak to the continued maturing US based MSO's have shown and their evolution towards being a more "traditional business" that can be judge by margins rather than less tangible growth factors. The talk continues by diving into the funding differences Canadian LP's and US Based MSO's have faced and how the "bootstrapped" nature of US operations has forced leaner business growth. Conversation shifts from here towards Biden's recent announcement around pardoning minor cannabis offences, the potential for cannabis rescheduling and the impact of this shift on Safe Banking. The conversation wraps up with perspectives on the path towards federal legalization and advice from Russell on how to navigate the ever changing future or cannabis. Please enjoy!

Russell Ferber died in a car accident on July 6th, 2002, at the age of 21. This podcast was borne out of my need to continue talking about my brother and how I have managed to keep going without him.  In this episode, I (along with my parents) interview a number of people who actually KNEW Russell to share stories of his indominable spirit. We talk with Denise Fraser, who taught both Russell AND Jordon in elementary School; Steven Schnitzler and Betsy Becker - two people who worked at MSG and helped Russell gain access to the Knicks; Bobby Flay and George Morone, two world renowned chefs that Russell worked for along with Carolyn Beard, Russells baking partner while in culinary school; and we finish up talking with Morgan and Geoff, two of Russell's best friends. I tell some incredible Russell stories on the podcast from time to time, and finally I get to share some from the people who were actually THERE! (This episode is comprised of interviews that aired as part of the 15th Annual Russell Ferber Foundation FUN!draiser online in August of 2020) Check out https://www.russellferberfoundation.org to find out more about what our foundation does, when our next FUN!draiser is, and how to donate! Follow @RussellFerberFoundation on Facebook AND IG. Follow @WheresTheGrief on IG and Twitter

Holmberg's Morning Sickness - Brady Report - Monday May 23, 2022