Podcasts about two japanese

中国国旗【北京時事】中国遼寧省大連市で邦人２人が殺害されたことが３日、分かった。 Two Japanese nationals have been killed in the northern Chinese city of Dalian, sources familiar with Japan-China relations said Tuesday.

Two Japanese nationals have been killed in the northern Chinese city of Dalian, sources familiar with Japan-China relations said Tuesday.

米南部フロリダ州タンパで開催されたバレエの国際コンクール「ユース・アメリカ・グランプリ」で踊る杉本奈槻さん、２５日【ニューヨーク時事】米南部フロリダ州タンパで開かれていた若手バレエダンサーを育てる国際コンクール「ユース・アメリカ・グランプリ」の最終結果が２７日発表され、ジュニア女子部門１位タイに、中学１年生の杉本奈槻さん、三重県四日市市、が入った。 Two Japanese girls placed first in separate categories at the 2025 Youth America Grand Prix international youth ballet competition finals in Tampa, Florida, it was announced Sunday.

Two Japanese girls placed first in separate categories at the 2025 Youth America Grand Prix international youth ballet competition finals in Tampa, Florida, it was announced Sunday.

The seconfd of April is World Autism Awareness Day. We spoke to Yuho Okita, an occupational therapist in Melbourne who teaches at universities in Australia and Japan, and Mari Horiguchi, a psychologist, about common misconceptions aound Autism. - 4月2日は国連が定める World Autism Awareness Day （世界自閉症啓発デー）です。メルボルンの作業療法士で日豪の大学で教える沖田勇帆さんと、サイコロジストの堀口真里さんによくある誤解などについて聞きました。

２９日、ミャンマー中部マンダレーで、倒壊した建物に取り残された人々の捜索を行う救助隊【バンコク時事】２８日に大規模地震に見舞われたミャンマーの国軍は２９日、全国で死者が１６４４人に達したと発表した。 Two Japanese residents of the Myanmar city of Mandalay were injured in a massive earthquake that struck the Southeast Asian country Friday, and received treatment at a local hospital, according to the Japanese embassy in Myanmar.

Two Japanese residents of the Myanmar city of Mandalay were injured in a massive earthquake that struck the Southeast Asian country Friday, and received treatment at a local hospital, according to the Japanese embassy in Myanmar.

- Foxconn To Sign EV Deal with Two Japanese Automakers - CATL Developing 2nd-Gen Sodium-Ion Batteries - Ford Stockpiling Car Parts Ahead of Tariffs - California HOV Lanes for EVs End in September - Former Waymo CEO Trashes Tesla's Robotaxi - London Congestion Fee Reduces Pollution - BMW Integrates Huawei Tech into Vehicles in China - Autoline Poll Results

- Foxconn To Sign EV Deal with Two Japanese Automakers - CATL Developing 2nd-Gen Sodium-Ion Batteries - Ford Stockpiling Car Parts Ahead of Tariffs - California HOV Lanes for EVs End in September - Former Waymo CEO Trashes Tesla's Robotaxi - London Congestion Fee Reduces Pollution - BMW Integrates Huawei Tech into Vehicles in China - Autoline Poll Results

米田あゆさん宇宙航空研究開発機構は２２日、昨年２月に選抜された宇宙飛行士候補者の米田あゆさんと諏訪理さんが基礎訓練を終え、２１日付で宇宙飛行士として認定されたと発表した。 Two Japanese selected in the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's first public recruitment in 13 years have completed basic training and been certified as astronauts, the agency, or JAXA, said Tuesday.

Two Japanese selected in the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's first public recruitment in 13 years have completed basic training and been certified as astronauts, the agency, or JAXA, said Tuesday.

イスラエルによる攻撃を受けて煙が上がるベイルート、３日政府は３日、レバノンからの退避を希望した邦人２人が日本政府のチャーター船でレバノンを出国しキプロスに到着したと発表した。 Two Japanese nationals have fled Lebanon and arrived in Cyprus on a ship chartered by the Japanese government, the government said Thursday.

Two Japanese nationals have fled Lebanon and arrived in Cyprus on a ship chartered by the Japanese government, the government said Thursday.

Two Japanese friends, Yuki Matsu and Yuki Nakai (Ann) inspired me to explore the world, living in a nomadic way. They are sharing their personal experiences, journeying across the globe for the past year, using Couchsurfing to meet locals, bringing Japanese culture, and learning from new cultures as well. Credits: Intro music: Reprise (from "Spirited Away") / Daisuke Minamizawa (acoustic guitar solo) AI-Image generated by Microsoft CoPilot --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/enlik/message

Susan Perry has practiced Aikido for over 40 years and is a 6th degree black belt. She is the president of the Aikido Institute and author of the book The Hidden Power of Aikido. She has a PhD in Philosophy and was formerly a professor in the California State University system. Here Susan and Dawson dialog about: How Susan found Aikido Her training and background What is Aikido? Teaching energy flow and how to relax The Japanese way of learning: watch and copy, not lectures Aikido was originated by O-Sensei or “Great Teacher” Morihei Ueshiba (1883-1969) Two Japanese characters: “energy” and “the way” Ways of making conflict round not linear How Aikido deals with fear and anger Spirals of energy How art can bring peace into your life and center you Find Susan online at: www.susanperry.info  And Dawson at: https://dawsonchurch.com/   #aikido #mindtomatter #blissbrain #eft #meditation #highenergyhealth

５日、台湾東部の太魯閣渓谷で捜索を続ける救助隊員【台北時事】台湾東部・花蓮沖で発生した地震で、消防当局は５日、花蓮県の山間部から日本人女性２人を含む８２人をヘリコプターで救出したと明らかにした。 Two Japanese women have been rescued from a hotel in a mountainous area of Taiwan following Wednesday's major earthquake, authorities said Friday.

Two Japanese women have been rescued from a hotel in a mountainous area of Taiwan following Wednesday's major earthquake, authorities said Friday.

Two Japanese groups participated in this year's Mardi Gras Parade in Sydney. One is a Sydney-based Japanese community group, and the other is a group flying all the way from Japan. What is the significance of participating in the parade? Listen to what they have to say. - 今年のシドニーでのマルディグラ・パレードには、日本人のチームが２つ参加しました。シドニーの日系コミュニティーによる「Gender Free Japanese」、そして日本からツアーを組んで参加したNPO法人カラフルチャンジラボです。参加者の声をリポートします。

Last time we spoke about the landing at Saidor and the drive against Sio. The Australians were still advancing across Shaggy Ridge when General MacArthur unleashed an amphibious assault against Saidor to cut off the Japanese escape and isolate Sio. Numerous features were seized up the large ridge and the Americans successfully amphibiously assaulted Saidor and seized their airfield. General Adachi placed the 51st and 20th divisions under the command of General Nakano, who was tasked with advancing to Gali to try and secure a new supply point. Meanwhile efforts were made to try and contain the new threat in Saidor while simultaneously holding back the Australians in the south. Over on new britain the airdrome was seized as Colonel Katayama launched a failed counter attack against the Marines. The Marines tossed back the attack and began their own advance further inland. This episode is Ledo Road Offensive 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 Americans had landed at Cape Gloucester, Saidor and were carrying out massive attacks against Rabaul. As we had seen previously, on November 5th, aided by bad weather, a surprise air raid was made by the USS Saratoga and Princeton, led by Rear-Admiral Frederick Sherman that inflicted heavy damage to 4 cruisers within the harbor; Maya's engine room was smashed by a bomb killing over 70 men; a 500 lb bomb hit Mogami; Takao took 2 500 lb bomb hits while 3 500 lb bombs narrowly missed Atago killing 23 seamen and caused severe damage to the ship's plating. 2 other cruisers and 3 destroyers also suffered light damage. Captain George Chandler flying a P-38 fighter pilot described how “There were B-24 bombers up high and B-25 bombers attacking right down on the deck dropping ‘frag' bombs on the airplanes along the runways … we did our best work at high altitude, but we also took part in combat a thousand feet off the ground.” The devastation caused Admiral Miniechi Koga to withdraw his forces to Truk, thus ending the IJN threat to Bougainville. A Japanese naval officer would later admit that they had given up on Bougainville mainly because of “the serious damage received by several Second Fleet cruisers at Rabaul by carrier attack …” The successful  raid against Rabaul left Halsey ecstatic. “It is real music to me and opens the stops for a funeral dirge for Tojo's Rabaul.” On November 8th, reinforcements led by Rear-admiral Alfred Montgomery task force 38, with the new fleet carriers USS Bunker Hill, Essex and Independence. With the added carrier strength on November 11th, a follow up air raid was made seeing the IJN cruiser Agano torpedoed and badly damaged, while 35 Japanese aircraft out of 120 launched in a counter attack against the carrier force were shot down. Montgomery would not lose a single ship. Admiral Koga's decision to send carrier pilots to bolster Rabaul had quite literally blown up in his face. Koga's air fleet had lost 43 of its 82 Zeros, 38 of its 34 Vals, 34 of its 40 Kates and 6 Judy spotter planes. Over 86 of his 192 experienced pilots and crew had perished, and he had only inflicted minimal damage to Nimitz fleet, it was a disaster. Yet the fantastical reports from Japanese pilots kept pouring in, claiming the air battles over Bougainville were infact won by the IJN air forces. Newspapers in Japan reported victories that added up to the destruction of 5 American battleships, 10 carriers, 19 cruisers and 7 destroyers. The reality was the destruction of 2 cruisers, the USS Birmingham and Denver. By mid november Vice Admiral Kusaka was finding it difficult to sustain attacks against allied convoys feeding supplies to Empress Augusta Bay. On November 12th, Rabaul only had 113 Zero's of which only 59 were operational. Crews were suffering from malaria and other diseases, no one was granted rest as they were limited in personnel and under constant attack. The quality of ground crews and pilots was deteriorating every week.  From November 12 through December 16, the daytime skies over the Gazelle Peninsula remained relatively quiet, as the US carrier forces had departed to support operations in the Central Pacific. AirSols received a new commander on the November 20th, Major General Ralph Mitchell who continued to support operations in Bougainville and General Kenney's Fifth Air Force was supporting preparations for the landings in western New Britain. The lull gave Admiral Kusaka a brief opportunity to recuperate as replacements began to arrive from the Marshalls and Truk. The Imperial Japanese Navy would take six months to replenish its carrier pilots with less well-trained and inexperienced replacements. In the meantime the carrier fleet itself, Japan's most expensive and precious strategic asset, was forced to remain idle in Truk as Nimitz began his island hop through the Central Pacific Meanwhile the Torokina airfield had become crude but operational. The Seabees had created a single 4750 foot by 200 foot strip. It lacked taxiways, hardstands and buildings, but by December 10th it could launch aircraft. Soon the Seabees would carve 2 additional landing trips in the jungle 3 miles further inland. The first would be a mile long, the second 8000 feet or so for bombers. Unlike the Japanese airfields on the Gazelle Peninsula which would take more than a year to complete, both of these American airfields took a month. You often hear, especially from marine veterans of the pacific, praise for the Seabees, such a colossal advantage in logistics paved the way to victory. A massive fighter sweep was launched on December 17 consisting of 32 Corsairs, 24 F6Fs, and 24 RNZAF Kittyhawks from airfields at New Georgia and Vella Lavella who rendezvoused at Torokina, topped off their fuel tanks, and hit  Rabaul. The strike was led by Major Greg “Pappy” Boyington, the commanding officer of Marine Fighter Squadron 214, better known by its nickname, the "Black Sheep Squadron". The three types of aircraft had different flying characteristics and different cruising speeds. The Kittyhawks, slowest of the bunch, took off first. The plan was for them to come in at 15,000ft, and lure out the Japanese. Next came the Hellcats, flying above the Kittyhawks. And the last were the Corsairs, who flew top cover. It was a long flight over open water, calculated to make the pilot of a single-engine aircraft nervous. If the engine failed it was a long swim home. They were intercepted by 35 Zeros, with the Kittyhawks getting the first jump on them. After the Kittyhawks made their first pass, shooting down a Japanese fighter, the advantage switched over to the more agile  Zeros. The Kittyhawk squadron leader's plane was fatally damaged and a second Kittyhawk went down after colliding with a Zero. Remarkably, both pilots survived. Meanwhile the Hellcats and Corsairs, at high altitudes, were coming up empty. The Corsairs circled Lakunai field finding no targets. Pilot Boyington exchanged insults with an English-speaking Japanese officer over the radio, but despite his challenges found no targets in the air. When all aircraft returned to base, the score was even. Two Kittyhawks and two Zeros were lost; one each due to the collision and one shot down by both sides. It was a rather disappointing fighter sweep, but would become just one of many against Rabual over the course of the next 3 weeks. The next raid came two days later seeing 48 B-24s launched, but 32 were forced turned back. The remaining 16 bombers escorted by 51 were intercepted by 94 Japanese fighters, yet they also suffered from the bad weather. Less than half made contact with the enemy. In the resulting fight, 5 Zeros were shot down and 10 allied aircraft were lost, but only two were shot down. The other eight were due to a mid-air collision and landing mishaps, all near home. The weather persisted to be so bad, it was only on the 23rd another sortie could be launched. B-24s escorted by Corsairs and Hellcats bombed Lakunai. Radar gave the Japanese some early warning and nearly 100 Zeros were scrambled. 60 made contact with the bombers after they hit Lakunai. No bombers were lost, but 2 Corsairs were shot down in the ensuing dogfights. Yet the Americans had a twist, they followed up the raid with a fighter sweep of 48 Corsairs. They arrived 15 minutes after the bombers left, surprising the airborne Japanese fighters, most of whom lacked radios. 6 Zeros were shot down, several others damaged and only 2 Corsairs lost.  2 days later, another fighter sweep preceded by bombers was launched claiming 18 aircraft kills, but it was probably closer to 5. In comparison the Japanese pilots would claim 55 kills, a number greater than the american force sent. On the 27 another sweep was launched against Cape Gloucester downing 7 Japanese aircraft for one American. 28 Corsairs returned the next day but this time the Japanese held the advantage, sandwiching the Marines between 2 large groups of Zeros. 3 Corsairs were shot down, but so were 3 Zeros, with 2 others badly damaged. On 30th 36 Liberators escorted by 20 Hellcats and 20 Corsairs, bombed Rabaul. 1 B-24 was lost on the raid, hit by antiaircraft fire. No air combat occurred. On New Years day 15 B-24s and 68 escorting fighters met heavy fighter opposition. 40 Zeros had been sent to Rabaul from Truk, manned by veteran pilots. 1 B-24 was shot down, and two others badly damaged. On January 2 48 US fighters raided and on the 3rd another 44. The two sweeps took out a handful of fighters. The last sweep was on the 5th seeing another 2 zeros downed. Meanwhile back on December 24th, Admiral Sherman's task force 37 raided Kavieng. The operation had two purposes, 1) was to distract attention from the landings at Cape Gloucester and 2) to interdict sea traffic between Truk and Rabaul. The 5000-ton naval transport Tenyru Maru was sunk and several other ships were damaged. After this task force 37 made several raids against Kavieng through January 4th. They managed to shoot down 10 Japanese fighters, damaged IJN cruiser Noshiro and destroyers Fumizuki and Satsuki. On Janaury 6th, the bomber strip at Piva became operational, thus Rabaul was now within range of allied light and medium bombers, basically it was pounding time.   On January 7th, 16 Avengers and 24 Dauntless raided Tobera airfield. From medium altitudes the Avengers dropped 2000lb pounds smashing the paved runways. The Japanese managed to shoot down 3 fighters and one dauntless, but Tobera was temporarily not operational. It was the first time any Rabaul airbase was neutralized from bomb damage. This would be followed up on the 11th by a low level attack against Vunakanau by B-25's, damaging 8 parked aircraft. Then on the 14th, Simpson Harbor was attacked by 16 Avengers , 36 Dauntless and fighter escorts. The Japanese tossed 84 fighters but the allies held such a tight formation it was difficult to get at the bombers. 2 bombers were lost before reaching Lakunai; 1 to a mid-air collision and 1 to antiaircraft fire. When the Allied aircraft finally arrived, clouds shielded Lakunai so the bombers switched to targeting the ships in Simpson Harbor. The Avengers carried 2,000lb bombs, limiting their effectiveness. Regardless, they landed hits on the 15,400-ton-displacement oiler Naruto, and thus ended its goal of becoming the Hokage. . . sorry folks could not resist that one. The destroyer Matsukaze was also damaged alongside 5 other vessels.    AirSols came back to hit simpson harbor and blanche bay 3 days later sinking  the Komaki Maru, Kosei Maru, Yamayuri Maru, Hakkai Maru and Iwate Maru. To take down the combined 30,000 tons of shipping AirSols lost 8 P-38s, 1 Hellcat, 1 F4U, 1 Avenger, and 1 Dauntless. The rest of January saw so many raids, sometimes 2-3 on the same day, thus I can't spend the entire podcast listing their actions, but the losses were brutal. For the Americans they would lose 23 aircraft between January 23rd-30th, for the Japanese it was around 37. By the end of the month, Rabaul was being bled dry of planes, thus the rest was withdrawn to Truk with around 40 pilots. To make up for the withdrawal, Admiral Koga brought over the air groups of carriers Junyo, Hiyo and Ryuho on the 25th adding 62 zeros, 18 vals and 18 kates to Admiral Kusakas dwindling forces. Does that not sound like performing the exact same action that saw such devastating losses in late december to early january? Yes, yes it does.    Moving over to New Britain, General Shepherd had just smashed the Japanese positions along Suicide Creek. While seizing Suicide Creek some Americans captured a Japanese dispatch saying “It is essential that we conceal the intention that we are maintaining positions on Aogiri Ridge. Concerning the occupation of this position, it is necessary that Aogiri Yama is maintained.” While making arrangements for the Japanese assault against Target Hill one, Lieutenant Abe had occasion sent field dispatches to Warrant Officer Kiyoshi Yamaguchi, one of his platoon leaders. The dispatch mentioned command post locations, hour of attack, and other orders. Yamaguchi, with that seemingly incredible indifference to basic security which the Japanese so often demonstrated, simply stuck the dispatch in his pocket and carried it with him to the assault. Marines found it on his body the following morning, thereby gaining their first inkling of the existence of a terrain feature which appeared as such on none of their maps but upon which the Japanese appeared to place great importance, for reasons not yet clear. Aoigiri Ridge was not in the American maps and it was currently held by the 2nd battalion, 53rd regiment and 2nd battalion, 141st regiment. Behind the ridge was a wide trail leading to Magairapua, connecting Matsuda's HQ with Borgen Bay. The trail was heavily used and concealed extremely well from American aircraft. Back over at the American lines, by January 5th, the 3rd battalion, 7th marines had pulled back into the reserve, allowing the weapons company, 7th marines to occupy the extreme left along the shore to prepare for Shepherds offensive against Hill 150. The new formation launched their attack at 11am on the 6th. Tanks surged forward to smash a roadblock held by the 2nd battalion, 141st regiment on the left trail. Artillery was deployed on a nearby hill hitting the Japanese lines as A company tried to break through but was quickly pinned down by the roadblock. The tanks eventually burst through the roadblock sending the Japanese packing.   The americans advanced through the increasingly swampy terrain, facing weaker resistance. B company crossed a small stream and stormed Hill 150 during the afternoon, securing it. Further right, C company and the 3rd battalion, 5th marines were surprised to be held up by extremely heavy fire from the until then unknown feature, Aogiri ridge. The men had no other choice than to pull back to a safe distance to dig in as they reported back the presence of the heavily fortified position. The Japanese would unleash carnage upon the men for 2 days whenever they tried to press forward. On the 7th the commanding officer of the 3rd battalion, 5th Marines, was wounded and replaced by Lt Colonel Lewis Walt. The next day, Walk's men were cautiously inching forward under heavy enemy fire through dense jungle, when they first encountered the ground rising in steepness. At this point Walt realized the feature had to be Aogiri Ridge.    On the 9th, the assault battalions resumed their attacks, this time with heavy artillery support against Aogiri ridge. Walt was reinforced with Companies K and L from the 7th marines, but the advance was extremely slow and painful. Two Japanese bunkers were knocked out with white phosphorus grenades, but that ended the limited gains. Walt personally began pushing a 37mm gun excruciating foot by foot up Aogiri ridge, firing a volley of canisters every few feet. Somehow he managed to get the gun up the steep slope into a decent position to sweep the ridge, allowing the gain of a foothold on the crest of Aogiri. The loss of the ridge was a huge threat to Matsuda and Katayama's positions, so the latter decided to throw his reserves in a desperate but ferocious counterattack.   At 1:15am on the 10th, Katayama sent his recently arrived 3rd battalion to attack the reverse slope. However the Marines held firm and would end up repelling 5 consecutive banzai charges with a fury and persistence unparalleled in the campaign. On the 4th try a Japanese major and two company officers succeeded in knifing through the Marine cordon almost to Colonel Walt's fox hole, 50 yards behind the front line. At that instant one of two short rounds in a 60-round artillery barrage burst in a tall tree almost directly overhead, and the major died there, sword in one hand and a pistol in the other. The 5th charge was blunted by artillery and the Japanese finally cut their losses and pulled back. The Japanese had suffered immense casualties, seeing all 3 of their battalions depleted, forcing Katayama to pull off Aogiri ridge that very night. The morning of the 10th saw Walk's men securing the feature and then discovering the vital Magairapua trail. The marines went to work mopping up the area until January 12th, whereupon Shepherd planned to seize Hill 660. The feature was guarded by the 6th company, 141st regiment supported by a number of guns of the 30th machine cannon company. The fresh 3rd battalion, 7th marines, led by lt colonel Henry Buse Jr were to perform the main assault, with the 1st battalion extending the perimeter behind them. To help the effort, the weapons company,7th marines of Captain Buckley would begin constructing a roadblock between the eastern base of Hill 660 to the shore of Borgen Bay, hoping to cut off the defenders escape route.   At 08:00am on the 13th, after artillery, mortars and the 5th Air Force performed a bombardment of the area, the last Marine offensive commenced. A intricate system of small arms and automatic weapon positions going up the summit unleashed fire upon the marines, quickly pinning down I company. L Company attempted swinging to the right, but were also pinned down. Engineers worked a light tank forward far enough to place fire across a gorge demolishing the more troublesome enemy weapons. By late afternoon, together with artillery supporting fire, the pinned-down companies were rescued and withdrawn for the night. Meanwhile the Weapons company worked with their bulldozer, by 1030 they had skirted the eastern base of the hill and set up an all-around perimeter. There they dug in clearing fields of fire for about 60 yards to both north and south, placing their half-tracks and tanks in supporting positions. The only opposition they encountered during the advance was by two Japanese machine guns and emplaced near the summit of the hill. With all said and done they successfully cut off the Japanese line of retreat.  On the morning of the 14th, the 3rd battalion resumed their assault, with their leading companies advancing to the right working their way up. One unit nearly got atop the crest before coming under fire from heavy machine guns. They got to a position where they could bring 60mm mortars to bear, and went to work neutralizing the machine gun positions before a final surge carried them across the summit. The Japanese fled down the crest heading east, coming straight into the line of fire of the Weapons company below. The result was a terrible rout, seeing many escape to the safety of the swamps to the hills southeast. By the end of the 14th, the marines had seized Hill 660 and were performing mop up operations through the following day. At 5:30am on the 16th, Katayama ordered the 6th and 11th companies, 141st regiment to counter attack Hill 660. Soon the marines were face to face with a large banzai charge, seeing the fighting getting up close and personal. But small arms, rifles, 60mm mortars and 81mm artillery broke the Japanese. Over 110 Japanese bodies would be found after the fight. This ended Shepherds offensive, as the remnants of Colonel Sumiya's forces began to arrive to the Borgen Bay area. Over the next few days, the exhausted 7th marines were relieved by the 5th marines and 2nd battalion, 1st marines who had recently been recalled after completing their mission at Green Beach.  After suffering the defeated in Borgen Bay, General Sakai decided to order the 1st battalion, 54th regiment to reinforce Talasea and for Matsuda to launch a last ditch effort, a suicidal one at that, to obliterate the enemy. But the men were in no condition for such an offensive, thus Katayama elected to postpone it for now. Since every man was needed for the defense of Borgen Bay, Colonel Sato took the remainder of his commander and departed Rooke Island to join the main body. Now that Hill 660 was secured, the Americans began a new method of patrolling; this time their patrols would specifically seek out and destroy what was presumed to be exhausted Japanese units, before the division would attack the defensive line at Borgen Bay-Itni river. Yet that is it for new Britian, as we are going to be traveling over to the CBI theater. Between November 22 to December the 1st, two conference were held between the Allied leaders. The first was the Cairo or “sextant” conference on November 22-26th, between President FDR, Sir Winston Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek. The second was held in Tehran on November 28-December 1st between FDR, Churchill and Joseph Stalin. You might be asking, why did they all not meet up together. The crux of it was the Soviet-Japanese neutrality Pact and to a lesser extent, though probably not in Chiang Kai-Shek's mind, Stalin was aiding the CCP. Because the Soviets had not declared war on the Japanese, it would not look to good if they met with the leader of China, likewise Chiang Kai-shek was not too forthcoming to meet with Stalin. The easy fix was to just have two different conferences. Overall the conferences did not really touch too much upon the Pacific war. But Stalin did promise to declare war on Japan within ninety days after the end of the European War. In return he demanded military and logistical concessions in Manchuria, maintenance of Outer Mongolia under Soviet control as well as sovereignty over the Kuril Islands that stretched from north of Japan to Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. When Chiang Kai-shek heard about this he had suspicious and noted “The influence of this conference on China will be great. I hope Roosevelt isn't plotting with Churchill and Stalin against me.” Soon his suspicion would turn to anger when he discovered there were secret protocols relating to Manchuria.  Stalin had made some assurances to Mao Zedong that once the Soviets were in the war against Japan, they would have forces to bear down into China to help tip the scale for the CCP against the NRA. Yet after the war, it would seem promises made by Joseph Stalin were not always kept.  Another important aspect of the conferences was the British decision to cancel Operation Buccaneer, the invasion of the Andaman Islands, because Admiral Mountbatten's landing crafts were required for landings in southern france. The Joint chiefs of staff were livid at this, because it came at the same time the Japanese were reinforcing Burma. FDR overruled them and agreed to the British decision and this in turn greatly pissed off Chiang Kai-Shek. Yet at the same time, the Cairo declaration had lifted up the morale for the Chinese army and people to continue their war against the Japanese. The declarations made by the Tehran conference implied publicly that the CBI theater was all but abandoned to the mercy of Japan's air and land forces. Thus it would be no coincidence the Japanese thought it ripe to launch an all-out offensive against China.  In the meantime, the rather aggressive Admiral Mountbatten was trying to salvage what he could of the situation. To try and please Chiang Kai-Shek, he proposed Operation Pigstick. The operation was something Mountbatten had wargamed a bit, it was to be a landing on the southern Mayu peninsula aimed at hitting Akyab. He began assigning landing craft for the amphibious operation, only to be immediately slapped down by Alanbrooke and told to return 3 fast tank landing crafts that were direly needed for operations against Italy. Mountbatten hoped to retain 2 slower tank landing craft, but Cunningham requested them. Pigstick was to be 2 divisions plus 2 brigades who would be used in a southward advance down the peninsula and 1 division in an amphibious assault aimed at surrounding and destroying not less than 20,000 Japanese. An additional landing similar to PIGSTICK, could perhaps be launched in the Ramree-Cheduba area, could take staging areas that would put 15 Corps within reach of Rangoon. Speaking of Ramree, if any of you have heard this kind of myth about over 1000 Japanese being eaten by crocodiles on that island, over on my personal channel the pacific war channel I did a full investigation into the so called “ramree island massacre” story. A little sad about its performance not going to lie. Dramatically improved my lackluster animation skills for it, came out really well and I did a silly impersonation at the beginning, anyways check it out its a fun one! Alongside Pigstick, Mountbatten changed the Tarzan operation into Operation Gripfast, calling for an offensive on north and central Burma with an airborne landing at Indaw to sever the Japanese line of communications to Myitkyina. But now Chiang Kai-Shek was very wary of anything British, so he rejected the plans on December 19th. Alongside pissing off Chiang Kai-Shek, his estranged wife, Joseph Stilwell was also again angry with the British, particularly Mountbatten. At one point Mountbatten proposed moving certain American units into the Hukawng valley to help the offensive there and Stillwell burst out ‘I should like it placed on record that I am responsible for the training of all American forces in this theatre and I am the person to decide when they are adequately trained and can move forward.' Mountbatten replied: ‘I accept that in principle, but would remind you that these troops are being trained under British officers. I am responsible for operations and will decide when units move into the fighting lines. In other words, general, I should like to place on record that I am Supreme Commander out here and what I say goes.' Stilwell took it good-humouredly and laughed. ‘We none of us dispute that,'”. That day Stilwell wrote a letter to his wife, referring scathingly to Mountbatten as ‘the glamour boy. He doesn't wear well and I begin to wonder if he knows his stuff. Enormous staff, endless walla-walla but damn little fighting . . . And of course the Peanut is unchanged. The jungle is a refuge from them both.' The men would all share some screaming matches against another, until Stilwell would shock everyone by exclaiming “I am prepared to come under General Slim's operational control until I get to Kamaing.” It was a truly bizarre idea, Mountbatten asked how such a thing would work, and both Slim and Stilwell asked to discuss the matter amongst themselves. The two men would agree on tactical essentials such as getting more Chinese divisions for the Ledo force and to use the Chindits to assist in hitting Myitkyina. Slim and Stilwell shook hands and Stilwell said to him ‘I would fight under a corporal as long as he would let me fight.' Slim would later reflecte ‘In practice this illogical command set-up worked surprisingly well. My method with Stilwell was based on what I had learnt of him in the Retreat – to send him the minimum of written instructions, but, whenever I wanted anything, to fly over and discuss it with him, alone. Stilwell, talking things over quietly with no one else present, was a much easier and more likeable person than Vinegar Joe with an audience. Alone, I never found him unreasonable or obstructive. I think I told him to do something he did not approve of on only two or three occasions, and on each he conformed, I will not say willingly, but with good grace.' In the end Operation Pigstick never became a reality, because the landing crafts were needed for the Italian campaign and thus the hope of meeting Chiang Kai-sheks continued demand for an amphibious operation was gone. It was almost like the British never intended to go through with such a thing in the first place, woops that is just my opinion. Meanwhile the British-Indian command elected to start a new operation in Arakan. The brutal hard-won lessons of 1st Arakan battle had been absorbed in India Command, with senior British officers determined to avoid similar mistakes. The new operation was the subject of meticulous reconnaissance, planning, and rehearsals. A series of lectures, war games, models of the grounds and syndicate discussions were held for commanders, staff and regimental officers whom carefully considered countering Japanese offensive tactics and assaulting prepared defensive positions like those witnessed at Donbaik. A carefully planned programme of continuous, progressive and intensive training was put in hand for all corps and divisional fighting, support and administrative troops to practice necessary skills, including using brigade boxes, aerial resupply and the infiltration and envelop- ment of enemy positions. This comprehensive training programme culminated in intensive rehearsals and combined arms training with artillery, tanks and close support aircraft carried out near Lohardaga, over ground resembling Arakan, simulating attacks on mock Japanese defensive positions on jungle-clad hills. General Auchinleck assigned the 15th corps, reconstituted at Ranchi with the 3 best trained divisions available: Major-General Harold Briggs' 5th Indian Division; Major-General Frank Messervy's 7th Indian Division and Major-General Christopher Woolner's 81st West African Division.The 26th Indian Division formed the corps reserve. Command of the 15th corps would be given to Lt General Philip Christison. The plan called for the 5th and 7th Indian divisions to advance along the summit of the Mayu range towards Maungdaw and Buthidaung while the 5th and 6th west african brigades would provide flanking protection. On November 1st, the 2 Indian divisions began their advance and by mid november would make contact with a Japanese outpost.As the 7th Indian division advanced astride the Kalapanzin River they ran into stiff resistance. Efforts to dislodge Japanese defenders near Awlanbyin and Letwedet, showcased the formidable difficulties that attacking Japanese defensive bunker positions presented. Most were built on razor-back ridges, through which were burrowed fire positions, affording a limited approach, while the reverse slopes protected troops from view and bombardment. With the precipitous Goppe Pass initially only suitable for porters, pack transport and pack artillery, 7th Indian Division quickly devised other methods to overcome enemy defenses, since normal stereotyped, set-piece attacks stood little chance of success without supporting field artillery. Aircraft proved an ineffective substitute, moreover, with dive-bombing having only a transitory effect since the broken terrain and dense jungle absorbed blast leaving defenses and morale largely intact unless a lucky direct hit was made. The Indian forces began to infiltrate and bypass the well-entrenched Japanese defenses, giving the impression they would soon unleash a frontal attack upon them at any moment. General Messervy's would say of the action  “'We will undoubtedly have a Neapolitan sandwich of British - Japs - British, but it will be one made by ourselves, and with the initiative in our hands it will soon be transformed to British - British - Jap.” They were gaining ground and with it valuable combat experience. On the night of November 30th, the 15th Indian Corps commenced large-scale operations to drive in the Japanese outpost line astride the Mayu Range. A series of brisk skirmishes were fought by 33rd Indian Infantry Brigade on the jungle-cloaked ridges south of Awlanbyin quickly evicting small determined parties of Japanese infantry from carefully prepared platoon and company defensive localities. This was by no means an easy task since most heavily camouflaged positions were built atop steep hillsides overlooking paddy fields that provided an open field of five and difficult going for advancing troops. Earlier directions about infiltration paid off in practice. An attack on Awlanbyin west redoubt from the rear through thick jungle achieved complete surprise. Although a neighboring Japanese position initially held out, its garrison withdrew on 2nd December after being cut off. The 33rd Brigade columns  crossed the Ngakyedauk Chaung and occupied the area from Ngakyedauk village to the ridge about 1.5 miles north-west of Sinohbyin village. By December3rd, they extended the area of operation to the hills overlooking Maungyithaung and Sinohbyin. The 89th Brigade, meanwhile, pushed forward down Tatmin Chaung and established forward positions on the hills south of the chaung, one mile west of Tatmingyaungywa. By mid-month, 7th Indian Division had reached the main enemy positions covering the Tunnels and Buthidaung, and the opening of the Ngakyedauk Pass to wheeled traffic in late December considerably eased resupply and allowed the divisional artillery to join the formation. However, both the Indian divisions were under orders not to get engaged in serious fighting with the Japanese, so the advance stopped there. It is also important to note, in November 1943,  Spitfires were deployed in Bengal for the first time. The 615th and 617th squadrons were based in Chittagong to protect the vital port and also to cover the Arakan. Within one month, the Spitfires destroyed four Japanese photographic reconnaissance aircraft. Previously, the Dinah's range, speed and height had enabled them to fly with impunity over the Allied forward bases and the Hurricanes were unable to catch them. The Japanese reacted by sending out fighter sweeps in order to test the Spitfires and whittle down Spitfire strength. However, by the end of December, the Japanese lost 22 aircraft, another 33 were damaged, and the Allied loss was only 13 aircraft. The greatest air battle occurred on the last day of 1943. On that day, No. 136 Squadron destroyed 12 and damaged 11 when a mixed force of Japanese fighters and bombers attempted to attack the light naval force along the Arakan Coast. The Japanese carried out one strategic attack when on 5 December 1943, 60 bombers and fighters, including some naval aircraft, in two waves bombed Calcutta. The Japanese lost two aircraft and another five were damaged. The three and a half squadrons of Hurricane fighters, including half a squadron of night fighters which were defending the area lost five aircraft and another six were damaged.  To the west the 5th Indian Division had also encountered stiffening resistance from Japanese outposts as it advanced southwards along the coastal plain towards Maungdaw, through the foothills further north and along the spine of the jungle-clad Mayu Mountains. They soon discovered that overcoming Japanese bunker defenses presented particular difficulties. As the division would report "The great difficulty in attacking Jap "hill top" positions lies in the concealment of the actual bunker or weapon pit' one brigade commander later wrote, and in the practical impossibility of deploying attacking troops in thick jungle, particularly where the approach runs along the top of a razor backed ridge.' In each case, patrols infiltrated between these localities isolated them from supplies and reinforcements with the result that Japanese normally gave up ground without a contest. A newsletter prepared by the HQ of 5th Indian Division reported: 'The only way to deal with the Jap def positions is by INFILTRATION. Recent experience has shown that the Jap has produced nothing new in def tactics... It is almost physically impossible in hilly and thick country to have every post covered by another, the posts can be eliminated piece- meal by infiltration tactics.' After the outline of the main Japanese defenses became apparent this approach was also increasingly applied at brigade level. At the end of December 1943, the 5th Indian Division held the area from the sea to the crest of the Mayu Peninsula and the 7th Indian Division moved into the Kalapanzin Valley. By the end of the month they reached Maungdaw. The advancing 5th Indian Division discovered that frontal assaults could not be completely avoided, however, when Japanese troops were determined to stay put. During this advance, the 161st Brigade moved to the high ground to the northeast of Bakkagona about five miles to the north of Razabil. On 30th December, 161st Indian Infantry Brigade assaulted Point 124, but the 4/7th Rajputs were held up by dense jungle and heavy mortar and machine fire and suffered heavy casualties. For six days assaults continued with the forward infantry regularly reaching the Japanese defenses before being driven off by showers of hand grenades and supporting machine-gun from every other enemy defensive position within range. Only after a 'policy of strangulation, starvation, and attrition was adopted', did its defenders withdraw. The 5th Indian Division immediately began probing the main Razabil defenses, while its 123rd Indian Infantry Brigade patrolled the western foothills of the Mayu Range and northern side of Razabil, particularly two hill positions dubbed Wrencat and Wrenkitten. To do so an indirect approach was again advocated by Major-General Harold Briggs in note on tactical policy issued on 4th January, stressing the importance of patrolling to identify positions held by the Japanese and infiltration to seize vital ground in their flanks or rear that would either provoke Japanese counterattacks or force a withdrawal. Meanwhile Stilwell arrived to Shingbwiyang on December 21st and assumed command of the Chinese forces in India. To relive the trapped battalion of the 112th regiment at Yupbang Ga, Stilwell and General Sun planned to send the entire 114th regiment to break the Japanese center at Yupang Ga to rescue the 112th, then hook north to envelope the northern fragment of the Japanese defensive line. On December 24th, they unleashed artillery and launched the infantry into the Japanese lines. The 114th regiment managed to envelop the Japanese right flank by the afternoon and soon a breakthrough emerged allowing for them to make contact with the 112th. Sun's men then surrounded the Japanese pocket during the night and would wipe them out the next morning. And thus the Chinese had gained their first victory at Yupbang Ha, though the Japanese still held the river crossing, so Stilwell began plans for another assault set after Christmas. On December 28th, Sun ordered 3 battalions to attack the north, while the 1st battalion, 112th regiment would sweep to the right, getting behind the 3 Japanese outer strongpoints. The chinese forces rapidly broke the Japanese outer defenses creating a breach while the 1st battalion, 114th regiment broke through the river defensive line. The Japanese tossed a large counterattack, but it would be repelled by the night time. Now Yupbang Ga was in allied hands as the surviving Japanese companies split into smaller groups trying to hold out for many days. With the fall of Yupbang Ga, the Japanese were forced to withdraw from Sharaw Ga as well, so elements of the 2rd battalion, 113th Regiment were be able to seize it by December 30. In the meantime, as the 22nd Division's 65th Regiment had been sent towards the Taro Plain to try and secure the southern flank, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 114th Regiment had been sent south to cross the Tanai Hka at the Kantau ford in an effort to cut off the enemy withdrawal line. By the end of 1943, with the loss of 315 killed and 429 wounded, Sun's 38th Division had gained complete control of the Tarung Hka.  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. Things were deteriorating for the Japanese on New Britain as American Marines were seizing features and gradually pushing them into Borgan Bay. Within the CBI theater a ton of drama amongst the high commanders was surprisingly not resulting in disaster, as operations in Burma were kicking off with great results. Perhaps Burma could be saved.

Last time we spoke about the beginning of the Russo-Japanese war. The Japanese knew to have any chance in the war against the Russians, they needed to deliver a deadly surprise attack against her fleet within the harbor of Port Arthur. Admiral Togo took the combined fleet and dispatched a force under Uriu to neutralize Chemulpo and land forces of the IJA 12th division. Meanwhile Togo ordered 10 destroyers to toss torpedoes at the Russian warships at anchor in Port Arthur, landing a few hits. It seemed to the Japanese that the Russians were fully paralyzed, so Togo elected to bring the combined fleet in to bombard the Russians into submission. Instead of being paralyzed the Russians counter fired using shore batteries causing the Japanese to back off. War was declared afterwards by both parties and now battles would rage over land and sea to see which empire would claim dominance over Asia.    #74 The Russo-Japanese War part 2: the battle of Yalu   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. The combined fleet set out again on February 14th after just two days in port. The Fuji was still in dry dock in need of further repair. Other than Fuji, the fleet was back at sea in force. Despite taking numerous hits, it turned out the Russian shells were not as effective as the Japanese ammunition which used a new compound called Shimose, refined into a powder that gave the IJN shells a greater velocity, thus much more effective on impact. In the meantime, only a brave attack by two Japanese destroyers was brought upon the Russians at Port Arthur. Other than that nothing much had come about. While at Sasebo, Admiral Togo discussed with his fellow commanders the situation. Port Arthur's harbor had basically become a large lake harbored the Russian ships, but at any moment they could be unleashed into the ocean. Togo needed to destroy the warships or trap them inside, and he came up with a daring plan. Togo sent out a special order, soliciting for volunteers for an extremely dangerous, practically suicidal mission. 2000 sailors volunteered, many writing their names in blood. The plan was quite simple, the volunteers were going to take ships and sink them at the entrance to the harbor. The ships selected were some very old steamers, capable of just 10 knots. On the evening of February 23rd, 5 old steamers set a course for Port Arthur with some torpedo boat escorts. Before the first light of the 24th, the Russian lookouts saw what appeared to be a steady convoy calmly approaching the harbors mouth. A Russian convey was long being awaited, thus many assumed it was them. Some Russian ships came in closer to examine the newcoming vessels closer and upon showering them with searchlights, the captain of the Retvizan quickly realized they were Japanese. Retvizan began opening fire, prompting the old steamers to run frantically through a gauntlet. The Japanese crews were blinded by searchlight as the guns of the Retvizan and shore batteries rained hell upon them. The leading steamer, the Mokoko Maru was hit by Retvizan at point blank range just due east of the harbor entrance. She sank quickly and the other steamers would face a similar fate one by one as they approached. Volunteer crews were shot to pieces or abandoned ship. Those who survived the shelling were rescued by torpedo boats. The mission was a terrible failure. The Russians did not quite understand what had occurred. Certainly the ships were no battleships, but some assumed it was another torpedo attack attempt and thus believed some warships had been sunk. Admiral Alexeiev desperate to boost morale send a message to the Tsar claiming a great naval victory. After further investigation, the steamers were found to be what they were and Alexeiev had to send a correction to the Tsar. Now all of this was going down in Port Arthur, but the Russians did have another force at their cold water port of Vladivostok. Under the command of Rear Admiral Jessel were the armored cruisers Gromoboi, Rurik, Boegatyr and Rossiya. Rear Admiral Kamimura was leading a cruiser squadron with torpedo boats around Tsushima. His duty was that of a picquet force to meet the Russian enemy if they came out to play. Alexeiev gave Jessel orders not to steam more than a single day from port. Jessel had thus only managed to sink two unarmed Japanese merchantmen with his small patrols.  Now upon the land, the former Minister of War, General Kuropatkin was appointed the land commander in Manchuria. He would depart St Petersburg on March 12th and arrive to Harbin by the 28th. For the sea, the disgraced Admiral Starck was to be replaced with Vice Admiral Makarov. The Russian government was trying to showcase to its troops, that the very best officers would lead them, it was a much needed boost of confidence. However Tsar Nicolas II also appointed Alexeiev as the Viceroy of the Russian far east, which gave Alexeiev higher authority than all government ministries in the region, making him beholden only to the Tsar himself. Alekseyev was a key member of the “Bezobrazov Circle” a politically motivated investment group led by Aleksandry Mikhailovich Bezobrazov whom sought to create a commercial enterprise, modeled after the British East India Company, reigning over Manchuria and Korea. A skilled lobbyist, Bezobrazov was the one who persuaded Tsar Nicolas II for Alekseiv's appointment. This would prove ruinous.  Makarov departed his previous command at fort Kronstadt and received news cruisers Novik, Bayan and Askold were damaged. While enroute he received a report the Bezstrashni and Viestnitelni were intercepted by Japanese picquet forces while returning to port. They were attacked trying to race to Port Arthur and Vistnitelni was unable to get away, being destroyed around Pigeon bay. Thus the new commander was getting this picture of his forces accumulating unacceptable losses without even engaging the enemy. Makarov unlike Starck was not so conservative, he sought real action. Makarov was what you would call “a sailors sailor”. He was in excellent shape, was a noted naval tactician and had a copy of a book on his adversary Admiral Togo in his cabin at hand. During his voyage to the far east, Starck retained command and continued to fly his flag upon Petropavlovsk. Makarov would hoist his aboard the soon to be repaired Askold by march 14th. Soon Retvizan and Tsarevitch were patched up adequately to be battleworthy and destroyer flotillas were sent out of the harbor to hunt the Japanese. On March 10th, the blockading forces were attacked by the Russians. The Japanese were surprised at the sudden aggressiveness of the Russians, Togo believed they were finally willing to come out and battle. At the beginning of the war most eyes were set on seeing the performance of torpedoes, they were a relatively new weapon. They actually proved to be quite a disappointment. The weapon that would really make its mark was the seamine. The Japanese made continuous efforts to sent destroyers out at night to lay mines near the entrance of Port Arthur. The Russians did their best to watch these actions and when the tides rose high they would employ grappling hooks to clear fields. This simply pushed the Japanese to lay mines 10 feet below the surface. This resulted in mines actually being placed at various depths, thus when the tides were much higher most ships could pass right over, but if the tides lowered, this led to collisions.  Now back to March 10th, that night the Japanese attempted a ruse. A flotilla of 4 IJN destroyers approached Port Arthur and began parading outside to trying to lure out some Russian warships. Now emboldened, the Russians sent out 6 warships to chase the Japanese who lured them in the direction of Laoteshan. While they were chasing, another IJN destroyer flotilla came from behind and began mining the waters at the harbors entrance at around 4:30am. Eventually the Russian shore batteries saw what was going on and began to fire on the mining destroyers who made their quick escape. The Russian warships chasing the other flotilla heard the gunfire and quickly turned back. The 4 IJN mining destroyers got into position to attack the incoming Russians. 4 out of the 6 Russian warships dodged this and ran for the harbor, but the Ryeshitelni and Stereguschi found themselves blocked. It was 4 against 2 as the destroyers battling it out. The Ryeshitelni was hit a few times causing steering problems but she managed to flee to the harbor, the Stereguschi however was not so lucky. A 1 pounder shell struck a steam pipe in her boiler and engines causing an explosion that killed most of her engine room staff. Stereguschi's captain tried to keep her on course, but her speed dropped and she was soon raked by all 4 Japanese destroyers. Her crew tried to fire back, until only 4 men of the crew were even capable of moving anymore. The IJN destroyer Sasanami let loose a cutter boat to board her as the Stereguschi was captured. The boarding party stepped over corpses and human body parts as they raised the Rising Sun flag. Suddenly the Russian cruisers Bayan and Novik were charging towards the mined harbor entrance. The Sasanami crews leapt back aboard to flee the scene as the Russians opened fire upon them.  It was a bit of excitement to be sure, but Makarov wanted real action, he sought to give battle. He began a intensive training of the fleet, performed tours and raised morale. Meanwhile on March 22nd the Fuji and Yashima were now stationed in Pigeon bay to fire to enforce the blockade effort. Suddenly they found themselves being fired upon by the Russians and saw cruiser Askold flying Makarov's flag. Fuji took a minor hit and had to return to Sasebo for repairs. Togo and his fellow commanders now were realizing the Russians were growing in stature. Meanwhile the IJA guards division was only beginning to unload ashore in Korea. The Russian navy charging out of Port Arthur serious threatened the Japanese troop transit, Togo had to stop them.  The same suicidal plan was employed again. The crews were taken from 20,000 volunteers, another 4 old steamers were allocated to the mission. This time each ship was ballasted with cement and stones alongside a fail safe detonating system. On the night of march 26th, the 4 old steamers sailed 10 knots for the entrance to the harbor. Just before 2:30am their escorts departed and at 3:30am they were two miles from the harbor mouth when they were detected. A gun went off on Electric Hill signaling the presence of the enemy. Search lights blasted everywhere as the 4 steamers began a marathon while dodging incoming shell fire. The frontrunner, Chiyo was making good progress until the Russian destroyer Silny came in close and torpedoed her side. The steamers behind her were fired madly upon causing massive casualties as one by one sank. Two Japanese escort destroyers tried to fire torpedoes at the Silny and maged to hit her in the engine room. In the end both sides took casualties, but Port Arthur remained open.  Makarov's patience was waning, on April 12th he was aboard the cruiser Diana searching for lost Russian destroyers who had been sent out to hunt the Japanese but failed to return. Diana's lookout spotted a ship and her captain requested permission to open fire. Makarov was not sure if the ship was the enemy or one of his own, so he simply said to approach it cautiously. Unbeknownst to Makarov it was another ruse. Togo had been studying the Russian warship maneuvers, schedules and behaviors. He had noticed a pattern, when ships approached port arthur, the Russians would come out to investigate them by going north and south and east to west under the protective range of the shore batteries. He had formed a plan, led by the Koryu Maru who was hiding in the area ready to lay mines at the harbor mouth. 48 mines had been laid at the harbor mouth. As daylight was coming upon the morning of April 13th, Makarov's force got close enough to the unidentified ship to realize it was the lost Strashni and she was being fired upon by 4 IJN destroyers. Strashni was being hit at point blank range, the majority of her crew were dead, she was a goner. Alerted by the naval fire, Makarov took the fleet in to battle. Cruiser Bayan was the first to arrive, joined by Askold, Diana and Novik. The Japanese quickly withdrew from them heading towards the main fleet. The slower Russian battleships were making their way with Petropavlosvk flying Makarovs flag, next to her was Poltava. They passed over the minefield without mishap. Makarov had ordered the area swept the previous night, but the sweep never occurred, he just got very lucky. Admiral Dewa watched the Russian fleet as they departed the harbor, Sevastopol, Peresvyet and Pobieda followed behind the flagship. Dewa sent word to Togo to spring the trap. Dewa opened fire drawing the Russians further south while Togo brought up the first division hoping for battle. When Makarov saw Togo's battleships on the horizon he quickly ordered his fleet to pull back under the range of their shore batteries. Aboard the Petropavlovsk was the grand duke Cyril, a cousin to the tsar, a famous artist named Vasili Verestchagin and Captain Crown. Makarov had expected a historic moment and wanted to share it with others. As Makarovs fleet got closer to the harbor he ordered the smaller warships to go inside it while the larger ships formed a line of battle. When the Japanese approached within 6 miles they would fall under the range of the shore batteries, Makarov expected a massacre upon them. Then at 9:43am a terrible explosion hit the bows of the Petropavlovsk rocking her, a second explosion ripped open a magazine and a third blew up her boiler. The ship quickly keeled over and went down bow first, as her propellers continued to spin. Within two minutes the flagship had hit 3 mines and fell under the waves, a complete disaster. The Japanese were only 10,000 yards away, cheering the explosive sounds. Togo ordered the men to take their caps off in silence when they realized it was Petropavlovsk that had struck the mines and sunk. At 10:15am Pobieda hit a mine, the Russians thought it was some sort of submarine attack and began firing wildly out the sea. When the Russians regained order they got back into the harbor one by one. Pobieda was the last to limp in. 630 men died aboard the Petropavlovsk, including Admiral Makarov, Vasili Verestchagin and Captain Crown, the Grand Duke Cyril had been launched off the warship from the explosion and although severely injured would survive. The death of Makarov shattered the morale of the Russian navy and in the motherland added fuel to an emerging revolutionary clamor.  The Japanese fleet were anchored off Elliot island on the 14th when they received the confirmed news of Makarovs death. Togo read out the telegram from Reuters and he ordered his fleet to fly their flags at half mast to give a day of mourning for an honored opponent that they esteemed a samurai for his aggressive behavior.  Makarovs death signaled an end to aggressive naval actions for quite some time. On May 3rd Togo launched further blocking actions. 8 steamers tried to perform the same suicidal mission as down twice before and failed like the others. Togo was so ashamed by the loss of life from these 3 missions that he stated the third mission had been a success, lying to the army. He did this under immense pressure, for it was his job to secure the sea lanes so Japanese troops could be safely landed along the Liaodong Peninsula. Luckily for him, the death of Makarov basically kept the Russian fleet bottled up in Port Arthur. Unluckily for him the Japanese saw their own losses to sea mines begin in May. On the 12th a destroyer hit a mine at Talienwan; the next day the battleship Hatsuse ran into a minefield laid out by the Amur and just like the Petropavlovsk was lost within a minute. She had hit two mines, one blew up her magazine, breaking apart her deck. The battleship Yashima closed in to help her but also hit a mine, but was able to limp away out of the sight of the Russians before she too sank. News of these ship losses were not released to the Japanese public. Chemulpo had been seized easily, the 12th division began landing there with ease. Now the 2nd, 12th and Guards division were of the 1st IJA, mobilized before the offset of the war. The Japanese held the advantage of being able to send troops faster via the sea, for the Russians the trans siberian railway still took a considerable amount of time. Thus the Japanese wanted to hit hard and fast, so alongside the 12th division the 2nd and guards were hoped to make a landing quickly after. The 12th division with some components of the 2nd division landed between the 17th and 22nd of February and began a quick march towards Pyongyang. The Japanese first entered Pyongyang on February 21st who quickly ran out some Cossacks. They set up supply posts enabling the rest of the 12th division to follow suit by the early march. Pyongyang became a focal point for supplies and provisions, the Japanese employed numerous Koreans for the logistical war effort. They bargained for provisions at a fair rate, for example purchasing pigs. A coolie army was hired, nearly 10,000 men strong. They were paid wages above the market norm and leaders amongst them received red bands to signify privileged positions within the Imperial Japanese Transport Corps.  On March 18th the 12th division advanced from Pyongyang to Anju dislodged two squadrons of Cossack cavalry there. Patrols from the first IJA indicated Chinampo lying around the mouth of the Taitong diver would make for an excellent landing point for men and supplies. Thus the commander of the 1st IJA, General Kuroki dispatched some forces of the guards and 2nd division from Hiroshima to land and secure Chinampo on March 13th. By the end of March the entire 1st IJA had landed in Korea. By this point the Japanese were confused at the lack of Russian interference, unbeknownst to them the Tsar had issued a directive to Alexeiev to overt any Russian action against the Japanese in Korea. The Russians still believed there was a chance the Japanese would just skirmish on the borders and not advance into Manchuria. Thus Alexeiev ordered the forces to allow the Japanese to land “on the whole extent of the western coast of Korea as high as Chemulpo and to permit their exploration as far north as the Yalu”.  While the Japanese were consolidating their logistical supply bases in Korea, the Russian logistics were facing countless problems. The Russians simply did not have the logistical organization that the Japanese had, they were basically living off the land. The Russians were coming into conflict with the local Manchurian populations who were actively resisting them. This was largely due to the recent war they just fought in Manchuria, Japanese funding Honghuzi forces and the Chinese and Koreans simply sympathize more with their fellow asian Japanese against the Russians. Honghuzi guerilla forces were working with Koreans along the northern border to harass the Russians, attacking and pillaging their supply lines. The Japanese war plan sought to have its 1st IJA attack and advance over the Yalu, while the 2nd IJA led by General Oku would land near Nanshan to cut Port Arthur off from the mainland. Now Kuroki's 1st IJA may have had better supply lines, but to move the entire army north into Manchuria was still a logistical nightmare. To be more efficient the 1st IJA would focus its bulk along the western part of Korea where sea access was easier. The port of Rikaho was selected as a new forward landing and supply base. After securing it the Japanese continued north towards the Yalu and by the second week of April were in the same spot their forebears had taken in August of 1894.  By April 21st they were concentrating due south of Wiju drawing supplies from Chinampo, Boto and Rikaho. At this point many foreign military observers and correspondents were arriving. There was a deep hunger to study how new modern weaponry and tactics would work out on the battlefield, both the Russians and Japanese would have foreigners amongst them taking notes. It was an interesting time after all. Since the American Civil War, Taiping Rebellion and even Franco-Prussian War of 1870, military technology had advanced exponentially. There would be as many as a hundred foreign military observers from over 16 different nations in Manchuria and Korea during the war. This would also be exploited heavily for spying. Many of the observers were British who held obvious sympathies with the Japanese and thus would covertly hand over information. Now back on February 15th, General Kuropatkin presented the Tsar his campaign plan to win the war against Japan, a war might I note he never favored having. Kuropatkin estimated he would require 6 months to achieve a force of 200,000, the number he believed was necessary to undertake an offensive. Thus he sought to spend the 6 months assessing the Japanese strength while establishing strong defenses to the north of their perceived limit of advance. Basically he wanted to trade space for time, he did not seek to establish defenses too far south. But Kuropatkin was not the top brass, it was Alexeiev and Alexeiev ordered Kuropatkin not to abandon any territory. Thus Kuropatkin was forced to form a line of defenses near the Yalu. He dispatched General Zasulich, the new Eastern Detachment commander on April 22nd with specific orders “to retard the enemy in his passage; to determine his strength, dispositions and lines of march; to retreat as slowly as possible into the mountains”. Opposite and across the Yalu from Wiju is Chuliencheng, the town sits about 2 miles north of the river. The Yalu splits into two rivers and at the split point are a chain of islands. There were no bridges between the two banks, thus crossings would need to be made by small junks and sampans. Taking some of the islands in the Yalu was imperative to ease crossing points. At Fenghuangcheng the Yalu divided and going north became the Ai river. At the junction was a 500 foot high hill called Tiger's head another important strategic location the Japanese would have to seize. Closer to the mouth of the Yalu on the northern side was the fortified town of Antung, which the Russians believed was extremely vulnerable to a Japanese landing attack. The Russian forces at the Yalu consisted of the 3rd Siberian Army corps alongside our old friend General Mishchenko's trans-baikal cossack brigade. At Antung, led by Major General Kashtalinksi were 2580 riflemen, 400 cavalry scouts, 16 field guns and 8 machine guns. On the right flank 4 miles to the north at Tientzu was a reserve of 5200 riflemen and 16 guns; at Chuliencheng led by Major General Trusov were 5200 riflemen, 240 cavalry scouts and 16 guns. The right flank extended from the mouth of the Yalu to Takushan all under Mishchenkos command who held 1100 cavalry, 2400 riflemen, 8 field guns and 6 horse drawn guns. The left from going from Anpingho to Hsiapuhsiho around 40 miles northeast on the Yalu was 1250 cavalry, 1000 riflement and 8 mountain guns. Excluding the reserves, there were over 16,000 riflemen, 2350 cavalry, 630 cavalry scouts, 40 field guns, 8 mountain guns and 6 horse drawn guns covering a distance of over 170 miles. Facing them around Wiju would be a Japanese force of 42,500 men. The Russians had spread themselves out thinly along the river. At the base of numerous hills were Russian trenches, uncamouflaged, in full view from the opposite bank. The Russian artillery likewise was in full view, a large mistake. The Japanese had employed spies, often disguised as fisherman going along the rivers mapping out the Russian artillery positions, by the 23rd the Japanese had acquired the full layout and order of battle. General Kuroki made sure to conceal his strength and more importantly his main crossing point. Using screens of large trees and kaoliang, if you remember the boxer series that is a tall type of millet, well they used this type of cover to move their artillery and troops in secrecy. The Russians occupied the islands in the Yalu called Kyuri, Oseki and Kintei. On the 25th 6 batteries were brought up to support an infantry attack. IJN gunboats began harassing the forces at Antung as a diversion, trying to deceive the Russians into thinking their right flank was where the fighting would be had. At 9:45pm two battalions of the 2nd division crossed using pontoons to Kintei island completely unopposed. Sappers immediately went to work constructing bridges. At 4am a force of 250 soldiers of the Guards division landed and attacked 150 Russians on Kyuri, dislodging them at the cost of 12 men. The Russians quickly abandoned Kyuri and Kintei seeing them as lost causes, but suddenly without orders the men atop Tiger Hill also began withdrawing when they saw men leaving the islands.  The Japanese engineers began constructing 10 bridges using pontoons as a feint attack was launched against Chuliencheng. A bridge was erected made up of native boats placed side by side going across the Yalu. This bridge was a decoy. Russian artillery fired upon numerous positions giving their locations away as the concealed Japanese artillery systematically took them out one by one. Over at Antung a small flotilla of 6 gunboats continued to harass the fort and trenches. The local commander was convinced the Japanese would land and attack, again this was a deception. After a few days Kuroki had all he needed to unleash a blow. He sought to advance to Tangshancheng, between Fenghuangcheng and Antung. He had orders to work in concert with the 2nd IJA's landing, this meant he was to a cross the Yalu on April 30th. However, Generals Oku, Kuorki and Admiral Togo met on April 25th where it was determined the deadline had to be pushed until May 1st or 2nd. Thus Kuroki was ordered to delay his attack until May 3rd. Kuroki concentrated his attention towards the weak Russian left flank. He required a crossing point over the Yalu to reconnoiter between the Yalu and Ai rivers. The Russians believed crossing the Ai would require boats, but the Japanese found a crossing point over at the right bank around Sukuchin. Kuroki had the 12th division focus on the right flank, the Guards in the middle to cross the Yalu via the Kyuri and Oseki islands to take a position on Chukodai island to the north and south of Tiger Hill, the 2nd division would hit the weak left. On May 1st the Japanese received some new toys from Chinampo, 20 4.72 inch howitzers organized into 5 batteries. Under the cover of darkness, these huge guns were placed into camouflaged trenches. Meanwhile back on the 29th of april the 12th division covertly crossed the Yalu during the night and moved 3 batteries into Chukyuri to cover the bridge making effort. At 11am on May 1st the Japanese artillery began firing, covering the 12th divisions as they crossed the right bank brushing aside light Russian opposition. Zasulich received word of this and tried to order reinforcements to Anpingho, but he still believed the activities of the 12th division to be a feint, a IJN flotilla was harassing Antung still. The reinforcements were thus delayed heavily. On april 29th and 4pm Zasulich despatched a battalion of the 22nd east Siberian rifle regiment with some mounted scouts and 2 guns to cross the Ai river and retake Tiger Hill. The Russians easily dislodged the Japanese platoon atop the hill who quickly joined their comrades over on Kyuri island.  The next morning the Japanese could see the Russians digging in on Tiger Hill, so the Guards divisional artillery on a hill south of a bridge leading to Kyuri island opened fire on them. There was no artillery response from the Russian artillery. At 10am two groups of sappers set out in boats to survey the waters opposite of Chukodai and at 10:30 were fired upon by a battery on some high ground north east of Chuliencheng. 6 4.72 inch batteries of the 12th division responded and within 16 minutes the Russian battery was neutralized suffering the deaths of 5 officers and 29 men. Another Russian battery east of Makau began firing and was smashed quickly by the Guards artillery.  Major General Kashtalinski took command of the Chuliencheng sector from Major General Trusov who became ill on April 28th. So severely had the Russian artillery and infantry suffered from the Japanese artillery, that at 11pm on April 30th, Kashtalinski requested permission from Zasulich to withdraw to some hills behind Chuliencheng. Zasulich refused this as Alexeiev's orders were clear, not to give up any ground. Zasulich then received news, the men on Tigers Hill had abandoned it fearing encirclement, some elements of the Guards and 12th division linked up and took it. The 12th division were advancing in three columns towards the Ai river during the night and as Thomas Cowen of the Daily Chronicle reported “The men had to march, wade, wait their turn at a plank bridge or shallow ford, help each other up a slippery bank, pass, in single file sometimes, through a willow copse, wait, climb, jump, mud-scramble, and march again, for about six hours, getting into positions, ‘lining out' in front of the long-extending Russian trenches. No light was allowed, nor a voice above an undertone, for the most part there were no roads to march on, but the men had to cross fields, grope in the gloom for strange paths, or struggle past obstructions where no path could be found, using dry water-courses as tracks till they led into pools, over stubbly cornfields, in and out among tenantless farm buildings, up country lanes and hillside footpaths, each officer and NCO peering into the gloom, feeling his way to the appointed spot, consulting a rough sketch plan and drawing his men after him.” At 3am the Russian 12th regiment reported back to Zasulich that they heard the sounds of wheels on the islands and believed artillery were crossing bridges, he did nothing. At 5am the morning fog dissipated and the Russians could now see opposite of them at Chuliencheng to Salankou at a distance of 6 miles, 3 Japanese divisions were in trenches waiting to pounce on them. Regimental priests egan sermons just before the scream of Japanese howitzers broke the morning quiet. The Japanese artillery were focused first on hunting Russian artillery, eventually some batteries at Makau fired back and within a few minutes were silenced. After this the Japanese artillery focused its full weight upon the Russian infantry in their trenches absolutely devastating them. In view of the lack of Russian artillery fire, Kuroki changed his plans somewhat and ordered the 12th division to perform an encirclement maneuver prior to the Guards and 2nd divisions attacks. By 7am all 3 Japanese divisions were advancing.  The Japanese stormed out of their trenches and rushed along the 200 yard wide waters of the Ai to the various crossing points like ants going through funnels. The Japanese troops carrying packs full with rations for 3 days moved as fast as they could through the water before being hit by the first Russian volley at a range of around 500 yards, about halfway across the river. It was an extreme range for the Russian rifles, but with the Japanese so packed up it was brutal. The Japanese did not loss momentum and soon were charging through Russian volleys up the river bank and knolls. Japanese officers began screaming ‘take cover and fire at will”. The 2nd division suffered tremendous casualties around Chuliencheng. The Japanese leapfrogged forward using fire and movement to great effect and soon were crashing into the forward Russian positions. When the Russians abandoned their forward positions for interior lines the Japanese artillery devestated them. The 12th east Siberian rifle regiment made a brave but hopeless counterattack and were swept aside. By 10am the main body of the Russian force were in a full retreat at Chuliencheng. The Japanese tried to storm a the road leading to Fenghuangcheng due north of Chuliencheng, but the full weight of the Russian retreat dislodged them. General Kashtalinski watched in horror as the right flank collapsed, however there was still hope. If Colonel Gromov held the left flank, they could maintain thir foothold on the Yalu. Colonel Gromov and his men were holding a position on the forward slopes overlooking the Ai river in the area of Potetientzu. His command held two battalions of the 22nd regiment and his focus was upon the right side where the guards division were now getting over the river and penetrated his thinly held line. Gromov then received news the 12th division were beggining to get over their part of the river. Gromov went over to see it for himself and he estimated there to be around 5 or 6 battalions advancing directly upon his position. He had no choice, he orderd a partial withdrawal, and as best as he could he tried to maintain order but a general withdrawal emerged as the Japanese gradually turned his flank. Gromov's intent was to pull back to Chingkou, but the rapid advance of the Japanese forces him to saddle between Chingkou and Laofangkou.  Other than Gromov's two battalions, the Russians were maintaining a reasonble withdrawal to defensive lines further back around the Hantuhotzu stream around two miles beyond the Ai. The force at Antung were being shelled by the IJN gunboats, aside from that they alongside the reserves at Tientzu had done basically nothing in the battle thus far. Kuroki ordered the Guards to occupy some hills above Hamatang, the 2nd division to advance upon Antung and the 12th to advance southwards to Taloufang. The 12th swept right through Chingkou en route to Hamatang smashing Gromov's men. General Kashtalinksi's men held the Guards and 2nd division back along the Hantuhotzu giving General Zasulich time to withdraw his troops at Antung to Tientzu. To over this withdrawal two battalions of the 11th east siberian regiment and a battery were detached to bolster Kashtalinski's position along the Hantuhotzu. The Guards and 2nd division had to wait for their artillery to catch up to them as the 12th were putting pressure on Gromov's men. At 12:15pm Gromov was forced to pull back to Liuchiakou and he sent a messenger to report such to General Kashtalinski's HQ. At 1pm a messenger of General Zasulich arrived at Gromov's HQ ordering him to retreat via Laochoutun. Meanwhile the messenger failed to get to Kashtalinski until 4pm, thus Kashtalinski would have literally no idea and thought everything was holding. Later Gromov would be courtmartialled for withdrawing the way he did. He would be exonerated later, but before that occurred he would shoot himself in shame.  Around 12pm Kashtalinski received word to his surprise that Gromov was withdrawing from Chingkou with the 22nd regiment in disarray and that the Japanese had seized Liuchiakou. His scouts were also telling him the Japanese were advancing on Laofangkou. Kashtalinski wanted to see this for himself douting his own scouts. What he saw was a complete disaster and he quickly ordered an immediate withdrawal from Hantuhotzu to Tientzu. His rearguard was the 11th company of the 22nd regiment who took up a position on a 570 foot high hill east of Hamatang. At around 2pm the 5th company of the 24th IJA regiment, the 12th divisions vanguard smashed into the southeast part of the Hamatang defensive line. Soon the 5th company held a blocking position forcing the retreating Russians to move further south of the 570 foot hill. Three batteries of the 12th division the narrived and began smashing Hamatang as the Guards and 2nd divisions men stormed forward positions. The 11th east Siberian regiment buckled and began fleeing into the valley beyond Hamatang already 26 officers and 900 men had been killed. The valley was around a mile wide, extremely open with fields extending up hillsides. There was basically no cover at all and when the Japanese took the heights they had an excellent view into the valley to fire upon the fleeing Russians. Suddenly the regiments priest in full regalia, grabbed a large cross and stood up. The surrounding surviving Russians around him stood up and the priest led the men through the valley to safety as he cried out “god have mercy” for Russians were being blown to pieces all around them. The priest was hit by 3 bullets before he fell bleeding over his cross as soldier grabbed him and carried him to the other side. The firing gradually lessened as the Japanese shouted banzais atop their hills and saluted the Russians withdrawing before them. The hero priest was evacuated to the Red Cross hospital at Mukden where he made a full physical recovery, though psychological he did not, he reportedly went insane.  The carnage was not found so great everywhere. 650 men of the 24th and 56th regiments who were holding out on a hill south east of Hamatang were pounced upon by a company of the guards division who screamed Banzai charging with their bayonets. The Russains lifted up a white flag and the Japanese allowed them to surrender. At 5:30pm the sun was setting across the battlefield, it had been a truly bloody sight. 2700 Russians lay dead, wounded or captured. The Japanese reported 1036 casualties. The Russians had lost 45 artillery pieces, 8 machine guns and 19 wagons full of munitions. The Japanese did not pursue the Russians fleeing to Liaoyang or Fenghuangcheng.  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 Russian fleet was trapped firmly with the harbor of Port Arthur allowing the Japanese to commence their land campaigns. The first major battle was at along the Yalu river which turned a crimson red with the blood of both sides. It was going to be a terrible war.   

【クアラルンプール時事】マレーシアの首都クアラルンプールと北部ペナンにある日本人学校２校に２１日、爆破を予告する電子メールが送り付けられた。 Two Japanese schools in Malaysia have received emails threatening to blow them up, it was learned.

Two Japanese schools in Malaysia have received emails threatening to blow them up, it was learned.

Last time we spoke about the Huon Gulf offensive. The Japanese until now had not considered their losses at Guadalcanal and Buna-Gona as irretrievable, but with the loss of Salamaua and Lae there was a brutal realization they were going to have to pull back their defensive line. The absolute defense line was established as the entire empire of the rising sun took two steps back. Meanwhile General Douglas MacArthur and the allied war planners decided to revise operation Cartwheel. The enemy was in disarray and this provided an opportunity to keep them off balance and maintain the momentum. They decided to launch an offensive against the Huon Peninsula, to hit places like Finschhafen. The offensive began with another bang as forces landed and advanced to seize immediate objectives to the misery of the retreating Japanese.  This episode is Drive to Finschhafen  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.  Before we leap back over to New Guinea, we first need to talk about some developments in the Solomons. Admirals Kusaka and Samejima were about to launch Operation Se-Go, the evacuation of Kolombangara. Now after the battle of Vella Lavella, Brigadier Potter's 35th battalion was closing in on the Marquana Bay area by September 26th. Potter sent two New Zealander Platoons as a vanguard. To face them, Captain Tsuruya had organized his meager forces and successfully surrounded the New Zealander Platoons. This began a fight for the New Zealander's survival that would last until October 2nd. Worried about the fate of his two platoons, Potter ordered Lt Seward with 3 companies to rescue the platoons. Seward described the endeavor as running straight into a hornets nest. They ran straight into some Japanese machine gun positions, which they nicknamed Machine Gully, and it cost them 18 dead and 10 wounded. Tsuruya managed to halt their advance using Machine Gully, which was a dense rainforest concealing his men. On October 2nd, the two platoons were finally rescued. The horrible casualties prompted Potter to halt attacks until every landing craft could bring over the 37th battalion from Tambala bay to hit the other side. The 37ths movement down the rugged coast would be sluggish, giving the Japanese ample time to prepare for the evacuation of the Tsuruya unit. Meanwhile General Sasaki and Admiral Ota were getting their forces ready for the evacuation. Each unit was responsible for its supply and had to carry enough rations to last until october 5th. All the troops had to carry their weapons and as much ammunition as they could, while medical supplies were divided amongst them. Mountains guns, quick fire guns, heavy machine guns could be disassembled and carried if possible, everything else was to be destroyed. And I mean everything, even street signs were destroyed. Sasaki moved all the wounded to the north shore of Kolombangara who were to be the first loading onto the destroyers. Ota was in charge of all matters related to the embarkation such as communications; locating hiding places for the barges and loading which would take place between September 28-30th. They were expecting to evacuate 7660 men in all. Operation Se-Go began on the 27th, as General Yoshimura's barges headed for Kolombangara in separate groups and Admiral Ijuin prepared his force of 11 destroyers to run towards the northern coast the following day. Only one of Yoshimuras groups led by Commander Tanegashima were intercepted as they headed down the slot. 5 destroyers, the USS Claxton, Spence, Dyson, Foote and Charles Ausburne led by Captain Martin Gillan pounced on the force destroying 4 barges, but the rest eventually escaped to Kolombangara by the 28th with the other groups. Ota hid the barges as he awaited Ijuins destroyers. Ijuin's force were spotted by a PBY due northeast of Green Island, prompting Generals Moore and Twining to launch an air raid. A strike force of radar equipped B-24's of the 394th bombardment squadron intercepted Ijuin's destroyers as they were passing Bougainville strait. None of their bombing attempts found a hit luckily for Ijuin. Meanwhile the barges began to depart up the slot towards Choiseul seeing zero opposition. At Tuki point the barges awaited the destroyers before the loading process began. The only major mishap would occur when the commander of the barges carrying 735 men from Jack Harbor to board the Amagiri steered too widely, missed the signal light from the destroyers and began heading for Vella Lavella. By the time they figured out the mistake and returned to the loading area, the destroyers were gone, with only 1950 men aboard. With the 1950 men aboard, Ijuin's destroyers made their first dash, but would be intercepted again, this time by 27 B-24's. The strike was thwarted by Zero fighter escorts and bad weather allowing Ijuin to arrive safely at Buka by the 29th. After this, the Americans were now fully alert to what was going on and responded by bombing Choiseul. At 9:15am on the 29th, Kakasa was attacked by 17 Dauntless, 12 Avengers and 56 fighter escorts. Destroyers Patterson, McCalla, Foote and Ralph Talbot led by Captain Frank R Walker were sent up the slot to hunt barges as well. On september 29th, Tanegashima headed for Choiseul with 11 barges carrying 1100 men. At 10:30 the Americans found them. There was no moon that night, and frequent rain squalls dotted the slot. Upon seeing the Americans, Tanegashima ordered the barges to scatters and Walker detached McCalla to hunt a small group while the rest of his force hit a larger one. Yano, whose battalion was on the barges recalled his barge running at full speeds as shells flew all around them. No barge was sunk or seriously damaged as they made a quick escape. Thus the first stage of operation Se-Go saw the rescue of over 6000 men, relying on the combination of surprise and gambling to be honest. But 25 barges were lost in the process. For stage 2 Samejima would reinforce the surviving 43 barges and 5 vedettes with 3 torpedo boats and two other armed boats. Yoshimura and Ijuin planned to toss 3 destroyers Kazagumo, Yugumo and Akigumo to be a diversion for the Americans. On the other side, Admiral Halsey ordered Admiral Merill's task force 39 consisting of Light cruisers Montpelier and Denver; and destroyers Eaton, Waller, Cony, Renshaw, Spence, Claxton, Dyson, Selfridge and Charles Ausburne, to sweep the slot. Commander  Chandler with four destroyers, Pringle, Saufley, Radford and Greyson was in the lead, followed by Merrill with two cruisers and nine destroyers.  On the night of October 1st, while Yoshimura's barges were leaving Choiseul en route to Kolombangara. The Americans spotted the decoy destroyers northwest of Choiseul at 9:20 via a VP-54 Black Cat that began tailing the force as it heading in the direction of Vella Lavella. Now Merill had orders to not risk his cruisers unless heavy Japanese units were found, so he turned back and allowed Wilkinson's destroyers to advance. The American chased the decoy towards Vella Lavella as Yoshimura's barges went by relatively unmolested, though a small group of barges would be fired upon by US destroyers, losing 2 in the process. On the morning of October 2nd, Ijuin departed Rabaul with 9 destroyers and at Vila, the Yokosuka 7th guns would fire their last rounds before moving towards the coast. That night, Ijuin approached Kolombangara as Tanegashima awaited with 2100 men to be transported onto the destroyers. They managed to load 145 men by 10:35, but then the destroyers were forced to pull back as Americans had been spotted in the slot. Tanegashima nonetheless, headed for Sumbe Head with the rest, 600 men in all.  Commander Harold O. Larson with three destroyers, Ralph Talbot, Taylor and La Vallette dashed across the slot to hit barges. Largson located the barges and began firing upon them when Ijuin's destroyers appeared at 10:42. The Americans closed in on the Japanese and fired torpedoes at 11:25 scoring no hits. They then opened fire with their guns targeting the Minazuki. The Japanese scattered, prompting a chase, but it fell into nothing by midnight. In the end the Americans managed to sink 5 of Tanegashima barges. With that the Japanese had successfully completed operation Se-Go rescuing 4000 men in the second stage, for a near total of 10,000 men in all. The Japanese had truly proved themselves capable evacuatee's if that is a word, with the evacuation of Guadalcanal, Kiska and Kolombangara. That's all for the Solomon's as now we need to venture back to Green Hell. Poor General Adachi's 18th army was not giving a single break. Just a week after the fall of Lae, General MacArthur's southwest pacific area had launched two new offensives aimed at the Ramu Valley and Finschhafen. Operation Cartwheel had initially scheduled an offensive against the Huon Peninsula to take place 6 weeks after the taking of Lae, but MacArthur pushed this forward due to intelligence indicating the Japanese were in the process of sending heavy reinforcements from Madang to aid Ramu Valley and Finschhafen. The first objectives for the allies were Kaiaput and Dumpu in the Markham and Ramu valleys where airfields could be constructed to help General Kenney extend his arm. Lack of air and naval capability meant the Japanese would be forced to march nearly 200 miles to reach places like Finschhafen with reinforcements, giving MacArthur ample room to hit the port before they could.  Now in the previous episode we saw Brigadier Windeyer successfully land is forces at Scarlet Beach, with the 2/17th advancing further to secure the Song River area; the 2/15th captured Katika and the 2/13th were advancing southwards towards Heldsbach and Tareko. Just like at Lae, the Japanese were taken completely off guard by the landings, prompting General Adachi to order General Yamada to hit the enemy at the most opportune moment while General Katagiri's 20th division were quickly dispatched on 20 large barges for a coastal advance. Katagiri's men reached Sio by barge on September 21st and from there he dispatched his 2nd battalion, 79th regiment with 3 machine gun platoons and an artillery company to the Kalasa-Kelanoa area while the rest would concentrate around the Sio area until september 30th. Yamada ordered his forces to concentrate at the Sattelberg mountains, a important point 1000 meters above sea level which dominated the Finschhafen area. It was hoped holding such a point would allow a launching pad for future counter offensives. Meanwhile Windeyer ordered the 2/15th battalion to lead an advance towards the Bumi river while the 2/13th consolidated at the Heldsbach plantation Launch Jetty area. Yet Wootten also gave Windeyer that task of securing Sattelberg, so he ordered Lt Main's company of the 2/17th with an additional platoon for the job. On September 24th, Main signaled “Coy less one pl now approx 3 miles along main track and proceeding to Sattelberg. Patrol P.I.B moving ahead of coy”. Sattelberg was an interesting spot to defend. It was initially a 19th century German mission, about 5 miles inland with a height of 3150 feet. It offered a birds eye few of the coastal area making it a particularly important point. Allied intelligence misjudged how inaccessible it was and there was the belief its occupation was merely a method of guarding one's right flank. Yamada's men were easily able to slip into Sattelberg via the Tirimoro, Gurunkor and Kunawa, this certainly would not be the same case for the allied forces. On September 22, the 22nd battalion had departed Hopoi. They marched through a swampy terrain towards Wideru without opposition. By 8am on the 23rd, they saw their first signs of the Japanese occupation. They also ran into locals who began reporting to them the Japanese had spent the night at Buiengim. At 1:35pm they reached Bua where leading troops had a small skirmish with a Japanese outpost which quickly withdrew. By 4pm part of the Australian forces seized a steep ridge where the track cut around 250 yards east of Bua. When it began to get dark they began to be fired upon from a mountain gun. The fire was coming from an area near the mouth of the Mongi river. Meanwhile the 2/15th battalion were advancing along a coastal track with its leading platoon reaching the mouth of the Bumi by midday. The river looked to be fordable, what they didnt know was two mixed companies of the 85th naval garrison had fortified and wired positions on its southern bank. When the Australians began crossing they were fired upon, prompting Lt Shrapnel to order 6 3 inch mortars to be brought up to support the Bumi crossing. The battalion continued their advance along the foothills of the Kreutberg Range. This was the first time any units of the 9th division apart from the 2/24th battalion and some individual companies had done any hill-climbing on New Guinea. It was a very tough initiation. There was no track and zero water, the force had to cut their way for about 800 yards through dense jungle and then go up a slope so steep that any man carrying a heavy load had to have it passed up to him. Several tin hats clattered down the hillside and the stretcher bearers left all but two stretchers going half way up. The unsexy stuff about war, but terrain can be just as much of an enemy to you and your objective than the actual enemy. They reached the crest of the ridge, took a breather and then began advancing south. The next day the 2/13th began to join them, allowing the 2/15th to move off towards the Bumi. However to their amazement, upon reaching the river at 10am, they found it unoccupied on the southbank. Barbed wire was seen, but no Japanese. Then as they advanced some more they were fired upon, it was a deception. A company led by Captain Snell was ordered to cross the river to create a beachhead on the opposite bank. The men entered the waist deep water further down, seeing one man killed by enemy fire. Bullets were flying around as the Australians were providing cover fire. As the men crossing went further down they found an area not occupied by the enemy and formed a bridgehead. From there more men were able to safely get across. However the position under pouring rain forced the Australians to improvise. They had a supply issue and needed better access, so they cut a track around the foothills to the bridgehead positions. The difficulty was that the rain had really begun to kick in and it was causing enormous delays. Windeyer ordered a jeep track to be established from the coastal track due north of Kamloa to the bridgehead to compensate. A platoon of the 2/3rd pioneers and some men of the 2/17t7, 2/13th and 2/15th were employed to carry supplies along the current path until the track was made to their misery.   On September 25th Lt Mair led a patrol of the 2/13th out to deal with some troublesome enemy mortars to the east. At around 9am they found a Japanese outpost 20 feet above them. They were fired upon losing 2 men dead and 4 wounded. The enemy was firing from some bunkers and foxholes with barbed wire coming up from the river. Other patrols were made prodding the area as the 2/3rd field company and the pioneers of the 2/15th finished cutting the new jeep track. When the track was completed, Windeyer ordered the men to not advance south of the Bumi for another two days to allow more supplies to be brought up near the river crossing. Back over at Scarlet beach, Japanese aircraft were striking them early in the morning as allied aircraft hit airfields on New Britain. At 12:30pm on September 24th, a Japanese airforce of 12 bombs and 20 Zeros hit Australian positions at the north end of the airstrip. Artillery pieces that had been pounding Kakakog and the Salankaua plantation areas were hit hard. 60 or so bombs were dropped leading to 18 gunner casualties and the 2/3rd field company had 14 deaths and 19 wounded. Despite the airstrikes, by September 25th there was something worse to worry about emerging from the west. After the 2/17th began its advance to Sattelberg which Papuan infantryman had reported was unoccupied, it soon became apparent this was false. After passing 800 yards beyond Jivevaneng, the same papuan infantry could visually see the Sattelberg area was anything but unoccupied, it was heavily fortified. Now the 2/17th were still on the merry way to Sattelberg none the wiser, in fact they reached Jivevaneng and mistook it to be Sattelberg, not realizing they had to cross a place called Coconut Ridge to get to Sattelberg. Windeyer received brand new reports from the Papuans that Sattelberg was heavily fortified while simultaneously the 2/17th vanguard patrols ran into some forward defensive lines around Sattelberg. The 2/17th patrols were hit hard by mortars and grenades forced to pull back quickly. Windeyer decided he was stretched to thin in the area so he ordered everyone to pull back to Jivevaneng. The Japanese now saw the Australian presence on the Sattelberg Road, General Yamada planned an offensive against Heldsbach to cut the enemy off north of Arndt Point. Meanwhile by 2pm, Colonel Grace of the 2/13th was ordered to seize Snell's Hill a high ground southeast of the bridgehead. By 9am some platoons were patrolling the area, when Lt Webb's platoon ran 400 yards into a Japanese position sitting on a Spur controlling a track from Tirimoro. Lt Webb reported it in prompting Colonel Grace to call in for support. The men would be facing around 150 men of Yamadas 85th naval garrison.   Two companies of the 2/15th took up the job and would begin by literally falling and tumbling 150 yards from their assembly line. They were tripping over vines, bamboo and heavy timber descending down a valley. When they got 450 yards from the slope of Snell's Hill they were pretty exhausted. However Yamada's naval troops gave them no time to take breath as they began lobbing grenades down at them. Luckily the grenade shower was rather ineffective. The Australians used cover fire as they could not hope to toss grenades them themselves lest they tumble back down upon their charging men. The Australians charged up the slope bayonets fixed and as they came to its summit, many of the Japanese turned and fled. Sergeant Fink took his men through a kunai patch to try and hit the Japanese rear, managing to clear some machine gun nests in the process. During his sweeping maneuver 10 casualties were inflicted upon the Australians. Finks men drew a lot of the enemy fire, relieving pressure from the others who led a frontal and left wing attack. Over on the left wing Captain Stuarts men charged through some kunai grass overrunning two 13 mm machine gun nests. 40-50 Japanese panicked upon seeing this and ran back to an observation post. Soon the Australian platoons began to consolidate and applied pressure. Stuarts advanced in what he termed “an extended line-desert formation, not in a file according to orthodox jungle tactics”. Three 13mm guns were captured, 7 LMGS, a ton of mortars and rifles and 52 Japanese would be buried on the summit. It was an intense actions seeing potentially 100 casualties inflicted by the 2/15th who in return had 3 deaths and 7 wounded.   While the 2/15th had been tackling Snell Hill, the 2/13th tried to cut across the Tirimoro track to another high ground called Starvation Hill. Around 5 minutes after the Snell battle started, some gunfire could be seen coming over from the other high ground. A few platoon of the 2/13th were immediately ordered to check it out. As the men advanced along the Tirimoro track they came across thick vegetation along the slope going up to Starvation Hill. Companies 7 and 8 of the 238th were defending Starvation Hill and they held a great field of fire looking down. The men began to crawl through it going up along the slope. Men were on their hands and knees going through thick bamboo, the progress was slow and noisy because the bamboo would make sharp snapping sounds. The two leading platoons took what cover they could as a storm of fire erupted. Japanese LMG's were opening up forcing the Australians to try and pull back safely 150 yards and hunker down for the night. 9 men were cut down during the mayhem.  Over in the north, Yamada ordered the 3rd battalion, 80th regiment to hit Scarlet Beach. Enroute to Scarlet beach was Major Pike's company of the 2/17th who were guarding the approaches to the beach from Katika. Pike had sent a small patrol out and 2500 yards to the west they ran into patrols of Yamada's force. At around midday, 30 Japanese attacked a position west of Katika held by Lt McLeod. Two Japanese were killed, including an officer who had a marked map and what looked like an operation order on him. To the south Windeyer received a report of what was going on and ordered Pike to send out a stronger patrol to hit and locate the enemy so their artillery could fire upon them. A platoon went out in the afternoon and after 2000 yards or so found the enemy and ordered the artillery fire in. The platoon was met with heavy fire, leading Sergeant Brightwell to be shot dead as the men pulled back to Katika. Thus Yamada's plans to hit Scarlet Beach quickly dissolved into back and forth patrol skirmishes in the Sattelberg and Katika areas.   The new threat to the west, forced Windeyer to request reinforcements. Reluctantly, General MacArthur and Admirals Barbey and Carpender authorized the sending of reinforcements to an area they had assumed had a small enemy presence. General Herring met with Barbey aboard the Conyngham informing him Finschhafen would required an additional brigade. Barbey declined to transport the extra troops to Finschhafen on the grounds it was against MacArthurs orders. Apparently MacArthur's planners felt that Finschhafen was going to be a pushover and they had pretty much considered the operation won and down already. Herring then asked Carpender to help transport the additional units, but was amazed to discover that the Americans would not comply unless the matter went first to MacArthur. None the less Carpender planned to transport the units via small craft staging out of Lae when Finschhafen was cleared. Then Windeyers urgent requests for reinforcements came in, indicated things were not won and down and Finschhafen had not fallen. Herring then sent a secret signal to Blamey and MacArthur pleaded for additional help, which finally secured him the 2nd battalion of the 43rd regiment by the end of the month. Back over at Jivevaneng on the 27th telephone lines to Zag were suddenly cut and one of hte 2/17th's patrols made contact with the Japanese. The 2/17th at Jivevaneng opened fire with artillery  upon the Sattelberg area and along the main track. Then after dusk a platoon of screaming Japanese apparently screaming Tojo charged the Jivevaneng defensive lines. 6 of them were killed in the attack. Windeyer ordered what became known as the Sattelforce, two companies of the 2/17th led by Lt Main and Lt Pike to take control of the Sattelberg track and the tracks leading back to the beachhead. On the 28th, Sattelforce began probing, but between 3-8pm a company of Japanese made three consecutive attacks against them. All the attacks were coming from the front and left flank, seeing screaming Japanese charging madly upon them. Main's company was soon running low on ammunition and they feared a dawn attack was approaching. Main estimated the enemy had suffered up to 60 casualties at this point. During the morning of the 29th, Main's assumption about a dawn attack came true, as they were hit by a Japanese platoon, but after this the Japanese retired. Main's men found 30 dead Japanese after performing a intense defense in a rather isolated position. The 2/43rd battalion landing at Scarlet beach at 3:30am and their commander Lt Joshua was immediately ordered “you will relieve the troops known as Sattelforce…This relief to be completed as speedily as possible to enable 2/17 battalion to concentrate for operations against Finschhafen”. 13 Hours later they did just that. On september 27th, Windeyer ordered the 2/13th to exploit the gains made by the 2/15th to capture Kakakog, while the 2/15th would attack the Salankaua Plantation. Back over at Starvation Hill, Mortar Sergeant Chown led a patrol, getting as close as possible to the hill. A telephone wire was carried up and Chowne found himself an observation point at the edge of a bamboo patch, just 20 yards or so near the Japanese. Despite being dangerously close to the enemy, he directed 3 inch mortar fire down upon them. He only had 15 mortar bombs, thus this led him to be so critical with his positioning. Before firing them off he sent word to the other Platoon leaders that an attack could be made. A platoon led by Sergeant McVey advanced to the edge of the bamboo ready to pounce. Chown lined up McVeys men called the mortar fire and they charged up the slope. The Japanese were caught by complete surprise seeing the enemy suddenly on top of them. Many of the Japanese fled at the offset, thus Starvation Hill was captured with pinpoint precision. Unbeknownst to the Australians, the only Japanese atop Starvation were rearguards as the 7th and 8th companies of hte 238th regiment had already withdrawn over to Sattelberg that morning. The next day, the 2/13th made their way cautiously over to Kakakog. Their objectives were three demolished buildings known as the “triangle” and the remains of the Kakakog hospital designated “the city”. These were found on the west and east ends of Kakakog respectively. D Company led by Lt Cribb and A company led by Lt Cooper crossed over a spur on their way to hit the triangle. Cribb took the left and Cooper the right as they advanced upon the objective. They were met with a heavy bombardment, but the aim was apparently so bad the men joked “we were under more danger from falling coconuts than the gunnery itself”. Their attack only got 300 yards past Snell's Hill by september 29th. The next day the men continued to advance, and now the enemy's artillery took a toll upon them causing them to halt. Two other companies led by Lt stuart and Colbin were penetrating east of the Ilebbe Creek without any opposition. They got within 50 yards of the Salankaua Plantation but had to cross a bridge to close the distance. To ford the river was just as dangerous as attempting the bridge leading the companies to launch smaller patrols to prod out options. It quickly became apparent by the late afternoon the element of surprise was lost. Luckily for the frustrated men, the Salvation Army and YMCA were up with the troops. The religious and welfare organizations looked after the mens physical and spiritual comfort. After the war there were few Australian ex-soldiers who would not put a coin in a Salvo's box when it was passed around the pub or street corner, as it brought back memories of their aid during the fighting. One soldier who fought across the Bumi wrote  “Another army came down to the Bumi—its weapons a coffee urn, its captain a Good Samaritan. Proudly he hoisted his unit's flag… He came not to reproach us for past sins or preach of the men we might have been. It is ideal, practical Christianity; he succoured the wounded and sick, revived the tired and weary; his was a happy little half-way tavern for those that passed.”   The next day, the 2/17th were relieved and would advance south, while the 2/13th came up for another assault against Kakakog. At 6:20am Colvin reported back to Windeyer there was going to be delays as the men needed to first take some higher ground. Windeyer back over in Scarlet beach decided he would come over to see it for himself. In the meantime some patrols were poking around the Triangle and to their surprise they saw no sign of the enemy. When Windeyer arrived it was decided the men would attack from the northwest. The 2/13th hit the Triangle while the 2/17th hit Salankaua plantation. On October 1st they were supported by an aerial strike at 11am followed up by artillery. For some reason know one ever found out why, this all began at 10:35am instead. 10 Vultee Vengeances and 8 Bostons bombed and strafed Salankaua plantation and Kakakog, doing little damage, but keeping the Japanese hunkered down. As the aircraft disappeared the infantry had run to their assembly points just in the nick of time to be ready to advance under artillery barrage. When one platoon got 250 yards near the City, grenades and mortar fire occurred. The australians could now see the enemy was hiding in the area and waiting for them to advance. As men forded the Ilebbe creek they were fired upon heavily suffering a few casualties before the men dispersed for cover. Instead of continuing across many changed direction and joined the assault upon the Triangle. The Australians were getting pinned down in every sector, seeing men trying to hide behind anything they could. The situation seemed desperate, then suddenly Lt Crawford took charge of the situation and organized a bayonet fixed direct attack across the Ilebbe. Crawford ordered the men to toss their grenades over the top of two platoons charging over the creek in an attempt to rush the enemy post on the other side. One Private Rolfe stood up at the bank of the creek and began firing his Bren from the hip providing wild cover fire. The men charged over the creek, being fired upon by Japanese snipers from tree tops. Despite their firepower, the Japanese were unable to stop the bayonet charge as the Australians ran them down. Crawford was wounded during the action, but they practically annihilated the entire outpost, bayonetting many Japanese. Due east of them near the Salankaua plantation, the men began to take out the tree top snipers. 12 2 inch mortars helped keep the pressure and momentum going. The Creek area was secured seeing 50 dead Japanese at the cost of 27 Australians. With the Ilebbe Creek cleared out, the pressure increased against the Triangle and City. Artillery was raining down upon them, likewise heavy fire was coming back from Kakakog ridge. By 3pm the Australians found themselves pinned down again. Yet again they had to halt their attack and dig in for the night as they had 10 deaths and 70 wounded, though they estimated that they had killed between 80-100 Japanese atop Kakakog ridge. The casualties would force the Japanese to abandon the Salankaua plantation. Meanwhile  after advancing to Kasanga, the 22nd battalion was able to seize Timbulum and Logaweng without opposition and were now preparing to cross the Mape River. On October 2nd, the 2/13th would find Kakakog ridge abandoned, but they very cautiously checked every nock and cranny upon it expecting Japanese ambush. A forward patrol went to the triangle and saw signs of an evacuation, numerous dead Japanese and abandoned equipment everywhere. The 2/17th likewise found the mouth of the Bumi unoccupied and easily secured a bridgehead before finding Salanakaua plantation unoccupied as well. With the enemy gone, the 2/15th were set forward towards Simbang and the 2/17th towards Kolem. With that, Finschhafen had fallen. It was a bitter fight, but by early October it was evident the enemy were yielding the coastal stip to assemble further west at the peak of Sattelberg which dominated the entire area. The 2/17th had already found out the hard way what it was to approach Sattelberg, and now the 2/43rd were trying to rescue one of their companies pinned down at Jivevaneng. Though Finschhafen was theirs, it was by no means secure. Papuan infantry and friendly locals were sending reports the Japanese were entering the wareo-sattelberg area from the north. The cost for this victory had been 73 Australians killed, 285 wounded and 301 sick. To the west at Kaiapit, the Australians were consolidating their position along the Markham valley and preparing to resume their advance on Ramu. Brigadier Dougherty's brigade were flown over to Kaiapit to relieve King's valiant commandos. Meanwhile General Nakai ordered the Saito unit to infiltrate and raid the Australians position. The 80 men of the Saito unit were led by Captain Morisada who organized his men into 4 smaller attack groups. Back on September 23rd, 3 Saito groups carried out their first operation, successfully blowing up the billet of a commanding officer and setting fire to a entire kunai patch that delayed an Australian advance. Meanwhile the bulk of the Nakai detachment withdrew back to the Ramu valley where they established fortifications at the Kankirei Mountains. Kankieri means “summit of joy” and was named so on June of 1943 when troops of the 20th division reached its peak to look down upon Ramu valley, cheering as they did because they had just completed the road from Madang. However by late september the Australians now looked to be approaching said road to Madang.   By the 23rd the 2/16th battalion captured Antiragen and the Umi river crossing. The next day was quite a handful for them alongside the 2/6th independent company. Both had patrols probing the Sagerak when they ran into some Japanese rearguard. 2 inch mortars and rifles pushed the rearguard to pull back and soon some patrols were moving on towards Narawapum. Meanwhile a papuan company was patrolling its northern foothills trying to find a fast route for the Australians to take to catch up to the Japanese in the Boana-Wantoat areas. Around midday the 2/16th and 2/6th were crossing the Umi to secure some high ground south of Sagerak. They clashed with around 20 Japanese carrying full packs in the Narawapum area causing them to flee. All of these Japanese forces were from the 1st battalion, 78th regiment, struggling to estalbish decent delaying actions.    General Vasey then appointed a new objective, Dumpu, where he hoped to catch General Nakano's men whom he assumed were retreating up the Ramu Valley towards Bogadjim. In reality, Nakano's 51st division were withdrawing through the Saruwaged Range, whose track deteriorated as it went up the upper reaches of the Sanem river. Private Kitamoto who was traveling with the 51st would recall “After we escaped the clutches of the enemy we were confronted by nature. Here the living had to walk across the dead to stay on the track. Using the dead bodies as stepping stones and clinging to the slippery lichen covered rocks, the men made their way up the mountain. Fresh red blood ran from the mouth of the dead when they were stepped on and their glassy eyes stared us in the face. Approaching 4000 meters, the cold bit hard into the light summer uniforms the soldiers wore but the exhausted men could not stop to sleep or they would freeze to death. The screaming voices of the men who slipped from the log bridges to their death in the canyons below, and the wailing cries of the men who could move no more and were asking for help. It was a sense of hell, something quite out of this world.'   Under the belief there was a strong enemy presence covering the withdrawal, possibly the full 20th division, Dougherty decided to order the 2/16th back across the Umi river on september 25th. At the same time, Nakai had ordered the bulk of his 78th regiment to take up a position in the Gurumbu-Kankirei area;  for the 1st battalion, 26th field artillery regiment to defend the seashore in the Erima area; and for the 2rd battalion 78th regiment to advance into the Yokopi mountain area to defend Kesawai. Meanwhile the last battalion of the 21st brigade had just arrived to Kaiapit, so Vasey ordered Brigaider Eathers 25th brigade to be the next one flown in.  General Herring had decided to place the Bena Force under Vasey's command, which was ordered to cross the Ramu and assault Dumpu and Kesawai. For the next few days, heavy patrolling was conducted at Dumpu, the upper Ramu valley, Kaiapit, Sagerak and eventually past the Umi. Patrols would find no enemy at Kaiapit, nor Sagerak, this prompted Dougherty to believe there were no enemy east of the Umi. On september 28th, Dougherty ordered the 2/16th battalion to recross the river and successfully began occupying Sagerak as the rest of the brigade made their way over after. On the 29th, the 21st brigade were advancing west, taking Wankon Hill and Marawasa facing no opposition. On that same day, some Australian commandos of the Bena Froce led by Captain Dexter were advancing west of Kesawai where they established a new abmush position. The Australians tried to lure the Japanese to the ambush area with 3 men boldly coming over to the Japanese base, drawing their attention. The 3 men ran back to the ambush position and wondered if it worked, and soon 60 Japanese appeared. Their commanding officers were within 30 yards of the ambush are, when the Australians opened fire. The Australians had taken a semi circle position and the effect was like “a reaper's sycthe”. A larger group of Japanese then rapidly came over once they heard the gunfire and the Australians were soon running low on ammunition. Dexter was wounded, another man was killed, so they began a quick withdraw, racing back for the Ramu in broad daylight. While this was going on Eathers forces were beginning to assemble at Kaiapit.  On September 30th, Dougherty's units advance to the Gusap River which divided Markham and Ramu. In the battalions report of the crossing of the Gusap, they described it as such "It was a complete surprise to most of the battalion to learn that during the day's march—actually just before reaching Arifagan Creek—they had crossed the divide between the Markham and Ramu River basins. The divide was impossible to pinpoint on the ground as the gradients were imperceptible. The only visible indication that a divide had been crossed was that rivers were now flowing in the opposite direction from the Markham drainage basin." It was at this point Vasey realized he might not be facing the full strength of the 20th division as he received a report Wootten was apparently fighting them over at Finschhafen. Upon looking over the matter, Blamey and Herring decided to not heavily commit to Markham and Ramu Valleys, but instead prioritize the battle for Finschhafen. The commanders met at Lae on October 1st, where Herring agreed to allow Vasey to push towards Dumpu, but he would not allow him to remove the whole of two independent companies from the Benabena plateau. Vasey  ordered Dougherty and Eather to concentrate on the Gusap area and for the 2/7th independent company to scout the Bumbum area. God I love new guinea.  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 pulled off another incredible evacuation, similar to that of Guadalcanal and Kiska with operation Se-Go. Over on Green Hell the battle for Finschhafen was turning out not to be a pushover, and it was looking like another major offensive was afoot.   

Two Japanese Teenage Reverts visit Makkah for the First Time

Two Japanese professors, Dr. Kumiko Noguchi and Dr. Yuka Mizutani, share insights from their experiences and work with Native American and Indigenous communities, which underscore the significance of Native American Studies in Japan and throughout the world. Noguchi is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of International Studies at Meiji Gakuin University. She received her Ph.D. in Native American Studies from the University of California, Davis under the Fulbright Graduate Studies Scholarship Program. Her research interests include Native American Critical Theory, California Indian history, Tribal Sovereignty, Community Development, and Indigenous Movement.  Mizutani is a professor at the Center for Global Education and Discovery, and the Graduate Program of International Cooperation Studies, at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan. She holds a Ph.D. in Area Studies from Sophia University. As a doctoral student with the JSPS fellowship, she worked on her research at the Department of Ethnic Studies of the University of California, Berkeley. Mizutani was also a Fulbright visiting scholar at the Department of American Studies of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her current research interests include Indigenous people's experiences at geographical margins of the U.S. territory, the representation of Indigenous perspectives in museums and public spaces, and the relationship between Indigenous peoples and research institutions.  Recommended Sources:Publications of Kumiko Noguchi, including Indian and Gaming: American Light and Shadow (Tokyo: Chikuma Publication, 2019); A California Indian History the 'Invisibles' to a Federally Recognized Tribes (Tokyo: Sairyusha Publication, 2015); and “Keeping the Indian Tribal Community Together: Nation Building and Cultural Sovereignty in the Indian Casino Era,” The Japanese Journal of American Studies, no. 31 (2020), 133-156. Esther Avila, "Researching the Tule River Tribe," The Porterville Recorder, November 10, 2011.Rick Elkins, "Tule Tribe history in Japanese," The Porterville Recorder, September 16, 2015.Yuka Mizutani's award-winning book (selected for the Award for Budding Scholar of the Japan Consortium for Area Studies), Integration of the Pascua Yaqui into the United States: Border Crossing and the Federal Recognition (Hokkaido University Press, 2012). Also see Mizutani, "Promotion of Gastronomic Traditions in the Sonoran Desert and Changes in the Representation of the US-Mexico Borderlands," The Japanese Journal of American Studies, no. 33 (2022). Mizutani's recent interviews in English for ʻŌlelo Community Media in Hawaiʻi: http://olelo.granicus.com/player/clip/85731https://olelo.granicus.com/player/clip/85723Shozo Ssaito (斎藤省三), アメリカ先住民 アリゾナ・フェニックス・インディアン学校 (世界人権問題叢書) | Jr.トレナート ロバート.A., Trennert,Robert A.,Jr., 省三, 斎藤 |本 | 通販 | Amazon 

Last time we spoke about the battle of Attu. The American forces were gradually taking the high grounds from the Japanese. The stalemate at Jarmin's pass had caused severe casualties upon the Americans, but they managed to get the Japanese to withdraw from the Pass by May 17th. Jarmin's Pass would receive its name after Captain John Jarmin and his platoon died fighting atop it on May 14th. We also spoke about the silent service and how the Mark 14 torpedo was gradually fixed so the submariners would be better equipped to strangle Japan of her lifeblood, her merchant fleet. Lastly we spoke about the horrifying Changjiao Massacre that occurred during the West Hubei Offensive and the plight of the common Chinese people during the brutal second sino-japanese war. But today we are going to finish up the story of the battle for Attu.  This episode is the Fall of Attu 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 we left off in the Frigid Northern island of Attu on May 16th, with General Brown being relieved of command of the 7th division by the Aleutian veteran Brigadier General Eugene Landrum. Given the evidence on hand today, it seems Brown had really irritated Admiral Kinkaid and his other military superiors, coupled with miscommunication or better said lack of. The misunderstandings that arose saw Brown kicked out, but before he departed he had the chance to speak to Landrum. Landrum was shocked when he saw the situation for what it really was and sympathized with Brown. He ordered all of Brown's plans to continue as they were.  Now back on Attu, the Northern Force of Colonel Culin was making a major breakthrough by cutting off Lt's Goto and Honna and their forces in Jarmin Pass. They were forced to abandon their positions during the night of the 16th, slipping away and successfully eluding all the American forces as they joined Colonel Yamasaki's main body at Chichagof. The following morning the Americans failed to realize off the bat that they were no longer facing any Japanese atop Jarmin Pass, as a result of the thick fog. Eventually the lack of bullets coming down upon them brought the realization that the brutal massacre valley struggled which had to this point claimed 1100 American casualties had ended. Over in the south Colonel Wayne Zimmerman walked atop the crest of Jarmin pass where he stumbled upon the corpse of Captain John Jarmin and the bodies of his comrades surrounded by mangled bodies of dead Japanese. The pass which was called Massacre-Holtz pass was renamed after Jarmin who died on the 14th. The pass would receive a renaming There was an eerie silence over the pass that day. On May 18th the various Americans forces finally established contact through Jarmin Pass and now looked towards Chichagof where the Japanese were looking to make a stand. Despite successfully dislodging them, the Japanese had managed to withdraw in order, establishing yet again well-prepared defenses on the jagged heights of Chichagof Valley.  Landrum decided to give the men another day to recuperate and plan out their attack and as he noted later “I know this country and my heart bled for the boys. I had to send them up there. I know how cold and bitter it was on the mountains. But I knew death was bitterer.”.On May 18th the American officers got together to formulate a plan to assault the Japanese. Colonel Culin would lead one Pincer and Colonel Zimmerman the other, this was part of Major General Browns original plan. Zimmerman's 2nd battalions, of the 17th and 32nd infantry with the 3rd battalion of the 17th infantry in reserve would seize Clevesy pass. Once that was taken, the Southern force would then advance down Jim Fish Valley to seize Sarana Nose on the right side and Buffalo Ridge on the left thus securing the approaches to Chichagof harbor. Culin's Northern Force and the 1st battalion of the 4th regiment would capture the northern slopes of Prendergast ridge in preparation for the final assault against Chichagof. Culin and Zimmerman shuffled their more exhausted units into reserve, allowing fresher troops to take the lead. Meanwhile in his Kingfisher Colonel Eareckson flew reconnaissance missions almost constantly, scouting, coordinating and occasionally dropping messages to isolated units he could find. Eareckson relayed targets back to the bomber units so they could try to hit the enemy who had been alluding them heavily for days because of the deep fog. Colonel Talley's Engineers were also at work, building a road towards Engineer hill to help move the artillery piece further inland. Admiral Rockwell also sent a force of PT boats to carry further supplies ashore, hoping to reduce the enormous traffic jam of supplies along the beaches. During the night of May 18th, Zimmerman and Culin sent scouts to probe the enemy defenses at Clevesy Pass. On the morning of the 19th, the offensive began, with Zimmerman sending his 2nd battalion 17th regiment to hit Clevesy pass supported by an artillery barrage and Culin sent his two battalions against the Chichagof heights. By noon, the 2nd battalion, 32nd regiment joined the southern attack. Culins advance finds out the Japanese position at the Chichagof heights are quite formidable. Lt Honna has taken a position at a place called Point Able, a mountain blocking the Southern forces advance. Lt Honna who spoke perfect english notably would be spending the fighting at Point Able lobbing elaborate insults and taunts at the American invaders. For Zimmerman's men, they had the support of a ton of artillery and some aerial bombardments to soften up Clevesy Pass allowing the men to capture a toehold on the high grounds. However Zimmerman's men quickly found themselves embroiled in a major battle, as Dr. Paul Tatsuguchi tells us via his diary “The hard fighting of our 303rd Battalion in Massacre Bay is fierce and it is to our advantage. Have captured enemy weapons and used that to fight enemy closing under fog.” Lt Honna and his 303rd independent battalion fought like madmen to hold Point Able. The next day, Zimmerman sent some companies to perform an early morning attack to seize Cold Mountain while the Japanese reigned machinegun fire upon them. By noon the American attacks had reduced the Japanese to a force of 50 men upon Nees Point who were tossing back continuous american attacks. Meanwhile Culins men were fighting their way inch by inch over bloodstained hills. By the end of the 20th, they gained a few hundreds yards. Also on the 20th, the 1st battalion, 4th regiment entered the fray, hitting Clevesy pass and beginning their ascension to Prendergast ridge. General Buckner's men were able to reach the top of the ridges the following night before turning their advance towards Sarana-Holtz Pass. The USS Nassau launched its final mission of the day, sending some Wildcats to bomb and strafe the Japanese positions in the Chichagof Harbor in the afternoon. Again we hear from Dr. Tatsuguchi's diary “Was strafed when noon, amputating a patient's arm. It is the first time since moving over to Chichagof Harbor that I went in an air raid shelter… Nervousness of our CO is severe and he has said his last word to his officers and NCOs-that he will die tomorrow – gave all his articles away. Hasty chap this fellow. The officers on the front are doing a fine job. Everyone who heard this became desperate and things became disorderly.” After hitting the Japanese the USS Nassau left for Adak having lost 5 pilots and 8 aircraft to the bitter frigid weather. The next day, General Buckner came over to Attu to support his 4th regiment and had Colonel Eareckson fly him up Massacre Valley to look around Point Able. Buckner apparently even manned the aircrafts machine gun strafing the Japanese trenches. That day Eareckson's bombers managed to destroy every building in Chichagof village. Eareckson himself would later that day walk over to the frontlines, borrow a rifle from an infantry man and proceeded to shoot at Point Able. For this he was rewarded with an enemy bullet that wounded him. Buckner would get him a Purple Heart to pin to his chest and a firm kick in his ass upon saying “for being where you had no business being”. I think in Eareckson's defense, a General manning a machine gun on an aircraft was just as hilariously improper.  Zimmermans men continued to push up the mountains against the Japanese, and during the nightfall Company E of the 32nd regiment made a daring charge up the slopes of Point Able ferociously wiping out Honna company down to the last man. Honna would die from a gunshot wound having fought to the bitter end. To the north, Culins man successfully captured Hill 4, leading towards Prendergast ridge, when General Landrum suddenly ordered them to instead support the Southern Forces advance upon Fish Hook ridge. Fish Hook Ridge overlooked Chichagof harbor still held by Colonel Yamasaki who was suffering daily artillery and aerial bombardments. Yamasaki's men were ordered to hold the beach at all cost. To the left was Jim Fish Valley and Sarana Nose to the right. The defenses on both sides of the entrance to the harbor rendered a direct approach upon Chichagof harbor quite difficult.   Sailed from the west, Admiral Kawase was performing reconnaissance around the Komadorski islands and reported back that the size of the American fleet at Attu was enormous. It seems this report finally sunk in with Tokyo HQ, because they made their decision to evacuate the aleutian garrisons via submarine, thus ending anymore reinforcing. The following day, 19 G4M bombers launched from Paramushiro, and through the fog found a patch of clear sky over Holtz Bay where they dropped packages over Chichagof Harbor before they attacked the American vessels. They lost two Betty's for their efforts inflicting basically no damage upon the American warships. On the morning of May 22nd, Zimmermans forces ran into the remnants of the 303rd battalions, the 4th company and a few survivors of the 2nd company on Sarana Nose. Zimmerman ordered his reserve 3rd battalion, 17th regiment to hit the peak after the big guns got to smash it for 30 minutes. The big guns referred to 32 heavy machineguns, 14 37 mm anti-tank guns, 23 81mm mortars, a section of 75mm pack howitzers and 4 batteries of 105mm howitzers, a lot of shock and aye. THe bombardment devastated the entrenched Japanese allowing the men to take Sarana Nose with relative ease, annihilating the handful of Japanese. Meanwhile on the left flank, the 4th regiment advanced upon Prendergast Ridge supported by artillery. To the north, Culin attacks stalled due to heavy resistance, so Landrum ordered him to hold his position. Despite Landrums recent broken leg he assumed personally command of the southern force.  May 22nd's aerial photos showed that leading a direct assault up the valley floor would bring the southern force into an inferno of lead from the surrounding ridges that overlooked the valley. So instead they would secure Fish Hook Ridge first. Fish Hook ridge was a rugged semicircular snow covered, knife edge ridge which bent like a fish hook around 2 miles towards Chichagof Harbor. The Japanese had made a defensive line of snow trenches, rifle pits and machine gun nests connected by snow tunnels along the slopes of Washburn and Newman Peaks. These extended further south to the slopes of Brewer Peak, Buffalo ridge and to the floor of Jim Fish Valley. The entire defensive line blocked the Holtz-Sarana and Holtz-Chichagof passes and the entrance to Jim Fish Valley. Zimmerman sent his 2nd battalion, 32nd regiment to seize a high plateau to the left side of Jim fish valley. Again, before his men charged up the plateau, artillery made sure to pound the area, and again the Americans would find mangled survivors. At this point the Japanese situation was dire. They were desperately low on food, isolated and fighting a battle of attrition against an enemy enjoying every advantage. Yamasaki and his men were trapped behind their innermost defensive perimeter, but his delaying action left him in possession of a defensive firepower more concentrated than before. Despite the hundreds of casualties they had suffered, Yamasaki now counted with more soldiers to defend each yard of ground. May 23rd began with a heavy fog and very snowy weather, preventing Zimmermans men from launching their main attack. He was only able to send the  2nd Battalion, 17th Regiment and 2nd Battalion, 32nd Regiment to relieve the exhausted 4th Regiment. Company A of the 4th infantry had a horrible experience when 9 Japanese machine gun nests with attached riflemen pinned them down. Then an unexpected event occurred as told to us by Lt Winfield Mapes “quite suddenly a lone figure jumped up and ran across the open snow towards the nearest Jap hole. He had an M1 and bunch of hand grenades. He threw a grenade into the first hole and began firing. He moved right on into the circle of Jap holes around the machine gun. Deliberately, he walked up the edge of the holes one by one, […] then […] tossed a grenade. Nine times he did this […] [Private Fred M.] Barnett is just a guy […] who said, “Hell, I just got all fed-up and disgusted; and decided I'd get the damn thing over with,” and voiced the words of a nation” When Barnett reappeared he walked calmly downhill signaled the two companies to advance. Barnett had charged nine successive Japanese emplacements, wiping them all out without taking a scratch. Private Barnett received the distinguished service cross for his actions.  Other smaller units probed the ridge, but all were stopped by Japanese resistance on Buffalo Ridge. To the west, Culins men were pressing towards a junction beneath Fish Hook ridge, finally linking up again with the southern force, planning to coordinate an offensive the next morning. That day, General Butler's P-38 Lightnings intercepted a wave of 16 Betty's managing to shot down 9 of them while losing 2 Lightnings in the process. Because of these large losses, the Japanese would not commit anymore airforces from Paramushiro. On the morning of May 24th, a coordinated assault against the ridge began. The 2nd Battalion, 17th Infantry of the Southern Force moved over the southern slopes of Prendergast Ridge, while the 3rd Battalion, 32nd Infantry, plus two companies from the 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry, advanced along the northern slopes. Heavy Japanese machine-gun fire, repelled both forces back to their lines of departure on Prendergast Ridge as they attempted to negotiate their way across the “Bahai Bowl.” The 2nd Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment and 3rd Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment advanced up Jim Fish Valley where Japanese fire from Buffalo Ridge halted them near the southern end of Lake Cories. The Americans were fighting for every inch of snow and ice covered muskeg they advanced upon and the casualties were mounting heavily. Dr.Tatsuguchi's diary tells us“Naval gun firing, aerial bombardment, trench warfare, the worst is yet to come. The enemy is constructing a position. Bn. Commander died at Umanose [Fish Hook Ridge]. They cannot accommodate their patients. It has been said that at Massacre Bay district, the road coming through sector unit headquarters is isolated. Am suffering from diarrhea and feel dizzy.” Aerial and artillery bombardment was carried out the entire day, unfortunately a bit too much so, as some friendly fire occurred, yet again the fog a constant enemy. Eventually Landrum was forced to order the 4th regiment to reinforce the southern advance because of the intense resistance. By the end of the day two companies of Culins 3rd battalion, 32nd regiment managed to get into the Holtz-Sarana Pass.  Meanwhile the American Engineers had built up the road to Engineer Hill allowing Landrum to order every artillery piece available to be brought along it up to Massacre Valley. On the 25th, artillery and aerial bombardments soften up the approaches for the 3rd battalion, 32nd infantry on the left and the 2nd battalion, 17th regiment on the right against the pass. While this assault began, the 2nd battalion, 32nd infantry and the 3rd battalion, 17th infantry resumed their assault but were met with intense resistance from the Japanese along Buffalo ridge. The defenders as usual enjoyed extremely good concealment, utilizing fresh snow to their advantage making them practically invisible. The 2nd Battalion, 17th Infantry supported by the 1st Battalion, 4th Battalion charged through snow and bullets, seizing Newman Peak, which overlooked the pass. By nightfall, Zimmerman controlled the base of the ridge with some isolated slopes in the hands of scattered companies. It was at this point the logistics for the Americans took a turn for the worse. They were not much further from their beach landings areas and the supplies were trickling up slower and slower. This was an indication that time was of the essence, the longer the battle went on, the more the chances were that logistical issues would strangle them. When May 26th rolled around, with it came some clear weather giving the American airforces a chance to bomb the defensive lines with rare precision. Again from Dr. Tatsuguchi's diary we receive this “Hit by naval gun firing, it felt like the Missumi barracks blew up and things lit up tremendously. Consciousness becomes vague. One tent burn down by a hit from incendiary bombs. Strafing planes hit the next room, two hits from a 50 caliber shell, one stopped in the ceiling and the other penetrated. My room is an awful mess from sand and pebbles that have come from the roof. First Lt. from medical corps is wounded. There was a ceremony to grant the Imperial Edict. The last line of Umanose [Fish Hook Ridge] was broken through. No hope for reinforcements. Will die for the cause of Imperial Edict.” Culin sent forces to secure the Holtz-Sarana Pass gradually pushing back the concealed defenders, foxhole by foxhole. Company K advance up a 2500 foot crest of Washburn Peak and found themselves face to face with Japanese trenches. Private Joe Martinez with his rifle in hand decided to walk into the enemy fire as he tossed grenades killing 5 Japanese. He managed to reach the crest of the ridge before collapsing from a mortal gunshot wound he received over 50 yards further down the hill. He was posthumously awarded with the medal of honor, the only one earned on Attu. The Northern force eventually overwhelmed the Japanese snow trenches and seized the northwestern portion of Fish Hook. The only remaining obstacle now in the war were the trapped Japanese upon Buffalo ridge. The 4th regiment advanced along Fish Hook ridge, pushing the Japanese all the way to the summit of West Peak by the end of May 26th. The next day the weather turned around on them, with frigid slush like weather and the typical foggy concealment aiding the Japanese. Yamasaki took the advantage by dispatching reinforcements. Zimmerman's reinforced the advance against Buffalo ridge, tossing the 2nd battalion, 32nd infantry and companies C & D from the regiments 1st battalion alongside a lot of artillery support. But yet again the Japanese held firm, successfully halting the American advance just 200 yards from the ridges crest. On the 28th, another assault was launched against Buffalo Ridge supported by artillery. This time, the 2nd battalion, 32nd regiment managed to reach the top of the ridge facing significantly less resistance. Yard by yard the Americans seized most of Buffalo ridge by the end of the day. While that was going on, the forces advancing along Jim Fish Valley reached the southern portion of Lake Cories where they established a defensive position to hold up for the night. Landrum expected the 29th to be the final offensive to take Chichagof. The Americans now dominated the high grounds. The 1st battalion, 17th infantry held the Holtz Bay area; the 3rd battalion, 32nd infantry were atop Fish Hook Ridge; 1st battalion 4th infantry held positions along the Holtz Bay-Sarana Pass and atop West Peak; the 2nd battalion, 17th infantry and 1st/2nd battalions of the 32nd occupied Buffalo Ridge; and the 3rd battalion, 17th infantry held Jim Fish Valley. 4 75mm mountain guns and a battery of 105mm howitzers were placed on Hogback ridge while 60 artilleryman took up spotting positions on Engineer hill to direct the bombardments. Everything was in place for a final battle. The Japanese had their backs to the sea, crammed into a crowded area of low flat ground counting only 800 soldiers left. Two Japanese soldiers had been captured a day earlier and they confessed the remaining strength of their garrison. This prompted Landrum to order leaflets dropped over the Japanese positions. The leaflets carried a message from General Landrum to Colonel Yamasaki informing him of his hopeless situation and asking for his unconditional surrender. Landrum also added in “that the Japanese soldierly conduct thus far had been worthy of the highest military tradition”. Landrum asked Yamasaki to send a delegation to the American lines under a white flag. Landrum was trying to avoid the senseless slaughter, hoping Yamasaki might prove himself to be different from the countless other Japanese commanders who chose to resist to the last man. Landrum also was trying to prod the common Japanese soldiers to see if they would surrender in the face of the inevitable. Yamasaki ordered all paper burnt and personally oversaw all his wounded men given a fatal dose of morphine and their comrades showered the dying men with grenades. The Japanese, knowing full well the submarines originally set to come rescue them were no longer coming, the American destroyer picket line was preventing this. There was nowhere to pull back to, but the Japanese did not surrender, no Yamasaki chose to go out in a blaze of glory, fit to make the late Saigo Takamori proud. Yamasaki took his ancestral katana, while his men fixed bayonets. They were going to banzai charge at the weakest point in the American lines during the night, the Jim Fish Valley floor. They hoped this suicidal thrust might see a breakthrough upon which they could charge towards the American position at Engineer hill, hoping to capture their artillery to bear down upon them and to destroy their supplies. If they could manage to destroy the american supplies, they could theoretically then flee into the southern mountains where they might delay the americans enough to be rescued. The slim hope of victory depended on lightning speed, defeat would see their complete annihilation. By nightfall Yamasaki got his men ready, the 1st company and remnant of the other 2 companies of the 303rd independent battalion took the left flank, Yamasaki, his HQ and non-combat forces too a rear position and the remnants of the 83rd independent battalion took the right flank. In the early morning of May 29th, nearly a thousand screaming Japanese charged, as described by Nisei interpreter Peter Nakao later on “ It was pitch black when the enemy began the banzai attack. […] All of a sudden, the enemy was upon us. We could not see anything in the darkness except for tracer bullets flying in every direction. […] Leaving bayonetted dead and wounded behind them, the Japanese went past us and continued to the medic unit station to our rear. Then they headed for the ammunition dump behind the medics” The Japanese had smashed into the reserve Company B, 32nd regiment. The inexperienced men of that company had set up camp dead-center in Chichagof Valley, and had also withdrawn to the rear during the night to make breakfast, so their deserted positions where quickly overwhelmed and they fled for their lives to Buffalo ridge. Yamasaki let them flee and took his men in the direction of Engineer Hill. Yamasaki's timing was brilliant, he had taken the Americans by surprise and his forces were sweeping up the base of Engineer hill easily getting past the enfilading fire from the ridges by daybreak. The Japanese savagely swarmed a field hospital, exterminating all the sick and wounded men inside along with its chaplain. 12 Americans in a tent outside survived the horror by pretending to be dead, though they were severely trampled upon twice by charging Japanese. At this point the American initial shock and panic had worn off and General Archibald Arnold rallied the men. He set to work organizing artillerymen, engineers and service troops to establish hidden defensive positions. They lacked automatic weapons, but the ragtag force consisting mostly of the 50th engineers met the charging Japanese with grenades and M1 Garand bullets. Eventually the 4th regiment came forward with automatic weapons successfully slowing down the Japanese banzai charge. The Engineers then fixed their bayonets and engaged the Japanese in hand to hand combat forcing them to fall back. Yamasaki was gunned down by an M1 Garand bullet and his men were unable to maintain the momentum. Nearly half of the Japanese, now isolated and surrounded began pulling the pins of their grenades as they held them to their chests, 500 men committed suicide en masse. Several Americans witnessed the Japanese squatting in a thick shadowy cluster in the first weak gray light of morning  seeping through the fog, with one man standing and appearing to speak to the others. The thumps of their detonating grenades and agonized cries of dying men created a crescendo, that died away leaving the grounds littered with disemboweled bodies. American reporter Robert Sherroid described the scene as such “The explosive charge blasted away their vital organs. Probably one in four held a grenade against his head. There were many headless Jap bodies between Massacre [Bay] and Chichagof. Sometimes the grenade split the head in half, leaving the right face on one shoulder, the left face on the other. […] Two bodies were burned to crisps, one atop the other, fused into one charred hump” After the battle was over, the Americans erected a wooden interpretive sign at the foot of Clevesy Pass honoring Yamasaki, a rare gesture considering the intensity of the war at the time.  The battle of Attu was done. The Americans found and interred 2351 corpses, but guessed hundreds more Japanese bodies were buried all over the place. They took 28 prisoners in all, mostly men knocked unconscious by shell explosions or too badly wounded to kill themselves. Scouring the landscape over the following days, a few dozen more Japanese were found hiding in foxholes, often in small groups. The US soldiers called upon them to surrender, but these men usually killed themselves with grenades or opened fire to receive a bullet back. Two Japanese gave themselves up willing however. One was from San Francisco, the other, a short, fat and good humored man dubbed “the Japanese 8-ball”, by the GI's was treated kindly and even allowed to eat in the mess tents. PFC Howard Sparrs described the 8-Balls capture as such “ [Private Emerson] Burgett pulled out a Jap battle flag which he held up in front of the little fellow. The Jap shook his head violently in the negative and gestured so not a doubt remained – “Take it away!” The inner pockets of his coat revealed an assorted, and incidentally excellent, collection of […] pornography […] on silk handkerchiefs. The little Jap smiled innocently as Burgett gazed appraisingly over the collection (which, by the way, he pocketed)”  The Japanese lost approximately 2850 men dead, the Americans had 549 deaths, 1148 wounded and around 2100 evacuated due to frostbite, trench foot, hypothermia and other ailments. A number of lessons were learnt from the battle, including new landing techniques, and the necessity for rubberized, thoroughly waterproofed boots. Can't express the importance of that last one enough, I once got a black toe in my stupid youth drinking outdoors with some friends in like -35 degree weather in bad boots, does not end well. The men on Attu had been given expensive, thick and insulated leather hunting boots, but these become absolutely useless once soaked in water. After Attu, improved winter kits emerged, and cases of hypothermia, frostbite or trench foot would become very rare among American soldiers even during bitterly cold campaigns in Italy and France.  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 bitter and bloody and cold campaign for Attu was now finally over. Colonel Yamasaki decided to go out in a blaze of glory with his men, in a fashion that would make the last samurai Saigo Takamori proud. 

Hello and welcome to Dragonfly Tales a story podcast with Emily and Leo.We hope you're looking forward to SUMMER TIME!  We've been out in the garden weeding and tidying, learning new songs and playing instruments, and playing Dungeons and Dragons with friends.  We've also been walking around London lots, exploring its hidden parts, picking up facts and stories.Leo has also been getting into Japanese Anime and Manga.  He grew up watching beautiful films from Studio Ghibli, and is now watching lots of Anime series.  You can learn more about Anime HERE.Leo's story is an old Japanese tale about soothing babies - something we've all done - and we continue to pass down these techniques through the generations.Our main story is a very famous Japanese fairytale - Momotaro, the Peach boy.  He is a famous hero in Japanese folklore and there is a statue of him and his animal companions in Okoyama. (a bit like the Bremen Town Musicians!)If you would like a shout out, the best thing to do is join the Dragonfly Tales story chat on Facebook.  However, if you don't use Facebook, you can email us at emilydragonflytales@gmail.com and we will try our best to give you a shout out.You can follow us on:Facebook  InstagramTwitterThanks for listening! Theme Music by Leo Grazebrook on GarageBandStorytelling and singing by Emily Hanna-GrazebrookProduced by Andy GrazebrookArt by Light CreativeSound effects by Zapsplat

Two Japanese pianists for the price of one, some solo Sco, we meditate in the dark and BrujazzWe is on the horizon!

The stars of the big screen light up the theaters once again in these amazing movie pitches! Following those we discuss what is treating in other counties and if you were wondering in it Bad Bunny he is trending in every country... even Canada! Then we jump into trades where nobody knows the words to these songs. Two Japanese artists and one French Artist feature in this trading session all because of King Gnu and Action Bronson. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @the_jab_cast and let us know what your opinions are on the random thought this week! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jab-cast/support

The extraterrestrial comedy podcast where we probe a space orangutan ball-bag bat judo techno Dracula. We know on this podcast that children, never, lie, so how do we explain what the children we meet today saw in Japan? Why would an orangutan wear a silver suit? Who's the whinier little turd - Harry Potter or Voldemort? Is Tinkerbell involved? Is Jabba the Hutt involved? Meanwhile, this episode questions who the aliens are if you land on another planet - who are the ‘lings? I suppose that we should also allude to what this episode actually covers… Two Japanese children may or may not have allegedly truthfully seen an orange/silver UFO. A flying saucer, if you will. Not only that, but creatures, may have descended from the craft. Did these aliens know karate? Would they be confronted by a group of mums? It was down to a school to use their finest tools to investigate. All that and more on this week's file.     Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/butitwasaliens   Store: https://butitwasaliens.co.uk/shop/     Probe us: Email: butitwasaliens@gmail.com Instagram @ ButItWasAliensPodcast Twitter @ ButItWasAliens Facebook: @ ButItWasAliens - join Extraterrestrial Towers     Music:  Music created via Garageband. Additional music via: https://freepd.com - thank you most kindly good people. You may also have noticed during the scenic Zelda discussion a snippet of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time's Title Theme from 1998, composed by Kōji Kondō and released via Nintendo. Beautiful. Next up, during the continual raging Harry Vs Voldemort debate, you may have noticed the accompanying music was Hedwig's Theme, composed by John Williams. This was conducted by Mr Williams along with William Ross, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. Magical. Harryyyyyyyyyyyy. Finally, during our Mortal Kombat discussion (Kev 1 - 0 Granville) the Mortal Kombat theme accompanied this segment. We've mentioned before that we're not entirely sure on the credits for this song. The internet tells us that this theme is called Techno Syndrome and was written by Oliver Adams, published via Virgin Records but as always, if that is not accurate, our sincerest apologies. Mr Moonwalker absolutely loves that franchise but please Mr Boon and company, don't mess with Kung Lao.

Chris Rose and Trevor Plouffe discuss the hottest topics in baseball which today includes unwritten rule drama between the Giants and Padres, two Japanese stars going in opposite directions, Reds president says some embarrassing stuff, and more! 00:00 INTRO 03:33 Unwritten rules drama between Padres and Giants 09:23 Two Japanese stars going in opposite directions 12:58 MUGSY 14:25 Reds president says some embarrassing stuff 23:02 Which moment was cooler? 25:17 Travis D'Arnaud deserves an oscar for this! 27:08 OUTRO

Like a true Japanese salaryman, Fumi left his podcast family (Mic) on the last episode of the year! But don't worry! We replaced him with not ONE but TWO Japanese comedians, Jenny Arimoto and Dylan Adler! Mic, Dylan, and Jenny talk about all the cool stuff that they had planned that got canceled because literally everyone and their mother has COVID in New York. It's the wrap up episode baby! F O L L O W https://www.instagram.com/asiannotasianpod https://www.instagram.com/thefumiabe https://www.instagram.com/nicepantsbro W A T C H https://www.youtube.com/asiannotasianpodcast U P C O M I N G E V E N T S ! HACK CITY COMEDY 1/14 7:30pm @ Union Hall Brooklynhttps://www.eventbrite.com/e/hack-city-comedy-with-fumi-abe-and-mic-nguyen-tickets-218505524907?aff=erelexpmltFUMI HEADLINES SF SKETCHFEST 1/22https://sfsketchfest2022.sched.com/?searchstring=Fumi+Abe+%26+Joyelle+Nicole+Johnson&iframe=noOUR FIRST HACK CITY IN LA! 1/15 @ The Airlinerhttps://www.eventbrite.com/e/hack-city-comedy-la-w-fumi-abe-tickets-227509084797 M E R C H- WE ARE SELLING ANA MERCH NOW https://www.asiannotasianpod.com/merch --- P A R T N E R S - Helix Sleep Mattress: $125 off ALL mattress orders for ANALs at helixsleep.com/asian - Hawthorne.co is offering 10% off of your first purchase! Visit hawthorne.co and use PROMO CODE “NOTASIAN” - TUSHY Bidets: Go to hellotushy.com/ANA for 10% off!- THE SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE: www.joinallofus.org/asiannotasian- HBO MAX: http://hbom.ax/ana2- BETTER HELP: Get 10% off your first month by visiting our sponsor at BetterHelp.com/asian- EXPRESS VPN: 3 Months free at expressvpn.com/asian- FUNDRISE: Fundrise.com/asian- SANZO: DrinkSanzo.com and use promo code “ASIANNOTASIAN”- TruBill: Truebill.com/Asian- Quip: GetQuip.com/Asian- Athletic Greens: Athleticgreens.com/asiannotasian - Shopify: Shopify.com/asian - Manscaped: Get 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code ASIAN- Big Brother Big Sister: https://bit.ly/30zQZanSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, Eric Hoffman leads Jason on a discussion of two classic Japanese films directed by the brilliant Kenji Mizoguchi. Sansho the Balliff is a tragic story of a wealthy family separated and the slavery they endure, while Ugetsu tells a very human war story set in the sixteenth century. Eric and Jason chat about the filmmaking style of Mizoguchi and team, their political stance in the post-War period, and the resonances that helped make these essential watches. It's a fascinating hor and fifteen minutes' listen and we hope you enjoy. If you did enjoy this show, please subscribe and leave feedback on iTunes. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jason-sacks/message

➡ Business inquiries: NintendoEverythingPod@gmail.com ➡ Podcast Discord: http://tiny.cc/NintendoEverythingPod ➡ iTunes / Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2xLl0C5 ➡ Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2Gdgoch ➡ PocketCasts: https://pca.st/IQVa ...and more! Just search for "Nintendo Everything Podcast" wherever you listen to podcasts! Timestamps: 05:08 – Adventure Log: Cyberpunk 2077 and controversy 38:35 – News: Sakurai Presents Sephiroth in Super Smash Bros Ultimate 54:35 – News: Indie World Showcase and both of our cats 1:11:05 – News: Super Nintendo World Direct at Universal Studios Japan 1:23:39 – Additional DLC 1:27:13 – Listener Mail Additional DLC: - Japan-only PS2 Games (ThorHighHeels): https://youtu.be/pQsEQCK0O54 - Animator vs. Animation: https://youtu.be/TF9I1GxNdJQ #nintendopodcast #gamingpodcast #podcast Oni Dino’s Twitter: @Oni_Dino Galen’s Twitter: @mobius087

Today's topic: 「コラボラジオ！」(level: Advanced N1-N2) Yuichi Sensei's radio: https://anchor.fm/yuichi-nishikita Two Japanese teachers collaborated in our radio! I'm Momoko, a Japanese teacher. I hope this Podcast helps you with learning Japanese. Grammar and Vocabs: http://momoko-to-nihongo.com

Two Japanese artists, Yuri Shimmyo and Yoshio Honjo were finalists in Australia's oldest and most prestigious portrait competition, Archibald Prize. Following our last interview with tattoo artist, Yoshio Honjo, we present you Yuri Shimmyo who has called Australia home for the past 42 years. - オーストラリアでもっとも権威のある肖像画のコンクール、アーチボルド賞で、今年はじめて日本人のアーティスト2人がファイナリストに選ばれました。前回ご紹介したタトゥーアーティストの本庄義男さんに続き、今回はオーストラリア在住42年目を迎えるアーティスト、新明百合さんにお話を伺いました。

Two Japanese artists are the finalists in the Australia's oldest and most prestigious art art awards - Archibald Prize. - オーストラリアでもっとも古く、権威ある肖像画のコンクール、アーチボルド賞で、今年初めて2人の日本人がファイナリストに選ばれました。

Shion Torihara's journey has bounced her back and forth between traditional Japan and laid-back Australia. But not even she could imagine she would accumulate three fathers along the way - two Japanese, and one from above.

Technology issues minutes before the show gives Mandy a series of mini ‘heart attacks’. Two Japanese geniuses may have solved a lot of problems by creating a small device that can instantly translate what you say into it into 40 different languages. Remember when we were supposed to die in 2012 when the Mayan calendar said the world was ending. Turns out our calendar were off and we’re in Mayan 2012 now. NASCAR bans the confederate flag and Mandy explains why this is a bigger deal in the South. Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood has been taken over by protesters. Economist Stephen Moore joins to talk about economic recovery. Markets react to hospitalizations and deaths. They also discuss unions, the election, and small businesses owned by minorities and immigrants. Cancel culture is attacking those on the ‘wrong side’. The mayor of Madison apologizes for saying nice things to police, Berklee School of Music apologizes for allowing cops to use their restroom, and a journalism professor was fired before a job for using the phrase ‘good cops’ in a tweet.

Everywhere, all the time, it seems like we’re being sold on the idea that getting rid of things will solve our problems—from the life-changing magic of Marie Kondo to the streamlining of all those DVDs into digital subscriptions—and it’s all being sold under the label of minimalism. In his new book, The Longing for Less, Kyle Chayka criticizes this trend as a kind of upscale austerity designed to get you to buy and consume things. Maybe fewer things, but things nonetheless. Have we lost the true meaning of minimalism? Chayka takes readers through a history of art, design, and philosophy that goes much further back than the 1960s work of Agnes Martin, Donald Judd, and John Cage, to show that maybe the most meaningful part of “minimalism” is the search for meaning. Chayka has written for The New York Times Magazine, n+1, and The Paris Review, and he joins us in the studio to offer up a brand of minimalism that won’t bankrupt you, emotionally or financially.Go beyond the episode:Kyle Chayka’s The Longing for Less: Living with MinimalismWatch a short documentary about the painter Agnes Martin from the TateView Donald Judd's massive installations in Marfa or New York, and be sure to stop by Walter De Maria’s The Earth Room while you're at itPoke around Philip Johnson’s Glass HouseListen to Julius Eastman's hypnotic composition “Stay on It” (and read more about him here)Two Japanese touchstones of minimalism: Sei Shōnagon’s The Pillow Book and Junichirō Tanizaki’s In Praise of ShadowsTune in every week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek. Follow us on Twitter @TheAmScho or on Facebook.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave suggestions for projects you’d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. And rate... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Everywhere, all the time, it seems like we’re being sold on the idea that getting rid of things will solve our problems—from the life-changing magic of Marie Kondo to the streamlining of all those DVDs into digital subscriptions—and it’s all being sold under the label of minimalism. In his new book, The Longing for Less, Kyle Chayka criticizes this trend as a kind of upscale austerity designed to get you to buy and consume things. Maybe fewer things, but things nonetheless. Have we lost the true meaning of minimalism? Chayka takes readers through a history of art, design, and philosophy that goes much further back than the 1960s work of Agnes Martin, Donald Judd, and John Cage, to show that maybe the most meaningful part of “minimalism” is the search for meaning. Chayka has written for The New York Times Magazine, n+1, and The Paris Review, and he joins us in the studio to offer up a brand of minimalism that won’t bankrupt you, emotionally or financially.Go beyond the episode:Kyle Chayka’s The Longing for Less: Living with MinimalismWatch a short documentary about the painter Agnes Martin from the TateView Donald Judd's massive installations in Marfa or New York, and be sure to stop by Walter De Maria’s The Earth Room while you're at itPoke around Philip Johnson’s Glass HouseListen to Julius Eastman's hypnotic composition “Stay on It” (and read more about him here)Two Japanese touchstones of minimalism: Sei Shōnagon’s The Pillow Book and Junichirō Tanizaki’s In Praise of ShadowsTune in every week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Hosted by Stephanie Bastek. Follow us on Twitter @TheAmScho or on Facebook.Subscribe: iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastHave suggestions for projects you’d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar [dot] org. And rate...  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We're back and we're getting multi-cultural in our whiskey drinkin'. Two Japanese and one Scotch whisk(e)y for us to be totally wrong about! Football talk ensues around the 22:00 mark and lasts until about 37:00. Other than that, we talk our boozes for the episode, a slew of strange news from the interwebs, and an update on the shootings in Chicago. A non-sponsored plug...if you find yourself in Boise, Idaho stop by Tupelo Honey for a bit to eat. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

In our first episode we will be diving into Kaguya Sama - Love is War, a seasonal romcom that etched its place in our hearts: Two JAPANESE high school students who are student council members love each other, both refuse to admit it to each other, and drama ensues. That’s it. I promise it's more entertaining than it sounds. Go watch. Follow us on twitter @BoizAnime. #justiceforhayasaka #comradechika #eattherich #whathappenedtoricky #thosearenotouractualnamessodontfuckingask #spoilerwarningsaheadpursueatyourownrisk --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/anime-ramblin-boiz/support

Two Japanese whale hunting boats have returned to port with their first catch after resuming commercial whaling for the first time in 31 years.  Japan's last commercial hunt was in 1986, but it has continued whaling for what it says are research purposes. It has now withdrawn from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) so is no longer subject to its rules. IWC members had agreed to an effective ban on whale hunting, but Japan has long argued it is possible to hunt whales in a sustainable way. Despite an international outcry from animal welfare activists, certain experts believe that the resumption of traditional whaling may end up saving large government subsidies and the lives of many whales. Patrick Ramage is the director of International Fund for Animal Welfare, and he thinks that this could be the end of traditional Japanese whaling. Guest: Patrick Ramage  Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare

Two Japanese guys talking about how much they love MacDonald’s

Download MP3 前回に引き続き、「異文化ディスカッション」特別編として、ユリコとタクヤに登場してもらいます。第２回目の話題は「日本にいながら英語学習を成功させる秘訣」。 聞き手：Joe Lauer（広島大学外国語教育研究センタ―） ＊エントリーの「スクリプトを見る」をクリックすると、番組内で使われている表現を見ることができます（スクリプトは表示されません）。 　How Two Japanese Citizens Successfully Learned English a pleasure = 光栄, a happy thing to figure out = to solve, to find the answer the magic question = the million dollar question = the most important question (one’s) secret = 秘訣、コツ effective = 効果的 pretty well = relatively well, かなり良く to affect = 影響を及ぼす tough = difficult, hard a situation = 状況 to focus on = to concentrate on subtitles = 字幕 not necessarily = 必ずしもそうではない an opportunity = a chance, 機会 materials = things which help you learn or do something, 資料、教材 background = 背景、予備知識 to motivate = 動機を与える an article = 記事 gradually = slowly but steadily, 徐々に to get used to = 慣れてくる the brain = 脳 to recognize = to notice to memorize = 記憶する a letter = 手紙、メール academic = 学問的 an article = 冠詞 a preposition = 前置詞 eternal = ever-lasting, always existing, 永遠の to not care = 気にしない cheap = inexpensive

Download MP3 前回に引き続き、「異文化ディスカッション」特別編として、ユリコとタクヤに登場してもらいます。第２回目の話題は「日本にいながら英語学習を成功させる秘訣」。 聞き手：Joe Lauer（広島大学外国語教育研究センタ―） ＊エントリーの「スクリプトを見る」をクリックすると、番組内で使われている表現を見ることができます（スクリプトは表示されません）。 　How Two Japanese Citizens Successfully Learned English a pleasure = 光栄, a happy thing to figure out = to solve, to find the answer the magic question = the million dollar question = the most important question (one’s) secret = 秘訣、コツ effective = 効果的 pretty well = relatively well, かなり良く to affect = 影響を及ぼす tough = difficult, hard a situation = 状況 to focus on = to concentrate on subtitles = 字幕 not necessarily = 必ずしもそうではない an opportunity = a chance, 機会 materials = things which help you learn or do something, 資料、教材 background = 背景、予備知識 to motivate = 動機を与える an article = 記事 gradually = slowly but steadily, 徐々に to get used to = 慣れてくる the brain = 脳 to recognize = to notice to memorize = 記憶する a letter = 手紙、メール academic = 学問的 an article = 冠詞 a preposition = 前置詞 eternal = ever-lasting, always existing, 永遠の to not care = 気にしない cheap = inexpensive

A recent survey has recognized Austrian capital Vienna as this year's most livable city. The annual survey was conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research and analysis sector of London-based multimedia company Economist Group. The survey assessed the livability of 140 countries around the world. Among the 30 livability-related categories examined were stability, healthcare, culture, environment, education, and infrastructure. Vienna, 2017's second most livable city, dethroned Melbourne this year. The Australian city held the top spot for seven years running. Although the two cities were in a tight competition in most categories, Vienna outperformed Melbourne in the stability rating, which looked into the occurrence of security-related issues like crime, conflict, and terrorism. Roxana Slavcheva [SLAV-cheh-vuh], the editor of the survey, said that Vienna has a low crime rate and is considered one of Europe's safest cities. People also commended Vienna's public transportation system for being affordable and efficient. Passengers reportedly spend only around US$415 for a year's worth of commute. The world's top 10 livable cities this year also included Calgary, Toronto, and Vancouver from Canada, Sydney and Adelaide from Australia, and Copenhagen from Denmark. Two Japanese cities—Tokyo and Osaka—also made the cut. Osaka ranked third, while Tokyo placed seventh with Toronto. Last year, these Japanese cities ranked fourteenth and thirteenth, respectively. The EIU's global chief economist noted that this is the first time that Asian cities made it to the top 10. Factors like decreasing crime rate and enhanced public transportation improved the stability and infrastructure ratings of Osaka and Tokyo, thus boosting their ratings.

Japanese robots are hopping around on an asteroid, Linus Torvalds apologizes for being a jerk, and ARM chips have a new trick up their sleeves. All this and more on the latest GeekSpeak.Two Japanese robots are now happily hopping on an asteroidARM pointer authenticationA new antenna using single atoms could usher in the age of atomic radioI did a thing to convince myself the XS MAX 512 GB wasn't so expensiveA $1, Linux-Capable, Hand-Solderable ProcessorLKML: Linus Torvalds: Linux 4.19-rc4 released, an apology, and a maintainership noteAfter Years of Abusive E-mails, the Creator of Linux Steps AsideSpurious CorrelationsJohn Deere Just Swindled Farmers Out of Their Right to RepairCalifornia may ban terrible default passwords on connected devicesDoom 2’s impossible secret is discovered, 24 years later

Since this week is 4th of July, I wanted to do something really special. Months ago I was trying to think of what special thing I could do and nothing seemed to be special enough. I had thought of some guest speakers who could talk about important topics, thought of doing a tribute to all of you, but then a thought came that honestly struck my heart. Why don't you “interview” the most amazing Waiting Warrior you know of: Great Grandma Ester Packard. Now, my Great Grandma Esther past away before my dad was even born, but her goodness, strength and story continue to live on. He husband, Great Grandpa Forrest Packard was actually a prisoner of war during WWII, which left Esther home, alone, no job or skills, just a huge farm to get out of debt, and raising 11 children at home, though she had 16, only 11 were still at home.   Lucky for us one of my dad's cousins, Ellen Leavitt, spent years putting together a detailed history of Forrest and Esther's story during the war together and printed a book years ago called “They Never Wavered” so I am able to tell her story today.   Let's first go back to before the war. Forrest and Esther Packard moved their family from Nampa to a 40 acre farm 3 miles south of Merdian Idaho, just before the crash of 1929. The family worked hard but could not get ahead. By 1941 Esther was pregnant with baby number 16 in July and times were hard. The two oldest, Beth and Dee were now married, and Jay was graduated and was moving to California in June. Cleo remained home to help, and Von, Donna, Floyd, Ron, Bud and Bill were in school, with Bob, Ben, and Bernie being preschoolers. The family was still trying to pay off the debt on their little farm, and Esther and the children were doing most of the hard farm work while Forrest worked as a carpenter in Tampa for the Pacific Fruit Express, which was part of the Union Pacific Railroad. Forrest was concerned about being laid off so when the chance came for a higher paying job with Morrison-Knudsen Construction Company working at Boise's Gowen Field. When that job was completed the company had nothing else so Forrest was left to attempt to find odd job. The family remembers him often coming home with nothing. The family was in extreme need but Forrest and Esther refused to join any government welfare programs.   Later in the year Morrison-Knudsen advertised in the local papers for carpenters, large equipment operators, cooks and everything else needed to set up an active community of workers to go to a small island called Wake in the middle of the Pacific Ocean to help construct a naval air base. The pay was excellent and the contract was only for 9 months. This opportunity would mean they could pay off the family farm and have money left over. Forrest was 48 years old, work had been scared throughout the depression, but this still wasn't a spur of the moment decision. Forrest and Esther took a whole month to talk, lay out all the benefits and risks, pray, and then as a united front present the idea to the children. They wanted everyone to buy into it and be apart of the decision.   On April 27th, 1941 Forrest left Boise to California, from there to went to Honolulu where he waited for the next ship to Wake Island. While there he went to local religious leaders seeking comfort and guidance. There he received a blessing that while he was gone he and his family would live and his family chain be unbroken. Forrest really believed in that blessing, wrote about it to home, and he and the family found a lot of strength and peace.   After about 7-10 days at sea Forrest arrived on Wake Island on May 23, 1941. For the next 5 1/2 months Forrest lived a comfortable life, worked hard as a carpenter on the island and since he was one of the older men on the island, being 48, he was a strong example of goodness and handwork to others. Meanwhile at home Esther was keeping the farm and family in line. Though they missed Forrest, they knew they could manage and were loving the letters and shells he would send home to Idaho. As the end of the year approached the men on the island would hear rumors of tensions with Japan, but just like the rest of the country, never thought they were in real danger, especially not while Japan was on American soil having peace talks.    After having a long work week of working over time, the men on Wake Island finally had Dec 7th off, which was Dec 6th in the US. The next day, work started as usual. At daybreak the radio broadcast of the bombing on Pearl Harbor reached Wake Island, the operator on duty woke up the Commander of the island telling of the news. While the soldiers and marines on the island immediately began to prepare the severely under manned and under armed island, the civilian workers only heard rumors of the bombing, kept on working, and didn't get any verification of the attack until later that morning. Still they kept on working until Wake Island received its first attack, just as most the men were getting ready to go to lunch.   Wake Island's population consisted of 68 naval personnel, 388 combat marines, 60 marine air cop, a 6 man army communications detail, 70 Pan American Airways employees, and 1,146 civilian construction workers. They had only 12 planes, and only enough men to man half of the guns on the island. Most of the men didn't even have side arms, gas masks, or helmets.    Those men fought for 16 days, sustaining 17 air attacks, and still severely damaging the enemy : destroying an estimated of 11 ships, 29 planes and 5700 men. 51 other bombers sustained damage from Wake guns and planes.    While to the rest of the country Wake Island became the Alamo of the Pacific: the one island to actually resist the Japanese, the heroes that brought vigor back to a defeated country, the stories and news reports of Wake's fight gave no such feelings to Esther and the Packard family in Idaho.   While the rest of the country was holding out hope that maybe just one would survive, just one would keep on fighting and keep the American resilencence  and spirit alive, Ester and her children wouldn't have found such hope. They just wanted one to live, and his odds were not as good as the other. “The men were made into heroes and that did not help Esther” and this is perhaps one of the greatest difficulties of being a Waiting Warrior. We cherish our loved ones, we know the work they do is good and courageous, but often their courage gives us fear.   From Dec 8th to Dec 23rd Esther lived by the radio and newspaper searching for any information of Wake and yet all she was hearing was the following. Dec 8-Between 20 and 30 twin engined bombers in the opening attack caught 8 of the garrison's 12 planes on the ground, put the 8 out of action and killed 25 of the marines. Dec 9-There were two more raids by planes which also carried incendiaries but due to vigorous plan and anti air craft defenses, damage was less severe than on the 8th. Dec 10-There was a fourth air raid at dawn while for the first time enemy warships started pumping shells onto the flat, virtually shelterless atoll.. nevertheless wake's guns replied with such good effect to this double attack that a light cruiser and destroyer were sunk. The defenders also had the satisfaction of shaking up a total of 6 enemy planes destroyed too and including this 3rd day of battle.. two transports kept out of rand while 18 planes came over for the 5th air raid. Only 16 departed. The marines still had 3 planes aloft. Dec 11- A four enter seaplane attacked. Marine fliers… promptly shot it down. The convoy reappeared. Marin fliers damaged one vessel and sank a submarine. Dec 12 - The enemy did not appear Dec 13- By moonlight bombers came over. Anti aircraft fire discouraged them from dropping bombs. Dec 14-Fifty bombers unloosed the heaviest air raid. Three planes were downed, plus others were damaged. The marines planed were reduced to one (They heroically managed to patch a second one together. Dec 15- At night a 9th air raid caused no serious damage Dec 16-more than 25 bombers attacked Dec 17-They came again. By now practically every installation on the island was heavily damaged or destroyed. Dec 18-Bombers devasted the few buildings left standing Dec 19-there was no raid Dec 20-dive bombers, evidently from a carrier, roared down on the island. Dec 21- The enemy withheld his hand Dec 22-Land based and carrier operated planes attacked in large force- how large was never reported… wake's air defenses were lost. The enemy at long last landed in force. The issue is in doubt, marines are still fighting. Two Japanese destroyers disabled.   On Dec 23rd the papers announced Japanese landed on Wake and the headline in all the Boise newspapers screamed “Navy Admits Loss of Wake”   Meanwhile the families of the Wake men received a letter stating their loved one was “missing in action”. You can imagine the state Esther was in. When Wake was captured she was overcome with worry. When her oldest daughter Beth heard of the news her small family had Christmas early and quickly got to Boise. They found Esther in an emotional mess. Esther had worked herself into such a nervous condition she was falling apart emotionally and physically. Her family pleaded with her to believe in the blessing he received in Hawaii, to believe Forrest was still alive. Esther was losing hope and faith, but her daughter Beth was able to start convincing her Forrest was alive, but most importantly that she had the load now, and she had to respond. Esther believed Forrest was alive, but she also realized the monstrous task facing her. She was overcome with fear. She felt tremendous fear for the future, fear for Forrest, fear about the debt on the farm, and most of all fear for the welfare for her eleven children at home. Cleo, Von, Donna, Floyd, Ron, Bud, Bill, Bob, Ben, Bernie and Barbra who was only 4 months old. She had these 11 children to support with no education or work experience and Esther was at a loss of how to handle situation. The children had questions, but Esther had no answers and she had a complete emotional breakdown, some speculate it may have been severe depression. She spent so much of her time living to the radio and reading the newspapers longing to find something about Forrest and the men from Wake. Rumors were spreading of the atrocities and subhuman treatment that American prisoners were receiving in Japanese prison camps, if they even made it there. Esther became frantic with worry. Beth doesn't remember Esther ever being hospitalized or on medication but remembers her being irrational and her decisions being out of character so her family disabled the radio. One of Esthers sons said “The darkest time I ever remember in my life was when mother was ill. This hardy woman, who had been a rock to her own family and to countless others, found herself in a deep, weary pit.” The family and friends decided it was best for the preschool children to be sent away to various family members and the older children to stay and take care of the farm and do everything they could to make the farm look better. Even with the help Esther still knew the bills and farm payment had to be taken care of. Forrest's paycheck had stopped with is capture and monetary support was slow to come from the government.   With the farm, garden, chicken, cows and other animals food wasn't the main problem, but they still needed money. A longtime friend, Emeline Hansen had become involved in selling Spencer corsets and helped Esther start selling and become a corset fitter. After many months of being out of commission with her illness she was nursed back to health with the help of her friends and local religious leaders. Esther was on her way to good health while Forrest was on his way to a prison camp in China.   But Forrest's whereabouts where unknown to the family. Because of how the Japanese soldiers handles the dog tags of the dead and prisoners the government and all the families were clueless as to who had survived. Slowly names and locations started to be released in April 1942. It took 9 release of names for Forrests to finally to be found on July 15th 1942. Knowing the men were alive and where they were being held was incredible news for all the families. The Packard household erupted with joy the first time they heard Forrest's name mentioned. Their next goal was to send and receive mail.   I know so far I have only interviewed spouses on this podcast but I fully recognize the sacrifice other family members make while their brothers, sisters, sons and daughters serve our country and communities. I would be completely disrespecting my own mother in law who has two sons in the military, if I didn't at the very least acknowledge the love, worry and sacrifice of these Waiting Warriors. So, I want to read one of the first letter Forrest's mother, Cynthia and his sister Alice wrote.   My dear son Forrest I long to hear your loving voice again and wish for the time when we can meet agin. Earl and I both wrote to you when we first learned that letters could be sent to you and would be pleased to get a reply but maybe the letter failed to reach you so  we thought we would write again. A short time ago we was at Lolas on sunday and Esther and the children were also there they were all looking fine and little barbra was learning to walk she is real pretty and cute. Earl is raising a lot of beets for the sugar factory and they are doing fine. I got a letter from Dudley yesterday he asked me to send your address with it to day. I will close hoping you have kind friends to administer to your needs I pray that they lord will bless you with kind friends and protect you from every harm. Except my love and best wishes, as every your loving mother Cynthia E Packard. Please write to us if you can.   Now Alice: With a broken yet prayerful heart I am writing these lines, trusting that God will help them find their way to you and that you will be permitted to answer. I received letter often from our folks in Idaho and Canada, they are all as well as can be expected. I am still doing missionary work although it has been difficult the last few months as I have been so badly broken up. I know you would advise me to keep on and on. If you are permitted to answer please dear brother mention names of our family that I might know it is really your writing. Forrest I most humbly ask you to forgive me of any wrong I may have committed which caused you sorrow. I have never at any time in my life ceased to love you or pray for you. May the great and powerful heavenly father answer our prayers very soon and bring you safely to the arms of your loved ones. Oh that he will protect you and bless you with everything you need is my constant prayer. Your loving sister.   Unfortunately Forrest didn't receive any of the mail or packages his family diligently sent until some finally went through in 1944. Esther finally received her first letter from Forrest on Sept 26th 1942. What a relief it was to hear from him after nine agonizing months of worry. Esther pulled herself up by the bootstraps. She had to either give up or decide to do something with her life so she could raise her family how she wanted to, so they would grow up to be known for good both far and near. It wasn't until she went to work that she recognized she had the ability to do what needed to be done to save the family. She was then able to get hold of things and start on a firm course of action. In the February 1948 edition of a magazine called the Ensign an article was written of Esther, it stated : Perhaps the most poignant example of this philosophy is Esther's struggle to overcome the nervous breakdowns she experienced after her husband was capture on wake island. Esther had come away from the period with a new resolve, determined not to believe as society believed, that a woman alone could not raise sixteen children and run a farm too. She remembered the dream she and Forrest shared that when he returned from Wake Island they could pay off the farm. The children carried much of the burden at home, and she became a “spencer Corsetier, selling corsets to women door to door. Family solidarity became Esther's major concern so she started playing games with her children. She worked hard and played harder. She began selling corsets by going from farm to farm, sometimes having women coming to the house for fittings. When Esther became successful selling corsets her confidence sky rocketed and felt she could accomplish anything. It wasn't long until Esther was the number one salesperson in the US. She taught her children to work hard but at the same time had a way of making anything the family did fun. It was not uncommon for the family to stay up late, even until 1 am simply playing games together. If ever there was a choice between their friends or being with their mother, they always choose her. I think above all else that speaks so much about her. She had such an incredibly daunting tasks, and was conquering, but she did so with so much love and care for her family that they took every moment they could with her. By the end of 1942 Esther was much stronger and more valiant. She had no idea when Forrest would return but she decided it was up to her to raise the family the way he would have wanted.   The years crawled along but at the same time Esther was swamped with her many responsibilites. Esther desperately missed Forrest and his spiritual strength. She recongized that many of her children, particularly boys, were at a critical age and though she wished she could rely on her husbands wisdom and strength, she had to do it on her own. Esther was not one to outwardly show her emotions though. Her son Bud has said : he didn't realize for several years that she felt uncomfortable with the expression of concern and caring while Forrest was gone- people continually asking how she was doing.   Even though she didn't outwardly show her emotions she was very sensitive to her children. She tried to compensate for being away so much by often bringing them a milky way candy bar to be split into 12 pieces or a penny all day sucker for each of them.   Esther also used music and games to draw her family close together. She continually played games and had fun with her children when work was done in the evenings. I honestly cannot fathom the energy all this required: all the responsibility, all the heart ache and worry, all the work, managing 11 children, and yet she still made ample time to play with them.   By the fall of 1943 Esther had only received 2 letters from Forrest. Though the Pacific Island Employee Foundation would take experts of all the letters received from the POW's to give everyone a more detailed view on what their loved ones were experiencing, Esther still longed for her Forrest and expressed her feelings once to her close friend Josephine in a letter:   (READ LEETTER FROM PAGE 160)No I have not rep'd one word from Forrest. They claim Red Cross had definitely located him in Japan. Is that encouraging? Anything but. Had some witch told forrest (READ LETT   She longed for Forrest but she still kept on going. Since it was evident that Esther was a very good sales lady Emeline Hansen convinced Esther to open up a women's corset and apparel shop in Boise called Packard's Dress Shop in the spring of 1944. In the beginning it probably didn't bring in much money, but very quickly became successful. Esther continuously counted her blessings, especially since other shops were struggling and some even closed shop. Though the family owned two cars Esther would have the older boys drop her off at the stop so she could take the bus. The older children had to take the others to school and the milk in the back of the trailer to the creamery. At nights they  would all meet at the creamery, pick up the kids, the milk cans, and go home. Cleo helped at home during the day while Esther was gone. She baked eight to ten loaves of bread a day, made lunches for those in school, did the laundry and most of the housework. At the appointed time the boys would meet Esther at the bus stop, go home, and then they all worked on their chores until dark. Each had his own job to do, the strength of the family was helping one another until all the tasks were finished. I doubt that loving, hardworking, strength came to the family by accident. By the middle of 1945 Esther had become a successful business woman, a fantastic mother and had gained the admiration of family and friends.  In the mean time, since Victory had been declared in Europe in May Japan was tightening their grip and Forrest was being moved from a prison camp in China to South Korea and then into the heart of Japan.   While most of the country was rejoicing over victory in Europe the Packard home didn't change much until later in the summer as the news was full of the victories in the Pacific. Excitement in the home was building. Esther had received word that Forrest had been moved to somewhere in Japan, but nothing official had been reported. Still, because of the victory in Europe all military resources were being aimed at the pacific. It seemed only a matter of time before victory was declared in Japan. Forrest was going to be coming home to many changes, but Esther and the family were frantically working to get the farm ready to welcome him home. While he had been gone rooms had been added to the house, Dee, the oldest son who was already married had been drafted into the army; Jay had married and joined the navy; Donna married an air force pilot; and several grand children were born. Barbara, who had been born while Forrest was working on Wake Island was now four and a half. I can only imagine the emotional toll it was for both Forrest and Esther to know how much he had missed, yet they knew liberation was about to come   On August 14 1945 victory was declared in japan. The next day the emperor of Japan broadcasted a surrender speech to the entire nation, on august 21 1945 this news reached the prison camp in Niigata and yet some were still  held captive. It wasn't until September 2, 1945 when Japan officials signed the surrender on board the USS MISSOURI, and the real celebration happened when American planes dropped barrels of food and supplies that kept the men alive for several weeks until trains came to rescue them. It was an incredibly daunting task to find all the men and all the camps. There were about 90 prison camps throughout Japan and about 34000 POWS. It was finally on Sept 5th or 6th that Niigata was found and then men were divided into two groups, and traveled by cattle car train. The men knew very little of the devastation the atomic bombs had until the saw the destruction on their way to freedom. From Japan Forrest was sent on the USS OZARK to  Guam, then  Hawaii and then finally home, the land they loved, The United States of America.   For the families back home in Boise there was a lot of confusion but also another wave of confusion and fear. Poor records provided a lot of confusion and families who thought their loved one was alive were informed of their death. Some were able to send and receive telegrams from home before they even left Japan, but unfortunately the Packards were not. They scowered the revised lists of the dead and living for days until finally, one POW, Bill Taylor arrived home in Boise before anyone else because of his escape. He had been on with Forrest the entire time and he went to Meridian to visit Esther. The family was overcome of joy to hear Forrest was not only alive, but had been vital and influential in so many of the other POWs lives.   Finally after four and half years, Forrest and the USS Ozark landed in San Fransisco. it was a foggy as the ship approached but all of a sudden Forrest could see his Esther in the large crows and called out loudly “There's my Queen!”   I LOVE this story. I wish I had enough time to share all that Forrest endured and the strength and kindness he showed throughout his imprisionment but Esther, what a woman. I hope you can draw on her strength and example as I do. I hope you realize that hard times happen, we all can fall and sink into deep pits because the fact of the matter is our loved ones have jobs and cause a lot of difficulty for us. But we are Warriors. We wait at home with fire and determination to hope for the best and welcome our loved ones home.   I hope you guys have a fabulous 4th of July and I'll end with this one quote. In 1942 as Esther was recovering for her breakdown she wrote a letter to her good friend Josephine. In it she talked about how every day she would say the following to herself, and I think it's the perfect thing for all of us to do. She would say “Now Esther, it isn't the size of the bump that counts, its how you take it.”   Happy 4th of July and God Bless American and all you Strong Waiting Warriors.

In this episode: - Two Japanese cryptocurrency exchanges resign from Japan’s Virtual Currency Exchange Association - Facebook has eased ban on cryptocurrency-related advertisement - ZCash has successfully activated ‘Overwinter’ hard fork - Top 20 cryptocurrencies slide by 3.5% on average

Japan's occupation of Korea was a gradual process. As far back as 1876 Japan approached Korea with unequal treaties that attempted to economically exploit the peninsula. In 1895 Japanese officials assassinated Korea's Queen Min, who opposed foreign occupation and influence, […]

A look at Marufuji vs. Okada and Miyahara vs. Suwama, two matches that say a lot about the status, and future, of Japanese Pro Wrestling!

Season 3, Episode 15 – Greg was inspired by a recent trip to Total Wine & More to try beers made by Japanese breweries, and he brought them over to share. This week, we travel to the other side of the globe (actually, Greg just went to the local Total Wine) and try some Japanese beers that are easy to find (presumably) all over the country. Japanese Beers The coolest part of import beer is the ability to travel the world’s flavors with a quick trip to the big-box beer store. Since delicious ramen, sushi or okonomiyaki cannot be shipped with relative tentacle porn manga freshness, beer is the next best thing. Two Japanese craft breweries make their way out west, Kiuchi Brewery, brewers of the Hitachino Nest branded beers and YO-HO Brewing, and their takes on world beer styles are interesting, if found fresh. The issue with import beer is this: oxidation rears its ugly head on the first sip. Faded hops if not gone all together, the lustre gone, and any magic the brewers intended to put in the package died in a warehouse months ago. The price? Also incredibly expensive compared to ultra-fresh local beer. If you make it out to Japan, give these beers a try…and listen in to the show as we attempt look around the age and marvel at what was supposed to be. We wrap up the show with a round of Going In Blind, hosted by Mr. Nagel. BREW THE SHIT OUT OF IT. Beers from this week’s episode:Kiuchi Brewery – Hitachino Nest Ancient NipponiaKiuchi Brewery – Hitachino Nest Red Rice AleYo-Ho Brewing Company – Suiyoubi no NekoYo-Ho Brewing Company – Yona Yona AleKiuchi Brewery – Hitachino Nest WeizenYo-Ho Brewing Company – Tokyo Black PorterKiuchi Brewery – Hitachino Nest Lacto Sweet Stout Direct audio: MP3 Subscribe:iTunes: Audio / VideoRSS: Audio / VideoStitcherYouTube (Videos) Support the show:PatreonPayPal 4B Social Media:FacebookTwitterInstagramtumblrFlickrSnapchat Email 4B: feedback@fourbrewers.com Leave us a voicemail: (213) 316-8699

Speakers, Brian Woodall Associate Professor at Georgia Institute College, Chuck Casto US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Kenji Tateiwa Manager- Nuclear Power Programs at Tokyo Electric Power Company Inc., & Makoto Mitsui Reporter from UC Berkley discuss Japanese energy policy.

Two Japanese evacuees in Southern California are returning to Japan with their families for Christmas. Hear what Cathy Iwane and Beverly Findlay-Kaneko are up against, how they're preparing, what they face. PLUS: LA City Council gamed out of having a voice in NRC's actions as SCE continues to forge towards a San Onofre restart; Japan's election manipulations bad news for nuclear sanity; TEPCO proves once again it doesn't know its ass from its elbow when it comes to the condition of Fukushima; and Japan mandates use of Fukushima rice in all school lunches. This is insanity.  

Two Japanese evacuees in Southern California are returning to Japan with their families for Christmas. Hear what Cathy Iwane and Beverly Findlay-Kaneko are up against, how they're preparing, what they face. PLUS: LA City Council gamed out of having a voice in NRC's actions as SCE continues to forge towards a San Onofre restart; Japan's election manipulations bad news for nuclear sanity; TEPCO proves once again it doesn't know its ass from its elbow when it comes to the condition of Fukushima; and Japan mandates use of Fukushima rice in all school lunches. This is insanity.  

Two Japanese evacuees in Southern California are returning to Japan with their families for Christmas. Hear what Cathy Iwane and Beverly Findlay-Kaneko are up against, how they're preparing, what they face. PLUS: LA City Council gamed out of having a voice in NRC's actions as SCE continues to forge towards a San Onofre restart; Japan's election manipulations bad news for nuclear sanity; TEPCO proves once again it doesn't know its ass from its elbow when it comes to the condition of Fukushima; and Japan mandates use of Fukushima rice in all school lunches. This is insanity.