Justin Pyke

More details on its construction, from a long since deleted footnote in the MS

To mark the 80th anniversary of the March 10, 1945 firebombing of Tokyo, a thread introducing one of the most remarkable primary sources I've come across in the archive:

Gen. Thomas Power's eye-witness report, recorded while circling over the firestorm for nearly two hours. 1/

Thrilled to have been awarded a Vandervort prize for my recent article "The Invention of the Kamikaze: Dissent and Resistance in the Japanese Military" by the Society for Military History, as one of the two best articles last year in the Journal of Military History!

_Tojo: The Rise and Fall of Japan's most Controversial World War II General_ by Peter Mauch

New arrival!

I watched the Gunga Din film from 1939 last night for some reason. I can definitely see the Temple of Doom inspiration.

It really does. The stream is soothing to listen to, genuinely. I'll always be cautious when it comes to historical Total War given how long its been since they produced a good one, but this is a massive step in the right direction.

The end result looked similar to a casual observer, but was a fundamental shift in how Total War battles functioned. Simulation in the old games wasn't perfect of course, but the move toward unit stats over simulation has led to serious issues with tactical battles in recent games.

Testudo in Rome 1 worked because the unit physically moved its shields into position and those shields organically blocked missile fire at a higher rate than if the unit wasn't in the formation. Testudo in Rome 2 worked because it decreased missile damage and increased unit missile block chance.

They're talking about bring the simulation back to battles, which is huge if they follow through. There was a fundamental shift in Total War's design from Shogun 2 -> Rome 2. Shogun 2 and before relied on unit simulation more than stats. Rome 2 and beyond moved to game stats first and foremost.

www.totalwar.com/news/total-w...
"First, the progression from mustered levies to professional armies. Our intention and the current functionality is that there are no 'standing' (or permanent) armies early on in the game."

BUILDING MEDIEVAL III: Sieges & Settlements YouTube video by Total War

Honestly, I'm really enjoying the openness on the development of Total War: Medieval III. Lots of really cool ideas. Some radical proposals for army recruitment too in the recent blog post.
www.youtube.com/live/6tqz2td...

The Japanese held their own in the air tactically throughout, but it didn't matter. The US hit it again and again and again in strength, shrugged off any losses, and eventually the Japanese were spent. The demonstration of power was remarkable, and this was just a regular US effort by late 1943.

Every once in awhile when I read something in detail on part of the PTO the overwhelming power of the Allies, predominately the Americans in this specific context, really floors me. I recently finished Dunn's coverage of the neutralization of the major Japanese airfield of Buin (Kahili).

This sounds super cool! I still have to read Rise and Fall (soon), but anything dealing with starfighter pilots has my attention.

Territorial Natures A critical account of the Japanese occupation in Inner Mongolia.   Early in the twentieth century, the steppe borderlands between China and Mongolia erupted in violence. As imperial Japan expanded int...

2/ My first book, “Territorial Natures: Imperial Japan and the Mongolian Question,” is coming out with @uchicagopress.bsky.social this August 2026.

You can find it here: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Yeah, he was a blast! I really enjoyed Baelor Targaryen as well. It's nice to see a totally reasonable, well-adjusted Targaryen show up. Probably why I enjoyed Viserys from HOTD so much.

Finished A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. It was good! It wasn't the best thing ever or anything, but a solid watch. It helps that it was six short episodes, so it wasn't a huge time commitment.

If true - this is first documented use of rocket boosters in combat.
I have seen only one photo of RATO devices on any IJN aircraft - see below. And that's B5N2.
D4Y3 and D4Y4 definitely used rocket boosters, but those were mostly for speed bust for final dash and were located under fuselage.

Same

Some of the strategic elements are best in series. Like diplomacy. I bounced off the game overall due to the battles though.

I haven't seen a photo myself that I can recall. Maybe @eugenpinak.bsky.social has?

Probably going to start A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms tomorrow since people have been raving about it. I know I'm in the minority in thinking season 2 of HotD was great, so the season 3 teaser looks interesting too. I'm not super hyped or anything, but I hope it's solid.

IJN Heavy cruiser Aoba
Date: February 27, 1936
Location: Osaka Bay
Photo:
Situation: Ground forces dispatched to Osaka City in preparation for the February 26 incident

static.ow.ly/photos/origi...

of how the air war was ultimately won. Guadalcanal was massively important, but more as an explosive transition period of the air war rather than an end point for Japanese air power. It sells short what the Allies accomplished through the second half of the south Pacific air war.

This is why studying the 1943 PTO air war in detail is essential. It's where the Japanese were beaten back onto the defense and methodically ground down. Glazing over this period in broad narratives, often skipping from the height of Guadalcanal in Aug-Nov 1942 -> June 1944, harms understanding...

Rabaul wasn't bombed in daylight for nine months after a single abortive attempt early in 1943. Japanese night fighters drew blood as well. The northern Solomons were safe from major American daylight operations for four months after a couple days of disastrous operations in February 1943.

The US heavies would often bomb from lower altitudes, meaning they would at least hit airfields more often when they did bomb them, but offensive American strikes against major Japanese airfields were rarer than you'd assume through most of 1943. Things gradually ramped up through the back half.

Wish I knew this when I was doing the four-engine bomber video. Granted, the backdrop to this is that horizontal bombing by such aircraft on both sides rarely did meaningful damage against airfields in the South Pacific. Heavy damage from such raids were unicorn events. Light damage was the rule.

The February 26 Incident of 1936, which happened on this day ninety years ago, was modern Japan’s most serious coup attempt and led to four months and twenty days of martial law.