From Oblivion to Triumph

Yes, it was excellent. It's a good example of what the rivet counters need to understand about the difficulties of making such movies, never mind understanding the difference between a documentary and entertainment.

Great! Thanks, Brian.

In my latest Legion Magazine article, I speak to historian Allan Levine about how Canada’s business leaders helped win WW II. His new book is "The Dollar a Year Men," published by Barlow Books.

legionmagazine.com/historian-al...

📸 Courtesy Allan Levine

Tora! Tora! Tora! is an annual ritual. Where might I find "the trials and tribulations of making the film"?

YouTube video by Armoured Archivist Force Z | Repulse - Lamb to the slaughter (Part 1 of 3)

From the mouths of the survivors. Force Z is often criticised through cursory analysis. But there is no doubt HMS Repulse was not up to the job. Here's how the sailors who served upon her experienced her demise. #OTD #WW2 #HISTORY #Navalhistory
youtu.be/5_NkGtIBK_M?...

HMS Prince of Wales arriving at Singapore, 4 December 1941. Imperial War Museum image: A 6785.

HMS Repulse photographed from a troop convoy approaching Singapore, 3 December 1941. Imperial War Museum image: A 6794.

A Japanese aerial photograph showing HMS Prince of Wales (top) and HMS Repulse during the early stages of the attack on 10 December 1941 in which they were sunk. HMS Repulse had just been hit for the first time (12.20 hours). Imperial War Museum image: HU 2763.

Memorial to HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales, National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas, near Lichfield, Staffordshire. Photograph by Steve Bowen, 18 April 2018. Wikimedia Commons: CC BY-SA 4.0.

10 Dec 1941 // Battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battlecruiser HMS Repulse were sunk by Japanese aircraft in the South China Sea east of Kuantan, Malaya. They were operating without air cover. 840 men died, 327 from Prince of Wales and 513 from Repulse. (Images all from Imperial War Museum.) [1/2]

Phillips' folly Podcast Episode · Maritime History with Chris Sams (live and unplugged) · 10/12/2025 · 33m

This week’s podcast is a rough overview of the sinking of HMS Repulse and Prince of Wales. Mainly questioning why they were there, the mission they were on and setup for Saturday’s full article on the sinking itself. (1/2)

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/m...

#navalhistory #ww2 #history

Capt John Cook

King Kamehameha I

A brief history of #PearlHarbor came to be established, a thread. In January of 1778, Capt Cook landed on the island of Kaua’i. In 1810 the islands became united under King Kamehameha I with help from outsiders. (1:5)

The Battle for #Hongkong spawned myths and controversy. For an extensive academic treatment of these, see Fighting It Out: The Canadian Troops at Hong Kong and in Memory by @otdmilhistory.bsky.social at ruor.uottawa.ca/bitstream/10....

#CanadianHistory #CanadianMilitaryHistory #WW2 #WWII

For personal recollections of the first day of the Battle for Hong Kong, Gwulo: Old Hong Kong offers a selection of diary entries for 8 December 1941 at gwulo.com/diary-pages?.... Of particular note to the story of #OperationOblivion and #Force136 , see Colin McEwan's diary entry...

Imperial Japanese Army soldiers crossing the Kwong Fuk Bridge (廣福橋) on the Lam Tsuen River (林村河) at Tai Po (大埔). Undemolished, the bridge allowed the Japanese to advance more rapidly on Kowloon from the Chinese border. (courtesy Mainichi Shimbun via Wikimedia Commons)

While militarily futile, the Battle for Hong Kong was a political necessity that is part of a web of interconnected events in which Canada saw its first land action in World War II. Thus was set in motion a chain of events that would see significant political & social changes in post-war Canada...

Japanese aircraft attacking Kowloon on 8 December 1941. Kai Tak Aerodrome is in the foreground with wrecked aircraft in front of the hangar on the right. (courtesy ACME / Harrison Forman)

#OTD in 1941, Japan invaded the British colony of #Hongkong as part of co-ordinated strikes on the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor and the Southeast Asian colonies of Britain, the Netherlands, and the United States that aimed to secure vital natural resources...

Reminded of a diary entry I read yesterday about #OTD in 1941, Royal Army Service Corps Master Baker, Staff-Sergeant Patrick John Sheridan, set up a field bakery on a #Hongkong golf course as a result of the Japanese invasion: gwulo.com/node/13609.

#WWII #WWIIHistory #WW2 #WW2History

#Newbook based on oral histories with Japanese-American @USArmy veterans, this book looks @ their translation & intelligence operations in New Guinea & Bougainville in #WWII.

#historybookposts #WeHaveWays

Hello @otdmilhistory.bsky.social, found reference to Far Eastern Combined Bureau's Charles Boxer sending the War Office a report in July 1939 about Hong Kong's vulnerability to Japanese attack. Have you come across this?

See page 6: www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/37...

"The Most Awful Responsibility" My new book on Truman and the bomb will be released next week

So, hey, my new book on Truman and the Bomb comes out NEXT WEEK! In this post on Doomsday Machines, I give a rundown of WHAT IT IS ABOUT, and other useful information, including the talk I am giving about it on December 16. doomsdaymachines.net/p/the-most-a...

Mitsuo Fuchida's personal photo album "Autobiography: Summer is Near" is now available on the Hoover Institution's website.
Link: digitalcollections2.hoover.org/view/ark:/54...

Fortunately, by the time the Canadians landed on nearby Kiska, the Japanese had already left. Nevertheless, there were some casualties from blue-on-blue incidents because the liberation force wasn't aware of this.

#WWII #WWIIHistory #CanadianMilitaryHistory

It is shameful that the Japanese in Canada were not given the same opportunity, never mind their wholesale incarceration and the looting of their assets.

As their service led to the passing of a new Canadian Citizenship Act on 1 January 1947 and the repeal of the 1923 Chinese Immigration Act, the stage was set for all Canadians to achieve more equal rights in a growing multi-cultural society compared to that of the White Dominion.

Photo of the book, "I Paid Hitler" by Fritz Thyssen.

Paperback book cover of "The Soong Dynasty" by Sterling Seagrave.

Follow the money.

Congratulations to Paul Johnston on the publication of The RCAF in History and Memory: A Survey of the Historiography, 1909-2025!

This is a really useful overview of all the important works that have been published on the various iterations of the RCAF.

publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.9...

Held on the west coast: the history of Albert Head and William Head Quarantine Stations (1884-1958) In this post, I looked at the iterations of Canada's western quarantine stations, where medical inspectors inspected incoming immigrants to Canada for disease. As a genealogist, I want to fill in the bare bones of facts with ideas about what life was like, and this post was by turns enlightening and horrifying.

Held on the west coast: the history of Albert Head and William Head Quarantine Stations (1884-1958)

In this post, I looked at the iterations of Canada's western quarantine stations, where medical inspectors inspected incoming immigrants to Canada for disease. As a genealogist, I want to fill in…

[December 1st, 1945] The British company Hawker Siddeley acquired the Canadian government's Victory Aircraft, renaming it A.V. Roe Canada Limited (Avro Canada).

A Japanese propaganda leaflet commemorating the first anniversary of the Treaty Concerning the Basic Relations Between Japan and the Republic of China. The main text on the right reads: One year has passed since the signing of the Sino-Japanese Basic Treaty! Now is the time for a united China, Japan, and Manchukuo! Recalling that a year prior, at 10:25 AM on November 30th, 1930, the Basic Treaty between China and Japan was signed in Nanjing, along with the joint declaration issued by China, Japan, and Manchukuo. China, Japan, and Manchukuo should work together to seek comprehensive peace in East Asia, and then establish four principles: a world alliance, economic co-operation, cultural exchange, and co-operation. What are these four principles? Anyone holding this red leaflet can enter any theatre in Nanjing City for free on November 30th (excluding cinemas). 中日基本條約簽訂一週年來矣! 現在為中日滿大同團結之時機! 回憶一年前即民國二十九年十一月三十日上午十時二十五分,在南京簽訂中日基本條約,同時發表中日滿共同宣言,中日滿協力一致謀東亞之全面和平,進而確立世界同盟,經濟合作,文化溝通四原則,所謂四原則者爲何? 和平,此基本條約及共同宣言之納前要不外政治獨立,軍事同盟,經濟合作,文化溝通四原則,所謂四原則者爲何? 凡持此赤色傳單者十一月三十日當日可以免費入淡口市內各戲場(但電戲院不在此例) (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

#OTD in 1940, the Treaty Concerning the Basic Relations Between #Japan and the Republic of #China is signed in Nanjing. This was Japan's formal diplomatic recognition of Wang Jingwei’s collaborationist Reorganized National Government of China which was an attempt to split Chinese resistance.

Operation Character - Wikipedia

Just completed Operation Character on wiki. Amazing set of events.. March to September 1945.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operati...

"Betting Against America" researches why Axis powers went to war against America by examining German, Italian, and Japanese sources.

💻️: https://tinyurl.com/myte6yrv

#axispowers #warhistory #militaryhistorybooks #booksky

To celebrate war correspondent Richard Tregaskis’s birthday 🎂 (and mine), a free copy of my Tregaskis bio to the first person to name the title of his first novel, based on his World War II experience in Aachen, Germany.

YouTube video by WW2TV Tim Cook: A Titan of History - A Tribute Show

Tomorrow at 2 p.m. EST, I'll be making my debut appearance on @ww2tv.bsky.social, alongside other guests, to pay tribute to the late, great Dr. Tim Cook of the Canadian War Museum. I wouldn't be where I am now, telling Canada's wartime stories, without him.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lioh...

Many would call "Asia's fractured peace", national liberation movements attempting to regain independence. Had he lived, would Roosevelt have behaved differently towards the Brits, French, and Dutch than Truman? Or would he have backed his former allies in Realpolitik of the forthcoming Cold War?