The Principles of War - Lessons from Military History on Strategy, Tactics, Doctrine and Leadership.
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153 - Guadalcanal - Battle of Mount Austen - Hyakutake vs Patch, intelligence failures, sabotage raids and crippling casualties.
September 27, 2026 · 36 minMajor General Patch had a simple plan: send the fresh 132nd Infantry Regiment to clear a company of sick Japanese from Mount Austen before the January offensive. Intelligence estimated perhaps 100 defenders. The actual Japanese force was…
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152 - National Guard vs Imperial Japanese Army on Guardalcanal - Lessons Learnt for employing green troops at 5th Matanikau
July 19, 2026 · 41 minThe US 182nd Infantry Regiment crossed the Matanikau on 18 November 1942 and within 48 hours all three companies of 1st Battalion had broken under Japanese mortar and flanking fire. This episode examines how green National Guard troops…
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151 - How Sea Control doomed the 17th Army to Starvation on Guadalcanal: The failure of the Tokyo Express
June 19, 2026 · 33 minThe Naval Battle of Guadalcanal cost the US Navy two rear admirals and six warships — yet it stopped 11 Japanese transports carrying 10,000 troops and the supplies needed to take Henderson Field. We discuss the critical 12–15 November 1942…
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150 - What new tactics did Carlson's Raiders use to hunt Shoji's Regiment during the Long Patrol on Guadalcanal?
May 24, 2026 · 1 hr 0 minColonel Shoji landed 1,500 Japanese troops east of Henderson Field — and the Americans needed three battalions and a week of manoeuvre to trap just 450 of them at Gavaga Creek. This episode unpacks the Koli Point "Rat Race," the pursuit by…
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How do you defend an island nation when 40% of your trade flows through contested waters?
May 13, 2026 · 1 hr 22 minForty percent of Australian trade flows through the South China Sea — and if conflict erupts near Taiwan, that route becomes uninsurable overnight. Maritime strategist Mark Bailey argues that Western continentalism has left island nations…
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Strategic Context for Australia's WW2 mobilisation
May 10, 2026 · 1 hr 22 minAustralia spent 20 years preparing for a war most politicians refused to discuss publicly — and that systematic industrial strategy may be the nation's greatest governance success story. Dr. Mark Bailey traces how bipartisan policy from…
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Australia's Road to War - 1936 to 1941 - Dr Peter Layton
April 27, 2026 · 1 hr 25 minAustralia built a coherent defence industrial strategy in the 1920s and 30s that actually worked when tested by total war — yet we've forgotten most of what made it succeed. This seminar recording pairs Dr Peter Layton's analysis of the…
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149 - Why did the Marines stop 1,000 yards short of victory at 4th Matanikau - Guadalcanal
April 26, 2026 · 35 minAfter the defeat at Henderson Field, Japanese 17th Army headquarters remained confident — fresh divisions and hundreds of aircraft were promised within weeks. But Vandegrift had no intention of letting them regroup. This episode traces the…