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The Principles of War - Lessons from Military History on Strategy, Tactics, Doctrine and Leadership.: Daily Summaries Delivered
by James Eling
Professional Military Education in 30 minute sessions. Historic Battles study through current doctrine to gain lessons learned. Tactics, Strategy, Combined Arms, Military Leadership in a format for Unit PME programs. We study the great battles to draw the lessons on strategy, tactics and leadership. Get your lessons learned here rather than in AAR format.
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- 1 weeks ago40 min
152 - National Guard vs Imperial Japanese Army on Guardalcanal - Lessons Learnt for employing green troops at 5th Matanikau
The 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 faltered in their combat debut, why a four-hour artillery delay negated the prep fires, and what the six-week Point Cruz stalemate reveals about the cost of transitioning from defence to offence. Key learnings: • Why the 182nd's thousand-yard overnight gap invited the Japanese counterattack that shattered 1st Battalion on 20 November • How pulling back 300 yards on 23 November allowed Japanese screening forces to reoccupy vacated positions before the 8th Marines could assault • What the 325 casualties and combat-ineffective rate of the 164th Infantry between 19–25 November cost the American offensive Dave Holland is an ex-Marine and was posted to Guadalcanal with the Australian Federal Police. He regularly leads battlefield study tours through the area. He is a world-leading expert on the battles of Guadalcanal and author of Guadalcanal's Longest Fight - The Pivotal Battles of the Matanikau Front. Full show notes and transcript: https://theprinciplesofwar.com/ Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/principlesofwar More episodes: https://theprinciplesofwar.com/ Follow on X: https://x.com/surprisepodcast Subscribe for more Professional Military Education content.
- Jun 19, 202632 min
151 - How Sea Control doomed the 17th Army to Starvation on Guadalcanal: The failure of the Tokyo Express
The 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 engagements where Rear Admiral Daniel Callaghan's cruisers intercepted a battleship bombardment force, and Willis Lee's radar-directed gunnery from USS Washington sank the Kirishima in the war's only battleship-versus-battleship duel in the Pacific. Key learnings: • Why Henderson Field functioned as the decisive terrain controlling both sides' ability to resupply by day or by night • How only 2,000 Japanese troops landed from the convoy — most without weapons or ammunition • What the Fifth Battle of the Matanikau plan revealed about American intelligence failures on Japanese defensive positions Dave Holland is an ex-Marine and was posted to Guadalcanal with the Australian Federal Police. He regularly leads battlefield study tours through the area. He is a world-leading expert on the battles of Guadalcanal and author of Guadalcanal's Longest Fight - The Pivotal Battles of the Matanikau Front. Full show notes and transcript: https://theprinciplesofwar.com/ Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/principlesofwar More episodes: https://theprinciplesofwar.com/ Follow on X: https://x.com/surprisepodcast Subscribe for more Professional Military Education content.
- May 24, 20261h 0m
150 - What new tactics did Carlson's Raiders use to hunt Shoji's Regiment during the Long Patrol on Guadalcanal?
Colonel 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 Carlson's Raiders, and the fire team tactics that would reshape Marine infantry doctrine for decades. Dave Holland is an ex-Marine and was posted to Guadalcanal with the Australian Federal Police. He regularly leads battlefield study tours through the area. He is a world-leading expert on the battles of Guadalcanal and author of Guadalcanal's Longest Fight - The Pivotal Battles of the Matanikau Front. Key learnings: • How Carlson's Raiders used Chinese Communist guerrilla techniques to harass Shoji's withdrawing column across 30 days • Why the three-man fire team — each with a BAR, Thompson, and M1 Garand — gave squads independent manoeuvre elements • What institutional opposition to "an elite within the elite" meant for the Raider battalions' disbandment in 1944 Full show notes and transcript: https://theprinciplesofwar.com/category/guadalcanal/ Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/principlesofwar More episodes: https://theprinciplesofwar.com/ Follow on X: https://x.com/surprisepodcast Subscribe for more Professional Military Education content.
- May 13, 20261h 22m
How do you defend an island nation when 40% of your trade flows through contested waters?
Forty 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 dangerously unprepared for the Indo-Pacific's return to its ancient strategic shape, where China and India once again compete for influence over Southeast Asia. This keynote address traces how Beijing treats the South China Sea as sovereign territory to be garrisoned, why Tokyo has quietly reorganised its navy for convoy escort, and what the Taiping Rebellion's 20–80 million dead reveal about Chinese internal fractures. This is a special seminar presentation in conjunction with the Royal Australian Artillery Historical Company's Firepower Seminar Series, "Firepower: Lessons from World War II" Our presenter is Dr Mark Bailey, presenting our keynote presentation. Key learnings: • Why Japan restructured its fleet into three convoy escort groups anticipating wartime shipping protection • How Chinese hybrid warfare operates through United Front university networks, cyber intrusions, and fentanyl exports killing 80,000 Americans yearly • What Australia's 2023 Defence Strategic Review shares with Corbett's maritime principles Full show notes and transcript: https://theprinciplesofwar.com/ Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/principlesofwar More episodes: https://theprinciplesofwar.com/ Follow on X: https://x.com/surprisepodcast Subscribe for more Professional Military Education content.
- May 10, 20261h 22m
Strategic Context for Australia's WW2 mobilisation
Australia 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 1919 built the secondary industry that would have annihilated Japanese forces had they landed at Port Stephens in 1942, while Major General Jason Blake connects those lessons to today's Army transformation through HIMARS, PrSM missiles, and the AS9 Huntsman. This is a special seminar presentation in conjunction with the Royal Australian Artillery Historical Company's Firepower Seminar Series, "Firepower: Lessons from World War II" Our presenter is Dr Mark Bailey and it is followed by our Panel Discussion with Major General Jason Blaine, DSC, AM, CSC and Dr Mark Bailey and Dr Peter Layton. Key learnings: • Why defence spending increased 20% in 1932-33 despite the Great Depression, following Japan's Manchurian invasion • How 730,000 soldiers mobilised from a population of 7 million through national census and preserved training infrastructure • What the shift from manoeuvre supporting fires to fires supported by manoeuvre means for modern Australian capability Full show notes and transcript: https://theprinciplesofwar.com/ Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/principlesofwar More episodes: https://theprinciplesofwar.com/ Follow on X: https://x.com/surprisepodcast Subscribe for more Professional Military Education content.
- May 10, 202645 min
How do you defend an island nation when 40% of your trade flows through contested waters?
Forty 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 dangerously unprepared for the Indo-Pacific's return to its ancient strategic shape, where China and India once again compete for influence over Southeast Asia. This keynote address traces how Beijing treats the South China Sea as sovereign territory to be garrisoned, why Tokyo has quietly reorganised its navy for convoy escort, and what the Taiping Rebellion's 20–80 million dead reveal about Chinese internal fractures. This is a special seminar presentation in conjunction with the Royal Australian Artillery Historical Company's Firepower Seminar Series, "Firepower: Lessons from World War II" Our presenter is Dr Mark Bailey, presenting our keynote presentation. Key learnings: • Why Japan restructured its fleet into three convoy escort groups anticipating wartime shipping protection • How Chinese hybrid warfare operates through United Front university networks, cyber intrusions, and fentanyl exports killing 80,000 Americans yearly • What Australia's 2023 Defence Strategic Review shares with Corbett's maritime principles Full show notes and transcript: https://theprinciplesofwar.com/ Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/principlesofwar More episodes: https://theprinciplesofwar.com/ Follow on X: https://x.com/surprisepodcast Subscribe for more Professional Military Education content.
- Apr 27, 20261h 25m
Australia's Road to War - 1936 to 1941 - Dr Peter Layton
Australia 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 interwar Munitions Supply Board with Major General Jason Blake's discussion of current Army modernisation. This is a special seminar presentation in conjunction with the Royal Australian Artillery Historical Company's Firepower Seminar Series, "Firepower: Lessons from World War II" Our presenter is Dr Peter Layton and it is followed by our Panel Discussion with Major General Jason Blaine, DSC, AM, CSC and Dr Mark Bailey and Dr Peter Layton. Key learnings: • How the self-containment strategy and 243 shadow factories enabled Australia to achieve munitions self-sufficiency by 1943 • Why Essington Lewis had to bypass service bureaucracies that refused to place orders even after the Fall of France • What the five-to-six-year lead time for establishing missile production means for current capability timelines Full show notes and transcript: https://theprinciplesofwar.com/ Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/principlesofwar More episodes: https://theprinciplesofwar.com/ Follow on X: https://x.com/surprisepodcast Subscribe for more Professional Military Education content.
- Apr 26, 202634 min
149 - Why did the Marines stop 1,000 yards short of victory at 4th Matanikau - Guadalcanal
After 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 Fourth Battle of the Matanikau and the emergency pivot to Koli Point, revealing how interior lines and improving logistics let the Marines mount the largest US Marine land attack in history to that date. Key learnings: • How Vandegrift assembled 12 battalions for an offensive while his perimeter forces were already exhausted after two and a half months • Why Japanese logistics could deliver only one-third of the 200 tons per day needed to sustain 30,000 troops on Guadalcanal • What Ultra intelligence revealed about Japanese landing plans and how it forced Vandegrift to split his forces Dave Holland is an ex-Marine and was posted to Guadalcanal with the Australian Federal Police. He regularly leads battlefield study tours through the area. He is a world-leading expert on the battles of Guadalcanal and author of Guadalcanal's Longest Fight - The Pivotal Battles of the Matanikau Fron Full show notes and transcript for the Guadalcanal series. Support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/principlesofwar More episodes: https://theprinciplesofwar.com/ Follow on X: https://x.com/surprisepodcast View the videos on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@theprinciplesofwar Subscribe for more Professional Military Education content.
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About The Principles of War - Lessons from Military History on Strategy, Tactics, Doctrine and Leadership.
Professional Military Education in 30 minute sessions. Historic Battles study through current doctrine to gain lessons learned. Tactics, Strategy, Combined Arms, Military Leadership in a format for Unit PME programs. We study the great battles to draw the lessons on strategy, tactics and leadership. Get your lessons learned here rather than in AAR format.
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