What happens
The Pacific Story, a radio documentary series, traces how French Indo-China came under Japanese control in 1940 and 1941. It follows Japanese military planners studying the region's ports and strategic value, and the collapse of French rule after France fell in June 1940. Governor General George Catroux resists Japanese demands and is forced out, while Japan gradually takes airbases, rice, rubber and coal. The story then reviews the earlier French conquest of Indo-China, the rise of Indo-Chinese nationalism, and the border dispute with Thailand that Japan mediated. The episode ends with Japan's advance in the region and its move against the United States at Pearl Harbor. Original air date: December 12, 1943.
French Indo-China and the surrounding Pacific region, including Saigon, Hanoi, Cam Ranh Bay and the Thai border, from the 19th century through 1941
Characters: Admiral Jaures, General Catroux, Admiral Dupre, Francis Garnier, Commandant Henri Riviere, Prince Romanet, Foreign Minister Matsuoka
Listen for: The account of Japan's gradual takeover of French Indo-China after France's collapse in 1940, and the Japanese-mediated settlement of the Thai border dispute
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.