What happens
The Pacific Story presents a dramatized account of the Red Banner Far Eastern Armies, the Soviet forces built up in Siberia and the Soviet Far East over the years before 1945. Narrator Louis, a correspondent, travels through Soviet Asia with Russian reporter Mikhail, meeting soldiers, officers and observers. They describe the border clashes with Japan, the building of industry and railways, and commanders such as Blucher, Zhukov and Voronov. The program follows the buildup from the 1920s through the battles of 1938 and 1939 and the transfer of Soviet forces westward during the war in Europe. It ends with the Red Banner armies entering Manchuria in August 1945. Commentary by historian Andrei Lobanov-Rostovsky frames the story. Broadcast on the NBC network in 1945.
Soviet Asia, Siberia, the Soviet Far East and Manchuria, 1920s to August 1945
Characters: Louis, Mikhail Kanchir, Blucher, Zhukov, Voronov, Andrei Lobanov-Rostovsky
Listen for: Mikhail's account of the Nomonhan battle against Japanese forces and Lobanov-Rostovsky's closing commentary on Soviet power in Asia
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.