What happens
The Pacific Story presents a documentary-style account of Soviet strength in the Far East, as of the 1944 broadcast of November 12. The narration describes how the Soviet Union built up Siberia into a self-sufficient industrial and military region, linking new cities, railroads and farms into one network. It recounts the border clashes at Lake Hassan and Chankufeng Hill in 1938, where Soviet forces defeated Japanese troops, and describes new Soviet units such as armored sleds, ski tanks and trained air crews. It also covers the shipment of supplies and troops from Siberia to the European front after the German attack in June 1941. Observers in Tokyo and Washington are shown trying to judge how large the Soviet forces really are.
Soviet Asia and the Far East, from the Urals to the Pacific, including Siberian cities, the Manchurian border, Petropavlovsk, Komsomolsk and Tashkent, with scenes in Moscow and in Japanese and American observation posts.
Characters: Marshal Vasily Blyukher, General Apanasenko, Major Hirobari, Lieutenant Kofuendo
Listen for: The description of Soviet defensive and industrial buildup in Siberia, the Lake Hassan and Chankufeng Hill engagements, and the uncertainty expressed by Japanese and Allied observers about Soviet military strength.
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.