hushpiper

To add some additional detail to u/MrawzbaoZedong ‘s response, I’ll point out that the resources Japan wanted very badly were those in the Dutch East Indies, namely oil and rubber. They already had access to iron and other minerals because of their conquest of Manchuria, but were not producing those resources yet in sufficient quantities. To prosecute their we with China, Japan had been receiving most of what they needed from the US; but that had recently stopped. They could not accept ideologically to stop their war with China, as has already been pointed out, and with the US embargo they were running out of resources.

From the military perspective, the US bases on Wake Island and the Philippines, and Allied bases on Singapore and Hong Kong (among others), allowed the US (which would undoubtedly use Allied bases) to enforce its embargo militarily by interdicting any Japanese merchant shipping carrying resources along the eastern coast of Asia, should Japan successfully acquire those resources. And by 1941, the US was firmly supporting the British, French, and Dutch. The mere chance that the US would interfere with Japanese plans to conquer resource-rich areas in Southeast Asia would put paid to the Japanese war in China and any dreams they had of Empire. The US might, for example, occupy the Dutch East Indies itself (as it had recently occupied Iceland) to foil Japanese expansion. That was unacceptable.

So the Japanese, ideologically committed to continue conquering China, decided to gamble. The attack on Pearl Harbor was part of a coordinated operation, meticulously timed to enable the Japanese to seize the resources they need. As far as possible across different time zones (the Pacific has many), they attacked simultaneously Pearl, the Philippines, Wake Island, and stepped off on campaigns to seize Singapore and Hong Kong (successfully). The attack on Pearl was not the prelude to invasion, as were their other targets, but to damage the US Navy sufficiently to prevent interference for enough time for Japan to consolidate and present any US response with a fortified, defended Pacific and a superior, built-up Japanese Navy. They knew that it would provoke war with the US, but they intended to seize and exploit the resources they desperately needed.

The idea that the US would then decide it wasn’t worth warring against a peer adversary was present, certainly, but was viewed by the Japanese as a sort of “best-case scenario.” The Japanese Navy brass knew they were kicking off the fight of their lives. But, again ideologically, they almost universally welcomed it as a sort of glorious undertaking, as fascism and militarism dictated. The attack that included the bombing of Pearl Harbor was not, in their eyes, an infallible recipe for success but the only way they could possible win—and many expressed predictions that they might not, but nevertheless were excited and inspired to try. In their minds, the shame of failing to conquer China was worse than annihilation at the hands of an obviously superior foe.

Amazing read.

Any books you recommend on the subject?

Nah, that's the very first thing that happens in the movie. It's not meant to be a secret, because the movie wasn't trying to shock anyone with the outcome. It wants you to know what you're in for right away. (The story isn't important for the fact that he dies, it's about how he gets there.)

It's not really a spoiler because it's actually the first thing to happen in the movie. The story structure starts at the end and then jumps back in time

Sounds like a tactic directly from Hannibal. Don't attack the main armies and towns directly, harass the countryside until you draw them out, then retreat until you can set up an ambush.

Not a historian. My old boss told me stories of fishing for seagulls as a boy during this period in Hakodate. He and his friends would tie fish to a string abs bait a seagull. They'd then kill it and roast it on the beach. Said they tasted horrible but that was the only food source.

Thank you for sharing something so personal. I'm assuming this is recorded in the National archive somewhere too?

But Zhukov does it in his short answer part:

So, in addressing the issue of barrier troops, I feel that there are three levels to the question, each of which I will try to answer:

• Did they exist? (Yes)

• What did they do, and did that actually include machine-gunning anyone trying to retreat? (Stop desertion, but exceptionally rarely)

• Is “Enemy at the Gates”, specifically, an accurate portrayal of them, and the supply situation of the Red Army? (No)

Yep it was a war of silver. The downfall of china came not from opium itself but from trying to prohibition the trade which led to profits exploding even higher and even more silver flowing out and a large chunk of the country rebelling against the tyranny of prohibition.

Is this a "barrier" against the opposing army or a barrier against their own troops at the front?

The answer is "Yes."