ToDelawareAndBeyond

The dark fishing spider, or Dolomedes Tenebrosus, is the largest native spider found in the state of Delaware. Females can have bodies that are an inch long, not including their legs. With their legs, dark fishing spiders can be over three inches across. The spiders are instantly recognizable by the large “w” markings on their abdomens. Their preferred habitat is near the edges of ponds and streams. Other, less massive varieties of fishing spider are able to walk across the surface of slow-moving bodies of water as they hunt for insects and small fish (hence the name “fishing spider”), however this behavior is less common in Dolomedes Tenebrosus. They are also nocturnal, hunting their prey rather than trapping it with webs. The females are still capable of producing silk, but they mostly use it to hang their egg sacks on leaves and branches. Femail dark fishing spiders are also known to protect their egg sacks, and then their young immediately after they hatch. While it has been reported that dark fishing spiders can deliver a painful bite to humans — large individuals like the one in this video certainly look capable of inflicting a serious wound — such instances are very rare. The species usually prefers to escape if confronted with a human and is only likely to bite if the person stresses it out by deliberately grabbing it.

This is the new Konyak Baptist church in the city of Mon, Nagaland, in Northeast India. I visited this in early February, 2023, on the day before I set out on a long trek through the Naga hills. The church has been under construction for several years, and is already by far the largest in Mon. Nagaland, including Mon, is mostly Christian, with Baptists being by far the most numerous denomination. I'll be posting plenty more on Nagaland in the coming months.

This M3 Lee/Grant medium tank was immobilized and abandoned under fire during the battle of Kohima, a vicious clash between the forces of the Japanese and British empires in the Spring of 1944. It has remained in the same exact spot ever since. As a Kohima Educational Trust sign next to the tank reads: “On May 6, 1944, this tank, under command of major Ezra Rhodes, was climbing the Kohima Ridge to support troops of the 2nd Division who were attacking Japanese positions on Garrison Hill. Under treacherous monsoon conditions, the tank careened down the hill, lost a track and crashed against a tree, where it came under enemy fire. The crew jammed the triggers of the tank’s machine guns to fire continuously, set the turret to rotate and escaped under fire back to British lines. After the battle, the 2nd Division requested that the tank remain in the exact position from which it had to be abandoned as a memorial to the heroism and sacrifice of all those who fought in the battle.” Conducted in the steep hills and jungles of the farthest extremities of British India, often at close quarters and in terrible weather, the struggle for Kohima was perhaps the last place one would expect large amounts of armor to be deployed. Indeed, judging solely by the terrain, Northeast India and Burma would at first glance seem to be the theater of WW2 least conducive to large armored operations. But, perhaps counterintuitively, American built, British operated, M3 medium tanks played a critical role in the decisive British victory not only at Kohima, but throughout the campaign from the Arakan battles of early 1944 to the final British victory in Burma in 1945. While by 1943 the M3 Lee/Grant was obsolete in most other theaters, it proved to be quite a formidable combatant in Northeast India and Burma. It was, first and foremost, rugged and mechanically reliable. The vehicle’s odd layout, which included a 75mm gun set in a hull-mounted sponson and a smaller 37mm anti-tank gun mounted in a fully rotating turret, was a disadvantage against the most modern axis tanks of the day such as the Tiger, Panther, and later-model Panzer 4. But during the Burma campaign the Japanese could only field small numbers of tanks that were, if anything, more obsolete than the M3 and had none of it’s strong points. The M3 Lee/Grant’s armor was thick enough for the job at hand, and its fire power was perfectly suited for blasting away at bunkers, field guns, and infantry. The M3 Lee/Grant was a major asset during the campaign, but the 149th regiment of the Royal Armored Corps who used the vehicles at Kohima nonetheless had severe challenges to overcome. Not only was Japanese resistance tenacious, but the land itself presented nearly as great an obstacle as enemy fire. The M3 Lee/Grants had a disconcerting tendency to simply fall off the sides of the hills. Ezra Rhodes’ tank fell victim not to the Japanese, but to the terrain and the monsoon. This M3 Lee/Grant is one of the very few ww2 armored vehicles which not only still exists, but also has not been moved since the day it was disabled during combat. That makes it a truly exceptional piece of history. Help support my channel at: https://patreon.com/user?u=14324587&u.. For more on British armored operations in Northeast India and Burma, including at the battle of Kohima, visit the Kohima Educational Trust’s youtube channel: https://youtu.be/Ies-JAbO_JM. Also, read the book Tanks Tracks to Rangoon: The Story of British Armour in Burma by Bryan Perret.

The M3 was an early WW2 U.S. medium tank. Initially rolling off the production line at the Detroit Arsenal in July, 1941, the tank went on to serve in North Africa with both the Americans and the British, and it was also supplied in significant numbers to the U.S.S.R. It was produced in two slightly different variants, the "lee" and the "Grant," with the Grant being modified according to British specifications. While the M3 Lee/Grant was soon superseded by the far superior M4 Sherman, some vehicles fought on in the Pacific and in India and Burma until the later stages of the war. (I have another video on a surviving example of an M3 Grant that was disabled during the battle of Kohima and left in place since 1944. Stay tuned!) The vehicle in Newark Delaware is serial number 2, which was the first example produced by Chrysler, and the first to be completed at the Detroit Arsenal, even before the factory itself was fully built. (source: https://usautoindustryworldwartwo.com/Chrysler/chryslerwarrenm3tankphotos.htm) The vehicle was never sent overseas. Around a decade later, the tank was sent to the (now closed) Chrysler plant in Newark DE, and appears in a newsreel about the then brand new M48 Patton, which was mass produced in Newark. Here's the newsreel: https://youtu.be/T2yRjP36POc (The M3 appears at 6:40). The vehicle remained at the Chrysler plant until at least the 1960s, before being set up as a monument in front of VFW post 745, where it's been all my life. (Source: http://the.shadock.free.fr/Surviving_Lee_Grant.pdf) I visited it a few times as kid when I was becoming interested in armored vehicles, but I had no idea that this specific example was such an important and unique piece of history until quite recently.

I unexpectedly encountered this tree festooned with monkey skulls in the Konyak Naga village of Nyahnyu. Where I come from a monkey skull is a rare thing. The tree also had several old mithun skulls affixed to it. Konyak Nagas have loved to hunt since time immemorial. Longhouses and meeting halls in Konyak villages are often decorated with huge numbers of animal skulls. Human skulls collected in headhunting raids were also once commonly displayed, though these have become harder to come by in recent years. The most common skulls one sees in Konyak decorations are those of mithuns, followed by barking deer, bears, and wild bores. While walking through the Konyak dominated part of Nagaland in February 2023, I only came across monkey skulls on a handful of occasions, and they were usually incorporated into highly valuable handmade bamboo and monkey fur baskets. This is in Mon district, Nagaland, in Northeast India. The closest road head is in Phomching. You can also reach Nyahnyu by walking from Longwa village. I’ll be posting several videos on Nyahnyu in the coming weeks. While it’s not one of the more famous Konyak villages, it’s culturally fascinating and more than worth a visit. To support my channel, go to: https://patreon.com/user?u=14324587&utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_link