American transportation in the Siegfried Line campaign of World War II
played a crucial part in the military logistics of the campaign between
September and December 1944. The Germans attempted to delay the Allied
advance by denying access to ports and demolishing communications.
Cherbourg was the only deep-water port in northwest Europe in Allied
hands, and it had been badly damaged. Insufficient port capacity caused
a backlog of ships awaiting discharge in European waters, precipitating
a global shipping crisis. Additional capacity was obtained by opening
Rouen, Le Havre and Antwerp. Port clearance then became a bottleneck.
Motor transport was used until the railways could be brought back into
service. Antwerp was subject to attack from German V-weapons, so it was
considered unwise to unload ammunition there. The German Ardennes
offensive in December threatened Antwerp and the depot areas around
Liège, but by the year's end preparations were under way for the final
assault on Germany.
Read more:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_transportation_in_the_Siegfried_Line_campaign>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1847:
Mexican–American War: The United States Army used artillery
to repulse the much larger Mexican army at the Battle of Buena Vista
near Saltillo.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Buena_Vista>
1941:
Plutonium was first chemically identified by chemist Glenn T.
Seaborg and his team at the University of California, Berkeley.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium>
1945:
American photographer Joe Rosenthal took the Pulitzer
Prize–winning photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima during the
Battle of Iwo Jima, an image that was later reproduced on the Marine
Corps War Memorial.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima>
2017:
Syrian civil war: Allied troops led by the Turkish Armed Forces
captured the city of al-Bab from the Islamic State.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_al-Bab>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
dawdle:
1. (transitive) Chiefly followed by away: to spend (time) without haste
or purpose.
2. (intransitive)
3. To spend time idly and unfruitfully; to waste time.
4. To move or walk lackadaisically.
5. An act of spending time idly and unfruitfully; a dawdling.
6. An act of moving or walking lackadaisically, a dawdling; a leisurely
or slow walk or other journey.
7. Synonym of dawdler (“a person who dawdles or idles”) [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dawdle>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Liberty trains for liberty. Responsibility is the first step in
responsibility.
--W. E. B. Du Bois
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois>