British logistics supported the Anglo-Canadian forces in the Western
Allied invasion of Germany, the final campaign of the Second World War
in Europe. By this time, the 21st Army Group was highly experienced,
professional and proficient. Mechanisation and materiel were used to
maximum effect to conserve manpower. The First Canadian Army was
reunited by the return of divisions from Italy. The army roadheads were
mainly supplied by rail; fuel was brought by tankers and the Operation
Pluto pipeline. Thousands of guns and millions of rounds of ammunition
were used in Operation Veritable, the advance to the Rhine; and
Operation Plunder, the Rhine crossing, which also featured an airborne
operation. Engineers soon had bridges in operation. During April 1945,
the 21st Army Group advanced across northern Germany to reach the Elbe
and then the Baltic Sea. On 4 May, Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery
took the surrender of the German forces in front of the 21st Army Group.
Read more:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_logistics_in_the_Western_Allied_invasion_of_Germany>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1934:
Flying Scotsman became the first steam locomotive officially to
exceed 100 miles per hour (161 km/h).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNER_Class_A3_4472_Flying_Scotsman>
1961:
Following the death of Dag Hammarskjöld, Burmese diplomat
U Thant was elected as Secretary-General of the United Nations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_Thant>
1999:
A series of protests by anti-globalization activists against
the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999 in Seattle
forced the cancellation of the opening ceremonies.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Seattle_WTO_protests>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
ceilidh:
1. An informal social gathering, especially one where traditional Irish
or Scottish folk music is played, with dancing and storytelling.
2. (dance) Short for ceilidh dance.
3. To attend a ceilidh (noun sense 1).
4. (dance) To dance a ceilidh dance.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ceilidh>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Surely one of the best rules in conversation is, never to say a
thing which any of the company can reasonably wish we had rather left
unsaid; nor can there anything be well more contrary to the ends for
which people meet together, than to part unsatisfied with each other or
themselves.
--Jonathan Swift
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jonathan_Swift>