The Battle of the Tenaru was a land battle between the Imperial Japanese
Army and Allied forces on August 21, 1942, at Guadalcanal in the Solomon
Islands during World War II. The U.S. Marines were defending the Lunga
perimeter around Henderson Field, which had been captured by the Allies
on August 7. The Japanese unit, commanded by Kiyonao Ichiki (pictured),
was sent to recapture the airfield and drive the Allied forces off the
island. Underestimating the strength of the Allied forces, Ichiki's unit
conducted a nighttime frontal assault on Marine positions at Alligator
Creek on the east side of the perimeter and were defeated with heavy
losses. The Marines counterattacked after daybreak, and about 800 of
Ichiki's original 917 men were killed. After Tenaru, the Japanese
realized that Allied forces on Guadalcanal were much greater in number
than originally estimated and sent larger forces for their later
attempts to retake Henderson Field. (This article is part of a featured
topic: Guadalcanal Campaign.).
Read more:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Guadalcanal_Campaign>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
The national colours of Italy first appeared on a tricolour
cockade in Genoa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockade_of_Italy>
1944:
World War II: A combined Canadian–Polish force captured the
town of of Falaise, France, in the final offensive of the Battle of
Normandy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Tractable>
1963:
South Vietnamese special forces loyal to Ngô Đình Nhu, the
brother of President Ngô Đình Diệm, raided and vandalised Buddhist
pagodas (one pictured) across the country, arresting thousands and
leaving hundreds dead.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X%C3%A1_L%E1%BB%A3i_Pagoda_raids>
2015:
Passengers on a Thalys train from Amsterdam to Paris confronted
and subdued an attacker who attempted a mass shooting.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Thalys_train_attack>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
berserk:
1. Furiously, injuriously, or maniacally violent or out of control.
2. (by extension)
3. Bizarre; weird.
4. Wildly joyous; ecstatic.
5. (historical) Synonym of berserker (“a Norse warrior who fought in a
frenzy”)
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/berserk>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The necessary had been accomplished. That’s the way Les
Invisibles work. Singular, unquantifiable events. Impossible to treat
statistically, to define with theory.
--Lucius Shepard
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lucius_Shepard>
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