The Battle of Kaiapit was fought in 1943 between Australian and Japanese
forces in New Guinea during the Finisterre Range campaign of World War
II. Following landings at Nadzab and at Lae, the Allies attempted to
exploit their success with an advance into the upper Markham Valley,
starting with Kaiapit (pictured). The Australian 2/6th Independent
Company flew in to the valley from Port Moresby in 13 USAAF C-47
Dakotas, making a difficult landing on a rough airstrip. Unaware that a
much larger Japanese force was also headed for Kaiapit and Nadzab, the
company attacked the village on 19 September to secure the area so that
it could be developed into an airfield. They then held it against a
strong counterattack. During two days of fighting the larger force, the
Australians suffered relatively few losses. Their victory at Kaiapit
enabled the Australian 7th Division to be flown in to the upper Markham
Valley, stopping the Japanese from threatening Lae or Nadzab, where a
major airbase was being developed. The victory also led to the capture
of the Ramu Valley, which provided new forward fighter airstrips for the
air war.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kaiapit>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
775:
Forces of the Abbasid Caliphate crushed those of rebelling
Armenian princes in the Battle of Bagrevand
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bagrevand>
1644:
The Ming dynasty of China fell when the Chongzhen Emperor
committed suicide during a peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_dynasty>
1846:
An open conflict between the military forces of the United
States and Mexico began over the disputed border of Texas north of the
Rio Grande and south of the Nueces River, later serving as a primary
justification for Mexican–American War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornton_Affair>
1953:
"Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids" by molecular biologists
James Watson and Francis Crick was first published in the scientific
journal Nature, describing the discovery of the double helix structure
of DNA.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_Structure_of_Nucleic_Acids:_A_Structure_for_Deoxyribose_Nucleic_Acid>
1986:
Mswati III was crowned King of Swaziland, succeeding his father
Sobhuza II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mswati_III>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
total football:
(soccer) A football (soccer) tactic in which the outfield players assume
different roles during a game, while keeping an organised structure.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/total_football>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember
always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon
evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of
another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we
dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not
descended from fearful men — not from men who feared to write, to
speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment,
unpopular. This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy's methods
to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and
our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There
is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities.
As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We
proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever
it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad
by deserting it at home.
--Edward R. Murrow
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_R._Murrow>