The Bougainville counterattack (8–25 March 1944) was an unsuccessful Japanese offensive against the Allied base at Cape Torokina, on Bougainville Island (now part of Papua New Guinea), during the Pacific War of the Second World War. The goal of the offensive was to destroy the Allied beachhead, which accommodated three strategically important airfields. The Allies detected Japanese preparations and strengthened the base's defenses. The attack, hampered by inaccurate intelligence and poor planning, was repulsed mainly by United States Army forces (artillery pictured) after intense fighting. The Japanese commanders had underestimated the strength of the U.S. defenders, who greatly outnumbered them, and suffered severe casualties, while Allied losses were light. This attack was the last big Japanese offensive in the Solomon Islands campaign. In late 1944 Australian troops took over from the Americans and began a series of advances across the island that lasted until the end of the war in August 1945.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bougainville_counterattack
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1190:
Around 150 Jews died inside York Castle, with the majority committing mass suicide to avoid being killed by a mob. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Castle
1322:
Despenser War: A royalist army defeated troops loyal to Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, in the Battle of Boroughbridge, which allowed King Edward II of England to hold on to power for another five years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Boroughbridge
1872:
In the inaugural final of the FA Cup (trophy pictured) Wanderers defeated Royal Engineers 1–0 at The Oval in Kennington, London. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1872_FA_Cup_final
2001:
A series of bomb blasts in the city of Shijiazhuang, China, killed 108 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shijiazhuang_bombings
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
fall at the last hurdle: (intransitive, idiomatic) To fail near the end of an activity, a project, etc. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fall_at_the_last_hurdle
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
We want to replace proprietary software, with its unjust social system with Free Software and its ethical social system. And so we develop free replacements for proprietary software, and other free programs whenever we get an idea, so that the world can live in freedom. The part that uses computers, at least, in that one area of life. Because winning and maintaining freedom in general is a much bigger, much broader and harder activity, but this is one part of it. --Richard Stallman https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman