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
_______________________________ 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
_____________________________ 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
___________________________ 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