The Australian contribution to the Battle of Normandy involved more than
3,000 military personnel serving under British command, the majority
from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) (Australian members of No.
196 Squadron pictured). Others served with the Royal Navy and British
Army. After participating in the Allied landings on 6 June 1944,
Australian air force and army personnel fought in the subsequent Battle
of Normandy between June and August 1944, and an RAAF fighter squadron
operated from airfields in Normandy. Throughout the campaign, Australian
airmen provided direct support to the Allied ground forces by attacking
German military units and their supply lines, as well as forming part of
the force which defended the beachhead from air attack. Australians also
indirectly contributed to the campaign by attacking German submarines
and ships which posed a threat to the invasion force. Australia's
contribution to the fighting in Normandy is commemorated in memorials
and cemeteries in London and Normandy.
Read more:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_contribution_to_the_Battle_of_Normandy>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1779:
Tekle Giyorgis I began the first of his six reigns as Emperor
of Ethiopia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tekle_Giyorgis_I>
1807:
French brothers Claude and Nicéphore Niépce received a patent
for their Pyréolophore (diagram pictured), one of the world's first
internal combustion engines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyr%C3%A9olophore>
1922:
The German protectorate of Togoland was divided into the League
of Nations mandates of French Togoland and British Togoland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togoland>
1940:
The Arroyo Seco Parkway, one of the first freeways built in the
United States, opened to traffic, connecting downtown Los Angeles with
Pasadena, California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arroyo_Seco_Parkway>
1999:
The Chinese government began a persecution campaign against
Falun Gong, arresting thousands nationwide.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Falun_Gong>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
punctilious:
1. Strictly attentive to detail; meticulous or fastidious, particularly to
codes or conventions.
2. Precise or scrupulous; finicky or nitpicky.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/punctilious>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Five enemies of peace inhabit with us — avarice, ambition,
envy, anger, and pride; if these were to be banished, we should
infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.
--Petrarch
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Petrarch>