Operation Camargue (1953) was one of the largest operations by the
French Far East Expeditionary Corps and the Vietnamese National Army in
the First Indochina War. French armored platoons, airborne units and
troops, delivered by landing craft to the coast of modern-day central
Vietnam, attempted to sweep forces of the communist Viet Minh from the
critical Route One. On 28 July the first wave reached an inland canal
without major incident, but French armored forces began to suffer a
series of ambushes as they passed through small villages. Reinforced by
paratroopers, the French and their Vietnamese allies tried to tighten a
net around the defending Viet Minh guerillas, but most escaped, along
with their arms caches. The French concluded that ensnaring operations
were impossible in the dense jungle, which slowed down troops so that
enemy forces could anticipate their movements, and they withdrew from
the operation by late summer. Viet Minh Regiment 95 re-infiltrated Route
One and resumed ambushes of French convoys, retrieving weapons caches
missed by the French forces. The regiment continued to operate in the
area as late as 1962, fighting the South Vietnamese Army.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Camargue>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1821:
Peruvian War of Independence: Argentine general José de San
Martín declared the independence of Peru from Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_de_San_Mart%C3%ADn>
1866:
At the age of 18, Vinnie Ream became the first and youngest
female artist to receive a commission from the United States government
for a statue—that of Abraham Lincoln in the U.S. Capitol rotunda.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinnie_Ream>
1935:
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber aircraft, which
dropped more bombs than any other U.S. aircraft in World War II, made
its first flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-17_Flying_Fortress>
1995:
Two followers of Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh) were convicted
for the attempted assassination of the United States Attorney for the
District of Oregon.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Rajneeshee_assassination_plot>
2005:
The Provisional Irish Republican Army announced an end to its
armed campaign to overthrow British rule in Northern Ireland to create a
United Ireland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_Irish_Republican_Army>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
doula:
A support person, usually female, who may not have medical or midwifery
training, who provides emotional assistance to a mother or pregnant
couple before, during or after childbirth.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/doula>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I want to say this one thing, it's been almost an obsession with
me, all I keep thinking of is this line from a musical comedy... and the
song he loved most came at the very end of this record, the last side of
Camelot, sad Camelot... "Don't let it be forgot, that once there was a
spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot."
--Jacqueline Kennedy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Kennedy_Onassis>