The 38th (Welsh) Infantry Division of the British Army was active during the First and the Second World War. The division arrived in France in 1915. In July 1916 at the Battle of the Somme, it captured the strongly held Mametz Wood with the loss of nearly 4,000 men, allowing XV Corps to advance to the next phase of the Somme offensive, the Battle of Bazentin Ridge. A year later it made a successful attack in the Battle of Pilckem Ridge, the opening of the Third Battle of Ypres. In 1918, during the German Spring Offensive and the Allies' subsequent Hundred Days Offensive, the division attacked several fortified German positions. It crossed the Ancre River, broke through the Hindenburg Line and German positions on the River Selle, and ended the war on the Belgian frontier; by then, it was considered one of the Army's elite units. The division was demobilised after the war. It was recreated in September 1939, but never deployed overseas as a division, restricted to home defence duties around the United Kingdom. It was constituted from September 1944 until the end of the war as the 38th Infantry (Reserve) Division, a training formation.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/38th_(Welsh)_Infantry_Division
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1805:
The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, the longest aqueduct in Great Britain and the highest in the world, opened. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontcysyllte_Aqueduct
1842:
The University of Notre Dame (main building pictured) was founded by Rev. Edward Sorin, of the Congregation of Holy Cross, as an all-male institution in South Bend, Indiana, US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Notre_Dame
1917:
Unable to resolve disputes with Eddie Livingstone, owner of the Toronto Blueshirts, the other ice hockey clubs of Canada's National Hockey Association officially agreed to break away and form the National Hockey League. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Hockey_League
1942:
Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, premiered at the Hollywood Theatre in New York City to coincide with the Allied invasion of North Africa and the capture of Casablanca. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casablanca_(film)
1977:
A speaker claiming to represent the "Intergalactic Association" interrupted the Southern Television broadcast in South East England, warning viewers that "All your weapons of evil must be destroyed." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Television_broadcast_interruption
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
creatify: (transitive, neologism) To render more creative; to creativize. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/creatify
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
People always try to find base motives behind every good action. We are afraid of pure goodness and of pure evil. --Eugène Ionesco https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Ionesco