The 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division of the British Territorial
Army was formed in September 1939 during the Second World War.
Initially raised in Staffordshire, the division began as a second-line
duplicate of the 55th (West Lancashire) Motor Division. It was tasked
with anti-invasion and guard duties until late June 1944, when it was
assigned to the Second Army and transferred to France to take part in
the Battle of Normandy. On 8 July, the division helped capture Caen
during Operation Charnwood; a week later, it assaulted the town of
Noyers in Operation Pomegranate. In late July, when the German frontline
was crumbling, the division captured a bridgehead over the River Orne
and fended off counter-attacks to maintain its hold. Its final combat
was a protracted battle to capture the town of Thury-Harcourt.
Historians have praised the effort of the division in these battles,
during which it suffered several thousand casualties.
Read more:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/59th_%28Staffordshire%29_Infantry_Division>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1818:
Four days after the Court of King's Bench upheld an English
murder suspect's right to a trial by battle in Ashford v Thornton, the
plaintiff declined to fight, allowing the defendant to go free.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashford_v_Thornton>
1841:
Edgar Allan Poe's short story The Murders in the Rue Morgue,
described as the first modern work of detective fiction, was published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murders_in_the_Rue_Morgue>
1942:
World War II: German and Italian forces began a large-scale
counter-insurgency operation in occupied Yugoslavia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Trio>
1968:
South African Airways Flight 228 crashed shortly after take-
off from Windhoek in South West Africa, resulting in 123 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Airways_Flight_228>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
capitalist roader:
(China, Maoism, chiefly historical, derogatory) One (especially a
Chinese Communist Party official) who bows to pressure from bourgeois
forces and attempts to pull the Cultural Revolution in a capitalist
direction.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/capitalist_roader>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I'm always dreaming, even when I'm awake; it is never finished.
--The Last Unicorn
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Last_Unicorn_%28film%29>