100px|The first wave of US troops lands on Los Negros, Admiralty
Islands, 29 February 1944
The Admiralty Islands campaign was a series of battles in the New
Guinea campaign of World War II in which the United States Army's 1st
Cavalry Division occupied the Japanese-held Admiralty Islands. Acting
on reports from airmen that there were no signs of enemy activity and
the islands may have been evacuated, General Douglas MacArthur
accelerated his timetable for capturing the islands and ordered an
immediate reconnaissance in force. The campaign began on 29 February
1944 when a force landed on Los Negros, the third largest island in the
group. By using a small, isolated beach where the Japanese had not
anticipated an assault, the force achieved tactical surprise, but the
islands proved to be far from unoccupied. A furious battle developed
for control of the Admiralties. In the end, air superiority and command
of the sea allowed the Allies to heavily reinforce their position on
Los Negros. The 1st Cavalry Division was then able to overrun the
islands. The campaign officially ended on 18 May 1944. The Allied
victory completed the isolation of the major Japanese base at Rabaul
that was the ultimate objective of the Allied campaigns of 1942 and
1943. A major air and naval base was developed in the Admiralty Islands
that became an important launching point for the campaigns of 1944 in
the Pacific. (more...)
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<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiralty_Islands_campaign>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1484:
William Caxton printed the first English translation of Aesop's Fables.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesop%27s_Fables>
1913:
First Balkan War: After a five-month siege, the Bulgarian Second Army
captured the Ottoman city of Adrianople.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Adrianople_%281913%29>
1939:
Spanish Civil War: Nationalists began their final offensive of the war,
at the end of which they controlled almost the entire country.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_offensive_of_the_Spanish_Civil_War>
1978:
Four days before the scheduled opening of Japan's Narita International
Airport , a group of protesters destroyed much of the equipment in the
control tower with Molotov cocktails.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narita_International_Airport>
1997:
Police in Rancho Santa Fe, California, discovered the bodies of 39
members of Heaven's Gate who had died in an apparent cult suicide.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven%27s_Gate_%28religious_group%29>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
immolate (v):
1. To kill as a sacrifice.
2. To destroy, especially by fire
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/immolate>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
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In the Name of Allah the Merciful, the
Compassionate, Who manifests Himself through everything, the revelation
of a clear knowing to whomsoever He wishes, peace be upon you, my son.
This praise belongs to Allah Who manifests Himself on the head of a pin
to whom He wishes, so that one testifies that He is not, and another
testifies that there is none other than He. But the witnessing in the
denying of Him is not rejected, and the witnessing in the affirming of
Him is not praised.
--Mansur Al-Hallaj
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mansur_Al-Hallaj>