The Battle of Vrbanja Bridge occurred on 27 May 1995 between United
Nations peacekeepers from the French Army and elements of the Bosnian
Serb–aligned Army of Republika Srpska (VRS). It began after the VRS
seized French-manned observation posts of the United Nations Protection
Force at both ends of the Vrbanja Bridge in Sarajevo, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, during the Bosnian War, taking twelve French peacekeepers
hostage. Two of them remained held at the bridge as human shields. A
platoon of 30 French peacekeepers, led by then-Captain François
Lecointre, recaptured the bridge with the support of 70 French
infantrymen and direct fire from armoured vehicles. Two French soldiers
were killed and seventeen were wounded during the battle. VRS casualties
were four killed, several wounded and four captured. VRS forces were
subsequently less likely to engage French UN peacekeepers deployed in
the city. In 2017, Lecointre was appointed Chief of the Defence Staff of
France with the rank of army general.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vrbanja_Bridge>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1799:
War of the Second Coalition: Austrian forces defeated the
French Army of the Danube, capturing the strategically important Swiss
town of Winterthur.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Winterthur>
1917:
Pope Benedict XV promulgated the Pio-Benedictine Code, the
first official comprehensive codification of Latin canon law.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1917_Code_of_Canon_Law>
1962:
A fire at a landfill in Centralia, Pennsylvania, spread to an
abandoned coal mine, where it continues burning today.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia_mine_fire>
2006:
An earthquake registering 6.4 Mw struck near the city of
Yogyakarta on the southern side of the Indonesian island of Java,
killing more than 5,700 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Yogyakarta_earthquake>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
gouge:
1. (transitive) To make a groove, hole, or mark in by scooping with or
as if with a gouge.
2. (transitive) To cheat or impose upon; in particular, to charge an
unfairly or unreasonably high price.
3. (transitive, intransitive) To dig or scoop (something) out with or as
if with a gouge; in particular, to use a thumb to push or try to push
the eye (of a person) out of its socket.
4. (intransitive) To use a gouge.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gouge>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
In light of the recent events in Texas, I have decided it would
be disrespectful and hurtful for me to perform for the NRA at their
convention in Houston this week. I’m sure all the folks planning to
attend this event are shocked and sickened by these events as well.
After all, we are all Americans. I share the sorrow for this terrible,
cruel loss with the rest of the nation.
--Don McLean
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Don_McLean>