During World War II, Japanese-occupied Singapore was bombed by Allied air forces. Most of the 11 raids by U.S. Army Air Forces long-range bomber units between November 1944 and March 1945 targeted the naval base and dockyard facilities on the island, though several minelaying missions were conducted in nearby waters. After the American bombers were redeployed, the British Royal Air Force assumed responsibility for minelaying operations near Singapore and these continued until 24 May 1945. While significant damage was inflicted on Singapore's important naval base and commercial port (damage at docks pictured), some raids on these targets were not successful and other attacks on oil storage facilities on nearby islands were ineffective. The minelaying campaign disrupted Japanese shipping in the area, causing some loss and damage, but was not decisive. The Allied air attacks raised the morale of Singapore's civilian population, who believed that the raids marked the impending liberation of the city. Civilian casualties were limited, though one attack rendered hundreds homeless and civilian workers were killed during attacks on military facilities.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Singapore_(1944%E2%80%9345)
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1643:
First English Civil War: Parliamentary forces serving under Sir William Waller led a successful surprise attack on a winter garrison of Royalist infantry and cavalry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Alton
1758:
While transporting Acadians from Prince Edward Island to France, the Duke William sank in the North Atlantic with the loss of over 360 lives, one of the greatest marine disasters in Canadian history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_William_(ship)
1937:
Second Sino-Japanese War: Japanese forces captured Nanjing in China and then began to commit numerous atrocities over the next several weeks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Massacre
1989:
The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army engaged in a fierce firefight with the King's Own Scottish Borderers at a vehicle checkpoint complex in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Derryard_checkpoint
2001:
The Parliament of India was attacked by five gunmen, resulting in 12 deaths, including those of the perpetrators. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Indian_Parliament_attack
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
calendrical: Of, pertaining to, or used by a calendar system. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/calendrical
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
A higher power than man power guided and watched over me and told me what to do. … There can be no doubt in the world of the fact of the divine power being in that. No other power under heaven could bring a man out of a place like that. Men were killed on both sides of me; and I was the biggest and the most exposed of all. Over thirty machine guns were maintaining rapid fire at me, point-blank from a range of about twenty-five yards. --Alvin C. York https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alvin_C._York