Omaha Beach was one of five sectors of the Allied invasion of German- occupied France in the Normandy landings on D-Day, 6 June 1944, during World War II. The untested 29th Infantry Division and nine companies of U.S. Army Rangers assaulted the western half of the beach; the battle- hardened 1st Infantry Division targeted the eastern half. The opposing German 352nd Infantry Division troops, mostly teenagers with no battalion-level training and some Eastern Front veterans, were largely deployed in strongpoints along the coast. The initial assault waves of tanks, infantry, and combat engineer forces were tasked with reducing the coastal defenses to allow larger ships to land. Little went as planned: most landing craft missed their targets, and the defenses were unexpectedly strong. Troops could not clear the heavily defended exits off the beach, delaying later landings. Groups of survivors eventually improvised assaults, scaling the bluffs between the most heavily defended points. By the end of the day, two small isolated footholds had been won, and the original objective of a beachhead 5 miles deep was achieved within days.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omaha_Beach

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1862:

American Civil War: The Union Army's victory in the First Battle of Memphis virtually eradicated the Confederate naval presence on the Mississippi River. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Memphis

1882:

The Shewa kingdom made big strides towards gaining supremacy over the Ethiopian Empire by defeating the Gojjam and gaining control of territories south of the Gibe River. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Embabo

1912:

The largest eruption of the 20th century created the Novarupta volcano in the Alaska Peninsula, US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novarupta

1982:

A war in Lebanon began when Israeli forces invaded southern Lebanon to root out members of the Palestine Liberation Organization. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Lebanon_War

2004:

During a joint sitting of both houses of the Indian Parliament, President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam announced that Tamil was to be made the first legally recognised classical language of India. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_language

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

bisque: 1. A thick creamy soup made from fish, shellfish, meat or vegetables. 2. A pale pinkish brown colour. 3. (ceramics) A form of unglazed earthenware; biscuit. […] 4. (sports) An extra turn, free point or some other advantage allowed. […] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bisque

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

It is a fact that a man’s dying is more the survivors’ affair than his own. Whether he realizes it or not, he illustrates the pertinence of the adage: So long as we are, death is not; and when death is present, we are not. In other words, between death and us there is no rapport; it is something with which we have nothing to do — and only incidentally the world and nature. And that is why all living creatures can contemplate it with composure, with indifference, unconcern, with egoistic irresponsibility.   --Thomas Mann https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Mann