The Battle of Kaiapit was fought in 1943 between Australian and Japanese forces in New Guinea during the Finisterre Range campaign of World War II. Following landings at Nadzab and at Lae, the Allies attempted to exploit their success with an advance into the upper Markham Valley, starting with Kaiapit (pictured). The Australian 2/6th Independent Company flew in to the valley from Port Moresby in 13 USAAF C-47 Dakotas, making a difficult landing on a rough airstrip. Unaware that a much larger Japanese force was also headed for Kaiapit and Nadzab, the company attacked the village on 19 September to secure the area so that it could be developed into an airfield. They then held it against a strong counterattack. During two days of fighting the larger force, the Australians suffered relatively few losses. Their victory at Kaiapit enabled the Australian 7th Division to be flown in to the upper Markham Valley, stopping the Japanese from threatening Lae or Nadzab, where a major airbase was being developed. The victory also led to the capture of the Ramu Valley, which provided new forward fighter airstrips for the air war.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

775:

Forces of the Abbasid Caliphate crushed those of rebelling Armenian princes in the Battle of Bagrevand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bagrevand

1644:

The Ming dynasty of China fell when the Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide during a peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_dynasty

1846:

An open conflict between the military forces of the United States and Mexico began over the disputed border of Texas north of the Rio Grande and south of the Nueces River, later serving as a primary justification for Mexican–American War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornton_Affair

1953:

"Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids" by molecular biologists James Watson and Francis Crick was first published in the scientific journal Nature, describing the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_Structure_of_Nucleic_Acids:_A_Structure_for_Deoxyribose_Nucleic_Acid

1986:

Mswati III was crowned King of Swaziland, succeeding his father Sobhuza II. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mswati_III

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

total football: (soccer) A football (soccer) tactic in which the outfield players assume different roles during a game, while keeping an organised structure. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/total_football

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men — not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular. This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy's methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.   --Edward R. Murrow https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_R._Murrow