Operation Uranus was the codename of the Soviet strategic operation in
World War II which led to the encirclement of the German Sixth Army,
Third and Fourth Romanian armies, and portions of the German Fourth
Panzer Army. The operation formed part of the ongoing Battle of
Stalingrad, and was aimed at destroying German forces in and around
Stalingrad. The Red Army took advantage of the fact that German forces
in the southern Soviet Union were overstretched, using weaker Romanian
and Italian armies to guard their flanks. At 07:20 (Moscow time) on 19
November 1942 Soviet forces on the northern flank of the Axis forces at
Stalingrad began their offensive; forces in the south began on 20
November. Although Romanian units were able to repel the first attacks,
by the end of 20 November the Third and Fourth Romanian armies were in
headlong retreat, as the Red Army bypassed several German infantry
divisions. By late 22 November Soviet forces linked up at the town of
Kalach, encircling some 290,000 men east of the Don River. Instead of
attempting a breakout operation, German dictator Adolf Hitler instead
decided to keep Axis forces in Stalingrad and resupply them by air. In
the meantime, Soviet and German commanders began to plan their next
movements.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Uranus>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
325:
The First Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council of the
Christian Church, was formally opened in present-day Iznik, Turkey to
resolve disagreements in the Church of Alexandria over the nature of
Jesus in relationship to God the Father.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea>
1293:
Sancho IV, King of Castile and León, established what is now the
Complutense University of Madrid, today one of the top public
universities in Spain.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complutense_University_of_Madrid>
1570:
The first modern atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum by cartographer
Abraham Ortelius, was issued.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Ortelius>
1873:
Clothing manufacturer Levi Strauss and tailor Jacob Davis were granted
a patent for using copper rivets to strengthen the pockets of denim
overalls, paving the way for their business Levi Strauss & Co. to start
manufacturing their first line of blue jeans.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Strauss_%26_Co.>
1927:
By the Treaty of Jeddah, the United Kingdom recognized the sovereignty
of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged
to become Saudi Arabia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Saud_of_Saudi_Arabia>
2002:
East Timor became the first new sovereign state of the twenty-first
century after Indonesia relinquished control of the territory.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Timor>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
voluble (adj):
1. Fluent; having a ready flow of speech; garrulous or loquacious.
2. Easily rolling or turning.
3. (botany) Twisting and turning like a
vine
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/voluble>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it
is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing
generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those
who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the
opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is
almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier
impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.
--John Stuart Mill
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill>
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