The Battle of Morotai, part of the Pacific War, began on 15 September 1944, and continued until the end of the war in August 1945. The fighting started when United States and Australian forces landed on the south-west corner of Morotai, a small island in the Netherlands East Indies (NEI), which the Allies needed as a base to support the liberation of the Philippines later that year. The invading forces greatly outnumbered the island's Japanese defenders, and secured their objectives in two weeks. Japanese reinforcements were landed on the island between September and November, but lacked the supplies needed to effectively attack the Allied defensive perimeter. Intermittent fighting continued until the end of the war, with the Japanese troops suffering heavy loss of life from disease and starvation. South-western Morotai was subsequently developed into a major Allied base, with facilities on the island being used to support landings in the Philippines and Borneo. Torpedo boats and aircraft based at Morotai also harassed Japanese positions in the NEI. Morotai remained an important logistical hub and command center until the Dutch reestablished their colonial rule in the NEI.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Morotai
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1830:
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened (train pictured) as the first locomotive-hauled railway to connect two major cities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opening_of_the_Liverpool_and_Manchester_Railway
1862:
American Civil War: Confederate forces captured the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, taking more than 12,000 prisoners. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Harpers_Ferry
1916:
Tanks, the "secret weapons" of the British Army during the First World War, were first used in combat at the Battle of the Somme in Somme, Picardy, France, leading to strategic Allied victory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme
1935:
Nazi Germany enacted the Nuremberg Laws, which deprived German Jews of citizenship, and adopted a new national flag emblazoned with a swastika. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Germany#Nazi_Germany
1963:
A bomb planted by members of the Ku Klux Klan exploded in the 16th Street Baptist Church, an African American Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama, US, killing four children and injuring at least 22 others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Street_Baptist_Church_bombing
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
rally cap: (US, baseball) A baseball cap worn inside-out and backwards, or in another unconventional manner, by players or fans, as a talisman in order to will a team into a come-from-behind rally late in the game. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rally_cap
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
If I have seen further than others, it is because I am surrounded by dwarfs. --Murray Gell-Mann https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Murray_Gell-Mann
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