The battle of New Carthage, part of the Second Punic War, took place in early 209 BC when a Roman army under Publius Scipio (bust pictured) assaulted New Carthage, held by a Carthaginian garrison under Mago. Late in 210 BC Scipio took command of Roman forces in Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal) and decided to strike at the regional centre of Carthaginian power: its capital, New Carthage. He marched on the city and immediately attacked it. After defeating a Carthaginian force outside the walls, he pressed attacks on the east gate and the walls. Both were repulsed, but later that day Scipio renewed them. Hard- pressed, Mago moved men from the north wall, overlooking a broad, shallow lagoon. Anticipating this, a force of 500 men waded the lagoon to scale the north wall unopposed. They fought their way to the east gate, opened it from inside and let in their comrades. The city fell and became a logistics centre for the Roman war effort. By 206 BC the Carthaginians had been expelled from Iberia.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1899:

Philippine–American War: American forces defeated troops commanded by Philippine president Emilio Aguinaldo at the Battle of Marilao River. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marilao_River

1958:

Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, assumed the office of premier. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev

1998:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug sildenafil (chemical structure pictured), better known by the trade name Viagra, for use as a treatment for erectile dysfunction, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sildenafil

1999:

During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, an Army of Yugoslavia unit shot down a U.S. Air Force F-117 stealth aircraft. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_F-117A_shootdown

2020:

North Macedonia became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Macedonia%E2%80%93NATO_relations

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

floater: 1. A person who floats. 2. A person who physically floats in a gas or liquid. 3. (law enforcement, slang) A corpse floating in a body of water. 4. (figurative) A person without a fixed or lasting affiliation, position, or role. 5. A person who frequently changes where they live; a drifter, a vagrant. 6. A person who frequently changes employment. 7. An employee of an organization who does not have fixed tasks to do but fills in wherever needed, usually when someone else is away; also, a short-term employee; a temporary, a temp. 8. An "extra" (male) guest at a party who is asked by the host to entertain the other (often female) guests. 9. (slang) A person who attaches themselves to a group of people, and who repeatedly shows up at group activities even though this is undesired by the group; a hanger-on. 10. (politics) 11. A voter who shifts their allegiance from one political party to another, especially (US) one whose vote can be illegally purchased. 12. (US) A person who votes illegally in various electoral districts or polling places, either under a false voter registration or under the name of a properly registered voter who has not yet voted. 13. (US) A person, such as a delegate to a convention or a member of a legislature, who represents an irregular constituency, such as one formed by a union of the voters of two counties neither of which has a number sufficient to be allowed one (or an extra) representative of its own. 14. (sports) A player not affiliated with a team. [...] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/floater

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

You have no enemies, you say? Alas, my friend, the boast is poor; He, who has mingled in the fray Of duty that the brave endure, Must have made foes! If you have none, Small is the work that you have done, You've hit no traitor on the hip, You've dashed no cup from perjured lip, You've never turned the wrong to right, You've been a coward in the fight.   --Charles Mackay https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Mackay