Carlson's patrol was an operation by the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion of the U.S. Marine Corps under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Evans Carlson. It took place from 6 November to 4 December 1942 during the Guadalcanal Campaign, which aimed to deny the Imperial Japanese Army use of the Solomon Islands as bases for threatening the supply routes between the U.S. and Australia, and to assist the offensives against Japan. In the operation, the 2nd Raiders attacked forces under the command of Toshinari Shōji, which were escaping from an attempted encirclement in the Koli Point area on Guadalcanal and attempting to rejoin other Japanese army units on the opposite side of the U.S. Lunga perimeter. In a series of small unit engagements over 29 days, the 2nd Raiders (who had been trained to operate as a guerrilla force) killed almost 500 Japanese soldiers while suffering only 16 killed. The raiders also captured a Japanese artillery cannon (pictured) that was delivering harassing gunfire on Henderson Field, the Allied airfield at Lunga Point on Guadalcanal. Seventeen raiders were wounded, and many others developed malaria, dysentery, or other illnesses; one lieutenant said that the living conditions were worse than the combat.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlson%27s_patrol

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1789:

Pope Pius VI appointed Father John Carroll as the first Catholic bishop in the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carroll_(bishop)

1939:

As part of their plan to eradicate the Polish intellectual elite, the Gestapo arrested 184 professors, students and employees of Jagiellonian University in Kraków. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonderaktion_Krakau

1963:

Nguyen Ngoc Tho was appointed to head the South Vietnamese government by the military junta of General Duong Van Minh, five days after the latter deposed and assassinated President Ngo Dinh Diem. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguyen_Ngoc_Tho

1995:

Madagascar's Rova of Antananarivo, which served as the royal palace from the 17th to 19th centuries, was destroyed by fire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rova_of_Antananarivo

2004:

A man attempting to commit suicide parked his car on the railway tracks in Ufton Nervet, Berkshire, England, causing a derailment that killed seven people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ufton_Nervet_rail_crash

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

presidentialness: The quality of being presidential; suitability for the presidency. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/presidentialness

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I write to reach eternity. --James Jones https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Jones