120px|Australian troops enter Bardia.

The Battle of Bardia was fought over three days between 3 and 5 January 1941, as part of Operation Compass in the Second World War. Australian Major General Iven Mackay's 6th Division assaulted the strongly held Italian fortress of Bardia, Libya, assisted by air support and naval gunfire, and under the cover of an artillery barrage. The 16th Infantry Brigade attacked at dawn from the west, where the defences were known to be weak. This allowed the infantry and 23 Matilda II tanks of the 7th Royal Tank Regiment to enter the fortress and capture all their objectives, along with 8,000 prisoners. In the second phase of the operation, the 17th Infantry Brigade exploited the breach made in the perimeter. On the second day, the 16th Infantry Brigade captured the township of Bardia, cutting the fortress in two. On the third day, the 19th Infantry Brigade advanced south from Bardia, supported by artillery and the Matilda tanks. Meanwhile, the Italian garrisons in the north surrendered to the 16th Infantry Brigade and the Support Group of the British 7th Armoured Division. The victory at Bardia enabled the Allied forces to continue the advance into Libya and ultimately capture almost all of Cyrenaica. (more...)

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1888:

The 91 cm refracting telescope at the Lick Observatory near San Jose, California, at the time the largest telescope in the world, was used for the first time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lick_Observatory

1911:

A 7.7 Mw earthquake destroyed the city of Almaty in Russian Turkestan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1911_Kebin_earthquake

1919:

Emir Faisal of Iraq signed an agreement with Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann on the development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine and an Arab nation in a large part of the Middle East. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faisal%E2%80%93Weizmann_Agreement

1976:

The multilateral International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, part of the International Bill of Human Rights, came into effect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Covenant_on_Economic%2C_Social_and_Cultural_Rights

1990:

United States invasion of Panama: General Manuel Noriega, the deposed "strongman of Panama", surrendered to American forces. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega

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and how (phrase): (idiomatic, colloquial) Used to strongly confirm preceding utterance http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/and_how

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