From today's featured article
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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. (Full article...)
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In the news
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On this day...
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September 15: International Day of Democracy; Independence Day in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua (1821); Battle of Britain Day in the United Kingdom
- 1830 – The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened (train pictured) as the first locomotive-hauled railway to connect two major cities.
- 1862 – American Civil War: Confederate forces captured the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, taking more than 12,000 prisoners.
- 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.
- 1935 – Nazi Germany enacted the Nuremberg Laws, which deprived German Jews of citizenship, and adopted a new national flag emblazoned with a swastika.
- 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.
More anniversaries: September 14 – September 15 – September 16
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