Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 April 9

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A 6-inch naval gun on a "Percy Scott" carriage, firing over Vimy Ridge behind Canadian lines at night

The Battle of Vimy Ridge was a First World War battle in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France between four divisions of the Canadian Corps and three divisions of the German Sixth Army. It lasted from 9 to 12 April 1917, as part of the opening phase of the British-led Battle of Arras, a diversionary attack for the French Nivelle Offensive. The Canadian objective was to take the German-held high ground along an escarpment at the northern end of the offensive. Supported by a creeping barrage, the Canadians captured most of the ridge on 9 April. The town of Thélus fell on the 10th, as did the crest of the ridge once the Canadians overcame a salient of considerable German resistance. The final objective, a fortified knoll near Givenchy-en-Gohelle, fell to the Canadians on 12 April, and the Germans retreated to the OppyMéricourt line. Canadian success is attributed to technical and tactical innovations, meticulous planning and training, and powerful artillery support, and the failure of the Germans to properly apply their new defensive doctrine. For the first time all four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force fought together and the battle remains a Canadian symbol of achievement and sacrifice; the battleground now contains the Canadian National Vimy Memorial. (more...)

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  • On this day...

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    Marian Anderson, by Carl Van Vechten

  • 1413Henry V, who is featured in three plays by William Shakespeare, was crowned King of England.
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  • More anniversaries: April 8 April 9 April 10

    It is now April 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

    Today's featured list

    Six rows of black square keys with white letters, numbers, and symbols on them slope from the top left to the bottom right with a metallic strip in the top right corner.

    There are some exceptions to the rule in the English language that the letter Q is followed by the letter U. The majority of these exceptions are anglicised from Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Inuktitut, or other languages which do not use the English alphabet, with Q representing a sound not found in English. For example, in the Chinese pinyin alphabet, qi is pronounced /tʃi/ by an English speaker, as pinyin uses ‹q› to represent the sound [tɕʰ], which is approximated as [] in English. In other examples, Q represents [q] in standard Arabic, such as in qat and faqir. In Arabic, the letter ق, traditionally romanised as Q, is quite distinct from ك, traditionally romanised as K; for example, قلب /qalb/ means "heart" but كلب /kalb/ means "dog". However, alternative spellings are sometimes accepted which use K (or sometimes C) in place of Q. QWERTY, one of the few native English words with Q and no U in current usage, is derived from the first six letters of a standard keyboard layout (pictured). (more...)

    Today's featured picture

    Lobster and fish fossils

    A plate with fossils of Pseudostacu sp. (lobster, left) and Diplomystus birdii (fish, right), from the Hakel paleontological formation in Lebanon. The paleontological sites of Lebanon contain deposits of some of the best-preserved fossils in the world, and include some species found nowhere else. The most famous of these is the Lebanese lagerstätten of the Late Cretaceous age.

    Photo: Mila Zinkova

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