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Anti-aircraft gun at Fremantle in 1943

In March 1944, military units were placed on alert in Western Australia after Allied forces detected the movement of a powerful group of Japanese warships in the Netherlands East Indies. The main Japanese fleet had been redeployed to Singapore the previous month, and it was feared that this force could attack Western Australia. Reinforcements, including six Royal Australian Air Force flying squadrons, were dispatched to safeguard Fremantle, Perth, and other cities. Other Allied air units were held at Darwin in the Northern Territory. An air raid warning was sounded in Fremantle and Perth on 10 March, but was a false alarm. Intensive patrols by the Allied militaries did not detect any Japanese warships off Western Australia, and most units stood down on 12 March. The deployment ended on 20 March after it was concluded that an attack was unlikely. The Japanese did not attempt an attack on Western Australia, and the ships that the Allies detected were escorts for a small raiding force. (Full article...)

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On this day

March 6

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845 – The Abbasid Caliphate executed 42 Byzantine officials who had been captured in the sack of Amorium of 838 for refusing to convert to Islam.
1447 – Tommaso Parentucelli was elected as Pope Nicholas V in Rome.
1904 – Scottish National Antarctic Expedition: Led by William Speirs Bruce (pictured), the Antarctic region of Coats Land was discovered by the Scotia.
1988 – The Troubles: In Operation Flavius, the Special Air Service killed three volunteers of the Provisional Irish Republican Army conspiring to bomb a parade of British military bands in Gibraltar.
2000 – The Marine Parade Community Building, the mural cladding of which is the largest installation art in Singapore, was opened.

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Today's featured picture

Penyal d'Ifac Natural Park is a 45-hectare natural park situated in Calpe, in the Valencian Community of Spain. It was given natural-park status in 1987. The park is centred on the Penyal d'Ifac, a 332-metre (1,089 ft) limestone outcrop emerging from the sea that is linked to the shore by an isthmus of rock debris. The park is home to numerous rare plants, including a number of endemic species, and more than 300 species of animals, and a nesting site for colonies of sea birds and other birds.

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

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